Last week, I drove through Lehigh Gap several times. I haven't been on trails in weeks, but this gave me the itch to run there. I love the trails there and wanted to share them with someone. I asked Angie (since she's never been there) and we planned to run there today.
The weather has been great temperature wise lately, but today that wasn't the case. It was cold (near freezing) and windy. I was thrilled that the sun was out. I really wanted to wear shorts, but knowing we'd be hiking some, I couldn't get myself to do it. Looking back, I probably could have. My gloves and headband went on and off.
We started off right by the parking lot. I wanted to run my usual route, but we didn't have time. I needed to show her the open ridge though, so we headed toward the Appalachian Trail and then straight up. It is quite rocky early on. Since Angie is marathon training, she hung back a little and took it easy.
Almost right at the AT junction, I began hiking and so did she. It is kind of runnable, but takes too much effort. Then, it gets very rocky. We got to the AT shelter and she didn't know what it was, because she didn't even realize we were on the AT.
We had passed a hiker earlier and he warned me about running back down. I knew it would be no problem though. We saw another hiker coming down near the shelter. Other than that, we saw no other people. We had the trails to ourselves.
After the AT, we turned and climbed on the blue blazed North Trail to the top. I haven't done elevation in some time, so this climb hurt. My legs were fine, but my lower back is often an issue on the first steep climb. I was past the point where this place wasn't an issue with it, but that is apparently no longer the case with all the time off lately. The soreness even caused me to stop briefly.
I decided to lead us on a short detour to the Devil's Pulpit. It is a rock outcrop with a view. When I got there, I realized that I lost Angie. I knew she was tying her shoe, but I thought she caught up. Instead, she lost me a bit. I found her and we went down. My camera and her phone were dead, so we didn't take a photo.
We climbed back up over the rocks. This was hiking. Soon, we'd be ridge running. We went back on the blue blazed trail. There is some early moderate uphill and Angie fell back.
It was nice back in the woods, but it became miserable when we hit the open ridgeline. It was super windy and cold. I felt kind of bad. Angie was back a little, as I went at my own pace. Every now and then, I let her catch back up.
The view from the exposed ridgeline never disappoints. It is much more amazing though, when the plants are alive. It is stunning in the fall. I'll have to set up a run back there.
A few times, we stopped for the view. There were a couple short hiking climbs too. I pointed out the Lehigh Tunnel and the turnpike. I think Angie enjoyed the run, but better weather would've definitely helped.
We went past the bones of a fairly large animal along the trail. That is interesting. I saw it last time. Finally, we made it to the communication towers. We were also now back into the woods and much less wind.
We were still on the blue blazed trail, but not for long. At the intersection of the AT, I told Angie to lead. I wanted to go slower. It was also great, because we talked much more. At least I liked that. I don't know about her, maybe for a bit. Good thing it was only about 2 miles. She was looking for 6 miles and I realized we'd be close to that.
The AT is a gradual descent for awhile. There are some early rocks, but it is pretty runnable. Angie had trouble twisting her ankle. This would plague me later on. She signed up for the Worlds End 50K, so she will have to get a little used to the terrain.
Eventually, we got near the shelter again. This part is fun, because it is steep and technical. Angie let me go by, as she could sense I wanted to fly down it.
I did cruise on down. I commented later how I move pretty fast on technical stuff now and yet I'd still get passed at that speed during a race. I don't understand how some folks can do it.
Angie hiked down a lot more of this than me. I ran for awhile, but then twisted the ankle. I had to hike. It kept bothering me on some of the rocks.
Angie caught up and we headed back. We were off the AT and somehow I took a wrong turn again. I've done that a few times. We ended up back on the AT and had to climb down along the bridge. Then, it was stone running back in to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. Angie ran a little more to get the distance to 6 miles.
It was great to run at Lehigh Gap again. It was awesome to share the experience with a friend. I love taking people to new trails. I think she enjoyed it, but hopefully next time we'll have better weather.
6.13 miles - 1:35:58 (15:40 pace) 1267 feet of elevation
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