Skyline Trail

One of the local running stores organizes a weekly trail run that moves
around from week to week. I got out yesterday evening to join the group
at Sibley Park to run the Skyline Ridge Trail to the steam trains at
Tilden Park. The trail was out and back, singletrack, and one of the
hilliest runs that I've ever done. I'll admit: there was some walking,
but it was brisk.

Sibley Park is about 7 miles from home, and the drive up there is scenic
in itself. Much of the drive is on Grizzly Peak Blvd, and there is a
striking contrast between the views on the right of the East Bay cities,
Sanf Francisco, and the Bay, hundreds of feet below, and the views to
the left of undeveloped hill country. This satellite view gives some
idea of what's going on.

I forgot to bring a waiver, but I told the run leader that I understand
that running is foolish and dangerous, which was good enough for him.
We set off in a group of about 15 or so, but the hills sorted us into
smaller packs pretty quickly. There was a long, winding downhill at the
start, followed by lots of up and down. I spent most of the run with a
British couple living in Oakland and we made small talk for much of the
distance. Saw a couple of cows on the path as well.

The approximate route is mapped here, but without the twists and turns.
The actual distance was 8 miles in 70-75 minutes.

I still had gnats in my teeth this morning and didn't feel up for 2 runs
in 12 hours, so today is a DNR.