Got no blues in the Mountains (aka Week 8)
18 June 2023
A little off the pulse this week. Missed two runs and only got in 46kms. A public holiday for the King’s Birthday on Monday should have provided a great window for a little trot, but instead turned out to be a window for a me-sized stack of pancakes, too much coffee and a small amount of remorse for not going running. Only got in the one 'hard' session and for this is was back to hill sprints. Woo hoo! Probably my favourite of the combos this one; 8 sprints of a minute each. The time goes past nice and quick AND it's easy enough to find a hill that you can do it on (seriously, no options in inner Sydney for 2 mins sprints! Let me know if you know otherwise).
This week's longy was brought to you by a weekend trip up to the Blue Mountains. My spiritual home these days. Had a little cottage booked for two nights in Katoomba. Love a winter's weekend in the mountains. Fire roaring.
I went searching for options for my run. Needed to get in about 3 hours, with a preference for hills (not hard to find of course), and wanted to try some parts I hadn't done already (ie, nothing from UTA please). Found a couple of runs that's looked great and that I could stitch together with a little bit of creativity. Grand Canyon, Cliff Top Track from Evans Lookout to Govetts Leap, and then Govetts Leap to Perry's Lookout. As it turns out, things took longer than expected AND the path out of Govetts Leap into that final section was closed, so didn't do the last section - will have that for next time. Anyway, I stitched these runs together using Stravas's great route creator and saved that down to the Garmin for future reference.
I started the run in Katoomba near the Minnehaha Falls close to where we were staying. Had hoped for a 7am set off but had a terrible night's sleep and didn't get out till 9. Secretly a little soaked about that though because the difference in temperature in the mountains at that time of morning is important. Only needed the long sleeve top and gloves, rather than having to get the thermals into play. Eased into things with some fairly cruisey fire trails past the trails that head to Minnehaha Falls before my pre-determimed route turned me onto Bruce's Walk for the first adventure of the day. It didn't tweak when I was locking in the run, but the heat map that Strava uses to tell you how frequently a trail is run was VERY faint for this section (and maybe the fact it was 'Bruce's Walk', not 'Bruce and all his buddy's Walk' should have been a give away). This section dropped in and out of a quite steep valley with a small creek at the bottom. Heading down was fine enough - there was a trail I could follow, albeit slightly over grown. But once I crossed the creek things got more interesting. The trail disappeared completely and all I could find were animal trails for the ascent up the other side of the valley. It was too steep for a straight forward bush bash too. Queue scrambling, a lot of back tracking, and many many cuts and grazes. After a few KMs of this I finally found the trail again (trusty Garmin keeping me roughly on track) and then eventually popped back out onto a fire trail, very bloody but relieved to back on course again.
Next on the agenda was the airstrip at Katoomba. A single grass runway out in the middle of the bush. Very cool to see, but was surprised it wasn't fenced off or anything. Only as I passed through a gate on the way out did I see the signs saying no entry and that it was all heavily surveilled! Must have missed those coming in on account of my bush bashing. Eep. Probably for the best, because I was running a one way route and that was the only easy way through.
Next up was to head toward the Grand Canyon, which I'd heard amazing things about. I was a little on edge heading over given the previous issues with my chosen course. I also have a crippling fear of heights and always start getting a little nervous running unknown areas where there's a risk I might end up on a cliff face unexpectedly - and I'd already seen from afar that I was quiet high up! A small sign on the trail telling me that this section was only for seasoned canyoneers, with appropriate equipment, didn't help. I told myself that sign was obviously for ANOTHER path, and not my one, and pressed on.
Thankfully I was right (or I'm a really good canyoneer?) and popped out onto the Grand Canyon trail after a short descent via a series of switch backs. The Grand Canyon path is truly amazing. It feels completely foreign to the Aussie bush, farms and trails you usually hit up there. Instead it's a lush, green, semi-rainforrest of a canyon that snakes around with stark, steep rock walls, trickling brooks and some scary looking caves. I got to soak up the trails of this calming, lush circuit for a few KMs before climbing up toward Evans Lookout.
The lookout blew me away. I haven't been on this side of the Mountains and seen the valley, and it's awe-inspiring. A beautiful green valley, as far as you can see, shaped by stark cliffs on all sides. The occasional waterfall slicing down them. Holy moly. The only thing holding back my appreciation of the view was my aforementioned crippling fear of heights - always preventing me from venturing too close to the edge of a lookout, no matter how serene.
Keeping that little personal fact in mind, perhaps you, dear reader, will appreciate why it was poor decision making on my part to stitch in the next part of my run. The Cliff Top Trail. This is a 3km leg that runs from Evans Lookout over to Govetts Leap. Thankfully, all deep in the bush, away from any sheer edges. Lovely trails and on to the next section.
Unfortunately not. Whilst generally keeping a bit of space between the trail and the massive drops, it was still close enough for me to have to invoke one of my rare running skills - running while only looking at the non-steep side of the path. Ironically, probably much more dangerous. I made it through, relatively unscathed, and even managed to take a quick selfie at one of the look outs along the way.
That took me up to Govetts Leap, which has another gorgeous view of the valley. Breathtaking. So much so I took the fam back there the next day.
My plan had been to head out for another dip into the valley and up to Perry's Lookout from there. But I'd hit the three hours of running I needed to do, had drained all my adrenaline on the cliff top trail and, as if I needed the excuse, the trail I needed to take was closed. Ah well. Found a great little trail back from Govvets into Blackheath, and straight to a sausage roll and coffee. Job well done.
This path got me 20 clicks of running, with 900 metres of climbing. Great chance to test out the gear and finally get onto some proper trails. Given it was 3 hours, didn’t need to focus too much on nutrition but put away a muesli bar and 2 gels, and a few litres of water.
The rest of the weekend was satisfactoryily Blue Mountains. Couple of pints and a burger at Mountain Culture (and two for one slabs to takeaway!), and a roaring fire and some lasagne at the AirBnB after that.
The home of trail running.