National Trails Day

Landy, Katherine, Sam (canine), Dominic, Lori, and Mike, along with Joel (behind the lens) hit Tuckahoe State Park for 10- and 7-mile loops to kick off the month of June.

On June 1, the RUR crew celebrated National Trails Day. Never mind that NTD is actually June 7 (this Saturday), or that we never talked about it--it was a lived experience celebration. Landy, Dominic, and Lori came out to rock the 10-mile loop; special guest star Katherine Binder and I took an abbreviated 7-ish mile loop; while Joel and Sam Shilliday came out to do some hiking while Joel nursed a bad wheel.

We met late in the morning--6:30 a.m. ;)--to head out from Easton, after some good rain and wind that came through the previous afternoon. Once June arrives, the "hazards" of Tuckahoe become more pronounced--poison ivy, ticks, swarming mosquitoes, and black flies. Our runs out there this summer, may get even earlier...

We all started together, and without a doubt, if he knew the way, Sam would own the course record for the Tuckahoe 10-Mile Challenge. As we split our different groups up, it became a nature run for Katherine and me, as we counted off box turtles, frogs, toads, and a happy decorative gnomes in a hollow tree along Pee Wees Trail. Katherine was given wise advice, that when crossing the creek on our loop, NOT to take the log. And as we came to the bottom of Turkey Hill Trail, and mucked ankle-deep to the crossing--the chest high wade across the creek became the highlight of the day. You've gotta enjoy that attitude! She fits right in with our water-splashing spelunkers :)

At the end of our loop, we caught up to Joel and Sam and chatted a bit, with Landy, Dominic, and Lori appearing not far behind us. I'll have to let one of them talk about their loop--the only report I got was of wet shoes and wet bridge spelling a nasty spill for Landy on Pee Wees Trail.

AND congratulations to Dominic, who became the most recent runner to complete the Tuckahoe 10-Mile Challenge, thus earning him the invite for the end of the year Beer-BQ. Others interested in completing the challenge should feel free to leave a comment or figure out another way to get in touch with us for route and times when we'll be hitting the trails.