AM- 6 easy. Family is out of town, so lots of trail mileage the next 2 evenings. PM- Drove to Richards Hollow for a nice trail run. Got started a bit late- 7:30 or so. Quite a nice trail- the first 2 miles climb 1400 ft, but then it flattens out in a nice meadow, with low mountains on either side and a meandering stream. The next 4.7 miles climb only a net 1100 ft, though there is a lot of undulating. I made it to the road at the top (6.7 miles, 72 minutes = 10:45 avg pace) and had hurry down to not get caught in the dark (47 min = 7:00 avg pace down). Not a single person on the trail the whole time, though I did startle lots of deer that were eating at dusk, including some nice bucks. Lots of mosquitos to eat me, plus other bugs that wanted to suicide kamikaze-style into my mouth and eyes (ouch). Easy pace, but nice run. Added a bit on the road at the end to make it 14 miles even in 2:07:28, with 4000 ft climbing and equal amount descending. Good start to the week. I enjoy this trail, though not as much as Jardine... partly because you have to drive almost 4 miles on a rough dirt road, which is very hard on my poor Toyota Tercel. Finally got home after 10 pm for dinner. Cody, for the record, the trail crosses the stream 18 times in the first 4.8 miles (before the junction), including 5 times in .25 mile. Although a few of the crossings were dry. And there are 9 more stream/water crossings on the Elbow, meaning 27 total water crossings! Each way! But the stream is low enough I never got more than my toes wet. A few photos for enjoyment- the first is the meandering stream and singletrack: Nice open meadow for running A very impressive beaver dam: The builder and proprietor of said dam. He enjoyed loudly splashing his tail to startle me:
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