Blue Mountain Hike - Day 3

Along the trail after the down part of the ski hill, before the up ;)

Today's Stats:

Distance: 26.2 km 
Elevation Gain: 826m 
Weather: 10 deg and sunny
Duration: 5h 24 min
Avg Pace: 12:23

Thoughts from after:  

Stunningly gorgeous - couldn't have been a better day!   This was the easiest of the three days, although the "slip and slide" at the end could be a challenge, it was short, and I had company for that part and was more focused on the conversation than the challenge ;) 

Today started with going down a ski hill - mostly I was just really happy my knee wasn't angry about it.  That was my biggest concern and I was happy there were zero issues.  Otherwise this part was actually slightly disappointing?   Like no great views and literally just walking down a steep green hill.   The UP the other side though.  That was stunning.   Hard at points as it was the only significant vertical climb all weekend, but in the woods, gorgeous trail that twisted and turned.   Really enjoyed that part - and early enough in the day that I wasn't exhausted to handle it ;).  I also had the place entirely to myself by that point, which was earlier than most so that was cool.

After the first break was pretty easy hiking until almost the end.  I found at times I was a little bored - not tired and sore, just not much variation in scenery or terrain and I was ready to be done - more focused on the drive home than the experience.   But that didn't last too long.  The last 5k was the downhill version of the up the mountain early on - although both steeper and shorter.   The only real challenge here is it was muddy and there wasn't much to hang on to.   But just slow really, other than that not nearly as big a deal as it had been made out to be.

I do find it interesting in general how quickly you find your "pack" - even in a solo event.   Over the three days, regardless of what time we started, the same people and I leap-frogged each other regularly.  I'd pass them, they'd pass me, etc.   I ended up doing the last 5k with a woman who was one of those and we just randomly decided to tackle the last section (which had been built up to be this horror story) together.  But of the 100 ish who did this adventure, there were maybe 7 who I saw regularly, and I found the same thing on the trip a couple weeks ago as well.   So even though it's a lot of people at first, it very quickly spreads out so you have hours completely alone and then brief times of passing another human, or being passed ;).   

The end was strangely anti-climatic.  Like we came out of the trees and were just done?  Handed a badge and some food and good to go.   At the last one, we could see the end for ages, and when you got close there were bells and celebrations.   This one was just like "so, how far away are the cars?"

I don't think I've *quite* finished the Hike-a-thon 150km in May target yet - I'll do the math later, but I think I have single digit amounts left.   For one I wasn't even sure I'd get through Day 1 though, I'm pretty pleased at how this went.  Felt actually stronger after each day.   Although sitting in my car for 3h immediately after finishing today was definitely not the best life choice *facepalm*.

Posts from during the day:

7:00: Day 3!!! Today only feeling normal muscle soreness.  Expect I'll finish, but maybe slowly. 

7:11 - For the curious - this is the agenda for the 3 days. Apparently the hardest section today is the last 5k

. Devil’s Glen ski resort near the beginning.

7:31: And we're off! 

8:33: Mondays should always be like this

8:57: Have gone down the mountain and up the mountain and just past the first checkpoint

9:06: Cause I can

. Climbing a stile a little over 10k in

9:26: I somehow don’t think I realized till this year that trillums come in colours other than white

11:53: 20k checkpoint. Tired for sure but not sore. Remaining 5k is apparently the most challenging part - they’re calling it “slip and slide”. Downhill in the mud. So close! Wish me luck!

1:34:  Not the best photo but mission complete!