Thursday, March 3, 2016

Exploring Jacosburg

My legs were sore yesterday.  I needed to get on trails today.  I didn't want anything too challenging, so I decided on Jacobsburg.  I parked at the small lot at the north end of the park.  I wanted to run a little differently than normal.  The plan was for 10 miles.

The weather was kind of frustrating again.  It was in the mid 30s, with no wind.  Too warm for tights and too cold for shorts.  I went with the tights and that did work well when it turned cloudy.  I had on a long sleeve shirt and my shell.

I thought about several different loops.  I opted to begin going out the Bushkill Trail.  Although this is flat, stone rail trail, I haven't been on it much.  I figured I'd probably go out a mile or so.  This is a pretty area, as it goes through the woods.  There are plenty of small streams.  Some areas were really washed out by the recent storm.

I saw a couple walking.  I ran along, feeling fairly decent early on.  The first mile went by quick and the pace was solid.  I decided to keep going.  There is a lot of potential areas for trails.  There is also quite a bit of "posted" signs too.

There is a small road crossing near the end of the trail.  Next to the trail is a pond and a house.  At the road crossing, I had to wait for some weird birds to cross the trail.  I guess maybe they were geese from the farm.  The trail was was very washed out around here.

A little after mile 2, I hit the end of the trail.  This would get me over 4 miles before getting back to the car.  I look forward to when this trail crosses the road and goes up to the AT.  That would be very cool

I cruised along, heading back.  It seemed a bit chillier this way.  I had seen a blue marker and some blazes at one point.  I passed the couple again.  After a bit, I decided to turn back and see if that was a trail.  The couple had disappeared.  They were actually up the powerline cut from where I went.  I saw the trail was actually a pipeline sign.  I headed back.  They looked down at me.  I'm not sure if I was on their property.

At least this exploring added a little distance.  Near the end of the Bushkill Trail, there was a sign for "Bushkill Public Open Space."  I had to follow this trail.  It wasn't really a trail, more like a path around fields.  Oddly, there were a couple benches around a fire pit in the middle of it.  I followed the path a little, but it went up.  I think I was allowed here, but not sure.  After some uphill, I headed back.  This area seems like a big hunting area.

I got back to my car at well over 5 miles.  I didn't feel great, but not terrible either.  I still didn't know where to go, but decided to stay on the rail trail like portion through Jacobsburg.  This was rough from the rains.  When I could, I turned down and ran along the creek.

This was much nicer.  There were a few hikers out.  After the creek, I took the other singletrack when the creek turned.  This was fun and my legs felt much better.  I went out there and then on some wide trail to the road.  I was nearly at mile 7 now.  It was good when I finally got to that mile.

Heading back along the singletrack was great.  I got to the main path eventually.  I followed that out to the road.  Then, I took my favorite section, the ridge singletrack.  I was tired and slowing down, but this made my legs feel great.

I continued on and got to the parking lot around 8.8 miles.  I went out and back on the main trail.  This was an awful way to finish.  The stone washed out and was so uneven.  I got it done though and was glad to put in my 10 miles.

I bounced back well from yesterday.  It was good to get back to double digits and on some trail.  Now, I just need 12 miles in the next two days to hit 50 miles for the week.

I'm not quite sure about tomorrow.  I'm heading up to Pleasant Valley for some basketball in the evening.  Perhaps in the day, I'll try to run across from Pocono Raceway.  That isn't too far away.  I don't think it is great, but it is something new.

10 miles - 1:37:28 (9:45 pace) 293 feet of elevation gain

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