22 February 2009

Where In the Heck am I in Walla Hi?


Walla Hi County Park is located about 4 miles from my house, and every time I go there, I love it even more.

Every time I run at the park I end up on different trails, heading in different directions, and continuously stopping, looking around, and admitting I've gotten myself lost, once again. As you can see by the map, the park consists of a single large horse trail and a couple hiking trails that branch out to the horse trail. I can tell you first hand that in real life, Walla Hi County Park has about 3 times as many trails as shown there, and none of them are marked all that well. On Saturday morning Parsenn and I went out to Walla Hi with the single mission of using the 405 to map out the outer horse trail. This link shows how I fared. As you can see, the first part of my run took me on a loop (the lower right part of the map) that has nothing to do with the horse trail. I then ended up on another loop that seems to be part of the main hiking trail. At this point Parsenn got himself lost from me, which delayed my progress a couple minutes. The dog has no sense of smell (although he pretends he does) and apparently can't see or hear all that well either. He was wearing his blaze orange vest and I could see him running back and forth in the woods about 20 yards away from me, looking around and trying to find me. What a dog.

After seeing a sign for the horse trail, I joined it tried my best to follow it. The good part is I actually completed a loop...although I had to turn around twice because the trail dead-ended with DO NOT TRESPASS signs. I only ran about 5 miles total, at a measly 12 minute pace, but had an AvgHR of 156 for the run, which speaks to the up-and-down-and-up-and-down nature of the park. It's my mission to figure this place out. Next time I'm bringing a pen and paper to take better notes. Perhaps some orange spray paint would help me not get lost, too.

This morning I was back out for 8 miles. We had a 15 mph wind out of the West, so I headed that direction first and had splits of 7:19/7:39/7:45/7:41 before turning around and running 6:46/7:00/6:49/6:39. I actually surprised myself a bit on the way back and felt pretty decent. Hopefully the upcoming week goes a bit better than the last two!

8 comments:

joyRuN said...

Sounds fun?

I don't enjoy getting lost in the trails, but stubbornly, I'll keep going in the hopes of emerging somewhere not too bad. Haven't thought about using my Garmin to show me the way - maybe next time.

The Laminator said...

Oh gosh, getting lost on trails is my biggest fear. I guess that's why I live in a big city where there are no trails.

BTW that Garmin map sucks. I demand a better map.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

i'd rather get lost on trails in the summer time and with someone, but still sounds like a great time!

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Are you sure Parsenn wasn't looking for a pointed stick or some other weapon to use against you since you hit him with that surface-to-surface missile? Maybe he was going to lead you into a bear trap and leave you there to die?

Dogs look innocent, but, as you know, my dog, Morgan, has attempted to kill me on multiple occasions, and he has far less cause to kill me than Parsenn has to want to kill you.

Watch your back, is what I'm saying. You think you're smarter than your dog, but I got news for you:

You're not.

Good job on the runs. I'm only saying that in case your body ends up in a shallow ditch, buried with some squeaky dog toys and rawhide bones.

KimsRunning said...

Maybe you could tie ribbons to the trees? Tie them to the trees on one side so you know ribbons on the left mean you're running in and ribbons on the right mean you're running out. Like the buoys for the boats.

Nice paces on the trails. I hate trail running...lol

Now running in my sleep is the way to go!

Rachel said...

There are some "trails" over by my apartment that I frequently get lost and frustrated on. They seem to always dump me back at my apartment and I can never get far enough out. Eventually I just went for a trail that goes straight and has very little curves. Helped with the not getting lost part.

Diana said...

Connecting with you via Runner's Lounge....I enjoy your blog and that trail run looks killer! I am doing my first HM in Green Bay this May, I see you've done the marathon there before-any tips??

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Did Parsenn finally kill you?

I'm tempted to say "I told you so!"

I'm just surprised it took him this long.