West Point Middle, day one
Start to 1: Ugh! Rarely have I looked at a leg and had less desire to do it. It didn’t help that the hillside was covered with rocks, downed trees, mountain laurel and leaves. I should have stayed on top, but instead, I contoured around until I could see the rocks and the flat terrace below me. Then I went straight down the hill.
1 to 2: as I was approaching the hill, I told myself to look up, in case I could see the marker. I did see a marker, but told myself it was too soon, and went on. Of course, it was my marker, and I had to contour back to get it.
2 to 7 went fairly smoothly. I wasn’t moving fast, but I was paying attention and reading the map.
7 to 8: I decided to go a bit south to skirt the hill, but I went too far south. I was really tentative on this leg, and couldn’t make sense of the flat area. I was a bit confused about where I was when I crossed the trail, but the marsh gave me a clue. I continued on until I hit the big cliffs along the reentrant, to be sure I knew where I was. But I was flustered at this time, and stupidly ran north to another control, just because I saw a bunch of folks leaving it. Stood there a second, got my bearings, and went over the hill to 8.
8 to 9 was fun: a chance to actually run downhill!
9 to 10 was a poor route execution, and then choice, then execution. Meant to leave the control to the SW, but went straight S. I was confused when I hit the road, and went the wrong direction. Then, I saw the option of running on the road, but chose instead to go through the woods. This was a slow slog, where I had little confidence, and stopped at two other boulders (with markers) before hitting mine.
10 to finish: glad to be done.
Overall, I was very happy that my brain showed up at the start today. And it functioned fairly well when I had to relocate. Also happy that I was not exhausted after this effort.
route