Boone Fork Trail- an autumnal experience

 Friday afternoon means one thing to the runner in me... driving to the Blue Ridge Parkway and stepping along some trails!  Most recently I headed out to the later afternoon trail run on the Boone Fork Trail from Julian Price Park along the BR Parkway.  This loop is marked at 4.9- but runs more like a 6.5 to 7 miler.  The technical aspects of the trail: roots, rocks (and occasionally a little rhythm) make this a perfect sit back and relax kind of run. 

 Along the way, the trail passes through several types of landscapes offering a vast array of natural experiences.  Everything from streams to rivers, rapids to calms, climbs and tricky descents.  There are even some very runnable stretches- though short lived:)

As this loop can be run in either direction, the run this time made me think about how perspective plays such an important role in our day to day experience.  Depending on which direction we face a trail, it is a completely new world, although a GPS would tell us we were in the "same place" we know this is not actually the case.  A climb becomes a downhill, a tripping hazard is taken out of play as the terrain alters the foot placements and the sun shines on your face to warm you on a cool day; when in the summer, you had to jump in the creek to escape the heat! 

As this run wound down, the sun was getting low and the deer were out in the thicket.  I ran up on a doe who stood there startled, frozen.  The deep darkness of her eyes pierced mine and I the moment burned into me.  Just as I realized what was staring at me, she bounded away, disappearing but for the dry crunching of her light steps.  On I moved beyond the beaver dam and into the flat, grassy fields of the final half mile.  I trotted, slowly as I could to allow myself to be immersed in the scene.  The last rays of warmth of the day- leading to what is always a long winter season. 

We still have the autumn runs ahead of us- let's not rush through them. 

A thin line between darkness and warmth.