Crowders Mt. Visit

For a couple of weeks now, I have been thinking about putting some climbing stressors through my legs. The kind of climbing that has my heart pumping, and my lungs and legs burning. I guess what started me thinking along these lines was my Ruckus Right 25K a few weeks ago.  

This morning as I was nearing top of King Pinnacle, I felt my ears pop. For some reason, I always find this weird. One might think that hard breathing should equalize the pressure in my ears but apparently, this is not the case.

Anyway, I had just finished a steady climb of the Turnback Trail to King Pinnacle. Today, I decided to take the time and see the view from the top. The steps were an added bonus to my overall effort of the climb, and the view from the top was spectacular.

Furthermore, I could not have picked a better day for this run. At the top, the summer time temperature along with a cool gentle breeze felt awesome.

After taking in the view, I had back down to pick up the Ridgeline Trail. I would follow the Ridgeline Trail to Lake Montonia Rd.

Why just to here, well, this section has a nice set of stairs. There is no away around not using them on my climb back to the top. I turned at the road, climbed back to the stairs, and then I tackled the stairs to the top.

Let’s just say, I was well warmed up by now

Then, it was time to make the return trip back down Turnback Trail to the Crowders Visitor center. I did a quick refuel, and then I was off to run up the Pinnacle Trail back to King Pinnacle. According to the signs, Pinnacle is the longer route to the top but according to my Garmin, Pinnacle and Turnback are roughly the same length.

Runner looking to do purely running miles i.e. avoiding climbing through rocks should use the Turnback Trail. With the recent changes, while super steep in sections, the trail can be run.

Finishing my second accent to King Pinnacle, I was ready for the real climbing to begin by tackling the climbs to the top Crowders Mt.

I took the Crowders Trail which is about 3 miles over the Backside Trail. Then, I took Backside Trail to the top. Along the way, I passed more than a few people that were just figuring out the walk to the top was not as easy as it looks on the map.

The view from the top of Crowders was equally awesome, but it was also crowded. I didn’t spend too much time taking in the view here. I was getting in to the back half of my 22 mile run, so it was time focus on the business at hand.

I headed down Tower Trail at a full gallop. My quads were aching from the near constant impact. I was actually happy to find a few small climbs on this descent back to the Linwood Rd access point.

No resting in the parking, I turned right around and started my climb back to the top. Believe me, when I say, this was hard. I so wanted to walk in a few of the sections but I wouldn’t let myself. If I cannot do this in a training run, there is no way I could run something like this on race day. It felt so good to hit that last switch back before the top.

No wasting time now, I headed straight for the stairs leading to the Backside Trail. One might think that I would be fast descending these steps but they are uneven both in the width of the step and the height of the step. I had to focus hard on each step or risk taking a header on the way down. Not something that I wanted to even consider.

Once I was back on the trail, I followed Backside trail back to the Linwood Rd access again. This was be my final major climb of the day. Backside Trail is rugged and steep, but it is not nearly as long as the Tower trail. And, after climbing the Tower trail to the top, there was no way that I was going to allow myself to walk this section.

I now see why so many area runners seek out these trails. Mastering them make other hills around Charlotte look small.

My legs were tired but I focused on the thought that this was my major climb of the day. Somehow, this made it easier to accept the pain.

I touched the top and took in one last look around before heading back down. A quick turn back on the Crowders Mt. Trail, I knew that I was in my final miles now.

As one would expect, there is much climbing heading out on the Crowders Mt trail. Other than a few rollers and picking my way through a few rough sections, I had nice easy run back to the Visitor center.

All in all, I had great weather and an awesome training run. My legs may be sore for a few days but it was worth it.

Tail Dust Tails

The Cool Down Runner