Blue Ridge Running
About this project
The Lord provides each of us with unique gifts.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
I think that these gifts may not be just about talents and abilities, but also about what resonates within us. For example, some people love poetry, others never really get it.
In trying to find how God would have me serve Him at this stage in life, I kept coming back to the passions that He has given to me. I love running. I also relate well to numbers: in running we have times, distances, elevations...
My wife and I are blessed to be able to live in the High Country. In addition to a bunch of great people, we really love the running here. So, as a way to serve God, this website has been created to share some of the information that I have been collecting.
So, what is the point of these mileages?
The NPS has put together maps for the major park units along the Blue Ridge Parkway. These maps have distances. There are also distances listed on most of the guide signs in the park. So, why bother measuring and publishing distances?
Well, if you compare the maps to the signs in the park, you will see that many of them have different distances. This got me wondering about what the true distances are....
In most cases, it turned out that the neither the maps nor the signs are right.
How were the distances determined?
All of the distances listed here were measured by walking with a measuring wheel. No GIS. No GPS. No estimating.
In addition to the obvious standard of staying on the designated trails, on the carraige paths I measured the distances using the inside of turns. Where there are worn-in tracks, I used those. So, the measured distance does not hug the absolute inside of each curve. But, in most cases, it is within one or two feet of the edge of the carriage path. For the single-track sections, the path is what it is.
Also, perhaps it should go without saying, but.... For the sake of preserving the wheel, I dodged the horse droppings when making measurements. Most of us do the same thing while running, so the horse poop deviations should be a fair representation of the shortest available running path.
Want to know more?
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