Yakima Skyline Rim run

"The trails, sunshine, flowers and hundreds of miles are calling me. Running has taken me to some of the most beautiful places in the world."

--Shalane Flannagan, elite distance runner & member of the 2016 USA women's Olympic marathon team, from her Instagram post on April 30th 

Shalane really hit the nail on the head. I had to put her quote here with the pictures from my breathtaking weekend run because she posted it the same day I ran on the Yakima Skyline Rim trail. I can't believe we've lived one hour from this trail for five years and never discovered it until this spring. On Saturday, I drove an hour and parked on the edge of a rutted dirt road outside of Selah, WA. I strapped on my hydration belt, slid on my sunglasses, and started jogging up the dusty road. It was the same road that we drove up to do our wildflower hike two weeks ago. It was two miles up the dusty rutted road through grass and wildflower-perfumed air from my parking spot to the trailhead. Then it was another mile up the rocky steep trail to the actual Yakima Skyline Rim trail. Three miles of UP, UP, UP hill later, I emerged onto the glorious backbone of the Yakima Valley. I turned left and ran another mile-plus to see what I could see. That's when the magic really started happening. I'm finding that I can't get enough of these big bare hills and the vast endless sky.  

 Hello, Yakima River.

 [balanced my phone on a rock for this picture]

 Hello, Selah and Yakima.

 On the horizon: left--Mt. Adams, right--Mt. Rainier

I ran 9 miles through thousands of yellow flowers. I kept stopping to drink in the beauty and snap inadequate pictures on my phone. My total running time was 1 hour 51 minutes, but I was up there for 2.5 hours. During the course of that nine miles, I gained 2,000 feet in elevation--sore legs! It was blissful, beautiful solitude up there though--I didn't want to leave.