Training Log Archive: SwampfoxIn the 1 days ending Jan 20, 2018: |
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Saturday Jan 20, 2018 #
Note
O' at Pelican Bay, 14 kms, 45 controls, snow everywhere in the forest and sage with areas of drifted snow while prairie areas were mostly bare, overcast w/ light breeze, 40F and dropping, and...
I headed up to run in the afternoon. Judging by conditions in the valley--overcast but fairly bright--there was plenty of time to run the whole course. As I drove past the Tie City parking lot and swung around the curve, however, I could look up ahead to the east and....see fog. Dense fog.
There wasn't any fog at Pelican Bay as I got there, but there was plenty of fog just across the highway over large portions of Remarkable Flats, and tendrils were headed south. It looked murky. I wasted no time getting going and decided I would just try to get around as far as I could, and if the fog got bad quickly, then I would hop off the course, and head up to Happy Jack and run snow trails (which I could almost do blind folded.)
The fog did sweep in, but wasn't as thick as it looked from the outside. Inside the fog, you could see fine enough for about 100 m or so, and past that for some extra amount of distance before things disappeared. But 100 m is a lot, well more than enough, and the main problem was trying to read some of the finer details on the map. Getting to the control rings was no problems, but seeing the fine details--especially things like small form line knolls or distinguishing what various black objects were--was tough at times. I had printed the map at 1:12,500, which probably would have been fine minus the fog.
The whole time I was running I was losing light as an unseen sun dipped lower, overcast skies got darker, and as the fog got thicker. In the end, I only made it to the first 36 controls before I judged it was time to head for the nearest trail and take the most direct route back to my truck. As it was, I made it back just as dusk was fading into night.
By then, the fog was quite thick, and the temps were below freezing. You couldn't see, and then there was the added thrill of fog freezing on the windshield. I drove back very slowly along the Happy Jack Road until the fog lightened and then disappeared at the higher elevation of the interstate at the Summit, by which time the windshield was warm enough to keep ice from forming on it. From there back home it was easy going, but it's always a relief and nice to get back home after experiencing uncertain or bad driving conditions.
I headed up to run in the afternoon. Judging by conditions in the valley--overcast but fairly bright--there was plenty of time to run the whole course. As I drove past the Tie City parking lot and swung around the curve, however, I could look up ahead to the east and....see fog. Dense fog.
There wasn't any fog at Pelican Bay as I got there, but there was plenty of fog just across the highway over large portions of Remarkable Flats, and tendrils were headed south. It looked murky. I wasted no time getting going and decided I would just try to get around as far as I could, and if the fog got bad quickly, then I would hop off the course, and head up to Happy Jack and run snow trails (which I could almost do blind folded.)
The fog did sweep in, but wasn't as thick as it looked from the outside. Inside the fog, you could see fine enough for about 100 m or so, and past that for some extra amount of distance before things disappeared. But 100 m is a lot, well more than enough, and the main problem was trying to read some of the finer details on the map. Getting to the control rings was no problems, but seeing the fine details--especially things like small form line knolls or distinguishing what various black objects were--was tough at times. I had printed the map at 1:12,500, which probably would have been fine minus the fog.
The whole time I was running I was losing light as an unseen sun dipped lower, overcast skies got darker, and as the fog got thicker. In the end, I only made it to the first 36 controls before I judged it was time to head for the nearest trail and take the most direct route back to my truck. As it was, I made it back just as dusk was fading into night.
By then, the fog was quite thick, and the temps were below freezing. You couldn't see, and then there was the added thrill of fog freezing on the windshield. I drove back very slowly along the Happy Jack Road until the fog lightened and then disappeared at the higher elevation of the interstate at the Summit, by which time the windshield was warm enough to keep ice from forming on it. From there back home it was easy going, but it's always a relief and nice to get back home after experiencing uncertain or bad driving conditions.