Much like earlier in the week, I didn't get a call in the morning. However, today, I didn't have to work at all. That meant I had to trail run. I thought about Maryland, but it was just too far. I wanted something new, so I went to Eales Preserve near Scranton. I've been wanting to go there for some time, but haven't made it.
Dressing was a huge mess. I wore my lightweight orange long sleeve shirt. That was way too much, as it was in the 70s. This trail system is almost completely exposed to the sun. I needed the orange, because this is a hunting area. I saw no hunters though.
I saw a hiker early on. He had left his vehicle just before me and was heading back and guess hiking elsewhere. I went out on the Blueberry Trail. That had a nice sign on it, but that was about it for trail markings.
This trail is small blueberry bushes. Everything was brownish now, but I guess it was a beautiful red a few weeks ago. I should've been there then. The beginning was quite rocky and interesting.
I found this trail to be a little annoying. It had a lot of quick turns. That's how you can tell it was built by mountain bikers. I also kept going up and up. It was a very slight incline, but annoying nonetheless. I felt like crap today, so that didn't help. The sun beating down was killing me too.
At least this was relatively easy running. Even so, I got frustrated and hiked for a bit. Then, I came out to a powerline. I didn't have a map with me, but thought I'd be able to figure out where to go. I headed one way on the powerline, hoping to find the Waterfall Trail. Luckily, I turned around when it started to descend. Looking at the map now, I was going the wrong way.
I hiked some of the powerline uphill. I was hot and frustrated. I ate pizza and hour before the run and started to feel like shit. I even felt like I might need to shit.
I badly wanted to get into some woods and have actual cover. Not sure if there would've been any with all the leaves down now. I found a trail into the woods, but it was heading toward a private lake. I turned back around, to the powerline.
I frustratingly walked up a lot of the powerline, still hoping to find the Waterfall Trail. I followed a singletrack section then. I came to this fork in the trail and remember it from another blog I was reading. I went right and it turns out that that was the correct way.
However, not knowing for sure, I ended up turning around. I didn't want to get stuck too far out. I had to go to the bathroom. I was around mile 4 and hiking out.
I followed the powerline again for a bit and then got back on to a main dirt road. This preserve has old roads, as it was supposed to be a business park. Rather than stay on the road, I decided to run more singletrack.
This section was awesome, as it had great views of the valley below and the mountains across the way. The low brush provided some great views. I bet they were outstanding a few weeks ago. It is probably cool up here in the snow too. Maybe I'll snowshoe around there this winter.
Someone had made a neat rock circle along the trail. After a bit, I decided to get back on the main dirt road. I thought this was the road right back to my car. However, I wasn't over far enough.
I ended up back on some singletrack. I didn't quite know how to get back to my car, but I knew the direction to it. I just had to find the correct trail. By dumb luck really, I came on to the trail that I originally took. I thought I recognized a few parts of it. Still, I wasn't 100% sure.
I had been hiking for awhile, but was back to running now. I got over 5 miles and hoped I could get to 6 miles. I kept seeing more and more things that looked familiar, but wasn't completely sure I was on the right trail. I was glad to be going downhill.
Finally, I came out to the part near my car. I hiked some, as bathroom issues were reoccurring. I finished up near where I started, at over 6 miles.
This was an okay day. The trails were hard to follow. I should've carried a map and things would've made more sense. Now, I know them a little better. This is only an hour away and mostly highways, so I might go again. Maybe in a better season. I didn't even run on that much of the preserve.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping for another day of running. I might try the gorge trail section near Phillipsburg. There might still be outstanding colors there. It's a cool section of trail that I need to hit up more.
6.25 miles - 1:18:51 (12:37 pace) 413 feet of elevation gain
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