birthday running pt. 2

On Saturday Lily, Uwharrie and I drove an hour up to the Parkway, milepost 305. Here at Beacon Heights, the dog and I set out on the proposed Tanawha Trail 50K course.

We ran underneath the viaduct on this beautiful and rugged trail to its intersection with the Daniel Boone Scout Trail. Here we hung a left and had ourselves a 5-6 mile out-and-back alpine excursion to the top of Calloway Peak on Grandfather Mountain. We met Lily on the way up. As of my b-day today (Feb. 1), these trails shall be free to the public as Grandfather becomes NC's newest park.

The last mile to the summit was incredible. There was snow, and ice, rime encrusted spruce, steep ladders, cables and expansive views. In my short-shorts and could not tolerate more than two minutes on top. We started down and thawed out as we made our way to Price Lake.

We searched for Lily for about an hour at the turn-around. Due to a miscommunication on my part, the 50K was not to be. Nevertheless, we got in a good 20 mile day. Plus, I got to test out my first "slogging sandal" prototypes. Many thanks to Carl for donating an old pair of 14D RC550s for the cause. R & D on this and other gear shall continue through February, stay tuned...