Marsh Creek State Park 1-22-17

It's still incredibly foggy outdoors. Yesterday's mist was so thick the sun could not burn it off. What follows is supposed to be high winds and heavy rain but we managed to get our hike in ahead of all that at Marsh Creek State Park today. Although still foggy it felt warmer today than yesterday.

I've not hiked here before. I know I've driven into the park once or twice and I may have even picnicked here many many moons ago but this was a new hike location. I saw a FB Post by the state park system earlier in the year encouraging folks to hike in a state park at least once a month. Given my proximity and love of Ridley Creek State Park, the adventure for me will be to find different ones. this is one. It's only a 39 (Sunday) minute drive from my house so it is a bit surprising that this is the first time.

Freya, Mike and I took the yellow trail out which heads up in the trees just past the parking lot of Dorlan Mill Road. Here is a link to the trail map.  The yellow trail meanders around the woods to the left of the dam. It was very muddy. And as the icon on the trail map suggests, it was evident this section is popular with mountain bikers. We did not meet any today. Still there were a lot of people out in with their dogs.

HST Hike: Scotts Run Lake to Northside Road

..... and UP to Critter hill. That is significant after a 9 mile hike.

Today's hike started at Scotts Run Lake at French Creek State Park (the start and finish of last year's MLC 50 SOS). On the way there I picked up Alexis at her house which is very near our planned end point. We left my car at Scotts Run Lake and began the hike back to Northside Road. Today was a gray December day; temps in the low 30s and cloudy. I had propped my sunglasses on top of my hat before leaving but never put them on during the hike. Despite the gray the hike was anything but dreary. I enjoyed the chance to catch up with Alexis and be out on the trails. I did not get out last weekend. I had to work on Saturday and had family stuff and errands to do on Sunday. I did nothing at all during this week either and I did wonder if 9 miles was too ambitious. But I'm home now (duh) had a shower and I feel pretty good. And even after the hour long ride home getting out of the car was not bad. I could tell I had hiked but did not wobble (or fall down!)

The Horse-shoe trail takes off from Scott Run Lake by going across the lake then taking a large counter clockwise loop in the woods around the edges of the park on the other side of the lake. You can see the map my Garmin drew here. After passing along Hopewell lake the trail enters into Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. If you look closely at the Garmin map you can see the blip of a detour we took to visit the restrooms at the visitor center and have a snack. It was here that we encountered some runners who commented on the thoroughness of the blaze orange we both wore. The runners had some flashes of it but not full coverage. I commented that we were not moving as fast as they were. They laughed but I felt like they wished they were wearing more. We did not encounter any hunters directly this time but we could hear the gunshots at different times today.

After Hopewell the trail is mostly in woods again except for a gravel road section called Green Lane. It was on Green Lane that we saw a pile of junk. It wasn't garbage trash but rather personal belongings of sorts. I thought it looked like someone had moved recently and didn't have room in their new place so they dumped the stuff. Whatever the reason it's wrong and sad. Alexis found an address on something in the pile and planned to report it to the park office when we got back.

Photo does not do Alexis'
driveway justice. It winds and
climbs quite a bit

We reached Northside Road and headed for Alexis' house. She and her family live on a hill.To get to the house from the street one must climb a long winding driveway. A cruel joke after a long hike after about 10 days of inactivity. This was the only part of today's miles that I felt out of breath. Alexis runs this for hill-work. I'm very much in awe of her!

According to the guide book it's about 9 trail miles from Scotts Run to Northside Road. My Garmin and Alexis' Strava app on her phone were about a mile apart most of  the way. My guess is that reality is somewhere in between.I left the Garmin running during the stop at Hopewell and still we averaged a really good pace. A great day on the trails and now I have to try to keep some workout momentum going.

With today's section I've completed just under 40 miles of the HST from Valley Forge to French Creek State Park. Only 100 or so more to go! :)

The Long and Winding Road of a Weekend

Very little of what I expected actually happened this weekend. That is not a bad thing it's just a fact.

I had the day off work on Friday to go to the doctor for my treadmill test. That was planned and I'm happy to say all is well and doc was happy to clear me for any and all activity after that. I was so excited after that I accepted an invitation to join Misery Loves Company on a trail run on Saturday. I spent the rest of the day running errands and odd tasks "knowing" that after the trail run Saturday I would be wanting to lay low until my shift at Back on My Feet 20 in 24 with Tootsie from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

HA! Goes to show what I 'know'. On Friday afternoon we received messages that BoMF and the City decided it was best to cancel Saturday and make the event a 12 hour run on Sunday only from 7 am to 7 pm. The weather was awful all week and was expected to peak on Saturday with severe thunderstorms rolling through in the evening. I think it was a wise decision but there are some comments floating around FB that there is more to this than what is being said since this event has always taken place in hot, humid weather. It's summer in July after all. I don't recall the severe thunderstorm, high wind threat in past year though. As it turned out the storms did roll through around 10 or so shutting down the Electric Run 5k and delaying the start of the Taylor Swift concert at the Linc.

What's Next?

Once again conjuring up my inner "Josiah Bartlett". :) (Miss that show!)

In 2013 I planned to complete a spring marathon, a century ride and a half marathon. The last two in the same weekend. HA! Life sure has a way of humbling a person doesn't it? It's all good. I learned a lot about me and my body in these past two months; and I'm not done.

So the marathon didn't happen. The bike ride won't either. I toyed very briefly with the idea of doing a shorter distance but bagged that pretty quickly. I haven't put in any significant bike miles in over three months so I have no idea where I'm starting from. I notified the MS folks yesterday and will volunteer for the ride instead. :)

I've also decided that I won't be doing the Ocean City half either. I'll be in Ocean City on September 29th, I'm just not running. I love OC and the race. I'll cheer on my friends and a few hundred random strangers instead. A good time will be had by all!

I've decided instead to take full advantage of this opportunity I've been given to reboot.

St Peter's Village

Today I drove out to St. Peter's Village in Chester County to explore the trails there. I can't believe I've lived here as long as I have and didn't know this was here. Yesterday I selected a 30 mile radius using this cool mapping tool. I can't remember where I was introduced to this tool. Probably in someone's blog or on Facebook. It's very useful and it is how I found this village and trails. My camera battery was shot so there are no photos. I need to check into that as it should not have been used up already. Annoying but now I have an excuse to go back so I can show you what I saw.

Not that I need one. Today was a great day. After a week + of daily summer thunderstorms and humidity today started out humid but burned off quickly. I arrived about 10:15 and walked the roughly block and a half that constitutes the town first. There is a bakery, an ice cream parlor and an 'antique' arcade. Antique because it has no electronic games that most kids play today. It's mostly pinball games that I grew up playing. (We had one in the basement of our house for a time too). There is also an Inn and I think we should go back there for dinner sometime. It sits along the creek (as does the whole town). The creek was especially rapid today due to all the rain we've had. It sounded glorious and had I brought dry clothes to change into I would have been sorely tempted to jump boulders and risk getting soaked. I had errands to run on my way home though and didn't want to be in the Acme smelling like a drowned rat. Next time for sure!

Next I wandered over the creek to check out the trails.