Trail Running the Cutchenmine Trail (Lake Guntersville State Park)
Last week I tried trail running at Lake Guntersville State Park for the 1st time (read about my 1st trail run), and I decided to give it another shot this week as I continue to train for the McKay Hollow Madness 25K Trail Race at Monte Sano State Park (Huntsville, Alabama) coming up in March. I survived over 8 miles of getting lost in the woods last time, but this week I took a different trail and enjoyed my time in the woods much more on the 2nd try.
CUTCHENMINE TRAIL
When I asked one of the park rangers last week which trail was the most scenic at Lake Guntersville State Park, he quickly told me that the Tom Bevill trail was the best in the park, with the best lake views. While the Tom Bevill trail had plenty of challenging climbs and a few nice views, I had hoped to see water a bit more (see my pictures here). Yesterday I decided to instead try the Cutchenmine Trail, which the park ranger described: “It is easier and just follows part of the lake.” When I am hiking (or trail running recently), I would much rather look at a beautiful lake along the trail than just trees and dirt. Not only did the Cutchenmine Trail provide some incredible scenery (creeks, small waterfalls and lake views), but it was also better marked, less confusing, wider, less rocky and altogether easier than the Tom Bevill Trail. While I need to run difficult terrain to prepare for my trail race, it was nice to run and take in the scenery at the same time without having to watch my footing quite so closely. I was also able to run at a much faster pace than I did on the Tom Bevill Trail last week. Here are some pictures from my 2nd trail running experience. Click the pictures to enlarge.
Panoramic view of Dry Creek at the end of the Cutchenmine Trail.
Dry Creek
Panoramic view of Dry Creek.
Dry Creek
Black & white view of Dry Creek.
Dry Creek was anything but dry just 2 days after heavy rainfall.
Dry Creek feeds into Short Creek, at the end of the Cutchenmine Trail in Lake Guntersville State Park. When I see rocks like this, I have to walk on them! I love this spot and hope to take my kids there when it is warmer (if they can make a 5-mile round-trip).
Panoramic view of Dry Creek feeding into Short Creek, at the end of the Cutchenmine Trail in Lake Guntersville State Park.
Looks like there had recently been a whole family of raccoons at the water.
Raccoon paw prints by the water of Dry Creek, at the end of the Cutchenmine Trail in Lake Guntersville State Park.
Notice the baby raccoon paw prints following along with mama raccoon.
Dry Creek
The Cutchenmine Trail runs along Short Creek, off Lake Guntersville.
Small waterfalls were plentiful along the Cutchenmine Trail after heavy rainfall earlier this week.
There was a long series of small waterfalls like this going up a large hill by the Cutchenmine Trail. My guess is that these are usually pretty dry, but they were flowing hard after rainfall this week.
Cutchenmine Trail at Lake Guntersville State Park
Once again I was very glad that my 1st pair of trail running shoes are waterproof! (Get a pair of waterproof Montrail Mountain Masochist 3 Outdry Trail Running Shoes.)
View of Lake Guntersville at the start/end of my run. Because of the heavy rainfall this week, the lake was very brown and muddy instead of its usual bluish green color.
This time I carried my iPhone 5s and my old iPhone 4 with me. I used my 5s to track my run on Runkeeper and Nike+ Running. I used my inactive iPhone 4 for the Alabama State Parks Pocket Ranger app, which allowed me to cache (download for offline use) the GPS map of the park. I could check my GPS location on the app and look at a downloaded graphic of the trail map on the iPhone 4, while leaving the screen off on my iPhone 5s. The main reason I carried both phones was to save the battery life of my active phone, in case of emergency, as my battery drains very quickly when I am using GPS and when my phone is constantly looking for service out in the woods. (Get this official app of Alabama State Parks for free!)
Runkeeper stats for this run show that I kept a much stronger pace than my last trail run, which I averaged over 12:00/mile. I climbed 1,144 feet during this 5.55 mile run, compard to 2,000 feet in elevation climbs on last week’s 8.25 mile run. (Get the Runkeeper app for free!)
Check out my other posts about running.