Fort Valley or Easter Island Trail Run?

It's getting late in November and even the 9 a.m. starts are cold. With that in mind, we made one minor adjustment to the Fort Valley run: instead of running up the shady and cold Shultz Creek trail and drainage, we ran up the sunny Schultz Pass Road until we intersected the Fort Valley trail system.

Seven runners (Bruce, Betsy, Ryan, Jim, Nick, Susan, and David) headed up the road, turned left onto Fort Valley and then reconvened at the intersection with the Chimney Springs trail. Half the group went downhill to the Forest Road 164B trailhead and returned on the double loops. The other half went up Chimney Springs to Lower Moto and then descended on Easter Island. (Why that name, you ask? Well, there is one very large boulder and if you look at it from the right angle it might just remind you of the rocks on Easter Island. Or not.)

Both groups reconvened at the "Y" and reported similar mileages (6.1 to 6.3 miles) and then headed over to Kickstand for coffee and food. (Thanks to David Blanchard for this post.)

A Trail Run across the Ages

17 runners were treated to an interpretive tour of the Rio De Flag's Picture Canyon. Led by David McKee, runners scrambled around monitoring 1000 year old petroglyphs, waterfalls, and restored stream channels that have come back to life as a result of decades of restoration work by the Picture Canyon Working group. To take an amazing virtual tour of the petroglyphs, check out Robert Mark's gigapan photo.  In all we covered about 7 miles which in the cinders seemed all uphill. Afterwards many warmed up with coffee and treats at Wildflower Bakery. To learn more about the decade long effort to save Picture Canyon, visit http://flagstafftrailrunning.blogspot.com/2011/11/picture-canyon-time-line.html

Channel Restoration: Where once there were invasive species, native grasses have repopulated their home.

David McKee explains the challenges of the bridge over the Rio that the water released from Wildcat treatment plant is A+ quality, or the same as the water quality in San Diego.

Runners monitor condition of 1000 year old Sinagua petroglyphs. 

A big hug celebrating Tzeidle's new title....Dr. Wasserman! 

True Dat!  Celia Barotz loudly supported the city of Flagstaff's purchase of Picture Canyon and true to the statement on David's shirt, she was re-elected to another term on City Council.