Saturday, August 21, 2021

Williamson County Regional Park (Leander, TX) – August 2020

 I’d run a few races at this location, so I was somewhat familiar with it.  But since I’d only been on the trails during the races, exploring the area as part of the Georgetown Running Club’s 2020 Summer Tour was a good opportunity.  I walked the main trail that I’d raced on first, as it was a good place to start.  Then I walked the open areas by the cricket ground and tennis courts, but there wasn’t much “nature things” to take pictures of.

 Since I was prepared for an all-day walk, I’d placed some extra water in a cool container in my car to replenish what I had.  There were a number of side trails off the main, and I wanted to explore them.  There wasn’t a trail map which showed those areas (like at other places I’d been), so I had to note various landmarks in order to be able to gauge what direction I was going.

 As you could see by the pictures, the day was nice and sunny when I started.  When I got on to the side trails, it started to cloud over, which wasn’t too bad because it made it feel less hot.  The side trails twisted and turned, and I honestly say I wasn’t sure what compass direction I was heading.  I was just truckin’ along enjoying the view, and suddenly I hear this loud boom.  The skies above had gotten real dark, and there were a lot of rumbles.

 Since I didn’t know where I was on the trail (how close was I back to a point of the main trail), I did a 180 and double-timed it back the way I came.  That brought me back to the main trail, where I was then able to pick up speed.  The rain started to come down, so that didn’t bother me because I knew how long it’d take me to get back to the car.  There was a section of the trail which came close to the backyards of some houses.  A family was sitting on their covered porch and yelled “Run, Forrest, Run” as I went whizzing by.  Obviously I didn’t complete all the trails, so that means I’ll make a return trip later to do so.














No comments:

Post a Comment