Last Chance
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Last Chance Trail Run & Pancake Breakfast info
Highland Forest trail map
Each year in mid-December the Syracuse Chargers Track Club puts on a fun run and pancake breakfast at Highland Forest Park near Fabius. The run course is a little over 8 miles along the main hiking trail, unless the snow is too deep, in which case the park roads are used instead. The descriptions from the info page and application form say it all...
Run on beautiful snowy, icy trails. Fall down and get up. Step in ice water streams that have no safe crossing. Climb over, under and around fallen trees. This run is not for everyone. It is cold and the footing is perilous. It is the kind of run that appeals to people who like weirdness. You are allowed to run, walk, skid, slide, wade, struggle and climb the trail. You may freeze. The trail is rough and even dangerous unless you run and walk sensibly. But no matter, pancakes, all you can eat, are waiting.With a description like that, how could I resist?
Ann and I left Syracuse a little after 7 AM, for a 40 minute drive through the snowy countryside to Fabius and Highland Forest. We arrived at the park and made our way up the hill to the Skyline Lodge, a beautiful building high on a hill overlooking the valley. Checked in, got the directions for the run ("Stay on the main hiking trail - follow the orange markers") and then geared up complete with Yaktrax to try and maintain some traction on relatively packed snow. Since this a "start whenver you want between 8 and 9:30" fun run, I headed out by myself, watching the small group of runners who started a bit before me disappear off down the trail.
After only a few hundred feet, it became clear that the snow was too uneven, and I was risking a blown knee or two... so I headed back to the car for my snowshoes. Once I had those on, I set out again, and immediately found the footing to be much less precarious. The folks running that path in just shoes are definitely much better trail runners than I am!
The path took me through the woods, up and down some fairly easy hills at first, and over a number of bridges. After a while I crossed a road and then the fun began - the trail became much more winding, and after going up and down some fairly steep hillsides the trail dropped down into a valley. All very pretty and scenic and peaceful, but tough going. Along the way I was passed by several runners who had started after me, and at one point one fellow caught up with me and we took a brief break to figure out where we were on my trail map.
A little over an hour into the hike/run, I came to an intersection where what was called the Crossover Trail left the main trail on a shortcut back to the lodge. I did the math and realized that I was looking at about 4 hours altogether if I tried to do the entire main trail (with no guarantee that I'd even finish.) So despite wanting to do the entire run, I headed off on the Crossover Trail, with the intention of jumping back on the Main Trail just under 2 miles from the end of the run.
Unfortunately, I didn't count on the fact that no one had bailed at that point, so I needed to break trail along the Crossover Trail... which was essentially all uphill. So I had a long, challenging slog, first along a power line right-of-way, and then along a trail through an evergreen forest. It was tough going, but I stuck with it and eventually found myself back on the Main Trail with a more runnable path (ie. packed down by other folks.) And since I was near the highest point in the park, I had lots of downhill to look forward to!
Getting closer to the lodge also meant that I started seeing other people again... 1st several snowshoers heading out on the trail in the opposite direction, and then several runners and snowshoe runners who passed me as we got closer to the finish. Ran through some very pretty sections where the trees and bushes were coated with snow - a real winter wonderland! Also had some nice downhill stretches.
One section of trail was tough going, between the downed trees and water running along the trail (wet snowshoes + snow = ice balls in the cleats; not fun!) There was also one point where the trail branched and seemed to go in two directions at once. Though my map said the untraveled branch was the shorter route back to the lodge, I opted for the route which had obviously been run already rather than breaking more trail - the best choice I suspect!
The run wrapped up with a short section retracing the route out at the start. Pretty easy running, other than my legs being tired. I found Ann playing in the snow with some of the kids, retrieved my keys, and changed into dry clothes. And then it was time for pancake goodness!
All in all, I think I probably covered about 4.4 miles of trail... not what I was hoping to do, but then I wasn't planning on this being a snowshoe run (but I'm glad I was prepared for that anyway!) I also discovered that Accelerade freezes in interesting ways... apparently the soy protein gels and the drink gains a unique consistency...
Highland Forest is a gorgeous park, and I definitely want to visit there again... there's a race there in May (the Highland Forest 1-2-3, covering 10, 20, or 30 miles, mostly on the same trails as today's fun run) but that's typically the same weekend as the Rochester Spring Classic Duathlon and the Soapstone Half Marathon, so I may end up settling for going there just to get in a run or possibly some mountain biking.
Next up: originally I had thought this would be my last running event for 2007, but now I may be doing the Last Run 5k in Albany at the end of December... and there's also the possibility of the I Love Woodford snowshoe race that same weekend...
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 299.1 mi, 69 hr 23 min
Cycling 72.2 mi, 5 hr 15 min
Snowshoe 35.7 mi, 11 hr 30 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT
