Craig Fellers over at Magnetic Junction just did an awesome write up on the trail running opportunities in Reno. As a long time trail runner I can’t help but add my two cents and share my two favorite trails.
Rancho San Rafael/Evans Creek Canyon
Rancho is what I would call a Reno version of Central Park. A museum and art gallery, kids park, lots of open space, plenty of trails, and beautiful groves of trees. Add in that you can park at Rancho and start a hike all the way up Peavine through Evans Creek Canyon, and you could easily picture Rancho being just as big as Central Park.
Living on campus at UNR, a lot of my runs have been through Rancho. I love it because on any given day, the network of trails is such that I can mix and match long slow distance or grueling grinding hill climbing.
Picture this. The headwind from your movement chills the sweat on your face. Your heart, feet, and music all move in sync. Your footfalls only make a poof as they push into the 4 inches of fresh powder snow that blankets the hillside. Everything around you is whitish grey. Once in a while an errant snowflake adds a touch of icey sensation to your moist skin. The temperature is sitting around 30f but you are working hard enough that you are warm and comfortable in a light thermal layer. For the last two miles, the only footprints in the snow have been from you and an unseen coyote seeking breakfast.
As you reach the high point of your run and begin to loop back, you catch a glimpse of the city. The grey clouds look like fog curling through the downtown towers. One cloud is low enough to envelope the base while a second cloud sits tantalizingly close to the rooftop antennae. The background, a city sized blanket of white with a few of the first lateral rays of sunshine beaming in from the east.
Just as quickly as you take everything in, the image is saved in your memory and the task of running down a steep snow covered slope regains your focus. A moment of beauty. As if a reward for braving the elements.
That is why I like that trail. I have run well over a hundred miles of trail through Rancho San Rafael and Evans Creek Canyon and haven’t duplicated the exact same run twice.
Hunter Creek Canyon
Looking up the east canyon at Mile 1 of the Hunter Creek Trail
Early Spring in Hunter Creek can be dramatic AND COLD
As a runner, I love this trail for it’s constant twists, turns, and elevation changes. Like an interval run where all the runner has to do is maintain a constant pace. The trail climbs quickly then drops and climbs again. Regular switchbacks and straightaways provide the kind of variety that makes the trail fun AND challenging. Fairly regular traffic gives a sense of security should anything go wrong(there are a number of rocky sections that challenge you to dare run through at the risk of your ankles). Even with the regular traffic I highly recommend going with a buddy or using a check in system with someone who knows where the trail is and what section you will be on. This trail is wilderness area and you should always practice proper wilderness safety.
So where do you like to run in Reno?
Do you think I’m nuts to be running in the snow? If you do, then don’t look for my results in the 2012 Snow Joke Half Marathon in Seeley Lake Montana.
Happy Running Reno!
You have captured two of my favorite places to run in Reno perfectly. I adore Rancho San Rafael but I easily get distracted and either fail to make the target distance or overdo it by a mile or so simply because it is hilly, scenic and has so many places to explore. That is precisely why I love it. I had never been to Hunter Creek until this past fall and it along with the connecting ditch trail are regulars on my runs.
Two other places on the rotation? Steamboat Ditch Trail from Horseman’s Park and of course, the Sparks Marina. Steamboat is a surprisingly pleasant urban trail. Sure, it crosses a few streets from time to time and at one point you have to shimmy around a fence blocking the trail (with the owner’s permission, of course), but the trail itself has some great views and there are plenty of times when it is easy to forget you are in the middle of suburbia. Plus, I love it when the residents decorate the trail during the Christmas holiday. There is something about running in 17 degree weather seeing brightly colored glass balls hanging from black berry bushes, sage brush and sporadic trees. And then of course there is the good old standby not in Reno but close enough: the Sparks Marina. Yes, it’s concrete. Yes, it is a big loop. But it is well lit at night, easy to get to, interesting to look at and is infinitely better than a treadmill.
Those two locations are also on my top five list.
I grew up on the steamboat ditch trail. My family was one of the ones who decorated our backyard for ditch travelers. I do like the Horseman’s to McCarran and back loop if you have a running buddy and want to log some significant miles. A little too flat for solo runs. I get bored.
Sparks Marina holds a special place in my heart for two reasons. First because I used to get paid to run around the marina with a certain athletic company for their run club. Nothing like getting paid to do what you love. Second because I have yet to break my 5k personal record that I set there during one of those run clubs. By the way I love your picture of the marina building in sunset.