Today was what I commonly refer to as a "Runcation Day"... an occasional day I schedule off work which I spend running on the trails far away from anyone and everything. Today's runcation came via a road trip to McGregor, Iowa where I explored the trails of Pikes Peak State Park.
Pikes Peak is a little over an hour north of us in the town of McGregor. The park is perched high along the Mississippi River bluffs and is known for it's views from several points along the ridge. My journey through the park took me from end to end which clocked right over double digits for my round trip with fun and challenging trails which hugged the bluff ridges and dipped down some of the valleys making for some amazing views.
I arrived around 9am and had the place to myself today which surprised me being such a nice day, but it is a Monday morning after all so understandable. I wandered around aimlessly for the first mile or so until I found a park map which pointed me to the main trail-head which led north toward Point Ann which is the other far end of the park. After reading the map I assumed it would be about a 5 mile round trip(ended up being 10 aka "Cory Math") so I left my pack back at the "General Pre"(the Corymobile) and headed on my way.
The trails were diverse, mixing mostly dirt and grass footing with occasional crushed gravel and a section of wooden stairs strung along the south bluff. I was cautious with the spring thaw and did have to veer off into the brush a couple times as not to leave prints in the thawing mud but overall the trails were in great shape. Upon reaching the far end of the park I found the views to be just as great as the south end and being the north side was less accessible I found the seclusion pretty amazing.. I spent a few minutes here enjoying the sun and the silence before I jetted back.
Other than a self-caused hard fall near the end of the run which left me with a few pretty gnarly battle wounds I had nothing but a great experience on my visit, I highly recommend giving this park a visit if you are able to! I'm already eyeing a couple more fairly close trail systems for my next road trip so I'll keep you all in the loop!
Until next time Happy Running and bring on the spring! - Cory
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| View from "The Crow's Nest" at the South side of the park. |
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| Listened to some tunes for the first mile before I ditched the ear buds for a more natural and ultimately better run. |
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| Can't say I was real happy when I turned the corner and saw this mess of stairs haha |
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| I almost tried to climb down for a better picture but I haven't been in the E.R. for some time now so I'd like to keep it that way! |
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| Sunny side of the bluff was great, you can already see some trees budding. |
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| It's not a hill as much as a mound of opportunity! |
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| Had to stop and look at the map a few times today, nicely marked intersections helped a ton! |
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| Tried to get a picture hanging upside down from this sweet looking tree but after one pretty horrible attempt I moved on. |
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| First time I actually got the timer on my action cam to work right! |
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| ... and the second time, leveled up on photo skills today! :) |
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| about 10 seconds before I biffed it, too busy looking around to realize the trail turned haha |
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| Just nice to be running on solid ground again! |
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| Cory's Mantra here... don't trip, don't trip, don't trip, don't trip! |
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| My destination, "Point Ann" at the North end of the park |
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| Views on the North side are just as awesome as the South! |
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| My Monday > Your Monday ;) |
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| Inside I'm incredibly freaked out here standing so close the edge but it made for a nice picture so I manned up |
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| Trail runners camo recipe - just add 10 miles to any shoes on a wet spring day. |
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| Relaxing in the sun next to "The General Pre" before heading back to DBQ. |
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