Muddy Mess - 2-26-09

My people and I have visited the park the last couple of evenings. It sure is great to play with the deer and squirrels. The ground is wet and soft. That makes it easy on my feet but good thing I have 4 wheel drive! My people are slipping all over the place. Guess there is about 2 or 3 inches of mud on top of frozen subsoil. With the forecast of rain today and tonight, any chances of a relaxing run in McNaughton this weekend are slip sliding away.

Feb 8, 2009

The trails really vary this week as some places are still frozen while others have about 4 inches of mud on top of the frozen ground. Tough to navigate the hills, not knowing if you are going to slide on the ice or the mud, just know you will slide!
Mike Siltman and Marvin were out clearing some fallen trees on Saturday with the assistance of his two hard working boys. They got at least 5 locations cleared before they ran out of gas. Odd how the chain saws ran out of gas at about the same time.
There are a few places that are not perfectly clear but still, no problem completing the route due to trees. The ice was just strong enough to cross the creeks but that will not last until next weekend - promise!

Wild Weather

Hard to make a call on trail conditions when I'm using all my toenails trying to keep traction on the ice covered snow one day and clipping along over the soft grass the next. My people broke out those new "Kahtoola" microspikes to handle the glacier and cascading ice falls that dominated the trails on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. This is the first time my people could keep up with me as those Kahtoola's make walking and running in those conditions so easy. We usually only walk the flat meadows when it is icy but my kahtoola clad people hit every slope and hill in the park - laughing at the slippery slopes. Every dogs people need them - unless they are treadmill dwellers!

The weekend after Christmas, the snow and ice was pretty much gone as the temps hit the lower to mid 60's. Kind of muddy but that's McNaughton! At least the old mud pit was pretty solid with the new drainage control.

The photos show me at swollen Lick creek's first crossing and the third creek crossing at near flood stage.

That's what I'm barking about!

Yipee! Snow at McNaughton! The park received about 4 inches of snow over the weekend, showing only about 1 or 2 inches in these photos. The temps were only around 32 degrees so it wasn't bad at all. The steeper trails were a tad slick and sloppy but it was so much fun running in this winter fluff. We did see one other runner taking advantage of the mostly deserted park. It was so great, it would be a dandy time to do two loops - right Mountain Man Jerry?

Perfect Weather

Finally, cool enough weather where you can run, really run. The trails are just at the crispy state - just frozen enough to be solid yet spongy enough to have a little bounce. This first pic, I call "Fast Dog, Slow Fruit". I'm moving right along but the leaves and the fruit on the ground is stopped. That's why I'm blurry and the fruit is sharp(er). Those are called Osage Oranges or Hedge Tree fruit. Some folks call them hedge balls, others might call them hedge apples. They can even be used as insect repellent - but not squirrel repellent, the little besties like to eat them.

This second pic makes it look like we don't know where the trail is going. If you end up here, you may not know either as this is not part of the "Red Trail" or any part of the race loop. Just the mad painter painting every trail they can find with red. So, you can no longer trust following those red markings.

Remember, group run, three loops, Dec 13. See previous post for details

FAT ASS RUN

What the heck is a Fat Ass run anyway? Well, if you know what it is and somebody wants to hold one, I guess it sounds okay to me! Mike Siltman, of previous McNaughton ultras as well as many others, will be hosting one of those runs using pretty much the race loop. This run will start at 7 A.M. on Saturday, December 13 and go for three loops. Mike will mark the trail so you can have some help with direction and still run your own pace. No registration fee, no awards, no "on course" aid stations, no official tour guides. Mike does promise to have some ultra food and a bit of an aid station at the start finish. He will have a donation jar set out if you'd like to help finance the refreshments. That is a Saturday and you should plan for about any kind of weather on the planet. Mike says he will have a fire going at the start finish area. I think you will need that fire after running through the ice water in the creeks!

Contact Mike at mikesiltman@hughes.net to RSPV or to ask questions.

Tour of McNaughton Report

What a great day for a run in the park! Bright sun shinny day with mild temps made for about the best conditions you can ask for. Great company and super tour guides allowed folks to get a wonderful McNaughton experience. We had Carey, Sheila, Christy, Mike, Donna, Dan, Brian, Jason, Chris, Howard, Jeff, Bob, Ann, Jerry and Mike. Counting me and my people, that's 18 (or so I'm told). I am a herding dog so understand how difficult it was to keep track of everybody once you got all spread out over several miles and how thankful I am that I had the help of the tour guides.

While there was interest in doing a night run, everybody had other schedules to keep and leaves to rake. I, however, had to take up my post on the back deck, guarding the yard from squirrels between power naps.