Friday at Brad - Laugh or You'll Cry

The weather this week has been a bit demoralizing for those of us who like snow with our winter! Between the warm weather and the rain, most of the snow has disappeared from our backyard. We knew there was more snow over at Brad but weren't sure how conditions would be. Ryan decided to join me for a run to check things out for next weekend's snowshoe race and I just wanted to get in 6ish trail miles. We parked at John's and stopped in to say hello to Zippy before hitting the Link. Wow, let me tell you, things were pretty grim. The snow and ice storm a few weeks back did a number on the park and although the big blowdowns had been removed, in their wake were lots of branches and debris, and the park tractor had, frankly, left the trails a bit mess. It was distressing to see. The snow was only kind of packed, so it was slow going out to the Snowmobile Trail. We almost turned around but decided to go up and see how it was further along the trail. Well, turns out it was pretty bad and we turned around soon after Fox East.

I suggested trying the mountain side, well, you know, since we were there and had only run one mile ;) And actually, the trail up to the summit was well packed, and although there was a lot of open water along the edges, we were able to stay atop the snow/ice pack and move along without fear that we'd be falling through. I'd say that was the best mile of trail throughout the park. At the top, we stopped to take in the view and then continued on the Boundary Trail. Much less traffic, more branches and debris, more open water and bare spots, more undermined snow, ice and a lot of walking. Let's call it a run/hike for most of that stretch ;) We ventured out a few yards onto the Connector, but it was too soft and undermined to continue on so we returned to Boundary.

Despite the time we'd been out there, it had only been about 3.8 miles when we got back to the end of the Boundary Trail, so we ran back up to the summit and down again to finish off the run with 5.6 miles and much more effort and time than we'd intended or hoped for. I was extremely thankful for the traction given by my Hillsounds but I'm still a wimp on the downhills, especially when conditions are iffy and icy. It was definitely not good conditions today but hey, sometimes you just have to laugh or you'll cry ;) A "fun" adventure nonetheless and always good to spend time on the trails with Ryan!

Another plus for the day was that my right leg didn't give me any issues, and we followed up our run with a yummy lunch at Edna & Lucy's! Hurray :)

Icy, sunny summit view

Smile :)

Can you see Ryan's flourescent tights off there in the distance? ;)

yes, that is the trail... undermined snow and waterlogged bare ground...