County Ditch 52 Loop
Run time: 57:01.5 + 2-minute kick
The first run of the Fall for which I felt compelled to don the stocking cap and gloves. Comforting. Yes, body temperature does seems to rise when you run, but I prefer to feel warm before I start the run. Putting on the hoodie and the stocking cap was like crawling under a quilt, which is what I felt like doing when I got to the hotel.
Redwood Falls is a remote hamlet in Southern Minnesota. Redwood Falls Lodge is not a lodge per se but just an older motel that has been kept clean and welcoming. There were signs at each entrance reminding patrons to clean their boots before entering, with a little box of boot booties to pull on over said boots. I would say that the blue collar market is their primary customer base. It was quaint, the staff was nice, and the antler chandelier was spectacular.
There was a school with a track within walking distance, so that is where I headed. However, it was still fairly early, so there appeared to be students on the track – that is, they were on the track, they were running, and they appeared to be students. Possibly an athletic practice of some sort. So I followed a paved path to the south and planned to run alongside County Ditch 52.
A short distance down the path there was a bridge crossing the ditch. On the other side was a field. I was hoping for a walking path of some sort. The field appeared to be public or school property. What I got was much better.
It was a path, but it was a mown path that circumnavigated the outside edges of the field, with occasional curves. I can only guess it was a cross country track. It was beautiful. The grass was wide leaf and trodden down. The ground was mostly flat but uneven enough to make it interesting. At one corner there was a farmhouse with dogs that barked but wagged their tails. Three were behind a fence, but one was outside the fence and would run toward me until I got close, then would back away as he continued to bark and wag tail.
This is the running path I love. This is the running path every community needs. It was like running through the Shire. No vehicles anywhere near, trees and fields all around, barking dogs, a County Ditch, a cool breeze, and a sunset. I was crestfallen when it was over – Redwood Falls will not likely be a regular stop for me, if ever again.
That is the nature of Place, I suppose. There are so many of them, and so many are unique and sublime, and we must choose the few we can visit, usually without foreknowledge of what we will find there. And there are also many that are toxic and barren, and we must try to avoid those. The Places we settle will never be ideal, and the people we love will not always be in those Places to share it with us.
When we are alone and find a Place like the field track by County Ditch 52, or the trail along the Snake River in Twin Falls, ID, or the hundreds of places I have found in the Tillamook Forest of Oregon while hunting elk, it is our duty to soak them up and breathe them in, so that they become a part of us, and we can bring the beauty with us to share it with the people we love.
Don't Make It a Habit. Make It a Ritual. 