I arrived just after 1pm, parked outside the gate (since the Parkway is closed in winter), and took off. There was some snow, but it wasn't too bad. I bought a pair of Yaktraxs the day before just in case, but the snow wasn't deep enough to use them. The run started out pretty cloudy and it was 30 degrees, but about halfway through the sun came out. It was beautiful.
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| Humpback Rocks ahead, around mile 6. |
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| Look at that ice! |
After a couple miles there weren't human footprints anymore. But boy did I see a lot of other prints. Lots of prints looked like dogs, so maybe they were coyotes? Deer tracks frequently went horizontally across the road. Skittish faint lines I assumed were birds. A couple tiny prints were maybe rabits? There was a good long stretch of snow with lots of tracks that led me to believe a couple coyotes were running along the road together, occasionally crossing over each other or scuffling in the snow. I thought "hey! animals like to run on the Blue Ridge Parkway too!"
But then? Then I noticed the dog/coyote-looking paws got bigger. A lot bigger. I turned around and examined the prints next to my own, and got a little scared.
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| I wear size 10 shoes. Those paws are big. And creepy. |
That has to be a bear, right? I thought bears were supposed to hibernate?! Sheesh. So I started to make some extra noise other than my labored breathing, singing occasional songs like "Here I come around the bend! I'm running on the Parkway! Watch out, here I come!" That seemed to keep them away. I never saw any animals, thank goodness.
Overall the run felt pretty good. I need practice going up mountains and coming down long hills to help prepare me for the marathon, and this went really well. Afterwards I stretched by the car, then drove to dinner at some friends' house, where they let me shower and fed me lots of good food.
It was a good day.
1 comment:
Oh my, those are definitely bear tracks; time to break out the bell!
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