14 Segments in 2 Days!

Yesterday Chelsea came over and said she was going to run up the Red Circle to Yellow to Chestnut and back on the horse trails. She said she would be up for a hike when she got back. I was so excited and didn't see the point of her coming back down and up that I went up to the "Table Rock" and waited for her with Sadie.

As she came running up, we surprised her because she had been watching her step and not looking ahead. We were trying to decide which way to go and she told me she had been to the bottom of the imbedded waterfall purely by accident. She had gotten way out by the roads and was trying to shorten her run so she had taken whatever left turn came up in the maze of trails on the north side.

I was intrigued because I had always wanted to see that waterfall from the bottom so she took me to the unmarked trail just past the Violet to the right off the Red Circle. The falls are impressive from below and there was a couple up top who started down alongside the falls on the east side so it can be done.

We may have taken a different unmarked back to the Red Circle and I told her I thought it was a short walk to the right to the camping area. It turned out to be farther than I thought and there were 2 women approaching with 2 dogs off the leash so we turned around. We all ended up at the Violet intersection and a mass of people coming down the Blue. I didn't realize the Blue jogs there but told them it continued to their right.

Chelsea said she had another hour so I told her we could see most of the route she is going to run in June. We took the Violet all the way to the quarry and then the Red Diamond down to the river. I wanted Sadie to drink in the river but there were too many dogs and people there for her to focus.

We took a left on the Blue around the pavillion hill and cut across the very crowded picnic area to the Yellow. From there we took the Yellow back to the shortcut to home.

This evening Pat had taken Sadie for a hike and when I was able to go out she was on her way down the Blue. I had decided to finish up around the head so I took the Violet down the stairs out of the parking lot around 6:20 PM making sure to go along the road to the true start of the Red Diamond. I took that along the river to the Blue. As I started up, Pat & Sadie were coming down. She told me it was the first time she had ever gone over the head in that direction and that it was very warm. I should have given her my sweatshirt because it was off soon.

I did the part of Blue along the river and then up and over the head. My sweatshirt was off and tied around my waist but soon even that was too hot so I carried it in one hand. My intention was to turn on the Red Hexagon and get the northern half but when I arrived I told myself that if it was before 7 PM, I would go for the next Blue section. It was 6:57.

I scrambled over the next Blue section and was happily surprised when it was only 7:09 at the Red Triangle. I walked easily down over the Tower Path and down to the Red Hexagon. From there it was a quick descent down to the Red Diamond. I dutifully walked out and touched the gate at Tuttle and turned back towards the quarry.

When I arrived at the quarry, I realized I had done that part of the Red Diamond the day before with Chelsea and decided to finish up the Violet down past the ruins and along the river. There were quite a few people fishing. When I got past the dam and in the beach area, I splashed some water on my face. I followed the Violet meticulously back to the stairs so that I officially finished both parts of the Violet in between the Red Diamond and Red Hexagon.

Between the 2 hikes I had done both halves of the Red Diamond, the northern half of the Red Hexagon, the four western sections of the Violet and the three western sections of Yellow and Blue plus the southern half of the Red Circle. 14 segments in 2 days.

Can I do them all in "7 Days in May"? Stay tuned...