Story: Ran with OCTR (Orange County Trail Runners; see octrailrunners.org) this weekend. Met in San Juan Capastrano at 5:30am. Carpooled up Ortega Highway to the trailhead. We actually started running (in the dark) at 6am.
The first part of the journey was all up. We walked… because of the darkness and because it was so steep. After we reach the peak – at 7 to 8 miles – the trail started to level out a bit. We then alternated between power walking up the hills and running the flats and the downhill. In some cases, the downhill became too steep and we needed to walk.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We could see Saddleback to the West with all manner of radio towers on top. The ridge were we ran for the first two hours had steep sides and dropped at least 1500 feet on both sides. There were light-green deciduous trees at the bottom of the canyon. At the highest point we saw pinon pines. There were plenty of desert flowers, yucca, manzanita and other desert plants covering the steep mountain side.
I “almost” fell at least a dozen times. Near the end of the run, I failed to catch myself. But, I only got a small scratch. The last 5 miles were a grind. But, most of the course at this point was thankfully downhill.
Note: the actual distance is more like 22 miles. Some of the GPS data was lost.
Tips: Start early. It can get really hot. There is water at Bluejay campground.
Start discussion »
Leave a Reply