I took awhile to get out of bed. I had to pack all my camping gear up and get out to run. I started around 9:30 in the morning and it was already crazy humid. I had on a tank top this time. Everything was soaked as usually though. I thought summer was nice until the humidity of the last few days. It has just been stupid.I took the loop in the opposite direction today. I went up the rim trail first. It begins by the cabins. Then, there is some tough climbing. The first person I saw was the guy hiking at Buttermilk Falls State Park yesterday. That was quite funny.
This trail was rather quiet. I guess I didn't even realize that until later. I did enjoy it though. The lower gorge area here isn't as amazing as the upper gorge. Where the two sections met, I had to do this crazy stair climb. It was brutal. It was exposed to the sun and so hot.
I was able to run quite a bit after that. I would've run even more of the trails if they were so humid. They had few rocks and the elevation wasn't killed. The humidity surely killed me though.It seemed quick that I was off the Rim Trail and on to the Old Mill. I followed this trail out a bit more. This was some nice singletrack. I think it was the old CCC Trail. If not, then it was the Finger Lakes Trail again.
It said a bridge was out, but I didn't get there. I decided that there was more high grass than I liked. I forgot to put on bugspray. I turned around before mile 3.
I was thrilled to get on the Gorge Trail again. The beginning of it is just crazy. The stone path goes right along the water and there are huge rock walls. Then, it dips down the waterfall. It is truly unbelievable.
A bunch of people were in this area. The Gorge Trail was definitely more packed, as it was later in the morning too. I had been moving well, but the scenery slowed me. I stopped for a lot of photos.This was simply amazing and the pictures don't do it justice. However, I did expect these gorge sections to be longer. It was less than a mile each at both parks. Even that short of a distance is worth the price of admission though.
When I got to the bottom of the steps, I saw a mother and daughter looking at a map. I told them the cool stuff was straight ahead. Now, I was mostly on singletrack. There were some cool gorge segments here and there.
It was still super humidity. I ran a good amount, but not as much as I would've in normal conditions. I took many pretty photos too. I said "good morning" to many of the people. I loved that there were plenty of people on the trails, but it wasn't overcrowded.I ran along and before I knew it, I was done with the loop. I had nearly 6 miles and a ton of fun. It was another great short run this summer. I'm so grateful as I've seen so much stunning stuff.
I will definitely be back here. I might come in the fall, when the colors change. If not, I'll likely signup for the Cayuga Trails 50.
I'm taking tomorrow off. On Sunday, I'll run again. A group is going up to Mt. Tammany and I hope to join them.
5.7 miles - 1:29:38 (15:44 pace) 968 feet of elevation gain
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