Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday it was chilly with blowing snow. Yesterday it wasn't too terribly cold (by my standards - it is winter, after all!) but there was a roughly -20 degree windchill dropping effective temperatures down into the sub-zero levels. And with rain coming tomorrow - today I had to get out on my snowshoes.
I'd been planning to hit some trails up in Thacher Park - never been up there when there was snow covering the ground - so that's where I headed this afternoon. Imagine my dismay when I saw a sign saying "Park Closed" on the way in... as I drove through the park it was easy to see why, since the recent ice storm left the picnic areas along the escarpment looking rather like someone had set off a series of bombs. After a little consideration I decided I could go run at Five Rivers... but just for the heck of it I headed up to Beaver Dam Road first, to see if the pull-off near the end of the old Paint Mine road had been plowed. And, happy day, it had! So I parked there, geared up, and hit the trails.
Started out by crossing the road and heading up the hill to the park boundary, along what used to be a section of the Long Path going all the way up to Roemer's High Point before a local landowner rescinded permission for the trail to cross his property. Trudged up the hill, about half a mile to the top, along a path that had obviously been packed down by skiers. At the top they'd even made a jump - crazy! No trees down along the way, but a large one fell near the shelter at the top of the hill, just missing it. Lucky, that. After gazing longingly at the now-closed trail to the High Point, I headed back down the hill. Needless to say the trip down went a lot faster than the plod up!
Back at the car I ditched my fleece jacket, gloves, and hat in favor of some lighter gear... I'd pretty well cooked during that first mile, so I hoped I'd be working hard enough for the rest of the run to keep warm enough. Climbed over the snowbank and found myself on a snowmobile track - much easier than plowing through unpacked snow, though I still ended up walking a lot until I reached the downhill sections - those were fun running!
At the bottom of the long hill I left the snowmobile track and followed a set of ski tracks for a good while... not much running, other than one downhill stretch. It's funny - I've run that trail multiple times during the Indian Ladder 15k in the summer, but it looked totally unfamiliar today. Finally found myself back on the snowmobile track, and then had another long downhill to run which dropped me out about halfway up the old Paint Mine road.
At which point I decided I'd been enjoying running downhill, so I headed down the old road toward the Paint Mine picnic area... knowing full well I'd have a long uphill slog to get back to the car. But that's what's going to make my legs stronger, right? Reached the bridge across the stream and found a fallen tree blocking the road just beyond that... fortunately that's where I'd been planning to stop anyways. Paused briefly to enjoy the partially frozen-over stream rushing under the bridge, and then began the walk back up the hill. The snowmobile track definitely made that easier than it would have been otherwise. I took a short break to walk to the ridge overlooking the beaver pond (no beavers in sight, I imagine they're all snug in their lodge) and another break to watch a group of chickadees eating sumac fruit. While I was doing that I also heard and caught glimpses of two nuthatches.
Then the hills were over and all that was left was the mostly level run the rest of the way back to the car... a lot tougher than I would have preferred, with race season just around the corner, but with luck my legs will get stronger quickly and my endurance will increase before we get too far into the series. Though that will mean my getting off my backside and out the door a lot more than I have over the last month or so.
JMH
