"Up, up and away!" Trish Brown wasn't kidding when she describes this portion of the Mountains-to-Sea trail in her book
Asheville Trail Running. We included this section of trail in our long run today to help build strength in our legs. As Trish says, "You'll feel like Superman once you complete it by turning your thighs into Kryptonite."...
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail from the Folk Art Center to Craven Gap is 10.22 miles round trip (Trish's Book) or 10.8 miles round trip (Trail Profiles-MST). It's quite the workout! There is an elevation gain of 1020 feet in the first 2 1/4 miles. The best part of this run is slightly off the MST to a rocky out-cropping view point at Lunch Rock where the view across the Haw Creek Valley is gorgeous. If you're going to put forth the effort of this run, don't miss the view!
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| Starting off at the Folk Art Center's Nature Trail |
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| Portion of the MST as we start our climb up |
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At mile 2, you will see a log house with a green roof on the right side.
Keep traveling up the hill about 0.3 miles, there you will see this tree on
the right side of the trail. Make a left, and travel a short way down to
Lunch Rock.
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| Lunch Rock, too bad we didn't pack a lunch! |
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| Resting the legs |
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| view at Lunch Rock across the Haw Creek Valley |
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Finally reached the apex! The trail marker pretty much describes how
you feel when you reach the top although Bart is in the back ground
doing his version of "Gangnam Style". There's still more downs and
ups until we reach Craven Gap. |
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| Pretty section of trail |
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| Wrapping up our run for the day! |
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| Folk Art Center to Craven Gap |
Looks like two lucky people got early Christmas presents in the form of the new AK ult direction race vests! Looking foward to a review!!!
ReplyDeleteKelly
Hello Kelly,
ReplyDeleteSorry for taking so long to get back to you. Christmas activities has us busy I guess. Yes we were able to get a hold of the 'hard to get' SJ Ultra Vest by Ultimate Direction. Very nice vest, well made and extremely light weight materials. There are a few things that we have a concern with and I believe UD will be addressing these issues in the future. We will be posting a review so stay tuned. If by chance you have the opportunity to buy or order the SJ vest and you happen to be border line between two of the three sizes offered, go with the smaller size in spite of what some might be advising. More on than later. Hope your Tsali prep is going well and you are over your cold. Otherwise best wishes for a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season.
Cheers,
Bart & Eve