It's our yearly tradition to run Wildwood from one and to another during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which is usually in between our birthdays. This year, however, the weather was awful and we just weren't feeling it... so we postponed til the next weekend.
When the next weekend came around, Ann had just got back from a conference in Las Vegas, and we postponed again.
Then there was snow, twice, then Ann was in Michigan, then it was Christmas... and finally, we had a day when everything aligned.
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| Festive bird feeders that look like donuts (chocolate, pink, and rainbow sprinkles) |
We left our houses at 7am, met at the Newberry Road trailhead, and left my car there. John dropped us off at the zoo end, and we started around 8. And proceeded to get lost almost immediately! It's been a long time-- probably since
last year's end-to-end-- that we've run this section of the park, so we're nowhere near as familiar with it.
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| The sun peeks out |
I used Google Maps to help us get back on track, and then we were on more familiar ground. It was amazing to see the damage our two snow & ice storms have done: downed trees, ripped-up root balls pulling away the trail, masses of limbs that must be carefully picked through. The amount of destruction is surprising.
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| It's not the tree trunks we have to climb over, but the mess of smaller branches that really slows us down |
The first half of our run was nice and clear, with some sun peeking through the trees. Then we ran into fog that was at times very dense, and it felt cold and damp. Beautiful in its own way, but not uplifting like the sunshine.
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| Many of these massive holes where the roots of fallen trees have pulled away chunks of the trail |
Ann had us stop, get something to eat, and walk while we ate every 5 miles. Since she was tired from two days in a row of snowboarding, and I wasn't in top form myself, these breaks were something to look forward to. They also gave us a chance to work on our nutrition and fueling, something that was my downfall at CCC and I plan to work on in the coming year.
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| Sunbeams cut through the fog |
Overall, it took us about an hour longer than last year, which seems par for the course for 2016. It was a great way to end a year that's had many ups and downs: taking it easy and enjoying the time spent together on the trail we know and love best.
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| Two eras of signage |
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| Foggy and near the end |
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| At the Newberry trailhead end |
Awesome tradition. Looking into doing this this year. Glad to know I'm not the only on that gets off track on that end of Wildwood!
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