The good part about this spring is that I've taken the advice of my allergist and not hiked or run on days with pollution warnings. First time in 30 years I've escaped some sort of prolonged sinus infection. Downside is that my legs and lungs are way out of shape right now and I'm starting from scratch. Easy 12 minute miles around the loop from the visitors center over to Cave Creek Road tunnel, up around the Golf Course Loop and back. Ran the flats and downhills and walked up the hills.

Sort of bittersweet, taking a final tour of my favorite urban trails for the next 5 weeks. Getting ready to move to Tucson and with shopping for flooring, furniture and paint don't have time on the weekends now to drive more than 20-30 minutes for trail access.

The Golf Course Loop has been discovered now, I saw more people on it this morning than ever before. Saw almost 10 people on that section of my loop. Plus evidence in 3-4 spots closer to Thunderbird of bum's nests that were not there the last time I was on this loop.

Finished off by seeing the first rattlesnake of the season trolling around a few yards away from my car.

Started off wanting to do a North Mountain-Shaw Butte loop, but switched plans once on top of the summit. With the construction on the front side of North Mountain, the route on the backside (western side) starting from 7th Avenue appears to be getting more attention. In my almost 20 years of doing this trail on and off this is the most defined I've seen the trails. In the past if you weren't paying attention it was easy to get off track for a few yards, now that's impossible.

Once I made it to the summit my plans about dropping down to catch #101 and head over were thwarted by the big fence across the trail with big no trespassing signs warning you to stay away from the main trail on the frontside. So I turned around and went back down the backside. Had to give directions to a few people that were new to the pleasures of going up the western slope, so the closure on the front side is having an impact.

For anyone that likes good Chicago pizza, go to Spinatos on 7th Street, however don't go there the night before you go out for a long run or hike. The pizza was pretty tasty last night with a couple of beer's from Flagstaff's Mother Road Brewery. But it made for an uncomfortable run this morning, took almost an hour before I felt halfway decent. Left from the trailhead on 7th Avenue and headed down to the lower dam and up the Central Avenue climb to skirt the midsection of North Mountain. Then circled back around to catch Trail 100, took that over to Trail 101 up to the social trail along 7th Street and caught Trail 100 just before the tunnel. There is a sign on Trail 101 stating that the main trail on the east side of North Mountain is closed for construction.

Headed under the tunnel at 7th Street and kept going to Cave Creek, the new trail work along 100 is quite apparent. The section from the top of the saddle down to Cave Creek is the smoothest I've ever seen in the 15+ years I've been hiking or running that trail. What used to be a short technical section is now an easy jaunt. Headed up to the Golf Course Loop over to Trail 25, back to 100 to 306 and back to my car with a few little extra loops and zig zags to hit the two hour mark.

Just bought an Osprey Duro 1.5 liter running vest and it's quickly turning into one of my favorite packs. Little bit heavier than my Nathan vest, but it doesn't bounce around as much and fits a lot better. Could be a contender for my next pack to do a Grand Canyon run/hike.

Mellow figure 8 loop going eastbound from the Dreamy Draw trailhead, went out on one of the northern social trails, intersected back on #100 to #1A. Swung through the parking lot for another loop around the Mercury Mine loop. First time on this part of Trail 100, so may need to explore the eastern end a few more times.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, go for a pre-dawn run before I had to work this morning. Hit Trail 100 from the 7th Avenue trailhead at 5:30 AM and thought it's been awhile since I've run with my headlamp, a nice change of pace. Cruised up Trail 100 up to 101 and then cut back over to 100 from there. Went through the tunnel under 7th Street and continued on 100 to the tunnel on Cave Creek. Turned around there and headed up the Tapatio Loop. While at the point where I was the furthest from my car I was zoning out and thinking how cool it is to still be running in the dark. So of course a rock jumped up out of nowhere and splayed me out. Got up, dusted myself up and assessed the damage.

Looking down, one hand felt like it was broken and the other hand was profusely bleeding. But I still had over 4 miles to cover to get back to my car. Wrapped one hand in a bandana and grit my teeth for the run back to my car. Headed home and immediately started icing my hand, luckily not broken just really sprained. Upshot is that I figured out a way to get out of doing dishes for the next few days.

Normally wouldn't post a workout run but looks like some work has been done to the trails recently. Almost every trail that I've been on around North Mountain or Shaw Butte looks like they went through with a road grader. Trail 100 looks especially smooth. If you know anyone nervous about hiking or running on rocky trails, take them here for the near future.

Nice afternoon for a run. Put a new spin on this run and started from the visitor's center parking lot, then down Trail 100 to the lower dam. Headed up the grade from there and over to the turnoff to the backside of North Mountain. Went up and over the mountain to Trail 101 and then took the bandit trail along 7th Street back to my car.

A little LSD run to get the weekend started, 90 minutes seems to be the perfect amount of time. Long enough to cover a fair amount of ground, yet not so much that I spend the rest of the day recovering on the couch. One of the many reasons to live in Phoenix were days like this, 55 degrees & sunny with just a hint of a breeze to start the run. By the time I was finished it was about 70 degrees.

Started at the visitors center parking lot to the tunnel at Cave Creek, went north along Thunderbird which is quickly becoming one of my favorite stretches of trails in the North Mountain area. Went back to the visitors center and hopped on the bandit trail to #101, then back to #100 over to #306 to make essentially a big figure 8 loop. Still had 15 minutes left to run, so finished up with another out and back on the bandit trail along 7th Street.

This week has been a week of odd sighting on the trail. On Thursday saw someone riding an ATV in the park and this weekend had my first encounter with one of those new "E-Bikes". These are mountain bikes with a small electric motor that is supposed to "assist" on uphill sections of trail. However this bike was being ridden by a rather corpulent fellow who wasn't peddling at all and using the motor to guide him around the trail. I'm not sure that I like this new type of bike.

The plan for the day was a super easy hour long run in the preserve. Showed up to the 7th Avenue trailhead and noticed a park ranger trolling up and down the parking area. Got out of my car and noticed what he was looking at. Some idiot on a quad was zooming up and down Trail 100. The guy finally came across the dam over by the parking lot and the ranger nabbed him. Guy had no helmet and had his 18 month old daughter on his lap with no helmet, no driver's license and no plates or tags on the quad. Oh the joys of Sunnyslope trailheads. I have seen the weirdest stuff here over the years.

After that excitement I did my counterclockwise loop up #60 where the turn off to the backside of North Mountain is. Came back down to #100 over to #101, hopped on the bandit trail along 7th Street to the visitors center and over to #306 for the return leg. Other than a few moments of gusty winds, it was a perfect day for a run.

First trail run in a while, I'm at the age where it's tough to admit that it's better to lay low for 3-4 weeks and let injuries heal than to push it and be out of commission for a few months. Eased back in with a low key spin around Trail 100 starting from the North Mountain Visitors Center heading east through the tunnel over to Cave Creek Road. Then headed up on parts of the Golf Course Loop for a bit of AEG and get away from the crowds.