July 6, 2007
Boulder River Trail
This week's adventure run took us north to the Boulder River Trail. It was not too difficult to find and took about 90 minutes to reach the trail head. The gravel/dirt road (3.7 miles) was a bit rougher than I anticipated so I recommend a 4WD vehicle. The trail started out very very good. Apparently an old railroad grade this was more like a double wide trail with great footing and fantastic scenery. Unfortunately the trail's footing only lasted for about 12 minutes to the waterfall. After that it becomes a typical Cascade's single track trail with many roots and rocks on which one must repeatedly slow or stop to avoid falling. This of course slowed the pace considerably and we never did make it to the end of the trail 4.2 miles from the start (Although we're sure we were close :). Another factor in our slow pace was the sighting of a snake along the trail. This of course makes for more cautious running.
All together it was a good trip and a fun run. I think for those that like to hike or run short distances it was perfect. But for those of us that like to go for an hour it was a bit too uneven and treacherous. If we go back we'll probably stop at the "Last available toilet", 3 miles from the trail head, and run the road to the trailhead and on to the waterfall and back for a very nice 9 mile run.
Posted by james at July 6, 2007 1:03 PM