Alyssa's Swim Bike Run

I can't help but share Alyssa's accomplishments. 

I did such a terrible job at her Triathlon earlier this month and missed the whole event. She was in the water at 8th place, out of the water at 5th place, off the bike at 2nd place and then was directed incorrectly by a volunteer and she lost her opportunity to win first.  I swear, not being a protective parent, but that volunteer really did screw her up.  DARNIT...

Stats:  147 finishers, 25th of the 147, 6th in her age division, It was all over in just 8:30.

Photos from the TRI, this is all I got from that day.  :( 

 the after effects

 cold, wet, dirty and not happy

 back at the house, we finally get a better smile.

 one cleaned, one still dirty

I wanted to show you what kind of training this kid does to get ready for her race. 

I am just in awe of her. She is ready to do a real adult tri now.  

Each week, she is running about about 15 miles, swimming 4 miles, and biking about 30 miles.  

At swim team, she has to do dryland training. 

Look at that sprinting form.

 and that smile to match the form.

 pushups

 plank

 love this dive

 Butterfly stroke

 Freestyle

 Breast stroke

 Back stroke

She rides to the local pool, 3 days a week.  4 miles each way on her new roadbike that she purchased herself.  Yep, she babysat an entire year, and earned herself a $500 road bike.  What a girl!

 And then she rides home too!  We have her well lit up, like a Christmas tree.

COMMITTMENT

Troy said, she was groomed early to become an athlete!

here she was 7 years ago on training wheels!

 What a star!

Mason Lake to Rainbow to Tuscohatchie to Kaleetan

What we saw/did
Mason Lake
Little Mason Lake
Mason pond
Mt Defiance
Lake Kulla Kulla

Blazer Lake

Little Rainbow Pond
Rainbow Lake (slept here)

Island Lake

Talapus Lake

Lake Ollalie

Pratt Lake
Lake Tuscohatchie (slept here)

Pratt River

Windy Lake
Lake Kaleetan

Quotes
"I am being carefull-ing"
"Since I am vegan, do I say, I just cut the 'tofu'?"
"Why are you 'tofu-ing' me up?  (buttering)
"Do you need some meat on your bones to stay warm?" "No, I need some tofurkey on these bones."
"You could pass out a squirrel with that fart."
"If we could afford boarding school, would you let me go?"

Details
Lys - 25 lbs of gear
Troy - 43 lbs
Scheris - 34 lbs
Roxy - 12 lbs
19,000 ft elevation changes
28 miles of hiking
When we left Troy weighed his lightest in years, 138lbs.  Being vegan has dropped his body fat to 13%.  I am happy with my 8lb weight loss too. 
First 3.4 miles super hard, steep up hill with TONS of gear. 

Mt Defiance view was TOOO amazing with views of Adams, Baker, Rainier, and Glacier

Friday night - temp was still 75 at 6pm

Saturday night, temp didn't drop below 50, so that was a lucky break, except for the rain.

Saw snakes, butterflies, bees, chipmunks, and bluejays

Ate TONS of wild blueberries and huckleberries
Barely saw anyone in the 54 hour trip, except a few ultra marathoners and a ski club in training
Troy got to take his new watch which allowed him to know temp, elevation and altitude
We all brought 2 books to read this time, which was too much weight
We love our rest from 8:15pm to 8am. 
Troy stepped in a huge mud puddle on day one but fortunately the weather was good enough to dry it out.
We found a hatchet and a machete on this trip.
We love backpacking because we see less people, don't have to listen to obnoxious drunks nor loud music while camping.
We met the Mormon couple Montegomery's from Issaquah 6th ward, great people.
We learned that Alyssa wants to name her two kids, Luke and Mazie.

Photo story

Our pre-staging area - 100 lbs of gear

the area map

Mason Lake

headed up to Mt Defiance

Looking down at Kulla Kulla, Mason, Island and Rainbow

View from Mt Defiance - Mt Rainier

First day's dinner - veggie sandwiches

First night - Rainbow Lake

Blueberries and huckleberries

Pratt lake

Lake Tuscohatchie

Toilet sign and toilet paper

Log crossing over Pratt River

Windy Lake

Lys called this a Toilet Paper Tree

Lake Kaleetan

Second night - Lake Tuscohatchie

Lyssa's good footwork

Last day we had about 20 weather changes from rain to sun

Another great family camping trip!

54 hours, 2 nights, 4 lakes, 8 ponds, 12,000 ft elevation change, 120 lbs of gear, 30 total miles

What an adventure, we learned SOOOOO much on this trip. 

HIGHLIGHTS (or lowlights)

• My brother Nick got to spend this backpacking trip with us.
• However, Nick bought $20 new shoes at Big Five and PAID too high a price for arch pain.  :(
• Roxy (dog) didn't get a bathroom break on the 2.5 hour drive and she poo'd and pee'd in the back of the truck which affected Alyssa's new backpack.  WAY HUGE BUMMER.
• Nick ate a fly
• We forgot TP and wait till you hear about that.
• We did a great job on packing food and especially fresh veggies
• When Roxy growls in the middle of the night and you know you are at least 3 miles from the nearest humans, well, that is the SCARIEST thing I can remember in a long time. 
• We had a 40 degree temperature change from 70 down to 30 including iced over tents.  YIKES.
• Our shoes/socks got soaked on day one from all the wet brush and so FIREMAN Nick had make an illegal fire.  So glad we did or our shoes would have iced over too. 
• The stats alone are impressive, we feel so accomplished with 12,000 ft and 30 miles
• Alyssa carried 22 lbs on her own
• Saw a Marmot
• Troy, Scheris and Alyssa all fell into small creeks, just enough to get a soaking on our dry foot.  Almost would be better to have two wet feet, than just one.
• Forded a 'dangerous' river crossing, according to Ranger Officials.
• Seeing the port-a-potty at the end of the trail with real toilet paper
• Playing racko and banana grams 
• Were told by trail crew that we perfectly timed the trip between weather breaks and end of bug season, that was nice to hear.

LYS QUOTES

• "When I grow up, my husband will have to carry the tent and sleeping bags, since I will be packing in the baby."
• "My tummy goes ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR."
• "If my first date takes me on the Snoqualmie Falls 'hike', I will have to laugh, that ain't a hike."
• "Can we just not ever bring toilet paper again? Moss is so much better. I am so proud of how well I can work it."
• "I wish a Pegasus would just come down and swoop me away, this is so hard right now."
• "It sure pays to read." (Lys found $5 bill in her library book)

FOOD

• See our Vegan blog for how we ate healthy on this trip

And here is our photo story.

120 lbs of stuff

Blue Ridge Meadow

BRRRR

Lys loves to read on camping trips

Man loves dog, dog love man, both love lake

Our family game of RACKO

Our illegal fire

Troy loved his book

We woke up to beautiful sun at Marmot Lake

Goodbye Marmot

A quick trip to Lake Clarice

Isn't she cute

SCARRRRRRYYYYYY CROSSING

We felt so lucky to see this Marmot

hoisting the food to keep from the bears

We left the TP in the truck, so this was the next best thing. Thank you Derek for this idea.

Deep Lake

The boys have to work for their clean water

Looking up at the back of Cathedral Rock

out of the Deep Lake Basin, looking toward Mt Daniel

I love rivers, well, all water!

They made it!

What a great opportunity for us to have had!