January mini adventure: Hamilton Mountain

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Cedar on the way to the top of Hamilton Mountain 

Me: I wish I could retire early.
John (husband): You would be so bored.
Me: No, I wouldn't.
John: What would you do all day?
Me: I would run all day with Cedar and become a dirtbag. 
John: <rolls his eyes> 
Dog water break

 This was a conversation we had my first week off during the holidays. I had not planned on taking 2 weeks off during the holidays, but I was on the verge of burnout at work and I knew for me and the team, I should probably take a few weeks off. Taking a few weeks off of work isn't foreign to me, I do it a few times a year and travel some amazing places. But taking a few weeks off and not having anything planned is not something I typically do. 
The Gorge


 The holidays filled in a few of the blanks and I was hoping to do some snowboarding and snowshoeing during the days I wasn't running with Susan. That plan worked out perfectly the first week, but the second week it was pretty windy at Mt Hood Meadows so I decided to forego snowboarding. With Susan out of town and my husband working after New Years day, I was left to figure out what to do on my own. To be completely honest I woke up on January 3rd and thought maybe John is right, I would be bored if I wasn't working. Well that thought lasted about as long as it takes to type it. I knew most of the Gorge was snow free, so I loaded up Cedar in the car and headed out to go running. 
Table Mountain and Mt. Adams from Hamilton Mountain 

We ended up at Hamilton Mountain. I had planned on doing the 8 mile route described in the William Sullivan 100 hikes book, but the weather was so nice and we were feeling great that we extended the run. We ran some of the horse trails, which I was pretty sure was part of the Beacon Rock 50k course. We ended up doing close to 12 miles. 

 After the run we headed to Hood River for pizza and dog treats. It's debatable if we'd ever be considered dirtbags, but we did have fun just taking off without much of a plan and running and hanging out. 

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