Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Veazie and Sawyer Mountains

Call it a slow trail run or a fast hike. Either is fitting I suppose and speed wasn't really on the agenda anyway. Goal today was to check out the trails on a nearby land trust that contains two mountains as well as two geocaches (yeah, I am really hooked). Gorgeous day also, our first time reaching into the 80s this year!

Found the trailhead and was off. Began the steep climb up Veazie Mountain in search of this cache. I had to bushwack in a few tenths of a mile to get to it and it was all up a steep cliff. Slow going, but very cool! I loved the challenge. Also saw lots of fresh moose poop along the way.

Reached the top and had my Forerunner point me towards the coordinates and quickly located it. Signed the logbook, left a toy jeep and also took this geocoin to move it to the next cache (which is more accessible). Bushwacked back down, found the trail, and was off again.

Following a steep downhill off Veazie, the trek over to Sawyer Mountain featured a longer, grinding uphill. Trails in this area aren't very runnable. Lots of loose, softball sized rocks covered many sections of the trails, making footing very tricky. Also, lots of water running down the steep sections. However, it's a beautiful area, and I'll be back. Just not if I feel like going fast.

As I neared the summit, it was evident that the next geocache was down off the other side of the mountain a ways. I opted to reach the true summit first and then search for the cache. Reached the summit which had spectacular views towards the south. Wow! It was really beautiful. I sat in the shade of a tree for about 10 minutes and soaked it in while mowing down a Larabar.

Ran down the summit and headed off to find the cache. Ended up being an easy find. Signed the logbook and placed the geocoin inside. Better chance someone will take it and move the geocoin elsewhere from here. Left a toy dog inside also (BTW, kids often accompany parents while geocaching, and caches often contain small toys for the youngsters).

After that, ran back to the car. Fun morning.

Ran 5.7 miles @ 14:40/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 127/156
Trails, very technical.
Extremely hilly.
Lower 70s to lower 80s.
Shorts, singlet.

1 comment:

RunSueRun said...

Hey Jamie, that's cool! Think I could really get into geocaching myself. Maybe one of these days... Hope your training for WS is going well. :)