18 holes then 6 miles

Saturday was a darn near perfect day. I played gold with my boys Kenny3 and Chuck. We played at Page Stone Creek--once regarded as one of the nicest course in the state. For winter conditions, it was good, but it seems to have lost some of the glam it had 20 years ago.

 Both boys cleaned my clock. Kenny3 (above) shot a 74, whereas I shot an FM radio station. 

Chuck beat me by 11 strokes, but it was never close. Still, I had fun, hit a few good shots, and did enough to make me want to play again real soon.

After that, Jake and I were gonna head to Turkey Mountain but there were so many people there, which meant he'd have to stay on-leash. So, we went to Chandler Park instead.

 We parked at TCC, and tucked into the woods there. About .2 down the double track, Jake found a bit of single track heading uphill into the woods. This was a very faint trail and leaf covered. Jake has a nose for finds like this.

 About a half mile later, it ran into a wider trail--one made by ATVs. We followed it for quite a while not really caring where we went.

 Jake was like a kid in a candy store, romping and tearing, running twice the mileage I was getting.

 For those who think the Powerline Trail at Turkey Mountain is a workout, you ain't seen nothing. The Powerline Trail at Chandler Park is 3 miles long with climbs four times higher and 10 times longer.

 Looking east and west--and once you climb to the top, it's down a long hill and up another.

 Jake and I got off the Powerline and found a more gradual ascent, which was a bit more rocky.

I had planned on 3-4 miles, and we were looking like 5-6, so I started thinking shortcuts back. I did not have a light other than my phone, and Chandler Park is a place where it's easy to get quite lost. With the map app on my phone, I saw that a double track seemed to run into 41st Street, so we headed there, and the wide sidewalk back to TCC.

 This tower just down the road from TCC was a good confidence marker for our return trip.

Looking north to where we were. I plan on coming back here in a few weeks on Sunday morning with our running group. There are lots of routes to choose from and it seems like endless trailz.