This past weekend was filled with three separate runs for the CCRunners gang.
Friday:
    The weekend started off with what was originally billed as the Moonlight Madness run on Friday night. Due to stupidity on the part of the organizer (me) it should have been billed as the Moonless Madness Run. (Note to self: Next time, make sure the run is scheduled for the weekend BEFORE the full moon, and check moonrise time.)

    At the appointed start time of 8:30 pm, Joe and Tony, Abbey, Shirlee and Hank, newbie Ali and I took off up Gino's Jaunt as the last light started to fade. (That's Ali, Abbey and Shirlee there to the left, getting ready to bury the old guy on the climb to come.)
    Headlamps illuminated, we worked up the Canyon Trail to Seven Steps. For this part of the run, the lamps were helpful for seeing what was on the trail, but not critical, that came a bit later. As we took off across on Seven Steps, lighting became critical, and the line of runners on the trail began to resemble a moving, shifting constellation of stars. Wait, is that last one Antares?

    I tried to snap a few photos, but all I accomplished was temporarily blinding Hank, nearly causing him to take a digger. Sorry about that, Hank.
    After Seven Steps, the original plan was to head back down, and make the run a 3-ish miler. As anyone who runs with Abbey knows, once on the trail, she's tough to get off. So instead of turning for the warm bright comfort of an establishment that sells adult beverages, we headed further into Ash Canyon. You know, just for fun.
For me, at the back (my usual place), I originally attributed it to

her notorious lack of direction. I found out later it was deliberative. Good thing she never reads this, otherwise, I'd be busted.
    We continued toward the Creek Trail along the Unnamed Trail until encountering Ash Canyon Road. This is wide enough to run with the headlamp off, the ground illuminated solely by starlight and the city lights. I'd have taken a photo, but by this time I was quite a distance back, and that's a cause for concern for the rest during a night run, so I didn't.
    The route then doubled back up the hill to catch Jackrabbit Trail back down to the start. This is where the unfortunate Field Mouse incident occurred.
    Illuminated in my headlamp a stride ahead, a mouse appeared. I zigged my foot, but unfortunately, he zagged. I felt the impact, but not as much as he did. Looking back, I saw he didn't make the edge of the trail, and remained where (I assume) he was greatly impressed by the aggressive tread of my Innov8 Roclite 295s. RIP, Mousie.
    I hoisted my lemonade in his honor (OK, I didn't really, but I thought it) once we reached Bully's for the adult beverage portion of the run.

Saturday:
    Saturday we met at Centennial Park. I was looking to do 6-7 miles in getting a GPS map on the Mound House loop and North Canyon. Runners were Patti and Evan, Joe and Michele and Gino, Hector, and Victor - a friend of Hector's. I trailed the speedy runners magnificently through Mound House loop, bursting into the lead when they stopped. It's a good trick when racing those that don't realize it's a race.
    The Cairn Climb up North Canyon was normal: slow and painful. Once attained, I once again burst into the lead, as the rest were eating and drinking. Fools. Also, I had kids at home, so I needed to get going. I finished my run by connecting with the West Canyon Lasso route back to the car. it was a pleasant 6.5 miles.

Sunday:
    Sunday was billed as an exploratory run, and it lived up to its billing. We met at the mouth of Brunswick Canyon. The hardcore Abbey, Sandi, Georgia, Ali and Hector warmed up with a 1-miler prior to the start of the real run. Wait, did I say 1-miler? I meant 10. TEN, An Order of Magnitude greater. What, are these people NUTS? Before a 10 mile run up hill and down dale, they go and do 10 ahead of time? Craziness.
    I should be grateful, as that's about the only way I can keep ahead. I should encourage that sort of behavior in all my running partners: "Hey, double the distance, and do half before I get there, OK?"
    After the rest of us slackers showed (Joe, Gino, and DotBen), we crossed the bridge on Deer Run Road and headed up the dirt, following the CdC Running Leg 2 route in reverse. Steady climbing got us an elevation gain of almost 1600 feet in 4 miles. Some of that was on single track trails that aren't specifically a part of the CdC route, but more fun in a small group.

    Once we got to the top of the climb, some flopped under trees in the shade, tongue lolling hugely (Gino), most took some water and food, and Hector did a hill climb balance dance (left) in thanks of getting to the top in one piece, despite a couple of backtracks finding the route. Snacked up, we bravely went where no man had gone before. At least none of us. Playing on direction only, we followed some single and dual track paths (singles created by motorcycles, most likely) heading south and east until we encountered Bunker Hill Mine Road. At this point, Abbey, Sandi and Georgia had to be physically restrained from going the wrong way in order to drag the rest of us along for an additional 10 miles. Forcing them to turn north, we had a long, sandy downhill stretch.
    I should have taken a photo of the huge sand hill along that Bunker Hill Mine Road (39.1388, -119.6702). My initial reaction was to strip down and sunbathe in the sand, but there were three problems with that: I had premonitions of (a) screams of horror from the women running with me, and (b) getting run over by a sand rail, and (c) I'd have never gotten back up to finish the run, as it was finishing me. 

   At the end of Bunker Hill Mine Road, it tees into Brunswick Canyon Road. Interestingly, there is a spring there which delighted Gino to no end. Finally he got to roll in some cooling mud and wetness. The water then flows down Brunswick Canyon Road toward the river, crossing the road in several places, forcing runners to become leapers (right).
    The rest of the run is a blur. Not of speed, though — rather of sweat. It was warm in the canyon, and there was a final climb past a rolled 4Runner(?) that was both steep and insulting. Once that was surmounted, though, the 1/3 mile down to the bridge and back to the car was all that remained.
    Thanks all, for dragging my carcass along! This will probably enter the pantheon of CCRunner routes, and would be a good candidate for a long winter run, as there is not often a lot of snow on the east side.

Yesterday:
With a varied group of runners, we headed out under cloudy skies from Carson Middle School for an -up to whatever number of miles run. Some turned back after 2 for a nice hilly 4-mile out and back, I went 11 and others went farther.
My goal was to simply map the route from the middle school, around the west-side fire road, up Shotgun Canyon, continuing up King's Canyon to the Forest Service gate at King's Canyon Rd, and back by way of Longview Canyon. There was a quite a lot of activity on the trail near the gate though, and I wasn't sure at all how the traffic was going to resolve itself until we simply waded in, and the four-footed hoofers left. With alacrity, mind you.

When we did reach the gate – stepping carefully for part of the way, I was feeling OK, and decided to tack on a small loop at the top. The final route map is on the trail maps page, under the West Side heading in the Index.
On the way back down, my ego wrote a check my body had a hard time cashing. For some stupid reason, I thought it would be cool to return by way of The Mark of Zorro. Damn, that hurt.

Today:
In the spirit of the weather, I bundled up my daughter and myself in full-on winter regalia today and we headed out for some investigatory activities in the 4Runner on the east side of Carson City in search of some new territory for running. Of course, she doesn't run – yet – so the investigation was for me, and she was along for the ride and the adventure.
We bounced and bopped up Brunswick Canyon road for a bit and turned off on Bunker Hill Mine Road. The moniker "road" is generous in this case. I locked the hubs, and followed the ATV and motorcycle tracks up to the point where the way narrowed down to where I was uncomfortable driving with Mikaela, and nobody else tagging along.
We popped out and walked to where I wanted to see if a trail joined up. Sure enough, I found where the trail I had spotted earlier emerged on the road. Sweet. Now I had a closed loop from Brunswick Bridge.
I popped the data from my Garmin into Google Earth and merged it with the Cirque du Carson running leg 2 to attempt to get an overall distance. Without hard GPS-mapped data for a short distance from the high point of the running leg to where it intersects the "road," it looks like the overall route is about 10 miles.

I am going to run it next Sunday — anybody interested in joining me? I may get a bit lost on the part that is not mapped. I know where the trail *should* be, I just haven't actually been physically on it from one point to another. I'm looking to do the route in a counter-clockwise fashion; the trek down Bunker Hill Mine Rd. is pretty sandy (as you can tell by the photo), and would be not a lot of fun climbing.
Oh, and we saw many vultures, hawks, squirrels, bunnies, one Western Gull and had to cross a creek at least 4 times. All of which provided the highlights of the trip for Mikaela.