|
Post by Jay Hallinan on May 3, 2005 14:31:31 GMT -5
If anyone is interested in joining me for a run across the Cohuttas this Saturday, please let me know. So far I have a group of three and would like to have some more folks join us. This is part of our training for Laurel Valley, so it is self supported. I will provide food at the end. I know this conflicts with Strolling Jim, but this will be a great run. contact me and I will get you details. Jay
jaythecrow@mindspring.com
|
|
|
Post by Jay Hallinan on May 18, 2005 8:30:09 GMT -5
Amphibian Traverse of the Cohutta and Big Frog Wilderness in North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee. May 07, 2005
In an effort to celebrate a graduation, and avoid the ceremony of that graduation, we decided to run across the complete distance of the two wilderness areas. Back in December we noticed that the two destinations where we often kayaked could be linked together by trails that went over the tops of three of the higher mountains in the area, with only a short section of dirt road. We ran parts of the course in the snow this winter to get a feel for the availability of water and what to expect. The three of us woke up early and drove to the trailhead to get an first light start. I made sure everyone knew that their feet would get wet on this run; I just neglected to tell them that it would be within the first five minutes of running. I held this information until everyone was committed. No problem for anyone. Off we go up and across and through the creek for the long ascent up Bald Mountain. I enjoyed experiencing the woods waking up as we went by. After several creek crossings there is a section of trail that has been rerouted due to blowdowns from a storm several years ago. As we finish the section, there is a new tree across the trail, we get through this to see that within the past week there has been another violent storm here. For the next 4-500 yards we climb, scoot, shimmy, jump, and fall around and over 2â-3â diameter trees that had been broken off or torn up from their roots. When we were finally through it all, we looked back in awe of the power of nature. A little while later, as the trail got steeper and more remote we spotted a couple of bears. One slides down out of the tree it was in and catches up to the other and they run up the mountain. We fill our bottles at the last stream crossing for a few miles, enjoy a big view and top out in a large grassy field.
Now down the other side. I hadnât been on this stretch of trail for 15 years or so, but for the next three miles it is down, down, down. About a third of the way down I twist my ankle, enough to where I donât want to put weight on it, and have to hop to a stop. It took about eight big hops to get stopped and assess the damage. No swelling (yet), holds weight, good range of motion. Luckily I can still run, but I have to take it easier. We get to the bottom in about 20 minutes. Amazing; the first 7 miles took us almost 2 ½ hours, the next 3 miles took 20 minutes. I soak my ankle in the rivers and creeks as we cross and start back up.
We climb trail for a little while on a reasonable grade, then among boulders up and along a waterfall. At the top of the falls we break for water and food and take in the view. We are about a third of the way through, and everyone is in good shape. We have flat trail for a little while then steeper to a series of wonderfully enjoyable false summits and finally the ridge and 5+ miles of down hill running.
This downhill is one of the best I have been on; steep enough to require little effort, but you can get your stride, good footing, and a series of turns that you can take full speed. We fill our bottles, break and eat before crossing the river to the next trail. By shortcutting the river crossing, we miss the trailhead for the next trail, but since I am familiar with the area two of us decide to take the shortcut, the other follows because he has no idea where he is. So instead of ½ mile of running a meandering old road grade, we get ¼ mile of hyper steep climbing and someone asking how this could be called a shortcut. Four miles of flat and dry trail bring us to the only road section of the day. We climb on the road to the next trailhead where we strategically placed two gallons of water. And thankfully so, we were dry and hungry at this point with 6-7 miles and a big climb with no stream crossings ahead.
The climb up Big Frog mountain was steeper than I remember, and longer, and I also donât remember all of the false summits to get to the top. I realize that the Cohutta trail engineers barely understand the concept of switchbacks, but are excellent at executing river crossings. Once again I was distracted by all of the ephemeral wildflowers along the way, so I will probably forget how long this climb was. We take a break on top, share food, and prepare for the long downhill to follow. We come to a fabulous view, I stop to see if the camera bearer wishes to take a picture, âyeahâ he says pulls out the camera randomly aims and fires, âgood enoughâ we are ready to be finished, but we still have 6 or so miles to go. We make it to a creek just as the bottles are running out, fill up and keep moving. The cold water feels good on the feet.
The trail is an old road now, slightly downhill for 1 ½ miles before we reach the singletrack climb up to a series of bike trails. This is new territory for me, but I have a map of the bike trails, dumb as we are late in a run, we try and succeed in finding the shortest trails to get us to our destination. The car isnât where we had arranged, but we find my dedicated buddies across the river in a parking lot waiting with cold beer real food and a âcongratulations⦠that was stupidâ.
As soon as I take my shoes off my ankle swells up like I thought it would have hours ago. I put a beer and ice on it and hope it heals quick.
As I am complaining the next day about being sore and hurt, my buddy puts in perspective â there are still people out at Massanuttenâ⦠I shut up.
I feel like I got to experience the whole month of April again on this run, with the change in elevation, we experienced plants in all their levels of budding and blooming. The leaves were not on the trees at the tops of the mountains, but coverage was complete in the river gorges.
I felt better doing this run than on many of the races I have done, here is why I think that may be:
This was my first long run since the end of January. I guess I healed.
We went slow,
I ate less
It was a stinkin beautiful day and time of year
I wore the right shoes. Brooks Adrenaline road shoes. These worked out well, I have the trail version of the same shoe, but it has a narrower toebox, is water resistant and stiff throughout. Three things that are the antithesis of a good trail shoe for me.
I took in the right amount of salt and water. Five s-caps in 11.5 hours. Last summer I realize I was taking too much salt during a run because I began to crave salt on everything (bread, ice cream, fruit). This year I am cutting back and trying to stay in tune with my needs.
The filter bottle works well because I am immediately able to drink cool water from the streams rather than waiting for a half hour for chemical to work.
I calculated the distance better the next day, the run was somewhere between 36 and 39 miles, net elevation gain of only 80 feet. (practically flat)
quite an experience, we are already planning to do it again
|
|
|
Post by janice on May 19, 2005 13:09:46 GMT -5
sounds awesome, let us know when you go back again, we've been intending to go up there for some time janice
|
|