Adventuress

It seems I need to be clearer when I ask about running "trails." Last Sunday, the 10th, I ran 10 miles in Montana de Oro state park. It sounded like a perfect place to run: trails along the ocean, toilets, beautiful vistas. It had all that, but what nobody told me was that these were rugged mountain trails.

My husband drove me to the park and we encountered a range who gave me suggestions and a map of the park's trails. Armed with a water bottle, gels, cell phone and iPod, I took off along the Bluff trail. The view was great, and the trail was flat but uneven so I had to watch my footing. I also had to watch for this fellow, who was in front of me on the trail. I shood him away, but was hoping he wasn't waiting to ambush me.

(Photo by my husband, SD)

The Bluff trail went for about 3 miles and I was scheduled to run 10, so from there I planned to run along the Coon Creek trail and then hook up to Rattlesnake Flats trail, which would bring me back to my starting point. These trails were not well groomed; as I headed into the hills on the Coon Creek trail I soon realized these were more for hiking than running. Stubbornly, I persisted, even as brush and limbs kept impeding the way. I kept thinking about the sentence in the brochure, "Poison oak grows throughout the park." Great; I don't even know what poison oak looks like. I also kept an eye out for snakes. And I picked up a stick and turned off my iPod, so that I could be ready in case a mountain lion leaped at me.

OK, my imagination runs a little wild and I easily scare myself. I crossed one bridge, and when I crossed an identical one, I wondered if I was running in circles. I was too scared to turn around, so kept going forward, hoping that the Rattlesnake Flats trail would be better. I started snapping twigs so that I would know if I'd been there already, but I finally got to the trail I was looking for. It went for 3.5 miles and seemed wide open. I started out on that, then realized that 3.5 miles on a dirt trail was going to be slower going than on the road. I tried to call my husband to advise him of where I was, in case they had to send out the posse, but I had no cell phone coverage.

As much as I didn't want to do it, I turned around and went back on the Coon Creek trail. At least it was a known entity. After I crossed both bridges, I saw a young couple. As I passed them, the girl said it was nice to see some one else on the trail. I said I felt the same and asked if they knew where they were. They didn't; they were just our for a Sunday walk in the park, so I showed them the map and told them where the trail went.

Finally, I got back to the trailhead. I had enough of dirt; I finished the last 4 miles on GOA--good old asphalt! It was the main road in the park, and there were cars, but I turned on my tunes and ran against traffic. As I was ending my run, my husband returned to the park. I hopped in the car and we drove straight to Starbucks. Ah, civilization!