Rain and Bears

We've been in desperate need of some really good rain. A really wet season would be fantastic, and it looks like we might get it. I think we've had more rain recently than we did all last winter. The trails have mostly turned into a massive slip'n'slide, with some downed trees for extra funzies. Yesterday was both great fun and a little tedious. There was so much standing water on the trails, and to start with it was fun splashing my way through. First tentatively, then my inner five year old self came out to play! But then it got a little ridiculous.

It was a very good test of footwear, the Altra Superiors drained really quickly, and I didn't get any blisters or hot spots in spite of my crappy non-specialty socks.

This morning I headed to Jackson State Forest (JDSF) for an eight mile run. I chose to do my usual loop there but in the reverse direction. There is an option on this loop that is a short distance longer one way than the other. Taking the longer option would probably have hit eight, but I wanted a comparison for directions, and the shorter option is what I've been taking. This is about 7.5 miles, so I decided to just add an out and back to make up the extra half. It was a glorious morning, and I was feeling really good, even with an uphill start.

I think I prefer the loop this way, the uphills seem more runnable, and it was refreshing to go a new way round - I both ride and run this loop in a clockwise direction. I've maybe gone this way one time before. Whichever way you go there are magnificent ancient redwoods, like this guy:

For some size perspective:

The creek crossing started out basically being a bit of water that was jumpable with a bit of effort. A few weeks ago there was no way to get across and keep feet dry. Today, it reached above my knees in the deepest part of my crossing, and was surprisingly fast moving - enough that it was pushing me a little each step. I tried to video it, but it didn't come out great since I became more focussed on remaining uprightish. (Though on that note, I did stumble coming down the rockface, hands hit the ground, but not quite a 'fall').

After the creek it's only a little over a mile back to the parking spot (plus a half mile for plan-purposes), mostly heading uphill. About a quarter-mile from my truck I stopped in my tracks. Because of these:

Sometimes we come across prints, and it can take some deciphering to figure out what critter made them. There's no mistaking these guys though. I looked around but didn't see or hear anything, so opted to proceed with caution. I really hoped it wasn't just around the corner, since turning around 7.2 miles into an 8 mile run would not be ideal! I should have put my foot in the picture for perspective, but these are quite small prints for a bear, which means it's likely there were two of them. I couldn't see whether it had headed left or right off the trail, or continued in the direction I was headed so I just kept eyes and ears open. For my out and back I chose to play it safe and follow the dirt road out to the highway and back, since that seemed the most unlikely route to run into any fellow forest inhabitants. It's been quite the bear-y week here! I'm so glad that we're finally getting some real rain though :)