Cold but pretty in spots

Trail for the first half was quite good today.
The cold had the snow rather granular but some of it was packed down quite hard on the larger trails. Thank goodness for cross country skiers who in many spots had packed the trail too.
The footing was not too bad although there had been no traffic on the Sulphur Springs trail section on the way back from Turnbull Road to the main loop.
Headwaters was another story.
The first half of the trail was slow due to the footing. On Headwaters the wind had done it usual and deposited snow along the trail in some place causing me to post hole as I tried to make my way along. The wind was also up and therefore the wind chill made it exceptionally cold up along the farmer's field.

Sunday's predicted warm temperatures should change everything. I'm sure the footing will improve with the thaw but that may not come until much later in the day.


Martin's Road as you can see is still blocked by a tree you have to crawl under.

This is one of several blockages along the upper portion of Headwaters where the path is starting to get worn through the bush.

Not really sure what happened here but I'm told it involved a bottle hand off and a quick move by the dogs. I found my friends this way when I rounded the corner catching up to them.

Cold this morning

Well it was another cold day on the trail today.
Mercury was hovering around -12 at my house. It seemed slightly warmer on part of the trail but the sunshine sure helped.
Any place there was a hint of wind though, the temperature dropped that's for sure.
The crossing across the top of the Headwaters trail was cool with some wind. The footing up there was fairly tough again. The trail never gets a chance to get packed down before it's winds swept again.
The footing on most of the trail was excellent. The colder temperatures had the snow frozen solidly and it had already been fair packed down from use. There was no ice in sight, despite the thaw on Friday.

There are still three obstacles on the upper section of the Headwaters Trail and the tree is still across Martin's Road.

While it has been cold here for running, friends in Brockville tell me the temperature was -28 this morning for their run.

Rain?

O.K. It looks like the weather man blew it and we're not going to get any rain today. That means the coating of snow over the ice covered trail should stay and the footing should be good for a while longer.
There is talk of snow in the forecast for Tuesday afternoon which can only improve the footing.
Finally got up to Headwaters on Sunday and the up side of the look is really blocked now. For a couple of weeks there has been a tree down not far from the junction with the main trail back to Martin's Road. Unfortunately there has been a second tree blow down in the same spot and it's covered in vines. A path around has already started to be worn around the blockage.

The part superintendent was out in the Dundas Conservation Area on Sunday clearing the trees down on the main Red Loop.
He was talking to some runners and said the tree across Martin's Road is not the conservation authority's issue since it is not on their property. He said the city may not be inclined to clear it either (it is the city's problem) since the there has been an effort to discourage four-wheels from using Martin's Road. It will have to be cleared by Paris To Ancaster bike race for sure (which is before the Sulphur Springs races).

Happy New Year!

Well it's a new year and time for resolutions, mine mostly to get back out to the trail more and keep this blog up at the same time.
My motivation has been low of late and now my training partner has busted he leg, motivating myself is even harder.
I did a partial loop this morning.
The trail was actually in pretty good shape with a coating of snow over a layer of ice. The snow was compacted enough to make it possible to run without Yak-Traks or screws in your shoes.
The forecast for a warm front to move in tomorrow afternoon and with it freezing rain will make the trails dangerous for the start of the week, I'm sure.
There is lots of evidence of storm damage around the sections of the trail I was on today.
Clearview Trail has a small tree across it as does the Monarch Trail. The red main trail has at least two trees down in the area of the path leading up to the Railway Station and the main park entrance. There is a large tree across Martin's Road near Dieter's aid station by the last slope in the road before his station. The tree is too high to crawl over and low enough it is hard to crawl under.
I did not get up to the Headwaters Trail and know only that there was at least one tree across the trail several weeks ago.