Thursday morning I decided to take Zorro to South Mountains State Park (about 10 minutes from the house) to scout out some trails. I’m glad I decided to do this rather than try running my entire team up (and down!) a trail when it might not be suitable.
First I stopped at the equestrian camping center where Turkey Ridge trail starts. I ran that trail last year (the first part is really nice but barely a half mile, but leads up the side of the mountain after crossing the road) and it had to be one of the worst runs I had ever had. My nerves where tore up that day because I literally had NO braking power coming back down the mountain, so my dogs were full of piss and vinegar flying down the hill at 27 mph. um, YEAH. LOL Anyways, I stopped at Turkey Ridge and took Zorro down it because half way down the first side of the trail there was another trail under construction called ‘Saddleback Trail’. Last year they never finished it but just so happens, it is now! and what a NICE trail as well (as far as I could see anyways). This one is a keeper and can’t wait to go down it this fall.
Here is a picture of the team last winter on Turkey Ridge Trail (the smoother section).
After that we went up to Cicero Branch Parking Area, which also has nice camping spots right near the Little River Trail turnstile. Unfortunatly, I think the trailhead was too small for me to get a screaming team of dogs through. It also had a no biking sign.. but lucky me, we’re right between a horse and a bike so who’s to tell where I can’t run? ;) The first part of the trail was pretty decent, then there was a small creek crossing. I decided to take the bridge instead of crossing the creek because I figured we would do that on our way back. We started up the trail again and I saw hills. At first thought I said “ok, maybe it will just be uphill for a little bit then even out like the HQ trail does” (HQ trail is great!), but boy was I wrong. We probably went half a mile up it and it just kept getting worse and worse, steeper as we went along. At that point I decided to turn around and give this trail (or atleast this section of the trail) a solid 6 for sled dogs - on a scale from 1 to 10.
first part of the trail, leading from Cicero
trail intersection-
creek crossing/bridge to second (uphill) part of Little River Trail -
Uphill section (western) of the trail -
On the way back down I took off my shoes and socks and me and Zorro got in the creek to cool off. I remember vaguely the weather report being mid 80’s but at that time it sure felt a heck of a lot hotter. I also took some nice pictures of him there as well.. and we sat and watched the baby trout dash around the rocks.
After spending about 30 minutes in the creek I decided to take the alternate route to the western side of Little River trail, which crosses over the main road. It also, was steep and by that time It was starting to get late and hot so we decided to take another break at the top of the mountain where the view was breathtaking and then headed back down to the parking area.
Zorro at the top:
Eastern end of Little River Trail -
Of all the trails I have ran in South Mountains by dog team, the best ones so far seem to be HQ, part of Turkey Ridge, and Saddleback Trails. There is still lots of trails to try but it would be a long walk if I were to do them alone. Hopefully I can take the suitable trails and discover them by team when fall comes. Will update when I check more out!
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