2019 50th Birthday MST Run

Originally, my plan was to run 50 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail to commemorate my 50th birthday, but time constraints and logistics made this idea problematic. It took me 8:34 a year ago to cover 50 miles on the Creeper, so adding in drive time and the need to get back to Valdese by 5:30, I elected for a closer option. Since I have a goal of segment hiking/running all of the MST, I looked at some nearby options for getting some MST miles that I'd not yet covered. I had done some of where the MST crosses Highway 321 outside of Blowing Rock, but only about nine miles. There's no way I'd have time to do 50 MST miles, so I elected to make it a 50K, or as close as I could come to that as possible. I looked through the MST guides and found that by starting at Jumpinoff Rock Overlook and running back to the Highway 321 Overpass, I could get 34 miles.

So, we stayed in Blowing Rock the night before my run and Leslie was willing to get up at 6:30 and make the approximately one hour drive up the Parkway to my starting location. We fed the dogs and headed out right on time, noticing after a few miles that the Jeep had about 80 miles of range left in the fuel tank, so we made a quick stop in the closest station that sold diesel. Unfortunately, their pumps had the larger nozzle that won't fit into my tank without an adapter, which I don't have, so we had to continue on and see if we came near one during our drive. In hindsight, I should have headed into Boone to get gas and then taken 421 towards my starting spot, but it wasn't obvious to me at the time. We ended up driving up the Parkway to about a mile before Jumpinoff Rock and then taking the Highway 16 exit and going to West Jefferson to get gas. Leslie wasn't comfortable putting diesel fuel in the Jeep and I didn't want her running out if she ran errands or went somewhere while I was running.

All this led to a one hour later-than-planned start. The 57 degree start that I was eyeing for 7:30 was still available at my 8:30 start, but it did mean I'd have one more hour of warmer weather and one less of cooler weather. Once at the overlook, I got everything ready and activated the Garmin Connect live tracking app on my phone. This would send anyone I wanted a link to a live tracking website where they could follow my progress. Leslie and Dennis were the main people who needed to see this--Dennis because he would be meeting me later but I also sent it to Lee and Ray in case they wanted to see how it worked. After a few minutes, Leslie was driving off and I was heading into the woods, ready to begin my Birthday Adventure.

Of course the trail began with an uphill. I did start by running but after a bit remembered that I need time to warm up before pushing the pace. Roughly 1/4 mile into my MST adventure, I felt a sharp sting in my neck. Some sort of bee or related insect had gotten me out of nowhere. Not only that, but when I swatted it, it got stuck in my shirt. So, I threw off my pack, removed my shirt, and shook it to get whatever it was out. I never found the bee, but would feel the sting for quite a while. I felt pretty good early on. Other than having to clear every cobweb with my face, it went well. Knowing that Dennis would be trying to time meeting me at one of two overlooks, I tried to both hurry so he wouldn't wait long and be cautious, so I wouldn't be so burned out when I met him that all I could do was walk.

Profile of the section I did. There weren't any really long climbs, but there were a lot of short ones.

The Trail crosses the Parkway a lot of times in this section and while it was always obvious which way to turn when I came out of the woods onto the Parkway (continue the way I had been going) It wasn't always apparent where I was to get back on the Trail and which side. The adjacent picture, where I emerged from the Trail onto Highway 16 confused me for several minutes, but I used the guide I had downloaded to my phone and realized I had to go up to the Parkway and cross the bridge. Unlike some other areas I've been on where the Trail uses the road some, there were no dots on the road or the bridges to indicate you're still on the MST.

During these early miles, there were a number of sections of Trail that were pretty badly overgrown. It wasn't to the point of not knowing a trail was there, but it meant waist-high weeds that could hide snakes, stinging nettles, and poison ivy. I know I saw the latter two. Fortunately, I did not see any snakes. There was also a lot of rhododendron through here, as seen in the photo to the right. Often, though not so much here, it was creating a tunnel to run through. Those times were kind of neat, but made it even more likely there would be cobwebs to deal with.

Given that it was my birthday and other people knew it, my phone was constantly beeping with new text messages. I could read them through my watch, but couldn't respond. A few times, while trying to read one, I accidentally stopped my GPS and quickly restarted it. Each time, though, I had to take my pack off and pull my phone out to be sure the Garmin Connect software had not stopped. It did not.

After maybe five miles, I was sent onto a gravel road, which was nice because I could run without worrying about traffic--the Parkway was getting busier with each passing hour. These cows looked at me, curiously, but basically didn't care what I was doing. Around this same spot, I slowed to eat a granola bar and though I heard a hornets nest above me. I looked, but couldn't find it, then saw that it was a drone flying overhead. I have no idea what they were filming unless they were counting the cows.

I have a card that I assume my parents were given at my birth that lists the time of birth at 10:08 a.m. (on July 28.) So, I kept an eye on the time to see where I'd be at 10:08 a.m. on this day. I was hopeful it would be somewhere with a view where a picture would be a neat keepsake. I sort of got what I was hoping for, but not exactly. The trail came to the first cow pasture I'd be traversing on this day. I climbed over the wooden stile and looked at my guide since I didn't see any white dots for reference. The guide said something about going to the summit and it having a nice view of Mount Jefferson (the overlook beside the Parkway is in the adjacent photo) so I headed up the hill. I saw an MST white dot blaze on one of the few trees in this part of the pasture, so I assumed I was to head along this side since the guide also said something about following the fence line. Well, my interpretation of the guide's instructions at this location was not very good. I spent probably fifteen minutes going back and forth in the field, looking for another dot. After a while, I decided to just go to the far end of field, opposite where I had entered, and hope there was an exit. There was, pretty close to the Parkway. I guess I was overthinking it, but the blaze I had seen on a tree was closer to the backside of the pasture, so my confusion was at least understandable.

So, now at around mile eight, over the stile I went, continuing along the MST. The next several miles were fairly uneventful, aside from weeds and cobwebs. I did see one young runner passing me in the other direction. As I closed in on mile 14, I could hear a lot of young voices ahead and as I drew closer, I emerged onto a crushed stone trail. Thinking I was probably at or near the Cascades Overlook that has a trail to a waterfall, I continued, through the crowds, upward toward the parking lot. This overlook had a nice water fountain with very cold water but for some reason I didn't bother to top off my bottles. I did drink a good bit, though. It wasn't yet as hot as it was going to be. Had I hit this spot in the afternoon, I'd have definitely taken better advantage of the fountain.

After a short stretch of woods beyond the parking lot, I emerged into a field with this old church building, wondering if it served as a camping site for through-hikers. There were a few people walking around some other old buildings in this area, but I continued on. Dennis had said he might be at this parking area or the next one, so not finding him here, I wanted to hurry along so I didn't make him wait too long.

I actually ran into Dennis when my mind was miles away. I can't remember what I was thinking about, but suddenly, there he was, coming toward me on the trail. It made sense, he'd just park and run my way so he wasn't sitting around too long, but he explained that what the MST guide called the overlooks didn't match up with what the signs in the parking area said and since he didn't have a signal, he couldn't gauge my progress. He missed me at the Cascades lot (called EB Jeffries Park on the sign) so he went "downstream" and came back toward me. He'd actually run pretty far in to the point he met me.

I caught him up on my progress and was feeling pretty good, so we were able to run a bit--on downhills and flats, for the most part. The section(s) with Dennis didn't have a lot of unique features--no cow pastures, no (well, maybe one) overlooks, no waterfalls, etc... Essentially, it was a lot of time up and down hills in the woods and crossing the Parkway, or running along it. There was a big temperature difference depending on cloud cover and whether there was a breeze. There were a few creek crossings where we both soaked our caps to help cool our heads for a while.

With Dennis there I probably moved quicker than I would have alone and surely ran sections I might not have had I been alone. While he kept me moving and distracted, he couldn't do anything about the temperature. Though it was only in the 70s (I think,) it was hotter than I was comfortable with. Some of this overheating was because I had been conserving water and I was surely dehydrated.

One of the spots I was looking forward to along the course was going under the Goshen Creek Bridge because I remembered Ray being fascinated (from an engineering perspective) by the bridge and the fact that you don't even realize you're on it when you're driving. There was a couple there walking their dogs (one a beagle) and aside from them, we'd seen only one other person on the trail since Dennis joined me. 

Dennis's mother was in a rehab facility in Blowing Rock and he had planned to check in on her after we ran, but our pace was slower than expected. So, he called his girlfriend and arranged to have her pick him up about three miles before the end of the run, where Sampson (or Aho?) Road came into the Parkway. He noted that I would be at or over the 50K point by that time but I told him I'd head on to where I originally planned to, even if it meant walking a lot.

Dennis tried to brief me on what was ahead once he left. Even though I'd been on this section before, I remembered very little of it. Almost immediately after going into the woods, I ran right through a barricade that was put up to keep me on the trail. I was pretty tired and mostly walking this very windy section, even though it was pretty flat. I came to another cow pasture (somehow Dennis missed most of these) and while I didn't get lost in it, I did have to come pretty close to some cows who seemed a bit uneasy with my presence. By this point, I was getting really tired of the "stiles" or whatever they are called that I kept having to climb over whenever a fence crossing was required. Note: the picture above to the right is not a stile, just a fence at a Parkway overlook.

I went under a couple crabapple trees and picked one that looked the most ripe for Leslie. I doubted she'd eat it, but I felt that it was the thought that counted. There was a couple nearby, somewhat off the trail, in hammocks, just hanging out. When I reached my last Parkway crossing, I finally remembered this section of the trail from my previous run. It involved another stile crossing and another field, though not quite a pasture, followed by what I hoped was the last stile crossing for the day. Somewhere in the field, Leslie called and said she was near Cone Manor looking for me. I explained that I would be arriving at the bridge where Highway 321 went under the Blue Ridge Parkway, but I wasn't sure how far away I was at the time. We lost signal and I figured she'd call back when she got a signal. I assumed she heard what I'd said.

This section was fortunately downhill and a bit cooler for whatever reason. It paralleled a creek and my mood had improved somewhat so I was able to push myself into running--well jogging. Leslie did call back again and I made sure she understood what I was saying about the bridge. She was actually already there and had pulled in to park and would wait. I picked up the pace a little bit so she wouldn't have to wait too long and I finally made it out of the woods--but not before one final stile crossing.

I popped out just above the bridge and ran across, never so glad to see the Jeep as I was that day. She was (of course) talking on the phone while she waited. My adventure took far longer than I planned--even factoring in the delayed start--so we called home to replan the family birthday dinner, knowing I would not make it there in time to get to Hickory for dinner.

In hindsight, going to the Creeper Trail for 50 miles would have taken a little longer for travel, but the run time would have been possibly less. I had forgotten, but I did 50 miles on the Creeper Trail the prior year--on my birthday--and it took 8:34 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1734402064.) This 50K run (actually 34.4 miles took) 8:51. But, I got some MST miles I didn't have yet. By my records, I now have been on 213.3 of the 1180.1 miles of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, roughly 18%.

Here is the Strava recap of this year's adventure. https://www.strava.com/activities/2571359642