Saturday July 26Th will start just like your average Summer weekend, except that it will start a bit earlier and is certain to last a tad longer. On this particular day 150 people will gather at the Timothy Lake trail head for the start of PCT 50 Ultra marathon. Thomas and I have been talking about having a "big day out" since we completed the 87 km Heaphy Track in a day in 2004. We had so much fun that we decided we must step it up. One conversation lead to another and next thing I know we are registered, buying plane tickets, and destroying running shoes by the half dozen.

We have both been training hard for the past six months, but as race day draws closer the training runs are subsequently getting longer. It is always exciting to set huge goals and then slowly move toward achieving them...one step at a time.

This past week I finally went and ran the course that I have been thinking about since we pulled the trigger in January. The course starts at Timothy Lake and slowly climbs for 25 miles up to Timberline Loge at the base of Mt. Hood and than turns back to the lake. I drove from Hood River on Wednesday evening up to Mt. Hood and dropped off two coolers loaded with "calories and protein" where the PCT bisects the road. This enabled me to run with a minimal amount of weight. After setting my drop bags I headed down to the lake and finished packing before crashing in the back of my car. I opted for an alpine start and crawled out of my car and hit the trail a few minutes before four.

Exiting the car; I grabbed a bite to eat, flicked my headlamp on and began moving uphill. As I left the parking lot i felt like i had a hundred fans following me, egging me on every step. pushing me to keep moving forward. And when I would slow down for a moment they would draw blood reminding me to keep running. I have never seen such a density of mosquitoes, and by the end of the day every bit of exposed skin was covered in blood and smashed Mozes. As the sun came out they seemed to grow less manic, but the first four or five hours were intense!

Enough about my fan club...they love me. As I made my way past Barlow Pass and began the final leg to the lodge the course changed dramatically. The record snowfall this year on Mt. Hood is still very present and the upper ten miles is all white! This section became very challenging both in terms of navigation and footing. running on five feet of snow is fun until you fall in hole and get stuck up to your waist. Arriving back at Barlow pass I took a small break to try to let my shoes dry out before heading down hill.

I called my brother Thomas from above Barlow Pass and we spoke for a few minutes on the phone as he was running a 25 mile training run... Solid T! I am excited to have the opportunity to race with my brother, and believe this will be a great course.


The remainder of the coarse went well, but after my feet got wet I developed a few blisters that became very apparent in the last ten miles. Finishing strong I arrived back in Hood River as the sun set and promptly fell into bed.

Pictures:(above) PCT Blaze @ Barlow Pass. (Below) Alpine start from Timothy Lake.

They say there is a difficult, but beautiful mountain range outside Bend, Oregon called "The Three Sisters". Needless to say, when my two sisters and I embarked upon a week long llama trek in the Wallowa National Forest in Eastern Oregon; we were quickly named by our group as "The Three Sisters". No one seemed to know what to do with a group of southern women who just happened to want to go backpacking in the mountains of Oregon, except to rename us! It was the first wilderness trip we had taken together, and without bragging; we did great and had a fabulous time! We put on our hiking boots, packed our bags and met Rich, Melissa, John, Carol, Nancy and eight wonderful llamas at the town of Joseph, Oregon, where we departed from early the next morning. Let me tell you, hiking with llamas is the way to go. They carry 70 lbs. ,up steep,dusty trails and through cold streams; never complaining with the exception of the "humming" they do when they are stressed. Maybe we should all take up humming; it certainly seemed to calm everyone. We hiked 5-7 miles a day, went to elevations of 8500 feet, saw stunning vistas and experienced cold mornings and sunny, warm days. There was unmelted snow, ice cold lakes and high meadows teaming with wildflowers. Each campsite had it's own personality and each day's trail had a new surprise we had not seen the day before. When we returned to the real world, it was great to have a soft bed, and certainly a hot shower......... but it took a few weeks before these southern women did not miss their eight llamas!

Here is my new mini casa in Hood River. There is also a nice little backyard, with a garden that i am just starting to prep.

Opening Season.....A great Gifford family tradition has always been too enguage in the time honored tradition of Black bear hunting. Though dad has always prefered a high caliber rifle, and mom prefers the compound bow. I have always been partial too the eight inch piece of steel which is attached to the end of my traditional wari spear. So, as tradition has always dictated, we headed into the slickrock wilderness two days before opening season. Because we prefer to not use dogs it often takes a few days to track and locate a bear in this rugged terrain. We spent three days in the slickrock area, and unfortunaty did not kill one bear. Actually, we didn't even see a bear. And now as i reminise upon our time honored family tradition, which traces back to dawn of time. I actually can't recall a Gifford family member EVER slaying a bear. Regardless, we had a great time examing bear scat and enjoying the wonderful weather that NC is blessed with in the fall. So, maybe next year we'll get a bear. our time is coming....


Pictures:(above)mom...yet another creek crossing.(below) Upper Slickrock creek.

The Green Canoe .....
As our green canoe turned 20 last spring, I think back and wonder how many stories it could tell. You see; it's part of our family and certainly deserves a place of honor on the Family Blog.
It has primarily lived it's entire life on the Harpeth River and, when not in use, it patiently sits in our back yard waiting for the next trip from the rope swing to our house. Cold winter snow, driving rain, and months of heat and summer sun; all this builds character for a green canoe!
In it's youth, it was paddled upstream and parked on a gravel shoal day after day, while boys built forts and shared dreams and schemes. The green canoe heard it all and never gave an opinion of it's own. On weekends, it would take the entire family, with Max the dog, on river trips looking for herons fishing and turtles basking on logs. How much fun for a geen canoe!
Then the real work began, as the boys became teenagers and the stories got more interesting! It was paddled and floated and hoisted on cars. Up muddy banks, pulled over rocks, trown into trucks and then to rest again...but not for long. It took daylight trips and moonlight floats and never stopped helping love and friendships form for a lifetime. It took brothers and sisters and cousins and friends, and safely returned everyone home again. If only the Green Canoe could talk; the stories it could tell would be priceless. Claudia Gifford

Boredom at work = photoshop work or Kayak Sequence.