mckenzie river 50k preview...or not

My family had this camping trip planned for nearly a year. I was really excited to be heading to Olallie Lake, which sits high up on Mt Hood - so close, in fact, that the Pacific Crest Trail runs right through the area. I envisioned a nice long run on the trail, exploring a new section I had never seen before.

Except that it turns out that our reservations were not at Olallie Lake, they were at Olallie Campground, about 50 miles to the south on the McKenzie River. Thankfully we figured this out before we showed up at the lake...

My initial disappointment that I wouldn't be able to explore the PCT was replaced with the realization that we would be camping right on the McKenzie River Trail - which I will be running in 3 weeks. I could learn part of the course and see what kind of trail I was in for.

Except that our campground was on the other side of the river.

Doh.

Right through those trees we could watch mountain bikers and runners tooling by all day long. Sigh.

So basically I had no preview of my upcoming run at all.

Not even a run to stretch out the legs.

At least I managed to get a few nice shots of some of the more beautiful spots in the race.

Clear Lake. We will run all the way around this lake. The color of the water is amazing.

Sahalie Falls. We were on the waterfall trail - the race trail runs along the far side. Notice a theme?

Even this late in August, the water is roaring through here.

I hope there aren't stairs on the proper trail!

The course map for the McKenzie River 50k.