Bradbury Triple Play

Though a good-sized Trail Monster contingent was running Blackstrap Hell on Saturday morning, Rick and I chose to head to Bradbury.  Ian and NJ Dave were also running there and waiting for us; I had forgotten my shoes, luckily I realized it before we'd gotten too far, but it made us a little late.  I asked what was the plan for the run.  Ian had the Connector in mind.  Very good.  When we reached the branch that we'd normally take for the Boundary, Ian said, "Lets mix it up."  So we went up the Ski Trail, onto the Tote Rd, and then onto the branch that connects the Tote to the Boundary.  I said something like, "We're doing the reverse of last week with Mindy."  However, Ian then ran past the trail that branches off and crosses the mountain.  I yelled something about aren't we doing the reverse Mindy?  Ian was agreeable and came back to head down that way.  Once we got to the Boundary, Dave asked what trail we were on and which one were we just left.  I said I didn't think that one had a name.  Ian?  He immediately responded, "The Reverse Mindy."  I love(d) it!!! I looked on the "official" map; it doesn't even show the trail.  It starts midway between markers 16 amd 17 then parallels the Boundary till it meets back up with the Boundary (I know, I know...if it parallels it, it can't meet back up with it; just look at the map) between 12 and 13.

It was a beautiful run:  The dusting of snow, the cold, crisp air, the good company, everything I love about the trails.  Then Ian ran past the little single track detour that we'd done the previous week (or what I thought was said detour).  I called up to him.  How about he and Dave go his way and Rick and I would take the detour?  We'd see who got to the "Quarry" sign (where they meet back up) first.  And we were off!  It didn't even take a minute for me to realize that it was a different trail.  Did that make Rick and I turn around?  Nope.  I sort of figured it would connect back in somewhere.  When we found ourselves approaching the back of a house, we turned back a bit, but kept going the way we thought would bring us back to the connector.  We needed to bushwhack a bit, but we got back on track.  Of course, Dave and Ian weren't at the sign when we got there.  We ran the actual single track as well as the part of the trail they would have run.  I yelled for them.  We waited on the trail.  Hmmm....We left a leafy branch on the Quarry sign.  I wrote something in the snow with my Nuun.  Then Rick and I headed for the power line. 


When we got back to the Quarry sign again, I put a stick arrow crossing the entrance to the single track.  I also put one on the other end of the single track and the head of the trail we shouldn't have run out on.

The arrow two days later, dusted with snow

I fretted that they were still looking for us.  Rick was with me, though and he said they'd know to go on.  I hope they'd know I would be fine with that even if I was on my own.  That's probably not the case in other places, but, I'm good there.  We got back to the parking lot with 8.5 on the Garmins.  I left a long note for Ian. 

Sunday, Christmas morning, Rick and I headed back to Bradbury.  The temperature was a couple degrees colder than the day before even though we were starting almost 2 hours later.  We ran the Scuffle.  While we ran a lot faster, it took us nearly as long as last week's shuffle; I took lots of pictures along the way.

Today, we were back to the Brad and back to the Connector.  There was more snow and more ice.  It made the going a little slower, but we had fun.  It also made the going much more beautiful.  Again, I had my camera.  I tried to capture what I saw, but only a couple we any good...and then only hinted at what we enjoyed.  I made sure to pick a few red berries out at the power lines, knowing there were none at the summit.  I wanted to make a snowman to honor the run last week with Dora, Mindy and Tim.