Changes at Lebanon Hills

Things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not and most times it's all about whose perspective you view the change in. Take the changes in Lebanon Hills, over the years they have been mostly favorable at least in my eyes, the mountain bike folks taught them how to cut good singletrack trails that held up over time. Which led to some great mountain bike trails and eventually spilled over into other sections of the park which led to improved and more single or double track trails for runners and hikers. So for the last few years, I have really enjoyed these new trails to run on however their most recent change is decidedly not a good one, at least from my perspective.

They have changed one of my most favorite loops in Lebanon Hills, the Jensen Lake south loop. It's only a mile and change but it is a section that I almost always started and ended with. What have they done, well, they brought in the bulldozer and they have smoothed it out, the rocks are covered, the roots aren't exposed, some bridges have been added where I used to be able to get my feet wet or at least muddy. I loved this section as portions of it demanded your attention or you would roll the ankle and go down or clip a root and play superman.
Now if you are a family out for a leisurely stroll, these changes are great. Oh well the damage is done, the trail has been smoothed and it will get more use from the general public, some would say this is good, I would say that I liked my trail before. Here is a picture I took with my phone last year while on this loop. This was from one of the smooth sections, when they open the loop again I will take another picture and post it again with the before and after and you will see how the path has been changed.

On a different note, I got the email from Cindy and Les, Surf the Murph (25k, Marathon, 50k and 50 miler) registration is now open. You can sign up on the Surf the Murph website.