Upon arriving at work it became obvious that I wouldn't be heading up Razor Hill as the mist and light rain would have turned the route's normally treacherous descent into a long, muddy, slippery-dip death dive... Even in the Brooks.
So instead I hatched a plan to head south and run the first half of the High Junk Peak Trail. A rough mark-up on Google Earth told me the distance would be around 14-15km... really stretching the boundaries for a lunchtime run, but my mind was already made up.
Heading out along the roads, I'd forgotten how much uphill you face on the roads before the trail starts, but altitude is altitude and I wasn't complaining about gaining it on the roads instead of stairs on the trail.
After the initial steep climb, the trail flattens out and normally shows you the next major hill. Not today (there should be a large hill in the middle of this panorama!), as the low clouds that encased the entire region made the trail feel isolated, remote and fantastical.
Only on cresting each hill was the next gradually revealed
Beautiful sweeping panoramas of Clearwater Bay dotted with lush islands to the left here... Normally
The white-out allowed me to focus on the delightful, winding, and at times, rocky trail.
Despite this amount of fog, the ground was mostly dry, a good thing on rocky sections!
Unfortunately my head wasn't only physically in the clouds and I almost almost rolled my ankle through a rocky section and 5 minutes later dropped my camera! Good thing the Pentax is built tough. It suffered a small scratch on the back LCD but still functions perfectly!
Heading down the hill and over a small stream
Bamboo forests
Hitting the road, I began making my way back to UST. A village style house along Clearwater Bay Rd.
All in all, about 55mins of running along the roads to earn 25mins on the trail, but that's not such a bad equation. If I could get a third of all my running done on trails, I'd be very very happy. Unfortunately, it appears that the more time I spend running along beautiful dirt tracks, the less I'm content with pounding pavement. I'll just have to enjoy it while I have the privilege.
Dreaming of those winding trails
~ Joe
P.S. I'm still looking for other contributors to this blog. Articles about runs, gear, training or anything related are all welcome, even if it's just a once off contribution!
No comments:
Post a Comment