SPRING BREAK! I spent the last week running up and down the mountains
in Angeles National Forest during the Augsburg Track and Field teams’ annual
spring break trip. I love running and exploring new places so the week was
basically a week in running heaven. One of the runs we did while we were out
there will go down in my lifetime as one of the best ever. We started the run at
about 3,000 feet at the Chantry Flats. I am still trying to figure out why it
is called the Chantry Flats because we were smack dab in the middle of a mountain,
and it wasn’t flat!
To begin the run we
dropped 400ft down into a valley and trotted along a beautiful creek raging with
spring rain and snow melt. It was a beautiful 60 degree spring day and the sun
was shining bright (this fact will be important later in the story, so keep it
in mind).
The beginning of the trail was wide and flat, because every
Jane and Joe hiker could make it the first mile or two of the 9.5 mile round
trip loop that we were planning on doing. However, a few miles in and the trail
turned to a single track nightmare when it comes to running. There was every obstacle
you could imagine – steep cliffs, rocks, roots (The trails reminded me of many
runs in Forest Park in Portland, OR with my high school coach Brent MacDermot –
and him bent over laughing until he cried because I had tripped on a root and
managed to smash a banana slug all over my stomach). So our pace was slow, but
it didn’t matter because it was supposed to be a recovery day and the amount of
uphill running we would be doing that day would cause our heart rates to spike regularly,
making up for the fact that the pace was slow.
As we were running along I tried my best to take in my
surroundings, which was difficult to do because I wanted to make sure I kept my
eyes on the ground and on the three boys that were following on the trail
behind me. On our drive up to the flats my coach Dennis had joked that we would
be gaining enough elevation in the run to see snow, and we all laughed at the
notion. However, 3000ft later once we caught our breaths we really did run into
the snow! We couldn’t believe it. Here we were in the middle of mountains just
outside of L.A. and we were running through a light dusting of snow. The views
from that elevation were breathtaking. The Los Angeles skyline, which was
actually clear that day because of a spring storm that had blown through the
day before, as the backdrop to the lush green mountains and the sparkle of the
ocean. But the best part of it all was the sounds…
Remember how I said it was a sunny and 60 degree day? As we
approached the top Michael asked me “What the heck is falling all around us?”
To which I replied “ICE”. As we were climbing the mountain the ice that had
been coating the upper layers of the trees began to melt and fall off in
quarter size chunks! Once I got over my fear that one of us would be knocked unconscious
by a falling ice chunk, is when I heard it. The ice as it cascaded off the
trees and fell to the ground sounded like a symphony of soft wind chimes
playing all around us.
Finally we reached the peak of Mt. Zion and began our long
winding journey back down the mountain on the aptly named Winter Creek Trail.
We zigged and we zagged all the way down the mountain, finally reaching the
base where we then had to climb another sharp incline 400ft back out of the
valley. OUCH! When we finally reached the flats again an hour and forty minutes
(running time) had passed, but it was completely worth it.
Being able to do a run like this is one of the many reasons staying
in shape is worth it for me. I’ll be thinking about our run through the Angeles
National Forest when I hit the roads this week in Minneapolis.
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