The Bridge is NOT the Answer

Day 47 of my running streak I returned to piecing together The Epic Run.   (For new readers, this is my quest to run from Doheny Beach to Santiago Peak in Saddleback Mountains).  Today I took the advice of my friend Tom Fangrow who reminded me of a run we took together back in 2009 – the one where we got kind of  lost in the mud, and he lost his eyeglasses only to find them beneath MY SHOES!  That was the trail, he recently told me, that I had to take for this quest.  He told me NOT to cross the bridge that I’ve been crossing off of Trabuco Trail, the one that takes me to Trabuco Ridge.  Funny . . . all along, I thought the bridge was the answer.

The bridge is NOT the answer.   I was a bit leery at first, because the bridge route did get me to my destination on my last scouting trip.  This morning,  I met another trail runner on a bike (Howie) on my way toward Tom’s Way, and he also confirmed that I was headed toward Arroyo Trabuco.  I ran for a while next to the golf course, and after a mile or so, came to this fountain spot that I immediately recognized.  I had refilled my water here on that run way, way back.  Relieved that I wasn’t yet lost, I had to stop and strike a pose:

From the fountain onward, the run was pretty straight forward, the trail fairly level (well dang right level RELATIVELY : ).  When the trail forked, both routes were obviously well-traversed trails, so I took the lower.  And I’m not sure, but I could swear I took the same wrong trail that Tom and I took about 3 years ago when we found ourselves boxed-in, surrounded by deep mud.  I’m not sure, but if it was the same wrong turn, I certainly wasn’t going to take it to its dead end.  So about here (below) I turned around and ran back to the fork so that I could run the “upper” trail. 

Now, when I write “upper” trail, I in no way mean UPPER as in the Trabuco Ridge Trail I had been taking to piece together The Epic Run.  This trail was just slightly higher than the first choice.  I hit some single-track, I came across another runner.  There was even a tiny bit of shade (NO shade on my prior route).  The only trouble I had was finding the route to cross to the other side of the creek.  Tom mentioned that I’d find a route just before Crown Valley.  The biker Howie suggested running up to Crown Valley Parkway running across the road, then back down to the trail on the other side.  I ran everything that looked like a trail just before Crown Valley, only to dead end.  And I decided that running up to the road wasn’t ideal.  From Crown Valley I ran back again, looking for the route.  And I phoned my husband so that he could read back to me Tom’s note.  I still found nothing.  Eventually, I ran a bit past the Crown Valley underpass and found a clear singe-track trail down to the creek.  I crossed the creek, getting my feet wet, then ran a sandbar to the trail that runs along the other side – my destination.

My destination:  beneath the Crown Valley underpass on Arroyo Trabuco, so, so grateful for Tom pointing out this route.  Why?  BECAUSE THIS NEW ROUTE KNOCKED ABOUT AN HOUR off my original route of The Epic Run.  Thanks Tom!

Running back with a look over my shoulders and a click of the camera to catch a glimpse of Santiago Peak:

My lovely view while stretching at the truck:

Miles run today:  6.16 (9.91 km)