Kiara Tackles the Trails - Trail #9 Riverside Trail

Kiara Tackles the Trails - Trail #9 Riverside Trail

Today was so beautiful that I had to take the drive out to Riverside Trail. The drive is about 55 minutes which in my opinion is a pretty long distance to drive for a run that would probably not last much longer than that, but the drive was beautiful with all the leaves changing colors. It was so windy that I could barely keep the truck on the road.

We got to Rainbow Campground to find the road and camp locked up - my first moment of unease. We found the trailhead and took off jogging. We were only about 2 or 3 minutes in when I started to get scared. I have never been on a trail this deserted before - not a soul - and no reason to believe anyone would be turning up from the looks of it. I don't know if it was only getting 4 hours of sleep or what, but I was FREAKED OUT! If it hadn't been for poor Ki already having spent almost an hour in the car in anticipation of a run, I would have headed straight back to the truck...but...I couldn't do it to her - so fully expecting to be captured, mutilated, and killed by some creep in a mask, I kept on going.

The saddest part is that this is possibly my favorite trail to date. It was really soft and covered with pine needles and not many rocks. We would come out into the sun with a view of the river before heading back into the trees and there looked to be some great swimming holes. I can't wait to run this trail again (the full trail...I did eventually become so anxiety ridden that I turned us around screaming up the trail as fast as we could go) next Spring and next Summer for sure - can't wait to hit the swimming holes! I can picture doing an out and back and back out to the swimming hole again for a 16 miler with a nice long swim break before the final 4 miles. Not doing this one alone again - shudder.

Sorry, these pics do not do this trail justice. It was beautiful!