It was straight up from the beginning, which probably should have been a warning to me. I wanted to park over at the rainbow ridge trailhead, but that was full of SUVs bearing small children. Plan B was to go to the top of Appalachian Way and do the loop in reverse.
Another part of the plan was to try out the run tracking app on the R2 unit. He has, apparently, subcontracted the voice for this particular function over to Princess Lea. As she called out somewhat embarrassing stats as I labored up to Rattlesnake Knob, I wanted the option to explain. Surely she could see that my elevation was changing, but she never noted it.
She did, grudgingly, note when I turned onto the trestle road by the decline in my minutes per mile. Getting to a turning point at about 30 minutes in, I decided to try extending the run by following a trail which had not really worked out in the past. It did not work out so well this time either.
Not to worry. It’s early in the season and I have no particular place to be later. A small distraction is a fun adventure. The next wrong turn, which almost landed me in Old Fort, was not as much fun. Fortunately, the R2 unit’s GPS got me headed back in the right direction.
That this direction meant reclimbing the ridge I had just descended should only add to the adventure, right? Yeah, whatever. The legs do feel like they have done something, and that’s the real point. That and getting a runner’s high. And eating whatever I want. That would be chinese please.