Quarry Road Trail, 13 miles

Trail Head, I know the sign reads 1.2 miles, but trust me...it goes on farther.

My lunch


Distance: 5.6 miles each way

Difficulty: Easy

Description: Wide level trail (yeah, right!) offering some of the best scenery in the American River Canyons. Trail is 11.2 miles round trip with several side trails that can be used to create even more challenging loops. Trail intersects twice with the Western States Trail (WST). At 3.5 miles the trail intersects with Brown's Bar Trail. The Quarry Road Trail ends at Maine Bar.

I edited much of the description.

Now you see how easy it is to take wrong turns. Today was no different. I first planned on running just to Brown's Bar, but when I got there, I felt so good that I decided to keep going. This trail was beautiful! Again, I left my camera in the car. I need to get a pack that I can use to carry my camera. One that I don't hate. It drives me crazy to have to carry anything...even water.

Starting time: 11:38am

Today I ran through lots of muddy puddles and hurdled several fallen trees. A couple other trees were to big to hurdle. Those I had to figure out a way around. The trail pretty much followed the river. I can't believe how lovely it is back there. I worried a bit about the animals...but not enough to stop me.

At one point the trail took me right down to the river where I navigated over hundreds of smooth white river rock mixed with dark grey beach sand. A little ways up from there, the trail had been totally wiped out...I mean it was gone. You could see where the large chunk of earth had fallen away. Luckily a small narrow sliver still remained. Just enough to reach the other side.

I passed a few other runners. That made me feel a lot less slow. Perhaps I do have what it takes to run races? We'll see.

When I reached Maine's Bar...I sang along with my music and did a little victory dance. Who cares? Nobody was out there.

A couple minutes later, I started the track back. I crossed back over several small streams that ran across the trail. Twice the stream was kinda large and I had to first step on a rock and then take a nice big leap to clear it. Much of the trail was wet and by the time I got back to the car, I was caked in mud.

Everything was going great and for a first...I thought I might actually NOT go the wrong way. Nope.

With only a little over a mile left to go, I saw a sign that pointed up a small trail and said "Quarry Road Trail". I wasn't sure, but for fear of taking a wrong turn, I got off the nice wide trail and started up the detour. What a mistake! It was VERY rocky, VERY steep and VERY narrow. After a while, I realized this was not right, but I kept going thinking that it would spit me out onto Hwy 49. From there I could just run back down to my car on the paved road.

So I kept going up and up. It got so bad that I couldn't run it. I was hiking and trying very hard not to slip and fall. This wasn't a trail...it was more like a huge rut, sliced up the side of the canyon wall. Then I stopped and took out my headphones. I could hear trucks. At first I thought they were going through the canyon...like I always do, but then I realized they were Quarry trucks. I was on the OTHER side of the quarry and heading back towards ALT. That is NOWHERE near my car!

I got very upset at myself. Mad for taking the wrong trail, mad for not turning back sooner but mostly mad at that stupid trail sign for messing me up and making me stop!

I went back down, running where I could. I slipped and fell, but I caught myself before my butt hit the ground.

It was a 2 mile detour. Back on the right trail, I ran the last mile hard. I always seem to run faster when I get ticked off!

On the bright side, there was a very pretty waterfall on the detour. Plus I got to drink some water and rinse off the salt from my face. Refreshing.

I finished the route at 2:02pm. Total time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. 13 miles. That's a half marathon. I can SOOO do this!