~1.5 miles @ ~16 min/mi

"No, the other right—my bad!" one mountain biker says to another.

"Do you mean the other left?" I ask.

"Yes, that's the one!" he replies.

I'm in the Walnut Creen Metropolitan Park on the north side of Austin Texas. Today in the local newspaper Pamela LeBlanc has an enthusiastic article about trail running [1] that lists courses in the area. This park is #2. Unfortunately I try running it in mid-afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 90s and high humidity. Before I start my little GPS wrist unit locks up. (Only later do I learn the Garmin 205 reboot trick: holding down the "Mode" and "Reset" buttons simultaneously.)

I soon get lost on the snaky maze of mountain bike trails, just as has happened at Fountainhead repeatedly, at Schaeffer Farms, and at Cunningham Falls. In 20 minutes I'm at the top of a cliff, the "trail" I've followed terminates in brambles, a "No Trespassing" sign warns me not to invade adjacent church property, and poison ivy sends me backtracking. I random-walk until I find a path back to the parking lot. It's all good! I'll be back tomorrow ...

^z - 2010-08-03