I love this most recent set of photos from NC 😍 I can just feel the love and happiness! 💗💗
Fun with the Lorikeets at Fort Fisher Aquarium
💖💕
We finished up Wednesday with a trip down to Portland to have dinner with old friends, Jon and Blake, who are on vacation down in Kennebunk for the week. We don't get to see them often since they live in CA, but there is always a lot of laughter when we do! We had dinner and drinks out on the deck at Portland Lobster Co. and then walked up through the Old Port for ice cream at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream. Yum!
And yes, Blake is an Olympian, and the first thing she wanted to hear about was my running and Western States! What a good person and a good friend 💗💗
We got home in time for a visit from Mama fox and an adorable fox kit out back. OMG, so cute! And so tiny. What a fun sighting! 🐾
Thursday was a rest day, because, well, rest is part of recovery too!
Woke up to pouring rain on Friday, but by the time I headed over to Bradbury to meet up with Mindy, Val and Val's brother, John, the rain had stopped and in its place was 99.99% humidity. Ah, summer in Maine 😂 We got in a nice, muggy, soggy run on the east side. After all the rain, the trails were like rivers. Wow, was it wet out there! We chatted away the miles, keeping the pace easy. Always good to catch up with friends! (5.2 miles)
Glad to have my legs feeling decent, and with that, I decided I was up for an adventure on Saturday! It's not often that we have a weekend day together to get out in the mountains, so I suggested the Baldface loop, as it is a loop I've had on my list to tackle over the past few years as training run, but which just hasn't materialized. Since I'm obviously still recovering, and Ryan is tapering for VT, we planned to essentially hike the loop, with running if it felt right. Still, we were certainly suited up like runners 😉 although we did forgo the gels for real food en-route.
It's a long drive over into Evans Notch and as it was a nice morning, by the time we arrived around 8:45 am, the lot was almost completely full. We probably got one of the final available spots. We headed up across the street into the woods. It was very muggy under the heavy tree cover, and although we were "only" hiking, we were both quickly pretty soggy! Of course, it was a quick hike and we made short work of the miles up to the shelter, hitting it about an hour. Soon after, we hit the open rock ledges and there, progress slowed significantly. I wasn't paying attention, but Ryan said that 0.7 miles of ledge took us another hour. 😂😂 I haven't been on this loop in years, and honestly, I had not remembered how gnarly some of the ledges were. In a few spots, I don't think I would have been able to make it up on my own and was certainly glad for some assistance, and a few boosts, from Ryan! Still, it was a glorious morning and the views were most certainly fine.
Once we got up to the top of the ledges, we were able to quicken our pace a bit, and there was a lovely breeze as we hiked up to the actual summit. Then it was across the ridgeline to North Baldface, enjoying the views out in both directions, the sunshine and the lovely breeze. Lots of pink sheep laurel blooming amidst the greenery, as well as some mountain cranberry beginning to ripen, and patches of mountain sandwort. Such a beautiful day to be up above treeline!
The descent wasn't quite as ledgy or technical as the ascent, but it was still plenty steep and long enough that my quads were most definitely letting me know I'd just run 100 miles two weeks prior 😉😆 I just took my time, and Ryan had to do a fair amount of waiting 😃 Found a few good patches of ripe blueberries in full sun near the end of the alpine zone, and then once we hit the hardwood forest, the pitch lessened enough and the trail was smoothed out enough to run the majority of the rest of the miles back to the start. Strava says our moving time was just over 3 hours, but we were out for 4:49, so I was most definitely tired by the time we got back to the car. Still, had to take advantage of the day and it was so fun to get up in the mountains!! (9.4 miles)
Start of the ledges
Climbing up. Lots of all fours scrambling for me!
Finally up at the top
Looking up at Baldface summit
South Baldface
Ridgeline views
North Baldface
This was pretty much the way it went on the whole way down. Ryan far ahead with me slowly making my way down in the background 😂
Mountain sandwort
So pretty
Looking back at the ledges and the ridge up to South Baldface
Neat shadow!!
Gotta stop and pick the berries!
We hit the Stow Country Store on the way home for yummy sandwiches and cookies and then spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening crashed on the couch. The sign of a good day! Such fun to be out adventuring with Ryan 💗
We also had a fun visit from the fox family. The little fox kit was doing puppy zoomies around the adults. Adorable 💜💜
I wanted to run this morning, but Ryan told me I was being stupid 😂😂 so instead we just headed straight over to the Brad for the first of the dirt series races, the Scuffle. I was manning the finish line aid station as is my usual, and it was lots of fun spending the morning chatting with friends and telling Western States stories and having a chance to see everyone! A good way to wrap up the weekend and the end of recovery week #2!
