Echo Park Virgin Trail Run

Hi! Picture heavy post coming up.

I drove out to Echo Valley Provincial Park with my family yesterday and got a run/hike in. It was so great! I'm completely going to incorporate this into my weekly training from now on. I can't wait to explore there more!

In the truck ready to adventure! It was so cold yesterday! Sunny but -5C with the wind. I'm over the cold thing... time for summer!

These ski trails and the hiking trails too could use better signage. Some places were not marked but obviously well kept. I'm really impressed with how well the trails are looked after!

Still waiting for the trees to bud out. Everything is looking pretty stark... The ticks are out now too (yuck), the upside, no mosquitoes!

I ran ahead most of the time and did some backtracking and looping to keep these 2 close. Josie the gsp pup must have ran triple her normal amount trying to stick with me and then chasing back to visit with the boys...

Went down the Mink Trail and hit one of the tenting areas close to Pasqua Lake. Such a pretty spot to camp! But I don't think our trailer would fit here. I'd be willing to tent it though, bring the kayak and do some running... That might be a perfect summer weekend getaway!

Decided to follow this trail back up to the truck...

This lake looks so lovely! I can't wait to get the kayak on it!

So I've been thinking about doing stair workouts (like this one or this one from the Tone It Up gals, super great free workout content and such a fun vibe!) for awhile now but there are no stairs big enough in my town. This set will be perfect! Shallow at the bottom and normal at the top. I can do these! They were fun!

 View from the top

The ginger fella died at the top of the hills... It was kinda funny... They were steep though! A nice burn for the quads and good practice to run up.

There were lots of trails to choose from. Next time I'll do all the cross country ski trails up on top of the valley first and then hit the hiking trails by Pasqua Lake. I'm really stoked about exploring these this summer!

And of course when you spend almost 7k running trails you order the biggest messiest burger in town, thank you JV for your mozza, mushroom, bacon burger! So good!

Here are a few Strava stats for you:
Distance: 6.8K
Time: 1hr 40sec
Average Pace: 8:52/K
Calories: 448

My fastest 1K split was 6:09, pretty sure that was the all downhill part of the trail!
My fastest 1 mile was 10:39.

There was an 82m elevation gain and a max elevation of 574m

My fitbit said I did 54 flights of stairs and my average heart rate was 147bpm although I got up to 172bpm...

My resting bpm for the rest of the day was 52! So funny!

Well it was fun! I plan on getting over there (it's about a 30-45 minute drive) once a week. I'm determined to trail run as often as I can this season. This was a great start!

Question Time: How are the trails where you live? Have a favourite? Any worth driving to?