Usery Mountain Park

I got to run in Usery Mountain Regional Park again. It's one of our county parks that are vacant this time of year. 100 degree temperatures and not even the gate is attended. There was a self pay box, which I place my $6 in and then I headed toward Merkle Trail. Merkle is the short interprative trail in the middle of the park. It's about 1 mile long and it goes around a small butte. The picture shows Usery Mtn. There's the Wind Cave trail that goes up to the strip of colored rock at the top, but today wasn't the day to tackle that trail. Merkle is relatively flat and close to my SUV and water. No one else was on the trail.

Here's a google map of the trail. The road is well defined, but if you look inside that loop you'll see the Merkle trail. It's smoothed with pea gravel to make it accessible to wheel chairs, strollers and anyone that needs a flat walking surface. It's great to run on.

Here's a good view of the trail. Lots of Saugaro's, Ocotillo's, barrel cactus and other desert plants. I did see an Antelope squirrel and lots of lizzards on the trail. Not enought time and too much heat. I ran/walked for about two miles.

Losing Weight?

A few years before I started running I did the Atkin's Diet. I lost a bunch of weight the quit. And gained it all back. No diet and no exercise at that time and I got up to around 260 pounds.

I started running a little over 2 years ago and lost 30 pounds in the first 4-5 months. Then I plateaued and didn't lose any weight for the longest time. This summer I ran less because of my knee, then the heat, then all sorts of things took priority over running and I gained a bit. Now weighing 235 on Saturday I decided I was going to run and do Atkin's at the same time.

Two days of Atkin's and one run later I am down to 232.

Usery Mountain Park

Mile 1162, Mesa, AZ - Today was a trail run day. Yesterday I did an easy 3.1 miles in the neighborhood, but today I went out to Usery Mountain Park with my father in law, Harry Potter. No, not that one.

He hiked up the Wind Cave Trail and I ran the Pass Mountain trail. You can click on the map below to see my route.

The trail is very rocky and you are constantly running in and out of washes. So, the going is slow for someone that doesn't have a lot of trail experience. I'd rather go slow and not visit the dentist afterwards. I got a feeling you can do face plants into boulders pretty easily.

This is Usery Mountain. At the top you can see a shady area. That is where the wind cave is. I haven't been up there yet. But, some day. Today I decided to run around the mountain.

Here's a good shot of what the trail looks like. Some parts where flat and smooth, but lots of the trail looked like this. Not ideal for running.

This is a view of the trail coming out of a wash. It's Arizona, so there wasn't water in any of the washes. You just run down in to them and back out. The deeper washes had mini switchbacks to get in and out of them.

I love Saguaro's. This park is a virtual saguaro forest. The mountain has a ribbon of rock across it. You can see the ribbon in the picture above. I used to know the story about it. You can learn more about the park at there website.

Some saguaro's don't make it. Here's one with the ribs exposed.

If you've ever flown into Phoenix from the east, you may have seen the sign pointing the way. Here it is on the mountain side. Click the photo for a better view. Made of rocks, it is very easy to see from an airplane.

My run was a slow one, but I did get almost 3.5 miles in and I really loved the scenery. I hope to do more trail runs this coming year.