Cari-Fit 2013 – Gettin’ Serious

I’ve been telling myself that I need to eat healthier and exercise more.  Good intentions without a plan are pointless.  So here’s the plan.  I’m going to start doing Tabata and I’m going to start a fad diet diet.  The rules of the fad diet diet is that I must try some new fad diet each week starting on Sunday.  Here is the following schedule:

Week 1: Soups On’ – Soup for dinner

Update 4.28.13:  Soups for dinner went pretty well.  I felt full and didn’t feel the desire to snack after soup.  I’m a very social eater (is that a thing?) and went out to eat a few times.  I ordered Tortilla Soup both times and didn’t go home with the usual indigestion fullness feeling.

Week 2: Wheat free

Update: 4.29.13:  Wow wheat is in EVERYTHING!  Luckily, I like veggies, so this isn’t too big of an issue.  Last night I did a veggie stir-fry   This morning I had an omelette, and for lunch a salad.  I don’t feel as hungry in between meals (maybe my body thinks it’s starving and has shut down).  I went to Costco at lunch and stocked up on Artichokes, Sambazon Acai Juice, and Adzuki Rice chips.  There was some gluten free bread that was $7.99 and was heavier than a brick that I passed on.

Update: 4.30.13: The weirdest thing has happened… my seemingly endless hunger has gone missing.  I’m not making this up.  I love food.  I eat all kinds.  It seems like I’ve had an instant reaction to cutting wheat out of my diet.   I’ve lost my food cravings in between meals.  Normally, I wake up hungry eat a piece of toast, or an english muffin and a while later I’m starving for a snack.  It’s uncanny… this morning I had a Sambazon Energy Drink and a package of Kirkland Seaweed and I’m surprisingly not hungry.  I packed a smoothie for lunch and was going to make a salad because usually I’m ravenous by 1 p.m.  I googled it to see if there was a scientific explanation and here’s what I found  “If you eliminate wheat from your diet, you’re no longer hungry between meals because you’ve stopped that cycle. You’ve cut out the appetite stimulant, and consequently you lose weight very quickly. I’ve seen this with thousands of patients.”  I will try to continue to cut wheat out of my diet after this week.  It’s definitely challenging since wheat products make great conduits for my favorite dips and spreads.  

Update: 5.6.13: What started out well didn’t end well.  This was due in part to lack of preparation and compulsive/impulsive eating.  Thursday night I ate a cookie (chock full of flour) then on Saturday I needed to pack a lunch in a hurry and all I had was bread and Toby’s Tofu spread.  I definitely became aware of wheat in food.  I don’t have celiac disease so there isn’t a medical need to avoid wheat, but I saw what wheat did to my hunger and I would like to be more in control of when I feel hungry.  

Week 3: Sugar free

Update 5.6.13: This is kind of a rest week for my body.  I don’t consume much refined sugar.  I don’t even have sugar at my house.  I prefer Agave syrup.  

Week 4: Something green at every meal

Update 5.13.13: Off to a good start.  Had avocado on english muffin for breakfast and packed a salad for lunch.  For dinner I’m thinking broccoli sounds good.  

Update 5.21.13: I really enjoyed this week.  I felt really good eating salads for lunch with avocado.   I think this is right up there with the wheat free in making me feel the most energetic.

TABATA!  Holy sh*t this is a rough way to spend 25 minutes.  Let’s just say that it took an entire week before my legs weren’t screaming at me anymore and being the glutton for punishment that I am, I did another Tabata workout two days ago.

Week 5: Only water to drink (cancelled due to addiction to coffee)

Week 6: No complex carbs

Week 7: Raw

Week 8: Vegan

Week 9: Paleo

Week 10: Atkins

Week 11: Smoothies!

This should be an interesting experiment that I will blog about.

AskOregon – July Portland/Mt Hood Trip

Question: I am flying to Oregon in July with 2 teenage girls and wanted to do something extreme and very different from NYC. Then we will be driving to Seattle so not something so far away (within 300 miles is cool) any ideas? Hiking would probably be most appropriate, possibly mt hood and we also need lodging recommendations. We would be staying only 2 or 3 days and want to get the most adventure out of the trip.

 

Lisa-

You’re on the right track with a trip to Portland and July is one of the best months to visit.  Your hiking options at Mt. Hood will be dependent on snow melt.  You might look into a stay at one of the resorts up Highway 26 near Government Camp like Collins Lake Resort or the Resort at the Mountain in Welches.  For a unique stay, book a room at historic Timberline Lodge.  There are hiking trails that begin at Timberline Lodge.  Mt Hood Ski Bowl converts from a ski resort to a summer recreation destination and has everything from hiking, mountain biking, to ziplining.

There are some hikes around Portland that are fun.  Take a drive up Highway 84 towards the Columbia River Gorge and visit numerous waterfalls including Oregon’s tallest, Multnomah Falls.

While in Portland don’t miss out on the food carts and for a different kind of tour, consider a Pedal Bike Tour.  They offer a wide variety of tours on bicycles (in my opinion, the best way to see Portland) that teenage girls would enjoy.   
http://www.travelportland.com/
 has a handy lodging finder.  I would suggest staying in Downtown.  I’ve stayed at Hotel Lucia before and really liked the location.  It was close to everything that is fun in downtown Portland, you can park your car at the hotel and walk everywhere.  It’s also a few blocks from McMenamins Crystal Ballroom which is one of my favorite music venues.  You might just check their schedule and see if there are any can’t-miss shows while you’re in town.  The Travel Portland website also has a lot of lodging deals and packages.

I hope this helps you with your trip planning.  If you have any more questions, drop me a line.

Happy travels!

Top Hikes in Oregon – AskOregon

Question: what are the top 20 hikes in oregon?

This is a tough question because there are so many “top” hikes.  I decided to answer this with the 20 best hikes based on what they are best for.  Check out the links that correspond with the hike and if you have further questions let me know

1. Best hike for kids – Sweet Creek Falls Trail (near Mapleton/ Central Oregon Coast)
2. Best hike for a scenic view – The Watchman Trail at Crater Lake National Park
3. Best waterfall hike – McKenzie River Trail (Central Oregon)
4. Best historic hike – Fort Stevens (Astoria, North Coast)
5. Best coast hike – Cape Perpetua (Yachats, Central Coast)
6. Best hike among the tallest peaks – South Sister (Central Oregon)
7. Best multi-day hike – Three Sisters Loop (Central Oregon)
8. Best snowshoe hike – Odell Lake Overlook (Central Cascades)
9. Best hike in Portland area – Eagle Creek
10. Best hike in Salem area – Silver Falls State Park
11. Best hike in Eugene area – Tire Mountain (Oakridge, Central Cascades)
12. Best hike in Bend/Central Oregon – Smith Rock State Park (Redmond, Central Oregon)
13. Best hike in Eastern Oregon – Steens Mountain
14. Best hike in Southern Oregon – Oregon Caves (Cave Junction)
15. Best challenge hike – Pacific Crest Trail from Ashland to Bridge of Gods in Hood River
16. Best day hike on the PCT – Rosary Lakes (Crescent, Central Cascades)
17. Best hike to pretend you’re Lewis or Clark – Tillamook Head
18. Best hike for hot springs – Umpqua Hot Springs (Southern Oregon)
19. Best hike for birding – Zumwalt Prarie Preserve (Enterprise, Northeast Oregon)
20. Best hike for people who are alter-abled – Oregon Garden

Happy Travels

Snowshoeing!

If you enjoy snowy landscapes, great exercise, warming shelters with wood stoves, then you will probably like snowshoeing.  This is my first year exploring Oregon by snowshoe and I am obsessed.  I’m beginning to find myself picking snowshoeing over snowboarding on my days off and asking myself why it took me this long to try this out.  Basically, if you can walk, you can snowshoe.  Trails tend to be well-marked and as long as you don’t have a penchant for Robert Frost’s less traveled roads, you can easily follow the trail. Most ski shops rent snowshoes at a fraction of the price of skis and snowboards (usually under $10 a pair).  Poles are an optional accessory.  I like the fitness benefits of using poles and the stability they provide on sketchy traverses.  Some other useful items are waterproof shoes/boots, gaiters (I saw some cool homemade gaiters at R.E.I.’s WinterFest), a map, layers of clothing, snacks, water and probably a Sno-Park Permit.  I rent my snowshoes in Oakridge at the Willamette Mountain Mercantile.  They have snowshoes for adults for $8/day and kids 10 and under are free.

There are hundreds of miles of trails in Oregon that are marked for snowshoeing/ XC skiing and hundreds more that are un-marked in the backcountry.  ODOT’s Sno-Park handbook is a good starting point for planning a snowshoe trip.  My trips have all been along Highway 58, east of Oakridge.

Gold Lake Sno-Park:  You have to start somewhere and this is a great place for beginners to try out snowshoeing.  There are two shelters in this area, the first one you come to is Westview Shelter.  This beautifully constructed shelter usually has a wood stove going and has a map for reference inside.  Continue on to the Overlook Trail which leads to a scenic panorama  of Odell Lake and Diamond Peak.  From here I turned around, however you can continue on along the Pacific Crest Trail to Pengra Pass and the other shelter before returning back to the trailhead along Abernathy Road. 

Salt Creek Falls/ Diamond Falls: The second tallest waterfall in Oregon is extraordinarily photogenic, especially in the winter when it is blanketed in snow.  The snowshoe hike to Salt Creek Falls is easy.  For more of a challenge, go past Salt Creek Falls and follow signs to Diamond Falls.  This trail is steep in parts and will get you closer to the caloric goal required to justify a post-hike fast food binge.  There are numerous scenic stops along the way, allowing you to snap photos and catch your breath.  The trail ascends and then descends returning you back to the bridge over Salt Creek.

Crater Lake: If the weather forecast for Crater Lake is partly cloudy to sunny, don’t think twice, GO!  You will not regret this decision.  I lucked out and visited Crater Lake on a beautiful blue-sky day.  In the winter, the only access to Crater Lake’s Rim Drive is via Highway 62, from the south.  Park at Rim Village and head out in a clockwise direction around the rim.  You can rent snowshoes at Rim Village and also grab a map.  If you visit on the weekend you can enjoy free snowshoe rentals and ranger-led tours. 

From the moment you step out of your car at Rim Village you are exposed to gorgeous views and scenic vantage points.  The trail is rated “more difficult” yet the first few miles are not technical, with just a bit of an uphill.  Try to arrive in time to catch the sunrise.  This will also give you the most amount of time to explore the trail with enough time to return before dark.  Lodging is available outside the park along Highway 62, or you can snow camp off trail (more details on camping/lodging available online).

Odell Lake: Snowshoeing the machine-groomed trail network at Odell Lake Lodge was quite the departure from the previous hikes.  In my opinion, the groomed trails weren’t as fun, a little too predictable and didn’t give me the same feeling of being on an adventure.  The flip-side is that they are easy to follow and very convenient if you are staying in one of the rental cabins.  The lodge houses a restaurant with breathtaking views of the lake and soul-satisfying hot cocoa.  There is a trail around part of the lake that is not groomed.  You can access this by following a XC ski trail along the road between Highway 58 and the lodge.  Keep your ears open as you approach the water, if it’s frozen, the wind over the top makes a very interesting sound. 

Rosary Lakes:  This snowshoe trail requires a bit more of a committment than the others.  Rosary Lakes sit about 4 miles from the PCT Trailhead at Willamette Pass Ski Resort.  Park at Willamette Pass, walk past the lodge, past Eagle Peak Accelerator and Sleepy Hollow and follow the signs.  From the trailhead you will begin climbing, and climbing, through a beautiful forest that teases you with obstructed views of Diamond Peak and Odell Lake.  Before long, you reach the first of three Rosary Lakes.  The other two lakes are not much further.  I turned around at the third lake and followed my tracks back out and down the mountain.  If it’s open, you can grab some warm food and drinks in the Willamette Pass Lodge.  The upstairs bar is a great place to relax and warm up.

Odell Lake Overlook

Too Much Bear Lake

Rosary Lake

Breaking trail

Odell Lake Groomed Trails

PCT

Crater Lake

Salt Creek Falls

Salt Creek Falls

Odell Lake Trail

Rosary Lakes PCT Sign

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June in the light

Crater Lake

Diamond Creek

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Odell Lake Overlook

Easy Hikes Away from the City in Oregon – AskOR

Question: What are the best places for nice, easy trail hikes that are not too close to the city in oregon?

Dear Travis-

Thanks for the great question.  I am the AskOregon expert on outdoor recreation and the Assistant Manager of the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Center, and these are my recommendations for easy hikes in Oregon away from the city.  Since Oregon is so rich in variety, I’ve included hike suggestions for northern Oregon, central Oregon to the coast, and southern Oregon as a sort of sampler platter into what the state has to offer.  I assume that by easy you mean, easy to find, well-maintained and signed, and good for hikers of all skill levels from kids to seniors.

To the east of Portland you can find endless options for easy hikes.  One of my favorites is the Eagle Creek Trail where you will pass half a dozen waterfalls like picturesque Punchbowl Falls (4.2 miles roundtrip). From Punchbowl Falls you can keep on hiking, but it will get steeper as you go, around the six-mile mark you will come across Tunnel Falls, a 120 foot waterfall that has a tunnel built through it.  If you feel up for the longer hike and elevation gain, it’s well worth the effort.
Southeast of Eagle Creek, on the other side of Mt Hood, is another great hike (3 miles round trip) that leads to Bagby Hot Springs.  The trail follows along the Collawash River through an old-growth forest of douglas firs and cedars.  This is a great hike for viewing wildflowers in the spring and rich fall colors in October and November.  You can reward yourself with a soak in the rustic hot springs bath house where the tubs are carved out of cedar logs, but be aware, swimsuits are rare.

The first two hikes can be crowded when the weather is nice.  If you want to get away from the crowds, go to the Mount Jefferson Wilderness and Canyon Creek Meadows (4.5 miles to the lower meadow).  This is one of the best easy hikes to high cascades wildflower meadows.  Blue lupine and red paintbrush peak at the end of July.  This trail leads you to a scenic viewpoint of Three Fingered Jack (7.5 miles round trip).  On the way back to the trailhead you will pass beaver ponds and waterfalls.

Central Oregon offers hikes of a different color – reddish brown.  There are tons of great easy hikes away from the city in the central portion of the state.  I am always amazed with the beauty around Smith Rock State Park.  The trails around the park are relatively easy.  Don’t worry though, If you get tired, there are many benches along the way to rest your legs and while you’re resting look up at the rocky cliffs and you’re almost guaranteed to see thrill-seeking rock-climbers defying gravity, Smith Rock is a world renowned climbing destination.

The McKenzie River National Recreation Trail is an all-season favorite of mine.  Stretching 26.2 miles from Clear Lake to McKenzie

Bridge, you can find a number of easy hikes along the way.  Sahalie & Koosah Falls are two spectacular waterfalls about half a mile apart.  You can park at either Sahalie Falls or Koosah Falls’ convenient trailheads right off Highway 126 and hike in a loop between the two falls (approximately 2.6 miles).  Continue west on highway 126 and take the turn-off for Trailbridge Reservoir.  From here, follow the

McKenzie River National Recreation Trail 1.5 miles to Tamolitch Falls.

Old lava flows have shaped the landscape of the McKenzie River Valley and part of the river flows underground only to re-emerge at Tamolitch Falls.  It’s brilliant blue water will amaze you and beg you to linger before hiking back to your car.

If you continue west on Highway 126 you will reach the Oregon coast.  A great, easy hike along the way is Sweet Creek Falls, just outside of Mapleton.  This 2.2 mile trail passes a dozen small waterfalls and is a favorite among kids who can play in the shallow water when it’s warm and collect fallen leaves in autumn.

To really get away from the city, you have to go to the southeastern corner of the state.  A notable easy hike here is Steens Mountain Summit.  This is the ninth tallest mountain in Oregon and arguably the easiest to climb.  The landscape is unlike any of the previously mentioned hikes.

Oregon’s natural beauty shines on all of these hikes.  Get to know the landscape and what shaped it and you will enjoy each of these hikes even more because every trail tells a story.

Cari la Ambassadora of Outdoor Adventure

Well it’s official, based on my knowledge of Outdoor Recreation in Oregon, I have been designated an AskOregon Ambassador.  I will be answering questions relating to this and hopefully getting opportunities to explore more!

Exploring the McKenzie River Valley

One of my favorite day trips out of Eugene is up highway 126, along the McKenzie.  Not only is it a beautiful drive, but there is something that excites me every season.  In June I look forward to riding my bike up Highway 242.  In August, the weather is perfect for a row boat ride on Clear Lake.  Its almost always a great time for a ride on my favorite part of the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail.  I love stopping at Takoda’s to endulge in their soup of the day, and I rarely skip a visit to Belknap Hot Springs.  My long-time friend, Amy and I had a chance to go on the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Geo Tour Mckenzie River edition for work. 

Geocaching is a big thing, with a cult-like following.  It seems easy enough… grab a GPS, plug in some coordinates and look under the leaves for a box.  With this misconception about geocaching we set out to find some caches!  The first stop we quickly realized that it isn’t so easy.  My phone was sending me the wrong way and the GPS an even different direction.  The clue, “yup in there” mocked me.  I decided to throw technology to the wind and just look for the damn thing.. so I tromped around in the leaves, ducking under branches, jumping over logs and then! ouch! something bit me… I looked down at my ankle and it was still there!  I swatted it off me and then ouch! my pinky!  At this point Amy thought I was crazy as I flailed about swatting yellow jackets off of me.  I started running back to the car and then OUCH! oh SH*T I realized they were in my sleeve.  I threw my jacket off and ran back to the car.  I was discouraged, bitten, and in pain (both physical and emotional).

I pulled myself together for the next stop – we went for the easiest one possible to rebuild our confidence.  With a short hike around Walterville Pond we found the cache!  We found the next one with relative ease and decided it was time to eat lunch at Takoda’s.

After lunch, we went for the cache at Blue Pool.  Tamolitch Falls aka Blue Pool is one of the natural wonders along the McKenzie River Trail.  To get there its a 1.5 mile hike/ 3 miles roundtrip beginning at the trailhead east of Trailbridge Reservoir.  It’s an easy hike, and dogs love it!  Our road dog, Sierra, ran all over the place.  We found the cache and were treated to a show when some European tourists stripped down and went skinny dipping in the chilly water.

On the way home we stopped at Belknap and paid $7 for an hour in the hot-springs pool.  It felt so good to warm up.

So yeah… geocaching… it’s hard and I need a better GPS before I go again.

Oakridge, Oregon – The Mountain Bike Capital of the Northwest

I packed the snowboard away in my garage and also the disappointment of a winter season that wasn’t fully capitalized upon.  So my passion for the mountains now turns to flowy singletrack and mountain trails.  With little preparation, other than some sporadic bike commutes, I hit the trails with Oregon Adventures  who shuttled us up to 3 different trail heads so that I could get a sampler-platter type downhill experience. You can go to a place like Whistler and ride the lift up and take different runs down each time.  When a ski lift isn’t an option you get a shuttle.  The nice thing about the shuttle is that you know the van and the guide are waiting for you at the end of the trail.  You can worry a little less about no one knowing you’ve gone missing, and focus on having uninhibited fun.

We did just that, we had the best uninhibited fun we could have.  We did the “Triple” which includes Flat Creek, Aubrey Mountain and Larison Rock.  Each trail astounded me with it’s natural offerings.  You would turn a corner and almost fall off your bike, not because the trail was rough, but because you couldn’t believe that something so beautiful could exist.  The nice thing is that these trails are virtually empty.  Unlike Whistler, you can stop and marvel at what you’re seeing without the fear of causing a chain-reaction crash.  Later on in the season I can see adding a hill climb to this so that I feel a little bit more deserving of the post-ride carbo load.

75 Years of Timberline Magic

Since I took up snowboarding in 2008, I have made it up to Mt Hood at least once a year.  About a month ago I went to Ski Bowl for lack of a better option.  You can have a good time there, but it pales in comparison to it’s neighbor across the way, Timberline.

From Eugene to Timberline Lodge it’s about a 3 hour drive.   If you factor in traffic and bad weather conditions it can be much much longer.  Luckily, when my co-worker and I headed out around 9am on Thursday morning the traffic and the skies were clear clear clear.

The drive takes you through the Willamette Valley to the outskirts of Portland, slowly through Boring, Oregon (yes, it’s a place) and through the cute town of Sandy on up highway 26.  Before you know it, you’re turning left up the windy road to the resort.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  It was warm (for Timberline in February), sunny and not too windy.  Not only was the weather great, but I could enjoy the perks of coming up on a Thursday, lower pricing ($50 for a 1pm-4pm ticket) and no crowds.

My companion for the day hung out in the historic Timberline Lodge which reaches a milestone of 75 years this year.  She found out that it has been around for longer, but they count 75 years from when it was purchased and made into the ski resort that it is.  While she enjoyed hot cocoa by the fireplace I hung out on the lifts with a cheesy smile on my face.

When I describe Timberline it’s almost romantic.  The curves, the feel, the firsts… They even have a run called the Magic Mile that takes you a mile above treeline for a euphoric ride down some of the best snow on the mountain.

What I discovered this trip was that the Magic Mile leads to a park area and on this particular day, without a crowd of ego maniacal teens and ironically cool hipster rippers, I could try jumps! 

My first jump attempt was PATHETIC.  I slowly rolled up to the lip with barely enough speed to go over the other side.  The second attempt was better and the third and fourth better yet.  It was addictive and it was a rush that I hadn’t felt in a while.  There is something that I am so addicted to about trying things like jumps, or going faster in the first turn of a hammer throw or rushing down a trail with my hands off the brakes.  It just makes me so happy when it works out and I land the jump, or launch an effortless throw, or sail my bike over rocks ruts and gaps where the speed I’m going is faster than my brain can say “you should be careful”.

No trip to Mt Hood would be complete without a stop at one of the carb-ivore restaurants along highway 26.  One of my favorites is Calamity Janes.  I love the decor and nothing satisfies the snow munchies like a milkshake and a burger.  They have dozens of varieties of burgers including one with marshmallow.  I didn’t go for that one but did enjoy my Teriyaki Pineapple burger.

Not so handi-capable…

Being a high performance recreational athlete is extraordinarily challenging when your foot constantly hurts and especially when it hurts while you’re doing your favorite things and not-so-favorite things (falling off a bike, kicking a rock the wrong way, you get the point).  So I decided to get my foot looked at by a podiatrist.  BTW if anyone is looking for a good podiatrist in Eugene, look no further than Dr. Dallegge at Oregon Medical Group.  Turns out I inherited the Harrison bunion (thanks Mom).  Dr D. said I could get it fixed and it wouldn’t hurt anymore and that’s what I did.  I got it fixed.  It’s not quite totally healed yet which is frustrating because I want to get out and go do stuff.  I can’t run, I can’t ride (mostly because it’s too cold) and I can’t go snowboarding (even though there is no snow yet).  So it doesn’t sound that bad, but it is.  I want to be free to do what I want.  I apologize to my friends for my grumpiness as I have no outlet for my energy.

So my immediate to-do-list is short:

1.  Regain normal foot function

2. Get outside and use foot

I’ve attached some pictures to gross people out.  I hope you’re not eating.  Enjoy!

Before

2 weeks Post-op

42 days post-op