Trail Run with my Daddio

The iconic white blaze marking the Appalachian Trail.

Yesterday I met my dad at the AT trail head on 850 in Marysville. We ran just over 12 miles South to Scott's Farm and back. It was a great morning and the weather was perfect, somewhere  in the mid 20s.

Lebanon bologna and cheddar cheese sandwich 
with cheddar party mix was my fuel for the day!

Waiting for my dad to arrive.

The trail starts off through a field. In the summer, I hate this part because the grass is tall, the trail is narrow, and I'm afraid of snakes! But in the winter it wasn't scary at all. 

Then it was into the woods. There were a lot of steep climbs for the first 3-4 miles and my legs felt like jelly... but then it was smooth sailing to the six mile mark. At this point my legs were warmed up and I was feeling good!

On the way out I saw my friends Kristen and Anne. They had started at 7am and were doing a much longer run that day. We saw a couple other runners and 3-4 hikers over the course of the day. Normally this part of the trail is very crowded on a warm weekend afternoon, but I guess it was too cold for most people!

 Nice view at the top of the mountain!

After my dad and I turned around and were well on our way back, we passed a hiker who was coming toward us. He was tall, smiley (in a creepy way), and wearing clothes that made him blend into the woods, not stand out. (All the runners we passed had on bright green, yellow, or orange.) Once he was out of earshot I said to my dad, "You see why I don't run trail alone anymore? All that guy needs is a gun or a knife and he could do whatever he wanted." My dad agreed.

We walked more on the way back than on the way out, but still were going at a pretty decent clip considering the terrain. I was happy that I was only feeling tired, not achy and beat up.

Oh, one thing we noticed on the trail was that there leaves all over the trail with green spray paint on them. I would say there was about a 2 mile section where every once in awhile we'd come across the leaves with green spray paint. We couldn't figure out why it was there. I wish I had gotten a picture.

I refueled with the exact same thing I had before my run!
I told you I've been eating a ton of lebanon bologna!

All in all, it was a great day on the trail with my dad! He never ran on this part of the AT before, so I was excited to show him what it was like. We'll have to go back in the summer so he can see how pretty it is with all the ferns!

Local peeps: What's your fav section of the AT?
Favorite places to hike?
What do you think the green spray paint was?