37 miles run in this fantastic place : the Sierra Nevada, from the Sequoia National Park.
A wonderful track, the High Sierra Trail, run from sequoia grove to the high sierra scenery. The goal was to reach the Kaweah Pass at 10000ft and come back, in a 37 miles run.
But it was early in spring, and snow complicated the advance. I had to turn back 1 mile before my goal because of a slippery snow patch making the crossing over too dangerous.
I ran all the day, with many stops to take pictures and enjoy the extraordinary views.
Wildlife is luxurious : I saw coyotes, deers, marmots. But the intense moment was the bear encounter : face to face with a huge beast. I was suddenly scared, but not as him : he flied with an incredible speed !
Other difficulty was the rivers crossing : the meltdown made the stream very strong and tumultuous, very cold and dangerous.
Scenery was absolutely amazing. No word can describe the incredible views, even pictures cannot catch the immensity of this place. A part of me probably stayed there...

My pictures are on my site : www.runtheplanet.fr

(expeditions tab, then choose your album...)

By Mark Long

Why do we continue to put ourselves through agony and pain over and over again?  I have asked myself that question over and over again.  What is it about a marathon or an ultra marathon that keeps drawing us back time and time again?  I still haven’t found the answer after almost 25 years of running.  Oh, I’ve played out the many scenarios in my mind.  It’s the challenge, the camaraderie, the beautiful trails, and of course that feeling I can only get when I finish one of those grueling events.

Maybe, it’s actually all of those things.  There is one event out there that will give you all of the above.  The event I speak of is Laurel Valley Trail Run.  Each August, Claude Sinclair of Lancaster, SC and self proclaimed leader of the Runner from Hell running club, conducts the Laurel Valley Trail Run.  Claude makes it perfectly clear on his website www.claudesinclair.com that Laurel Valley is not for the faint of heart.

It is a very tough and grueling course that traverses over 5000 steps and several major climbs on the Foothills trail in North and South Carolina.  However, the runner is rewarded with many beautiful views of water falls and scenic trails throughout the event.  By all means the fact that you have to provide your own aid does make the event rather challenging.  It is almost required that you either use iodine tablets or filter your water in some way while out there on the course.  There is also supreme camaraderie throughout the event.  Laurel Valley attracts many veterans each year.  It is truly is like a family reunion, only with out the buffet.  The trails are always gorgeous and surprising.  There is lots of foliage, rocks, roots and rivers crossed by beautiful suspension bridges.

On our way home from Phoenix, Melinda and I are staying in Provo Utah, for a couple of days at my Parents home. We are also visiting our daughter Jessica, who is in school at BYU. During 1998-2000 I used to run at lunchtime up in Provo Canyon. Today I once again ran one of my favorite routes. It starts at an office park where I used to work during those years. During these years I would run up the canyon or go fly fishing in the canyon during lunch or before/after work depending upon the season.

Melinda and I are staying at the Arizona Biltmore resort for a work-related event and this morning I ran the 2 miles from the Biltmore to Phoenix Mountain park and started up the summit trail. The photo below shows what mount Piestawa looks like from the Biltmore.

While many of you were running the Mt. Mitchell Challenge or Black Mountain Marathon yesterday, I was running all the trails at Umstead with my unbelievably small Canon SD1000. This is the best running camera I've used. I also carried it with me last week at Holiday Lake.

Umstead is located in the center of the Raleigh-Durham metro area and provides a valuable sanctuary from the city. On a day like yesterday, when the weather was overcast and threatening, you can have a quiet time in the woods with few other people to intrude. The single-track miles at Umstead are the real gem. If all you do is run the Umstead 100 you never see the real trails in the park. Portions of the Umstead Trail Marathon are on single-track.

I started out on the single-track Loblolly Trail. From there I turned left on the Turkey Creek trail, which is part of the Umstead 100 course. Next I took the Cedar Ridge trail (part of the Umstead trail marathon course) back up to the Reedy Creek trail.



Flickr photos from the run.

April 7th is the deadline for public comments on the proposed completion of the North Shore Road in GSMNP. You can make comments for the next two days using this link.

For more information see the Southern Environmental Law Center, the The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, or or Google.

Great training run today with Scott and David. And of course: many thanks to Patti Kirk, the angel of the trails, for providing aid. My run was very sllooowwww, five hours and a few minutes, more than an hour off my race pace for the first traverse during last February's race. Scott and David were quite a bit faster than me today. But I enjoyed the run a lot. There is talk of another Uwharrie run next Saturday with those wacky Trailheads runners.

Sqonk posted some photos of himself running trails in Western VA. Some of the photos are from Shenendoah NP. Is Squonk training for SCAR v2? Gallery is located Here.

The Brush Mountain Trail System near Blacksburg, Virginia offers excellent single-track fun for cycling and running, along with some serious hills and technical terrain.

The Tanawha Trail is a lovely run that skirts along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain, near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.