skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Big big weekend at McNaughton Park. I went around helping my girl take pictures and pick up golf balls on Saturday while my boy and Mountain Man Jerry slugged out a couple of hours on the race loop. On Sunday, we carried a chain saw to clear more trail as many places were getting blocked with downed limbs and trees.
As the pic shows, somebody obviously tried to see just how strong the broken bridge really is and caused it to tip a little more as well as got some more of the connecting planks to pop out. So, we worked a little harder at getting the path cleared for you folks to run down to the bottom and back up the other side. Be careful! I landed on my chin trying to cross those slick logs at the bottom - before my people cleared them, of course.
At another location - near the golf course - we started to clear a small log that was on the trail. Found a hornets nest. My girl got stung a couple of times, screamed and shrieked to "run for your lives" as we bolted out of there. Now, I'm no golfer but I'm guessing those guys on the course, after hearing such a panicked scream, looked up just in time to see a girl and a collie sprinting through the woods being chased by a guy with a chain saw, would have a bit of a concentration problem for the rest of the day.
One of the reasons we don't have the race in the summer! Spiders. These little critters can rebuild a web in the time that it takes Mountain Man Jerry to complete one loop! If you are fortunate enough to miss the spider with your face, they usually bail off of you by scurrying down the back of your legs - or so says my human photographer. I don't understand all the fuss - I just charge right through. My people sure make an ugly sound when they encounter a face full of web.
Otherwise, the park is alive with flowers and the other pic shows a tall flowering plant in the area between Picnic Hill and 3rd creek crossing.
With little or no rain in the past few weeks, the creeks are low and the trail is dry - something most racers have never experienced. Early morning runs sure gets your feet and underbelly wet but that is more refreshing than anything.
Sorry about being gone for a spell - seems we had some restrictions that took some time to get approved. There have been lots of action at McNaughton since my last post so let's get started!
We had some high wind on Fathers Day weekend. Plenty of trees down everywhere. Here are a couple of photos of the damage. This bridge is around mile 1.3 (or so), between the power line meadow and the totem pole aid station. My people did a pretty good job of clearing a way down the creek and back up the other side. With both main support beams busted, trying to cross this bridge is not a good idea. The park people say this is a project for a local eagle scout and we hope to have it ready before the race. If not, hey, it's a wilderness run. Deal with it!
We got to trek the entire race loop today with Rex - a race volunteer. Nice of the weather gods to provide a downpour at the start so we could stay cool as the temps were slated to hit the high 80's. The past week has seen lots of high wind as well as rain so there were many places that required some dodging of downed trees and limbs.
This first photo is of a fawn. So do you think it was found in some far off meadow, well away from traffic? No, Bambi was just a few paw prints from the finish line - right in the path of the disk golf course. They are so cute at this stage but given some time, I will be called upon by my people to protect them from this wild animal!
The other photo is another pretty picture of a despicable item - the dreaded multi-flora rose. This plant is responsible for more blood letting on the trail than all other causes combined.
Sunday, we made a less hurried trek around a couple of loops to clear the trail of some of those downed limbs. It might be a while, as slow as my people are, before the whole trail is totally clear from start to finish.
Running McNaughton in the summer is a blast but without Andy’s race markings, some dogs could get lost. I rely on my keen sense of smell while others have to have “parameters”. Here is what my people call McNaughton parameters: Both north and south are easy – two lane paved roads border the park with the Totempole shelter being the far north race point and Hair Pin turn being the southern. On the northwest are private residences while most of the west side is the Lick Creek Golf Course. The north east portion has the paved entry road to the park as well as the horse barn. It’s the middle and south portions of the east side that could result in getting really lost as there are some hunting reserves in that area. Don’t go east of the 4 radio towers lined up in a north south line.
The power lines are also good to help you know where you are – if you ever look up. The triple line runs east west and is between the start finish and Totempole. The single line runs north south and can be seen (easier in winter) at several places along the run – it’s just west of the start finish and you can see it from at least 6 race locations – but you have to look for it!
The creeks are the best locators. Lick Creek runs from west to east while Indian Creek runs south to north, intersecting about in the center of the park. That explains why you have three creek crossings in each loop. The first creek crossing is Lick Creek after the two merge, the second crossing uses the bridge to cross Indian Creek and the third crossing is Lick Creek before the merge.
You are always invited to run McNaughton and half the fun is finding new trails, getting lost and finding your way back to the food bowl.
Now that this dog can blog, I will be showing you what McNaughton looks like during the summer. It might make you wish Andy would change the date of the race so you can see some of this beautiful park or make you glad it's in the early spring! Keeping the trail even somewhat clear for anybody taller than me is a chore as the plants really love the open sunny areas that the trail creates. Fast growing limbs quickly take over the trail as seen here. Besides the extra growth, there are also lots of flowers blooming. Here is a May Apple. These are all over the place but this one is in a large pack of plants just below the old butt slide hill in the Heaven's Gate loop.
Here is my good buddy, WebMaster Mountain Man Jerry. Today was his first official training for his attempt to finish 50 miles at next years race. Jerry has walked 50 miles before but on a track for Relay for Life. His is about the toughest, strongest walker I know. He has a great chance of making - after all, like me, he has hair growing on the bottom of his feet!
The other photo is some tree (big deal) that everybody seems to think is special. They call it a red bud. How it got that name, I have no idea. They're all over the place.
