Big Pocono State Park Climb

I ran at Big Pocono State Park once, a couple years ago.  It was a fun run and had spectacular views from the top of the mountain.  The issue was that I had to start at the top.  I found that kind of uninteresting.

I often read a blog called Gone Hikin' and it is great because it has hikes all throughout the region.  I read the one at Big Pocono and discovered that you could park at the bottom and climb to the top.  That was more of my style.

I headed there for the run.  The weather was kind of chilly.  I wore short sleeves and shorts.  My hand also became very cold from holding the handheld water bottle.

The beginning of the run was quite nice.  It was on an old railroad bed.  It was slightly rocky, but not too bad.  The only frustrating thing was that the climb was super gradual.  It was great for warming up, but I was hoping for more elevation gain before hitting the true trail.

About a mile into the run, I got to a couple signs.  This was for the other side of the mountain.  I headed out farther along this old railroad bed.  Right after the signs, there was this cool path cut through the rocks.  Shortly after that, I came across and fellow trail runner and his dog coming down the mountain.  I didn't exactly expect anyone else to be running there.

The gradual climb continued to around mile 2.  It wasn't much more than 100 feet of elevation gain at that point.  I knew once I really started ascending, things would get tough.

Just after mile 2, I finally got to the turn for the North Trail.  I continued to run on the now steep part.  It was nice because it wasn't too rocky and it wasn't a straight up climb.  It flattened out at points too.  It was also nice and wide.

I only made it to about 300 or 400 feet of elevation gain and it became too much.  My breathing was labored and it was tough to push on.  I managed to push through to a flat part, but on the next climbing section, I had to walk. 

The hiking helped some, but it was hard to recover.  Breathing the cold air was still a struggle.  There was one crazy steep section.  Most of the rest of the ascent was challenging, but really it was more mental that physical.  Hopefully, eventually I be able to run up the whole thing.

It was a mix of running and hiking throughout the climb.  Before mile 4, I got to the top.  My elevation gain was now shown over 1,000 feet.  It has been an awesome workout.  I took some photos at a view.  I then decided to go back down and run the Indian Trail.  It is supposed to have a view as well.

This trail was super rocky and not much fun.  It was descending too, so after a bit, I turned and headed back up.  I had another couple hundred feet to go to the top.  At the road, I realized I wasn't completely at the top.  I had a short climb to get there.

The top is a parking lot with clear views to both the north and south.  That is spectacular.  I took many photos.  I noticed a helicopter flying around.  I realized it was probably the police searching for Eric Frein.  A family asked me about the chopper and I told them about the search.  It turns out that this was the day that they caught him.

It would've been nice if it was a sunnier day, but still I enjoyed the view.  I ran on the park road for a bit.  Then, I came to the South Trail.  I was over 5 miles into the run.  I was heading back along the South Trail.  There were some rocks and some small up and down parts, but overall, it was a nice singletrack.  My hand got cold at this point.  I was glad no one was on the trail, because I put it down my pants to keep warm.

This part seemed to go on for quite awhile.  Finally, I came to a crossroad with the Indian Trail.  At first I was confused because I wanted to descend, but it didn't look like the South Trail did that.  Then I looked at the sign closer and realized that it indeed did go down.

I was somewhere around mile 7 or 8 at this point.  I began to descend.  There were quite a few switchbacks to get down the steepest part.  There was a lot of flat sections too.  There were some rocks and I had to be cautious with all the leaves around.  I had no problems.  The only issue was at one point I stepped on a branch that cut my leg.

I also saw what looked like a tent surrounded by cammo.  I didn't think Frein would have a tent, but still it frightened me a little on this remote section of the trail.  As I got closer, I realized that it was just a huge boulder and some bright leaves.  That was  relief.

This section seemed to go on and on.  I got past mile 8 and close to mile 9.  I was starting to wonder if I was going the right way.  It seemed like I was heading in the correct direction.  Finally, I came to the old railroad trail.

Now, it was nice and easy and fast downhill.  I cruised along though.  My watch said 1299 feet of ascending, so I turned around and climbed to 1302 feet.  I guess you could say I'm pathetic.

I came across a woman mountain biking up the mountain with two dogs.  They were all in orange.  I didn't worry about hunting.  Near the end, I passed another guy walking his dog.  The dog wanted to run with me and was jumping too.  Finally, I got by it and to the end of the trail.

I was close to 10.5 miles, so I ran briefly to the road at that point.  It was an exhausting and tough climbing run for the second time of the week.  I'm very happy with that.  I will certainly be running here again and in fact very often.  It is the perfect challenge for me at this point.  Amazingly, my pace was only one second per mile different than the challenging Delaware Water Gap run two days ago.  This trail was a little easier, but I stopped more often for photos.

Tomorrow, will be a day on the bike and hopefully I can run big miles on Saturday and Sunday.  I would've been on the bike yesterday, but it was raining.  I don't mind running in the rain, but biking in it is another thing.

10.5 miles -  1:53:12 (10:47 pace)