Tag Archives: Trail Running

01032020 – Run

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As expected it had rained over night. It was 45 with a chance of rain during my run. I opted for the hiking trails on the other side of Fort Harrison State Park since they aren’t biking trails. They had some flooding along the Fall Creek trail (by the river) and by the Duck Pond. I ran the Fall Creek Trail and then connected to the paved trail Harrison Trace Trail to head back towards the parking lot. I took the cutoff before Delaware Lake and connected to Camp Creek trail. While the Fall Creek is wide with some good amenities (benches and wooden step structures), Camp Creek is narrow single track with only a few bridges over the widest creek crossings. Camp Creek was a fun trail, its on the inside of the Harrison Trace Loop. It didn’t actually rain while I was running so that was nice, though it might have felt cooler. I got to wear shorts and opted for a t-shirt under my rain jacket.

4.14 miles in 45:51. The mile on the paved trail was relatively faster than the tight single track.

01022020 – Run

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Saw some deer driving to the trailhead. Easy 4 miler at Fort Harrison State Park. There was no fee today which was nice! I ran the Lawrence Creek trail and added in the GC smaller loop to add miles. The trail was mostly dry with some wet sections. If I had started at the other trail head I probably wouldn’t have ran it.

It was in the upper 30’s and getting warmer as I ran. I felt my quads still from the other day.

4 miles in 50:22

10192019 – Run

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A nice fall run with the leaves mostly still on the trees. It was raining when I started and about 50 degrees. The rain wasn’t heavy, barely getting through the trees.

I ran around Wirth and my legs felt sore and heavy from yesterday’s workouts. I tried nasal breathing but I have been sick with sinus stuff so I wasn’t too surprised by that.

3.5 miles in 39 minutes.

08182019 – Run & Swim

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Finishing up the Cuyuna solo weekend. I had planned to run and swim today, but was feeling nervous about the swim. I woke up and ran the Yawkey trails. They were a little wet and I thought they might be busy since the other big unit was closed for the races. I liked being able to run from the campsite and straight onto the trails. I ran the Man Cage, Manuel Drive, Tugger, and Trout, plus the access trail. This totaled 3.5 miles in 42 minutes. My legs were definitely tired from yesterday’s riding. It took a little bit for my legs to loosen up and then the hills. It was a cool morning so that felt great.

I got back to the campsite and packed up. I kept going back and forth about swimming. The water is cool and super deep (that’s a mental thing) and pretty much no one was around that would even noticed if I was struggling. I knew that I would be fin, but it’s a mental thing. I could swim across to the “beach” and decide to either swim back or walk the short little bit back barefoot. Or I could walk to the “beach” and swim back to the campground. So many options and things to think about.

I finally decided to just do it. When I got to the dock, someone was there and I jumped in. I started swimming and got about 1/2 way across and just felt weird. I know half way I could have just finished, but again mentally it felt better to just turn around and swim back. So I did. My watch said 270 yards in 5:16. Not really what I was hoping for but I’ll take it. The water is so clear and it was fun to see so far down in the water. A different time maybe I’ll plan to snorkel or something.

I almost decided to go for a ride, but decided not to do the Yawkey unit. I hung out for a little bit longer so I could refill the growler at Cuyuna Brewing and then headed home.

07212019 – Run & Canoe

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The Caribou Rock Hiking trail starts just outside of the campground where we were staying. It was so close in fact that Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground put a little trail from the campground to the trailhead! I figured I wouldn’t make the full almost 3.5 miles to where the trail connects to the Border Route Trail, but I figured I would get closer than I did! I also had a time limit that ended my run earlier than I would have liked. On the off chance I made it to the Border Route trail I was hoping to do the short extension to see Rose Falls, which we would later come back to via canoe. Leaving the trailhead the trail is pretty easy to follow as it climbs to an overlook of West Bearskin Lake.

There is a nice overlook to see West Bearskin Lake, it would be a nice hike. The trail continues following between some lakes and pops out with this nice view of Moss Lake before turning inland. The trail has some steep drops and at one point I was running downhill through a bunch of brush and couldn’t really see the tread of the trail. Some parts were rocky, not quite Superior Hiking Trail rocky, but pretty close. And a few times you needed to hold on to climb down and back up! I crossed a stream on rocks and eventually ran through the portage between West Bearskin Lake and Duncan Lake.

I didn’t see any wildlife on the trail unfortunately. Shortly after crossing the portage and after climbing up a hill I got to an intersection without any signs. I was already past my turn around point time so I knew I shouldn’t really do any more. I went a short bit towards the left (which would have been towards the falls) and realized that I wasn’t actually going to make it. So I turned around – this was just over 2 miles in but definitely over 45 minutes.

The run back felt faster, I didn’t stop as much for pictures which helped. But I think knowing the landmarks helped too. Running 20 minute pace isn’t ideal, but it was a fun run!

4 miles in 1:17:58 with 1,200 feet elevation gain!

Moss Lake

Here are a few pictures of the trail!

After breakfast we got ready to go for our canoe ride. We were planning to go to Rose Falls and to see Canada! The 5 of us loaded up into the canoe and made our way out on Hungry Jack Lake. It was super easy to find the first portage and it was relatively short so we didn’t have any problems getting into West Bearskin Lake.

I should have taken a picture of the map as we had trouble finding the portage into Duncan Lake. We were actually really close at one point, but I thought we had missed it. We paddled along the shore and found a campsite and then ran into some people who were staying at Hungry Jack that we had met and they helped us get to the portage and gave us some pointers for the rest of our trip. The portage into Duncan Lake actually brought us officially into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. This was a little longer portage. Once we got into Duncan Lake it was easy to find the spot for Stairway Portage/Rose Falls.

I thought it might be fun to portage the canoe and paddle into Canada, but I’m glad we didn’t. It would have been a long portage with a ton of steps! It was a good little hike though and we had lunch next to the falls. After lunch we climbed the stairs down to Rose Lake and played along the edge and gazed at the far shore which was Canada. Rose Falls was pretty too. After playing around for awhile we climbed back up and over and headed home. The kids wanted to help paddle and they did all the way back.

We didn’t have any trouble finding the portages on the way back and had a nice calm paddle. It was a fun day on the water! I estimated we paddled about 8 miles for the day.

Entering the BWCA!

Top of Rose Falls

Rose Falls

Rose Lake looking at Canada