A beautiful early spring morning greeted us as we explored the trails and woods surrounding Carter's Mountain and Monticello today. Blake, Drew, Joey, Rebecca, Christian, Quatro and I had a great run up the Saunders Trail boardwalk (the first two miles of the Montalto Challenge 5K), then we took a special trail for a little Promise Land 50K quad trashing preparation before hitting the awesome single track that climbs and descends Carter's Mountain. These trails are perfect for hill repeats as they have sustained climbs of 15 minutes and more, and they vary in technical-ity: some are so smooth they would be hard pressed to be described as "trails" and other sections are rocky and craggy like parts of the Massanuttens.
We ran for a total of two hours and put in about about ten miles at an easy pace, but we hammered the downs and tried to run the ups as much as possible. This is a perfect training ground for your next hilly trail race, or for just a relaxing run very close to downtown. In the fall, hike the main trail up to Carter's Mountain Orchard with some cash and a backpack and come back down with apples, pies, donuts and the satisfaction of not driving up there with the masses!
Thanks for joining me, everyone. Let's do it again soon!
Photos by Christian:
Map of these awesome trails
Thanks for the report Sophie. As always, well written.
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