My trail run in the snow...

Pike's Peak - my view during my morning runs

Last Wednesday morning I was lucky enough to wake up to a few inches of powdery snow. I honestly could not get ready fast enough. I was going to get to go on a snowy mountain run first thing in the morning. I can’t think of a better way to start the day! I was out the door by 6:15 and on the trails a few minutes later. There were no other humans at the park but according to all the foot prints in the snow there were a lot of animal tracks. I inspected a few that looked like a mid size dog, maybe large cat? Then there were others that were interesting because the front two feet spread out but the hind feet stayed together. I am pretty sure those were from a bunny. After a mile or so I was getting more comfortable but still thinking about what kinds of animals they probably have there in the mountains. Just at that moment I see a big bushy tail disappear behind a tree. I scream and stop dead in my tracks. Oh my god – what was that?!? I take a step towards it to inspect….Ah yes, it was a terribly scary squirrel. So now I have that out of my system I can concentrate on my run again. I run all the way to the back of the park to the end of the “official” trails and decide that the single track up the side of the mountain looks like some fun. I take off and start winding up the mountain. If I had realized that the single track was all uphill I might not have been so excited about it. At some point I start to think about the fact that I am now pretty far out in the woods, very alone, in an area that I don’t know. This is not a good combination. I actually turn around to back track, plus I don’t want to be late for class. Up until this point on the single track I have not seen any animal tracks. When I turn to go back I notice HUGE paw prints have followed me! I don’t see who they belong to but I am terrified. I bet it is a Cougar, I know they have them here. I try to keep myself calm but the paw prints are most certainly in my shoe tracks. I stop to inspect them (or allow the beast to catch me). Upon careful inspection I see that the paw prints look strange. They look exactly like the heel of my shoe with some snow stuck in it and indeed that is what they were – North Face trail shoes with the heel filled with some snow! At this point I smiled to myself ran back to the trail head and laughed about it for at least another 20 min of beautiful run.