Fort Valley Trail System: Tzeidle and the Guys

What started out as a 5 runner gathering soon turned into 10 when the Flagstaff Ultra Club meet us on the Schultz Creek Trail. Once we joined forces, Tzeidle was unphased as the only woman, enjoying the rare 9 to 1 ratio. Lately the split has been 60% women to 40% men, so this was a very unusual change of events indeed.

In typical fashion when navigating the Fort Valley Trail system, we stopped at every trail junction to carefully make sure we were generally headed towards the trailhead off Highway 180. Every runner in Flagstaff can tell you a story about an epic run that began by taking a wrong turn on the Fort Valley system. With its many closed roads and game trails, it is easy to find a different route to get lost on each run! As we neared the turn around spot, the searing heat began to take its toll. There was even some talk about turning around early...but we reached the end soon enough.

 

After a brief reprieve in the shade of the trailhead kiosk, we headed back. In the distance we heard the roaring rev of a dirt bike engine, but most thought it was just our proximity to Highway 180. Within minutes a motorbike slowed behind us and carefully passed by. Most runners were surprised to find out that the Fort Valley Trail system is multi-use. As the Forest Service has recently closed 1000s of miles of roads to motorized travel, pressures have increased on places for motorized dirt bikes to recreate. While the biker kicked up dust and our quiet was disturbed for about 2 minutes, we got back into the rythym of our run. The discussion turned to how fortunate it is that those of us who are powered only by our feet, now have several thousand additional miles of dirt roads run and explore that are closed to motorized vehicles.

Once we all hooked back up at the "Y", we headed to the Kickstand and eschewed the overpowering sun to rehydrate in cool confines of the indoor tables. Time to recover because next week is Gaspin in the Aspen!

Neil pontificates about the benefits of his aerodynamically designed new Run Flagstaff shirt.