AT - Stairway to Heaven/Pinwheel Vista and Pochuck Boardwalk

My leg really started to bother me a lot after last Monday's run.  I ended up not running for over a week, as I tried to recover.  I probably would've run earlier in the week, but it was hard to get out there in crappy weather.  Today, it was beautiful.

I didn't work, so I had to take advantage.  I wanted something new and needed to travel.  I decided to head to the AT near Vernon, New Jersey.  This is a very popular section, but I figured it wouldn't be bad on a Wednesday afternoon in March.  I was sure wrong!  It took forever to drive the 70 miles (without any highway) and I arrived to maybe 15-20 cars in the lot.  I found a spot though.

Although the temperatures were nice, it was a little breezy.  All I had were short sleeves and shorts.  I got out of the car and worried I didn't have enough on.  When running though, it worked out fine and I was sweating a lot actually.

I parked at Route 94 because I wanted to make sure to climb the Stairway to Heaven to Pinwheel Vista.  I wasn't sure how far that would be from the other parking area.  There were plenty of people out hiking, even early on.

The climb is a little intimidating because you can see the mountain in front of you at the start.  It is a pretty open area where you begin.  It's a beautiful, easy and smooth singletrack.  That doesn't last though.

About a half mile in or so, the rocks begin.  They are boulders in a lot of parts.  I ran over some, but ended up doing a lot of hiking up.  I'm rusty and my breathing was labored.  The climb itself actually wasn't too bad.  The trail has switchbacks that are fairly long.  Without the rocks, it might be runnable, but it would be a challenge still for sure.  At least it isn't straight up.

I passed plenty of people hiking down the trail.  Sometimes, it was a little tricky finding the blazes.  They are on trees.  The trail is well worn, but that doesn't matter on super rocky stretches.  I was able to run a lot of the flat parts in between switchbacks. 

It was a slow climb anyway.  I took some photos too.  Most of it wasn't steep, but there was a quite steep section near the top.  This seemed like the Stairway to Heaven part.  There are rocks laid out like stairs through this part and some earlier ones too.  Then, near the top, there is a fun ridge with a rock wall on the top side.  I ran there.

I was happy to get to the top.  It was less than 1.5 miles in.  I had ascended about 900 feet.  There is a blue blazed side trail and sign to the view.  I got to the view and it was CROWDED.  There was almost no room for me.  A lot of young people were there, specifically girls.  I'm guessing maybe the local schools had an extended spring break.

Since I didn't have this area to myself, I didn't stay long.  A boy's dog barked at me too.  I took a couple photos and videos and was on my way.  Since I wasn't quite to the top yet, I continued on the AT.  I figured I'd at least stay on it until it descended to the other side of the mountain.

At the top, I found an old mailbox and a side trail to an old view.  I decided to take it.  It was some fun ridge running.  I came across a dad hiking with his son and dog.  They were the only people on the ridge.  I went out near mile 2.

I never did find the view.  I didn't want to continue too far though.  I found a cool stone wall and a murky pond.  I turned around and headed back.  I was a little hot and tired now.  The trees have no shade yet this time of year.

I didn't stop at the view this time.  I now had the rocky descent.  Some young girls were impressed to see me running down it.  I did have to hike some of the iffy parts.  The steepest part was a little hairy, even hiking down.  I managed though.

Tons of people were coming up as I headed down.  I passed a family going down too.  The one young girl actually tripped.  I ran on by them.  I passed a few others too.

I caught up to the kid with the barking dog on the flat part.  They eventually let me pass.  I got back to the parking area at mile 4.  I wanted to go out the other way.

This are has a little bit of everything.  Directly across the road was a cow pasture.  The trail goes right through it.  There are these steps to walk over the fence.  I saw these in West Virginia, but there were no cows there at the time.

The cows were out in full force.  Going through their territory was a new experience.  There are boards to walk over.  One of them walked in front of me.  A bunch of people were in this area too.  I didn't think they would chase me, but I didn't want to run.

About halfway through the pasture, two women had stopped.  There was an adult on one side of the boards and a calf on the other side and they wouldn't move.  I didn't feel like going between them either.  I also didn't want to wait for them to move.  I walked through the muddy water (probably poop filled too).  I had my new trail shoes on and this was their first mess.

I got through the field.  The trail then goes over some railroad tracks.  After that is more cool sections.  There are more boards over some swampy stuff.  A group of teens were hiking here.

After a bit, it was into the woods for a little.  This had some beautiful singletrack.  I had to get to 5.5 miles before turning around.  I wanted to run 7 miles total.

As I got near 5.5 miles though, I came to the next cool section, the Pochuck Boardwalk.  It is a raised and curved boardwalk over the swamp.  Most of it was dry today.  It was cool to run on this.  After that was a raised bridge over a creek.  This is a unique feature too.

There was one more bridge to cross.  I stopped to look at that right before mile 6.  There were a bunch of turtles in the water.  Someone said these kids had counted 38 of them.  I took a couple photos and was on my way.

Near mile 6, I turned and headed back.  I ran along.  There were a couple short hills, but most of this stretch was flat.  I was happy to get to mile 7.

At one point, I saw this family hiking.  The little girl's mom saw me and encouraged her to run so I wouldn't catch her.  It was funny and cute.  Eventually, I passed them all.  I got back to the cow pasture and took some video.  Most of the cows were away from the boards now. 

I finished up just past my car.  I was over 8 miles.  It was a fun and productive run.  If I had new trails to run, I'd never be bored.  My leg felt fairly good too.  I think I'll still limit myself to 3 days of running for the next week or two.  I'll build back up.

I definitely won't run tomorrow.  I hope on Friday to get on more trails.  I might run Saturday too.  I'll see how my leg responds to things.  The weather is supposed to get colder again, I think over the weekend.

8.02 miles - 2:09:36 (16:09 pace) 1290 feet of elevation gain