New Trail Adventure

Showed up at our meeting place to see Nicole had 2 huge trail maps and let me tell you she was pumped to get at them.  I must have had an idea this was coming as I went out last night and bought a new  headlamp.  It was nice to see R and G join us on this fine crisp morning.

Half hour or so later we arrive at the Stables of Birds Hill  parking lot and are greeted by the sound of a rooster crowing. We find the trail entrance easily, even in the dark.  Spotting the bear sign at beginning of trail,  I make a mental note never to run here alone in the summer.

The trail is nice and wide.  Nicole, R and G  have settled in nicely up ahead and there is lots of conversation at this point.  The temperature at this early part of the run is somewhere between 0 to -4 Celcius  but there isn't any snow on the ground yet. We start off with a 4 mile loop as R has to get back to her family in the city as she had some event  to get to.  This was her first trail run and she said she loved it. You always remember your first and I suspect you know right away that you either love or hate it.

After saying goodbye to R,  we head out onto another trail to do a 14k loop.  The previous trail was dry so it was a surprise to find a bunch of huge puddles on this route.  How big does a  puddle have to be before it is no longer a puddle anyway?  There was no way to keep the feet completely dry with all the water but we  did pretty well.   We had just a little dampness in our shoes and vibrams.  It is a good reminder  that we will need  a backup plan for the colder weather.  We discuss varying options, one of which is wearing mukluks and carrying thick plastic bags in our packs so we can slip them on  if we come across surprise wet areas.   At this point the temperature has warmed up a bit, but not enough to stay warm if we stopped.

 There were plenty of well marked signs to keep us on the proper trail.  Still, I managed to veer off onto this other trail as the trees are what had my attention.  Thanks to G for getting me back on track.  This got us talking about getting lost and  Nicole mentioned  that she had her compass with her, but  left it in the car along with the food.  We carry on and G eventually pulls ahead and settles into her faster pace.

We came across this lookout.   If you look closely you might be able to see Nicole and G waving.  I tell them I'll go up next time....cuz we are so coming back again and again to discover all the trails.

In total we ran almost 13 miles and my energy was good for the first time post pneumonia. It turned out to be a  great day for a run!