Some Of The Most Beautiful Trails I've Ever Run

I forgot to mention - the fine folks at Tailwind Nutrition drew a winner for the recent contest. The winner was Josh Bryant. Congrats amigo!

It has been three weeks since the Zion 100 and there are three weeks until the Bryce 100. I'm hoping I have another 100 miles left in this chicken legs of mine. This past week was fun with a 6.5 miler, 8 miler, 13 miler, and a 30 mile bike ride. Here are some of the week's highlights.

The highlight of last week was my long run. I went to the Chuckwalla Trailhead for the first time. I didn't know anything about the trail and thought I'd  spend some hours exploring. Within one minute I came across my friend and coworker Will finishing up his mountain bike ride. He offered to put on his running shoes and show me around.

Will gave me the grand tour including some sweet cliff edge overlooks.

We checked out this cool cave.

I have always been pretty sure I lived in the most beautiful place in the world. After my time on these new trails, I am convinced.

I was so glad to have Will show me these places that I would have never found on my own.

Will took me on an out-and-back route. He ran 5ish miles with me to a spot that was close to his house. He then ran home and I ran back to the trailhead (plus checking out some other trails) by myself. I managed to get lost and wandered around for about ten minutes before finding the trail again. There were some dark, ominous clouds rolling in.

I had to pinch myself. The scenery was simply incredible. I was in heaven. It would have been a shame to leave this area without a few jumping pictures.

Right around this time those ominous clouds started to dump. The rain was pounding and the trail seemed to disappear. I ended up getting a little lost again and wandered around in the pouring rain for 15 minutes looking for the trail.

Getting lost was the best thing that could have happened. I stumbled upon this AMAZING section of trail lined with bright yellow flowers. I stood in the rain for 20 minutes until the pouring let up and I could pull out my camera for a picture.

The rain made the red really pop out. I have never been so happy to be lost.

There are lots of trails that spur off Chuckwalla. I think I explored almost all of them plus some that aren't on the map. I can not wait to go back there again.

On Saturday I joined Jackson on a 30 mile bike ride along with ten other scouts who are working on the cycling merit badge. They work up to a 50 mile ride! Wow. We had a blast.

Things on tap for this week:
1) Get in a last good, long run before Bryce.
2) Plenty of NBA playoffs! I hardly ever watch TV but I can't get enough of this.
3) Watch this funny Tonight Show gas station video a few more times.
4) A helping of Ben & Jerry's cheesecake brownie. A life without ice cream isn't worth living.