Technically the dogs have the right of way, and I am the trespasser buzzing through without a proper escort. In my defense, the pet path at Highbanks Metro Park is 3 1/2 miles of loops through woods and meadows and is fairly irresistible to runners looking for a less traveled trail.
Hannah and I started running it last summer to add some variety to the 300 miles she needed to log for cross-country. The map at the trail head showed a series of loops, and I was fairly certain we’d be directionally challenged at some point. Our strategy to take every right turn was sound and would eventually bring us back to our starting point. But one of the loops more resembles a deer trail than anything man-made, and is easy to miss. We ran past it on a regular basis in the beginning and would have to backtrack to include it in our mileage. Eventually we grew comfortable enough for Hannah to run on ahead at her faster pace. She’d take the car keys and meet me with my water bottle at trail’s end. I continued to run the loops at Coyote Run, our so-called “summer trail”, by myself after Hannah’s high school season started.
The path begins with a lengthy treed corridor, a virtual runway upon which to adjust the stride and engage the mind. Then, the journey begins with an abrupt turn into the woods. Feet hit packed dirt, grass and leaves and leap over roots and rocks -racing down one hill simply to wind up and around the next.
This past weekend I ran it under what felt like a summer sun. Brilliant colors and a clear sky above, the crunch of dried leaves underfoot. The stretches of meadow can be blazing hot on a summer day but accentuate the body’s cooling when one swings back into the shaded woods. An Adena burial mound dated to more than 2000 years ago rises out of the first meadow and offers a thoughtful vantage point from which to view woods and sky.
And yes, there are dogs… My lab Lily loves this trail as does Simba, a very personable Great Pyrannese, that I met the other day.
*Map was charted last summer with the My Tracks app on my G1 phone.
View Coyote Run Trail, Highbanks Metro Park in a larger map
