Saturday, March 7, 2009

First run from the new house: 9 miles exploring

I didn't get in a single run all week last week. We have been busy "getting settled." We are having a party at the new house (elevation 2600 ft) next weekend for my son Matt's 3rd birthday!

I finally got in a run this morning and went exploring. I wanted to find the best route up to the California aqueduct. I also saw some trails branching off the trail on google earth that I wanted to check out.

It is exactly 1.75 miles from my house to the aqueduct if I take 55th to the end then take the trails up. It is just slightly longer If I stay on N, then turn on 60th and enter the aqueduct there. For those of you not from the Antelope Valley, the California aqueduct is a water channel that starts in northern California. It runs along the west side of the valley here and has a paved side and dirt side that are open for running/walking. It is a great flat area for running without any traffic or stops to worry about.

I found the trail I was looking for and took it to the top of the hills south of the aqueduct (peak elevation 3400 ft). There were some great views of the valley from up there. There are some great trails up there that look like I could take down to Highland High School. I didn't want to get out too far so took a trail back which turned out to be a dead end of sorts. I had to walk down a hill that the garmin says topped out at 49% grade! I ran home on the road.

Don't forget to check out Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels. Coach Daniels talks about goal setting this week.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The trail at the end of 55th is one of the routes I take with my kids all the time. You can run under the aquaduct and head right on up to the top of the ridge from there - we call it the bunny hill.