Saturday, October 23, 2010

Trail Diary 10.16.10: Ashokan High Point--how to run 9 miles and take forever

The plan:  Run up Ashokan High Point, in recent years a lollipop trail with some nice running over the top of High Point, around the sweet part, before coming back down the stick.  Not long, but close to home.

The reality: Nine miles isn't long.  Except this day.  Nice but rocky herd path for much of the stick.  Goes up gently, never got a groove on.  Sharp left at 2.7 miles, pass the junction with the sweet leg return, then...up.  False summit after false summit.  Every one a boulder climb.  Very cool.  Eventually, up top.  The view is, well, nice.  Nothing that special.  But the run over the top, through fields of mountain laurel and open woodlands--that was nice.  A long downhill stretch that got a little "scree-ey" at times and a bit annoying.  And then, back to the stick...ad the groove and flow finally kicked in.  The perfect downhill pitch--not so steep as to be un-runnable, but steep enough to hammer, and the rocks were just right to demand that laser focus but not be dangerous. 

Nine miles in 2:11.  Ok, so I'm not Anton Krupicka.  But the fast last miles made for a great "back at the car" feeling.  And hey, it's another trail done.  What more could a person ask for?  (Don't answer that...)

Run it again? Sure, why not.  Actually a decent little run.

2 comments:

  1. Any run out on the trails, no matter the distance, is better than not getting out at all. So awesome that you have so many new places to "discover".

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  2. If you're not Anton, then I'm no Jim Porter. I was done in around 2:15. How much water was up there when you did it? My experience was about 7 miles of several inches deep stream-bed. Loads of runoff. Keeping the feet dry wasn't even an option. Great trail all things considered, and it was, as you described, quite runnable. Let's do it together sometime, yeah? Tchau.

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