Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Ellis Hollow Creek Crossings course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
Here’s how it works.
Click the “Post Using This Template” button below to create a new post with a Story heading and boilerplate text.
Replace the boilerplate text with your report for one or both sections. The Story header is key for distinguishing between posts and replies—don’t change it.
Your post must be on the same calendar day as your run as entered in the leaderboard.
Story
To pick up a community star, replace this text with a write-up of what your run was like, a photo you took on the run, a link to your Strava track, or something similar. Don’t delete the Story heading above.
First full run through on my home course! The creek crossings are pretty reasonable, but I think anyone running for speed will want to wait until the water has gone down a bit more in the summer. Still, a really nice set of trails.
However, this little newt was far from my only newt of the run, which prompted additional stats that probably won’t ever make it onto the leaderboard: NewtCount™ and NewtRate™ (expressed in npm, or newts per mile).
On this short 2.2-mile course, I had a NewtCount™ of 11, thus generating a NewtRate™ of 5 newts per mile.
I fully expect to be eclipsed by @dennis-s once he’s back in this time zone.
Don’t worry. When my kids get to this one we’ll have more NewtRate™ data than we know what to do with. They were sorely bummed with the 0.000 NPM at Mullholland Waterfalls yesterday but made up for it when they caught a frog in the yard at home.
My two cents: the red loop is faster going clockwise. You have to know to turn right at the top of the hill heading out. Lots of blazes, though. Love that.
It’s getting drier out there—my NewtCount™ was only 5, leading to a NewtRate™ of only 2.3. But apart from the stream crossings, that makes for solid trails.
Are mulligans allowed in running?!?!?
My GI system was unhappy, so I ended up walking more than I had anticipated. Guess I’ll have to give this course another go!!
I’ve been feeling blah the past several days and had mostly talked myself out of running this morning. But I thought that I usually feel better after a run (maybe not today) and tree therapy might be the ticket.
I recall enjoying this course in 2023 and even running it after that Challenge. It turns out I’m a bigger baby on trails now as I carefully picked my path down the hills. The water levels were low, a few places with limbs or trees down, bugs were buzzing. I crossed paths with a doe and her fawn.
Hopefully, I can tackle this course again relatively soon!
Go for it, acorns!
Loved the cool shade on the early part of the course, then the heat and sweat kicked in on the climbs. A couple of the creek crossings had enough water to dip my hat.
Being a person with a respiratory condition, I have to be careful about balancing the need to move my legs with the need to protect my lungs. I had hoped to run this course Wednesday but it was way too hazy so when I woke up this morning and saw conditions were somewhat improved, I decided to hike it as a compromise measure.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I suddenly realized why it had been more than a year since I had been here - this had been a favorite walk with my beloved late Carmel, and I probably had been subconsciously avoiding these paths accordingly. So it was with some trepidation that I parked the car, and walked to the entrance to get the necessary cell reception for the RunGo directions as I didn’t trust my memory as to the right sequence of paths. From there, I set off across the parking lot to the actual trail.
The trails were as well traveled and maintained as I recalled. Oddly enough, the smoky haze was just about the right tint of sepia to make the whole sequence feel like a set of old photographs, albeit a set periodically interrupted by a chattering squirrel or scurrying chipmunk or even a lonely bounding deer - all wildlife we never saw on our walks because, well, Carmel. As it was, the hike was pleasant, not painful, as I recalled different traversals on other occasions. The haze inadvertently helped with that, too, as I was hiking, not running, and not so worried about my footing - with the result I could look around. The haze also probably helped keep the temperature down, and that, in combination with the very dry conditions (no water in any of the streams!) made the bugs tolerable, a good thing as I had completely forgotten my bug spray.
All in all, an unexpectedly pleasant way to start a day - the heart ached only a little…
Almost snuck in a run without getting rained on… My visiting son Tristan joined me for an Ellis Hollow Creek Crossings run that wasn’t even too wet until it got really dark (despite being 4:30 PM) and started to pour, which we only fully realized once we left the woods. Totally soaked but a good run with a NewtCount of 20, a NewtPR for me on this course.
I desperately needed to get the kids out of the house to burn off some energy. They each had only two Challenge courses to go and chose the one in the woods for our outdoor adventure. Adrian made some comments about the trail blazes proving to me that he remembered walking this course in 2023 when the boys were only three years old.
We found four frogs and a bunch of mushrooms — enough to make it a worthwhile adventure. Now all they need is a Lakefront Loops to compete both of their personal challenges.
The woods called to me today, so I thought I would give the course another go after my not so stellar performance in July.
Prior to setting off, I thought I might do 2 loops. My legs felt heavy and tired from the get go. As I trudged up the steeper sections, I thought that maybe I would just hike the 2nd loop.
I was in my head a lot on this course … but the second loop went surprisingly better. I tossed some large (rotted) tree limbs off the course and still finished more than a minute faster than the first loop.
Maybe this is why people warm up prior to running/racing?!?
