What a Difference a Year Makes. Running 20 Miles @ Hilton Falls

Just thinking about last years 5 hour+ suffer-fest brings me chills. Everything was under water due to a huge snow melt. This year turned out to be much more pleasant, except for a few crashes.

This is the trail head last year, same time.

This is the trail head today.Nice and dry.

So everything went perfectly for the first 18 seconds, that's when Digger hit the first ice and forgot he wasn't wearing his Khatoolas. Not good. Yard sale. Fortunately, my water bottle and gels broke my fall and probably saved me from serious injury. Unfortunately, my water bottle and gel flask both got flattened and exploded on my shorts.

Ever wonder what a frozen popped gel on a pair of green shorts looks like?

The Amphipod water bottle took the worst of it.

So I wound up with a sore back,elbow and neck, but I was lucky it wasn't much worse. Anytime you fall here, you've got a darn good chance of landing on a large, sharp rock.

This is where I fell. Not good.

This is what we were dealing with, lots of ice. This is just before I went ass over teakettle.

Captain Tries to Keep Dry

Phantom and Swiss on the Bridge thet Shouldn't Be there. Funny Story. The Dufferin Quarry blasted a 40 metre hole for a road through the Niagara Escarpment without permission. Ooops.So they built this bridge for the Bruce Trail.At least that's the story I heard.

Piper Doon. Swiss finds a rock with his forehead. Wins "Best Blood". Congratulations,Swiss.

Swiss, running well. He's got to be the favourite in the 60+ category at Glacier Ridge.

Onions isn't worried about getting his feet wet.

Swiss and Phantom are a little more cautious

A Technical Section

Hmmmm, no photos of Cyrus. I guess that's what happens when he drops us all.

Here's one from last year. When we got to this spot on the trail, we commented on this "River" not existing this year.

So that's it from Hilton Falls. 3:30ish for us, 20 miles. Lots of fun and a nice sunny day.Three weeks until the first rumble of the year, Glacier Ridge 50K in Pennsylvania. This is kind of the first "Pylon Family Trip", it's not just a 50K trail run for the Pylons, it's also a shopping trip for the wives/kids. World famous outlet mall at Grove City PA. And the Canuck Buck is above par! Beaver is a tiny bit injured but he asked me to bring him back a $5.00 T-shirt. He claims it's his achillies, but I think it might be a heart problem. Dora is maybe out just because. Captain had some broken bones in his foot, so he's out, although he's on the mend. So that leaves Cyrus,Swiss,Onions, Phantom and Me.
  How lucky are we, to be able to do this stuff? And people think we're crazy.

   Next up, Portage and I visited M:Burger, home of the $100 Hamburger. I'm just getting that post together, complete with pitchers and everything. I didn't order the $100 Burger, I read they sell about one/week. Not to this Scotsman!