Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A Little Tuesday Excitement



Yesterday afternoon, I was pondering my evening running activities. It was Tuesday, and a usual TOT run was on the slate. I thought about just going at 6:30 instead of doing bonus miles at 5:30. I'm still a little tired from last week. Then I got a FB message from a friend who said he just saw a mountain lion on the yellow trail. My running plans just shifter into high gear!! I was on the trails at 4:15, heading down to--well, you know where I went running.

The odds of seeing the cat were 1 in a thousand. It would be far more likely it would see me than me seeing it. There are a lot of people who doubt there are big cats in this part of the country, but while they are few and far between, they occasionally are here. I do not think they are a danger to runners, hikers, or bikers. There are lots of other food choices for them. The mountain lions roam--and one you see today might be 10-20 miles away tomorrow.

I saw a big cat here back in 2009. Of course, I did a blogpost on the sighting. Click here if you wanna read it. 


I also decided that I had time to hunt for a couple of geocaches. The ones I have not found on Turkey Mountain are harder ones, although there was a new one that I notices on the website, and I tackled it first. It was added to my found list in short order, and then I headed for the Oklahoma Rock. The one there, is still on my did-not-find list. :-(

But I DID find Ernie's house. The Keebler Elf was NOT home, but I left a note saying I was there.

By that time, it was time to head back to the parking lot. I met a few bonus mile friends on the way back, and we rolled into the parking lot right at 6:30--barely on time.


These Tuesday night groups are getting HUGE. I think there were 70-80 people out to run with us. We broke into FOUR groups, and headed out.My group pf SUPERMEDIATES ran 3.8 miles, and I did not spare the rocks. We did enough rocky trailz to get my dogs barking. My NB MT110s, which are less than a month old, are nearly worn out. They are getting more "minimalist" all the time.

Heading down a hill just west of the Spider/Sitting Rock, we came to a dead stop. This guy had set up a roadblock, and was giving NO PASSAGE. Russell and I gently urged it to get off the path with sticks, and it would slither right back on the trail. After about 2 minutes of picture taking, and stick corralling, it retreated just barely off to the side, and no doubt returned to it's spot when we got through. We need to keep a watchful eye out. These snakes are not aggressive, but I am pretty sure if you stepped on one, they would bite. This snake is a copperhead, and they are venomous. I have heard they often do a non-biting strike, or a dry bite, but I would prefer to have neither.


Today is National Running Day. You know what I'll be doing.

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