More New Sections of South Mountain (Lehigh)

I slacked off again and didn't make it out yesterday.  I had to run somewhere today.  Since I had to work, I stayed more local.  I went to South Mountain (Lehigh) again.  I wanted to try to find some new sections there.  It worked out pretty well.

It was warm in the afternoon, but getting windy and cold at night.  I started at 5:15 PM and had about 45 minutes of daylight.  I brought the headlamp to run some through the darkness.  I wore a lightweight long sleeve shirt with the fleece vest.  I also had on tights.  As usual, I had on a headband and gloves.  Those went off and on.

I started from the top and headed downhill.  I wanted to go all the way to the bottom and come part way back up.  This was easier to follow in the daylight at the beginning.  I came back up and then crossed the road.

Normally after the road crossing, I follow the trail to the top.  I knew there were some other trails and I opted to take them.  I wanted to go down this side of the mountain.  I had never been there.  It was fun and fairly well used so far.

At one point, I sort of lost the trail and wanted to go down farther too.  I ended up sort of bushwhacking.  There wasn't a lot of brush though.  I found some spots with little snow under pine trees and a lot of poop.  I assumed that's where deer hangout.  I later followed 6 of them together.  I saw 2 others earlier too.

Eventually, I went back and found the trail.  I was able to find the way down to the road.  I then saw some markings on the trees.  I followed those for a bit.  This new section was a lot of fun.  It went in and out, up and down.

Then, there was a lot of climbing back up.  Just what I had hoped for.  It was going slowly though.  I chose to go straight up rather than keep following the flags.  One part was cool because it was like a tunnel of branches to run under.  I bet it is neat in the summer.  Then, I ran on a ridge through some pines.

This whole part was very slow.  I was mostly hiking up the hill.  Hopefully I can run it in the summer.  The mountain bikers have done a great job with these trails.  Near the top, I decided to switch the headlamp on.

At the top, I saw a water tower of some sort.  I went away from it at first, but it was going downhill.  I then headed toward it.  I was on the disc golf course.  I sort of knew where I was, but not exactly how to get to where I wanted.

I found a powerline by the water tower.  I know a few go through the area I was looking for.  I followed it down and it came out right on the trail that I normally take.  I then followed that for a bit.

I crossed the one road that I normally do, but no one had gone through there at that point.  I decided that I would just follow the more worn trail, so I crossed back over the road.

Running along this ridge was uneven and tough.  It was hard to get my footing, but it was kind of flat.  I could at least run most of it.  I followed this out and knew where I was.

The only issue was that it was dark and I was running this in the opposite direction as I usually do.  I went down one hill and made a right.  I then realized that I needed to make a left.  I did that and crossed back over the road.

I had one final climb to the top.  This was the area that I went down to start.  Before long, I was on the road and headed to my car.  This was a slower run than I had hoped, but I still ran for almost an hour and a half.  I climbed over 1,000 feet and found a great new part of trail.

When the snow melts, I'm going to put together a longer loop here.  I think I can do close to 10 miles and nearly 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  It should be a blast.

I'm going to run again tomorrow.  I'm not sure where at, but I'd like to get to the Delaware Water Gap.  It would be nice to double loop it in the snow.  Triple loops would be tough, unless I got there very early.  I'm hoping for a good day regardless.

5.31 miles - 1:22:58 (15:38 pace) 1137 feet of elevation gain