I ventured off to the trails around my house for today’s run. I laced up my new Bocos and geared up. I knew this would be a much slower run due to the snow and frozen ground. Also, I took along my phone to take some pictures. One thing I love about where we live is that we have quite a few park trails to choose from, all of which are close by.
I was looking for two things on my run today – snow, and deer! By 2 miles into my run I was not disappointed. First though, I had to make my way over the “hills”. By hills, I mean an overpass and the service road leading into the park. Don’t be fooled – this is actually heading down the “hill”. I think it just photographs bad, because it actually is a decline at this point! I know, it’s pretty hilly around here right??
This was the first deer I ran into. He had 5 other friends with him, hiding in the tall grasses in front of him and behind him.
Shortly after that, another one was just standing on the trail!
By the time I had gotten to my turnaround point I had seen 16 deer! That made my outdoor trek worth it 🙂
My new shoes did a great job of keeping me upright in the snow and on all of the ice I encountered. Don’t get me wrong, a sheet of ice was still slippery (these aren’t YakTrax!), but I felt they gripped the surface really well. Another super plus – they weren’t even cold! There is no open mesh on these shoes and I could really tell a difference.
It was clearly time to turn around now, despite not quite getting half way through my run. The river had overflowed quite a bit into the park.
The part of the trail I was most looking forward to was the towpath portion of the trail. The towpath is a built up area where they used to tow canal boats with mules and horses! Pretty cool.
On the way back to my car I saw another group of 9 deer in someone’s back yard!! I figured those might be all of the deer I had seen earlier, so I didn’t add them to my total count for the run. I ran 8 miles in the park today, averaging a 10:05 min mile. Probably would have been 9:30 overall, but I forgot to turn off my watch when I stopped for the deer one time and got an 11:30 on that mile. Oops!
After lunch we headed over to the RV & Camper show. We always attend this show to check out the campers, but I’m not sure I like any of them more than our current popup camper. There was one model we liked last year, but it wasn’t there. They do have some really cool features though and I know the kids would like separate beds… but probably not this year!
On the way home we stopped to get a frozen yogurt treat for the kids. Sydney got all A’s on her report card this quarter and Zack did awesome too. Congrats to them on a job well done!!
Q: Do you enjoy camping? If so, is it tents or an RV/camper for you?
A: Alan and I started out as tent campers, but soon realized our trips would be much more enjoyable with a camper when we had kids. We LOVE to camp!
Side Cut or Providence?
Side Cut/Towpath is only 3.3 miles from my front door on the most direct path. I see deer there more than trees it seems.
I do like camping, but I haven’t gone in years! My degree is in outdoor recreation/environmental education and one of my classes focused on camping a lot (it was an awesome class!). I need to get out there more often…
Side Cut! This is where we find out that we live in the same neighborhood!! 🙂 Actually, I am much closer to the Wabash Cannonball trail than Side Cut.