First Round Valley Trip

I decided to just give myself off yesterday.  Today, I needed to get back at it and back on trails.  I wanted to run 10 miles and run somewhere different.  I have been meaning to get to Round Valley Reservoir in New Jersey for some time.  My dad kayaks there fairly often and then also have some trails.  The main trail, the Cushetunk Trail goes out 9 miles.  I wasn't going to go that far out.

The weather was a little tricky.  It was definitely cool, fall like weather.  The wind coming off the lake made it much cooler too.  Still, I was sweating some.  There were sections without a lot of tree cover, so that made it a little hotter.  The conditions bothered me a bit early on, but I felt better as the run wore on.  I wore a shirt and only just began to chafe by the end of the run.

Originally, I went to the first boat launch area.  Then, I saw no maps, so I went to the main area.  I easily found the Cushetunk Trail, right near the parking lot.  It is blazed red.  I took it out to start the run.

Early on, I was climbing a hill.  There was loose rock and I figured my footsteps must've been loud.  However, apparently this hiker never heard me and he leaped when I said "on your right."  I don't know why hikers don't seem to be more aware.

This early climb was tough.  My body didn't feel great and I was tired.  The trail wasn't smooth either.  Adding to the frustrating, my handheld was leaking water all over me.  I need to fix that.

This first mile is like a roller coaster.  It is up and down, up and down.  I didn't expect this run to be easy, because it is trail, however, I wasn't prepared for the hills.  That is for sure.  It was wearing on me early, even with an easy effort.  I was quite frustrated between that and my handheld issue.

I was hoping for a smoother trail, but oh well.  The one nice thing is that the trails were wide.  I didn't have to worry about any overgrowth.  That also made it fairly fast, as there wasn't a lot of wasted in and out.  There were some nice views of the lake in the beginning.  Then, I was climbing along the backside of a hill.

Somewhere around 1.5 miles, I began to go down and down.  There were man made stairs on this steep part.  I knew I wouldn't enjoy this too much on the way back.  I continued along.  I went to an open grass area below the dam.  They were drilling on the dam for some reason.

Next, it was time to climb some more.  Up and up I went.  I was exhausted and this was a very tough climb.  I survived it though and really didn't slow down too much.  I was taking it easy.

Finally, after flattening out for a little, I found the campground area.  I knew it was a rustic campground, but wow was I surprised.  First of all, it is 3 miles out from the main area.  You have to hike or boat everything in there.  Other than the posts, it is hard to even really notice the campsites.

I had thought about turning around, but the campground area was actually quite nice to run on.  It was very, very small crushed stone.  It was smooth and nice and soft.  That road was also wide and the trees in there were very tall.  You had some views of the lake too.  It was quite scenic and relaxing.

Even the campground area wasn't exactly flat.  It had some up and down to it as well.  I was low on water and saw water near a primitive bathroom, but the sign said to let the water run for a bit first.  I thought, "no thanks, I'm not that thirsty."  I continued on.

After some uphill and more downhill, I turned around at mile 4.  It was time to head back.  I had a lot of ascending ahead of me.  I figured that if I felt good, I'd get take another trail and run to mile 10.  If not, I'd stop back and my car at mile 8.

Going back through the campground was nice.  That is, until I got to the end of it.  It was a very steep ascent.  I was breathing super heavy and not too far from needing to walk.  I pushed through it though, once I saw the top wasn't too far off.

Then, I had some slightly rocky, but relatively flat parts to run along.  There was downhill until the grassy part below the dam.  It was good to get to miles 5 and 6. 

I knew there were rolling hills at the end of this route, but had forgot about the steps climb.  I took those again and it was tough.  It wasn't as difficult as I envisioned though.  I was breathing heavy, but made it up the hill.

The thing that was bothering me more than anything on the way back were the downhills.  They were taking their toll on my quads.  I took it easy and survived though.

With a little over a mile to get to my car, I came across and man and a woman and a dog.  They were carrying a ton of gear.  I guess they were hiking their stuff all of the way into the campground.  Good luck to them.  I had seen no one else in the mile of the campground that I was at.  I guess maybe they will be on their own.  I did see a couple deer and in fact, quite a few deer over the entire route.

I stopped to take photos several times.  Once was in the last mile of this first part.  There were some nice views along the lake.  Then, before I knew it, I was back to the parking area.  I wasn't ready to pack it in yet.

The short trail across from the parking lot was called the Pine Hill Trail.  I do like pine forests, so I thought maybe running there would be a good idea.  It actually kind of sucked, as the trail was largely bare and open.  I passed a woman and her dog.  The dog kind of jumped up at me.

There was some early slight up and down.  Then, it leveled off a bit.  Toward the end, it dropped down through a nice forest section.  I did like this part.  I figured that I wouldn't mind climbing back up so much.

I came out to a small dam that leads to the first boat launch.  I knew exactly where I was now.  I ran over the paved section of the dam.  At the other end, I turned around.  I was just under 9 miles at that point.

This was turning out pretty good.  I got back and saw a trail along the lake.  That looked much more pleasant than running up the hill.  I decided to take it.  I hoped it lead back to my car, but I wasn't 100% sure, but I thought I recalled that from looking at the map.

This section was chilly, next to the water.  It was singletrack and pretty smooth.  There were roots and rocks here and there, but it was neat.  I love singletrack.  There were views of the water too.  I went pretty far and the trail continued on.

I then came across the early hiker going the opposite way.  I assumed that he came from the parking area.  Then, I saw the woman and the dog again, so I knew somehow she got there from the other trail.  I continued on.  I figured this was the more round about way to get back to my parking area.

There were great open views, as I neared mile 10.  I really couldn't see the parking area until I was almost there.  I ran back to my car and to mile 10.25.  It was a good, productive run.  I had over 1,600 feet of elevation gain.  I wasn't expecting it to be that high.

I wasn't prepared for the elevation gain, but now I know for next time.  I look forward to running there again.  I wasn't crazy about the loose stone, but if I'm looking for a challenge, it is a good place.  It would be great for a pretty challenging long run too.  There is water if I really need it too.  That could be a good place to run in the summer, although they do charge a fee in the park.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm doing.  I have to work at night, so I need an afternoon run.  I'll probably just hit the pavement for an easy 10 miles.  I'm not crazy about it, but I don't have a lot of great options.

10.25 miles - 1:38:03 (9:34 pace)