Snow Report

If you are curious on what the trails in the mountains look like, I found out today.  Gill and I went for a long run in the Shenandoah National Park.  We started at the bottom of Brown's Gap Road, climbed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, ran out and back on the parkway, and back down the mountain.

The valley is almost clear, and the snow is patchy until about 1000 feet.  At that elevation, the snow went from patchy to constant, getting deeper with every step.  By the time we hit the Doyle trail, the snow was at least 1/2 foot, and soft enough that almost every one of our steps broke through.  It was a painful and slow process, frustrating and very tiring for my legs.  Once on the parkway (the 5 mile climb took me 25 minutes longer than normal), I took one look at the Appalachian trail, and decided to stick to the parkway.  The road was plowed with patch snow: the trail was under at least a foot of soft, untouched snow.  No one had been anywhere near the trail.

The parkway was also considerably colder, with wind gusts in the low 20s.  The wind also carried a lot of drifting snow, perfect for my naked legs.  Nevertheless, the parkway was absolutely beautiful, with views of the white surrounding mountains that took my breath away.  The parkway is also very runnable.

Once I left the parkway and headed back down on Brown's Gap road, conditions were not any better.  The soft snow took away all my momentum.  The hard ground felt too hard, after all the very soft snow, but at least I had some grip!

So, if you are thinking about hitting the trails this weekend, bring some skis or a rescue dog!  Sorry, Sammy is not available.  Have fun!