In this week’s episode Doug finds trails after a rest period and Mathias submits is run to the Fastest Known Time database. Philipp Reiter’s Alpfronttrail project is discussed and the future of the American shopping mall decided.

…smoke on the water, a fire in the sky…
Doug discovers backcountry camping bliss on, not off ‘the beaten path’ and Mathias finally knocks off his biggest project to date: The Cushman 6: 6 peaks in one, probably-never-before-completed run along the mountains above Lake Cushman in the Olympics. These big projects deserve a big show, and this one lives up to it.

It’s smoke and fire season in the west and everything is burning…. ugh, your favorite podcast hosts had plans, and great plans for one more big adventure run before the winter. We also dive deep into the questionable inspiration of one of the most popular trail races in the world. Deep stuff, as always.

Heading to Lena Lake, Upper Lena Lake or The Brothers? You’ll need to change your plans. A press release sent out by Olympic National Park and Forest is letting people know that this popular hiking destination on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula is now closed to hiking due to a forest fire that has been burning since August 16th. This area was also closed in 2018 for forest fires. 

Doug gets almost blown off a mountain top and Mathias sneaks in a mid-week climb of the beloved Mt. Ellinor. And he find goats. Yes, there are still there, as well as photographers or at least people with camera gear. Oh, and the trail is getting spruced up, which is very nice, thank you Mt. Rose Trail Crew. Let’s get some more mountains in before snow falls, shall we?

Recent Wonderland running achievements have us all in awe. You ran how fast around that awesome mountain of ours? Speaking of mountains and running, there’s a lot of that happening right now, and we’re all here for it. Also, a long conversation about that post-adventure run fast food visit. What’s your poison? Let us know via the usual channels.

Happy 104th Birthday, National Park Service. I am so happy for you.

Those words seem weak, lacking my true feelings in a commonly stated platitude. Sure, I could add an exclamation point, but even that comes up short. “Thank you” means nothing, compared to what you have done for me. You have changed my life; you redirected a lost soul with your majestic beauty and endless adventures. You let a dreamer have a place to dream and gave a kid who felt more at home walking alone in the woods a place to rekindle a relationship with his soul. You have taken away stresses and pain and replaced them with tear-jerking panoramas more stunning than any picture can capture. You saved me from a life of regret and pain and mistakes of my 20’s; you let me blaze a new trail for my life, passing through the purest wilderness in existence. You are my soul mate and it might be fucking cheesy to say it, but I don’t care. I owe you my life, National Park Service, and nothing I can do or say will ever repay you for what you mean to me. 

Jason Hardrath joins the show to share his journey to 100 FKTs. Calling in from Yosemite after just having completed the insane and awe-inspiring ‘Yosemite Picnic’ he shares his thoughts on how our adventures and physical exercise shape us as people and make us better humans.

Olympia doesn’t have a great reputation around the state. From Spokane to Bellingham, and Vancouver to Ocean Shores, the capitol of Washington State is known mostly for politics and a somewhat drab downtown scene. Outsiders might quickly stop by on trips to more exotic locations, but for most, Olympia is skipped over. Even some locals avoid downtown Olympia, but those who decide to pass over this small town at the southern end of the Puget Sound are missing a spectacular annual event. At the end of August and first few weeks of September, the waters around Olympia become full of salmon, migrating home to spawn and die. While this event happens in most cities around the state, Olympia is one of the few that offers a stunning viewing area where you can watch salmon, seals and the tides, all from an overlook above the water. 

Doug takes a deep dive into the usefulness of the Strava subscription and gives us an update on his new running belt. Mathias talks about gondolas and UTMB, of course. Peak Week is happening.
Neither of them talk about IPAs.