Valentines day 2009- my wife decided to take the kids down to Grandma's house- a three-hour drive one way. This left me with the entire day to do what I wanted. So, I packed up the car with two Powerades, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the salmonella-free variety), some pretzels and a Hammer Gel and headed down south to Morgan-Monroe state forest. As part of my training for the Madison, Wisconsin Marathon at the end of May, I had hoped to get in the high-teens of miles, but my plan was to spend a lot of time on my feet- which I read is more important than miles covered.
After an interesting morning of getting the family on the road, and the 90 minute drive, I arrived at the trailhead about 9:30 am. I put on an extra layer to accomodate the 35*F temps, and some bright clothing to deal with the goose and rabbit hunters. I filled my Nathan handheld bottle with Powerade, zipped a hammer gel in my pocket, strapped on my MP3 player and headed out. Problem 1- MP3 player was dead. Completely. I had spent 30 minutes last night loading it up with music for today. Fortunately, I had the foresight to pack a spare battery. Unfortunately, the battery was not the issue. Looks like this run will be done without music.
So, I headed out anyway. My plan was to do all or part of the low gap trail (10 miles), come back to the car to eat lunch, then head out for some more. So, I started down the Orcutt trailhead that would lead to Low Gap (part of the Low Gap trail is along the Tecumseh Trail, a 50 mile trail which also hosts the Tecumseh Trail Marathon each year.
I got about a half mile down the trail before I noticed large sections of the trail had been overrun with logging roads and several downed trees. It was then I remembered how this area had been hard hit by tornadoes (2007) and flooding (2008), and the forest had paid the price. After trying to run down these newly-created logging roads, made soft by 2+ inches of rain last week, my shoes were being sucked 6-8 inches deep in the mud with each step. So, I decided that Plan B was in order. I turned around and headed back to the trailhead.
So, instead, I ran the Three Lakes Trail, a 10.4 mile trail which connects, as the astute reader may guess, three lakes. Although one, Beanblossom Lake, is actually a dry lake bed. I ran down the road less than a half-mile to the trailhead and found it with little difficulty. The trail started out as a wide fire trail, then quickly narrowed to singletrack, which crossed a stream repeatedly. I was very cautious not to get my feet wet this early in the day, as much as I would have liked to clean the mud off my shoes. So, I ran the trail while walking gingerly across the strategically placed rocks in the stream.
I quickly noticed the trail was blazed with white diamonds painted on the trees about every 500 feet, but I was too busy enjoying the crisp air and the solitude to watch them, so I frequently left the trail in favor of wider fire trail. Then, I'd have to look around and find the blazes. At one point, the trail took me right through a great plantation of red pine.
At one point, I came to a sign on the trail that said "Private Property" and realized I had once again left the trail. I doubled back about a half mile and found the trademark blazes. After that excursion, I didn't leave the trail again.
Now, there was just one other problem. I was certain I was running toward Beanblossom Lake, and after the 3 miles I thought I had run, I should have been there. But, I hadn't made any road crossings, which the trail map said I should. And, why did I turn left back there instead of right? Anyway, I continued on the trail and came to a set of switchbacks that were steep enough I had to walk, but they took me from the streambed below to a ridge about 200 feet up in about half a mile. Once I reached the ridge, I saw that I had been out about an hour, so I sucked in my raspberry Hammer Gel, chased it with a swig of grape Powerade, and continued along the trail.
At an hour and a half (including my two or three off-course excursions), I reached Bryant Lake and realized I had been going the opposite way on the trail than I thought! It was comforting to finally know where I was, but disappointing that my map skills were not better and a little disheartening to know I still had 4-5 miles to get back to the car with only a half bottle of Powerade. Still, I soldiered on. After a brief stint in some thick swampbottom mud, I was back on solid trail, running slightly up to a section which followed some powerlines and took me down to Beanblossom lake. So that's what a dry lake bed looks like! I made the turn and headed back up the trail toward the trailhead. I made the fire trail crossing, just like the map said, then the road crossing, ditto. At about the 1 mile to go mark, I saw my first hiker of the day. The trail took a sharp right turn soon after, and I noticed an old cemetery straight ahead, so I ran a little off course to investigate.
I ran downhill to several stream crossings (this looks familiar), then realized it was now time to clean my shoes off in the stream. I now believe that the creeks in Morgan Monroe State Forest are composed primarily of runoff directly from the Arctic Circle. Then, back up the hill to the road, past the forest headquarters and to my car.
In the end, I gave myself credit for 13 miles, though it may have been longer than that. With the walking, turnarounds, looking at the map, stopping to take pictures, etc., it took about 2.5 hours- not speedy, by any stretch, but a great day in the woods! I need to do it again soon.
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