On Friday night, after packet pickup and pre-driving/riding part of the bike course as race recon, I drove solo up to Haw Ridge Park, 30 minutes north of Knoxville for a trail run. Haw Ridge is billed as tough-as-nails mountain biking, but I figured this late in the day, with the sun about to set, there probably weren't many MTBers out there. Assumption proved correct.
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| Top of Haw Ridge. |
I hopped out of the car and headed into the unknown woods of Tennessee. I had no trail map and no idea where I was, but I knew there were trails here, so I started up the first one I could find. And up, and up, and up, until I was at the crest and overlooking my now-tiny Honda Element 300' down below. With chest exploding, I forged on, up and down gnarly switchbacks and hooting and hollering aloud while dancing through thickets of poison ivy chasing FUN before I lost the sun. It was glorious, and I knew I'd picked the right place to go. And so I also realized that if these local trails are this cool, the Smokies must be even better.
That decided it. I was going to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. On Saturday, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:00am and drove the hour-plus into the greenest mountains I've ever seen. In a rush to get out the door and onto the trails, since I had to be back in Knoxville by 12:00 for Alaina's pro meeting, I had no coffee. Yeah, that's right. Mountain running with no caffeine. But as soon as I saw those mountains in the rising dawn, I was wide awake. Sufjan Stevens came on, and I blasted those ethereal horns and watched the sun muster over the peaks.
I found the Alum Caves trailhead to Le Conte Mountain, so hopping out of the car with my Wasp hydration pack filled with water and GU gels, I headed into the unknown. The trail crossed a shallow creek and then followed it upward. I was so geeked to run mountains I just couldn't get the smile off my face and I was instantly wide awake.
The extremely well-maintained trail hugged the stream and rose gradually, but constantly uphill. The trail starts at 3830 feet and climbs up to 6,555 feet over 5 miles, so I knew enough to start in a nice EZ gear and spin away despite this highly runnable section. There were only a few hikers out there, everyone very friendly and happy to be out there at first light.
After 1/2 mile, I crossed over the stream on a tree that had been cut and fashioned into a bridge with one handrail, and then climbed these slick and steep stairs through this narrow little cave space. Such fun!
The morning was overcast with some patches of morning sunlight, but as I got higher, I realized I was running right into a cloud. So I took advantage of the clear views for now and snapped some pics of the heart stopping beauty of the Smokies.
Trail surface remained runnable for much of the first half of this run, but after 2 miles of running straight up, my legs were feeling the lactic acid building and I relished the really rocky surface so I could get a power hiking break.
I should probably mention here with honesty that the single most prominent word in my mind, just edging out 'WOW', was 'Bear'. Smoky Mountain National Park boasts 1,500 black bears in its environs. So I velcro-ed a cowbell to my hydration pack in an attempt to warn my furry friends of my approach. The sound of that multi-toned ring was comforting and hypnotic, sounding like a Tibetan ceremony and filling my head with a Zen state of running alone in the mountains.
Hikers have the option of four different trails that will lead them to Le Conte peak, and now I'd reached the namesake of the trail I'd chosen --Alum Caves -- which is not a true cave, but an enormous overhang of rock. Here I met a hiker who has done each of the 4 ascent trails in his life, and he told me that the easy part was over, now came the fun part. I thanked him for this bit of cheeky news and headed up into the misty clouds.
Soon after leaving Alum Caves, I was knee deep in the cloud, and rain occasionally sprayed me but soon would pass. I'd not checked the weather before leaving, but I was starting to realize as I got higher how quickly conditions can change on a mountain.
Running through a cloud, the mountain forest covered in a mist brought Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" into my head, so I sang that to myself and kept the legs ticking over while my visibility went down to <100 feet ahead.
Rain was now spraying me sideways as I got closer to the peak, and I heard thunder around me. The winds picked up, and I was now at ~6,000 feet. I was so close to the peak, just had to keep running hard. The rain was coming down hard now and thunder was ringing through my ears. And just when I was getting worried about my safety, I saw Le Conte Lodge, a set of rustic cabins at the peak, so I ducked inside one of them and waited out the storm and sent Alaina a text updating my situation.
But the rain passed after 15 minutes and I needed to get moving back to the car, so I headed back down the trail the way I'd come. The rock was slick now, and with precarious cliffs just off the trail, the descent was not going to be much faster than the climb to the top.
I was totally soaked but running kept my body warm, so I kept up the pace and loved the pounding on my quads...for now anyway.
I kept expecting to see a bear in the forest, but nothing came out of the deep cloud. I wasn't the only one with bears on the mind though. I passed not one but two different people that asked me, "Are you just running for fun or is there a bear?" And I'm pretty sure they weren't joking.
The National Parks Service does an excellent job keeping up this trail, and I found these narrow wooden steps and bridges, built of fallen trees a real treat on the trail.
I did come across a rather disconcerting sight, a tree now blocked the trail that had NOT been there on the ascent. Looks like the storm was pretty intense!
As I got lower, the views opened up, and I was able to see the sweet smoke for which these mountains are known.
When I got back to the car, I realized that I had just enough time to get to another trail, Chimney Tops, for more running, before driving back to Knoxville. I couldn't resist. Chimney Tops trail is a 2 mile trail that ascends 1,700' over that distance. In other words, it would be a run straight up a mountain, and time was ticking. So I put my heart rate into Zone 5 and took off up the trail.
The footing was great at the bottom, but it quickly turned into broken rock and scree, so I kept moving as fast as I could, even if that was a power hike.
When I got to the top, the trail ends at a rock face, about 10' wide and fairly steep, with dropoffs on both sides. I started climbing on hands and feet to get up to the wide open views of this bald peak before turning around, lying on my back up against the rock, and essentially standing straight up. My heart started racing as the Smokies took up the space around me, and I had this whole forest at my feet. It was the coolest feeling.
The views from Chimey Tops:
After carefully climbing down the rock face, I sprinted back downhill, my quads screaming for mercy that they wouldn't get until the drive home. It was one of the greatest days of running of my life, and cemented the fact in my mind that I need to live in the mountains. Hopefully Colorado or northern California, but really any mountains with hiking/running trails will make me ridiculously happy. I want this feeling every day of my life.
Some of my BEST memories....I've spent the night in the cabins a couple of times. Both those trails are great. I used to be on a quest to hike all 800, LOL, I was going down there so much...Great post!!!
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