Day 4,031 —a Muddy Path—

 

I was going to meet my friend Jamie at 8 a.m. to go on a walk, so I wanted to get there relatively early to get a run-in first.

I was thinking that Jamie and I would walk far enough to hit the river and turn around from there.

I started running around 6:20, so I figured I could get around 7 in. I was still debating if I wanted to do more after walking, but I figured I might be antsy to get back home after being gone for a few hours.  

The trailhead was deserted, and I started out quickly, remembering how much I loved this path. It was overcast, but I didn’t think it was going to rain anytime soon. It started getting muddy quickly, and the sections before the train tracks were filled with treacherous wet spots. When I made it past the train tracks and turned left, I couldn’t make it any further.

This part is usually flooded, but there is a route to get around the water by the drainage pipe on the left. This time both sections were completely underwater. The only part that looked promising was a tree that had fallen, but it was relatively thin, so I didn’t think it looked promising. I took some pictures and thought how it would have been easier with my rain shoes, but I didn’t bring them with me.

I backtracked and did the castle wood loop instead. It was still muddy, but it was annoying I couldn’t make it to the river. When I got back to the top, I ran some in Lone Elk and decided that it would be easier to walk there instead of trying to go back down the trail.

I told a guy at the top about the flooding, and he decided to go to the other side and hike there. I told a different guy as I was leaving after walking, and he said he planned to run right through it. I wished him luck but wondered if he didn’t understand what I meant. I don’t think it could have been deeper than up to my shorts, and I was tempted to go for it, but it was starting to get cold. Maybe I will come back tomorrow with my rain shoes.