Runners pick their top trail runs

Look around. This fall's depth of color, crispness and clarity are touching every space, filling our senses, demanding we interact.

The call is particularly acute for anyone who enjoys running outdoors. Conditions are as ripe as an apple at a Washington County orchard.

Road running peaks this time of year, but have you considered venturing off-road for a workout this season? Trail running is a great way of getting closer to fall's spectacular show.

Sure, there are other benefits of getting off the asphalt: The solitude found while getting into the woods connects mind and body and run in beautiful harmony. Gone are the distractions of traffic, crosswalks, car exhaust — and other people.

And there's an element of adventure. As trail racer Maria Barton of Apple Valley put it: "There is the joy and pursuit of what's around the bend or atop the next hill."

Some trails are better than others, depending on the season. Nevertheless, options abound here in Minnesota, one of the nation's top spots for trail running. We asked five of the state's most accomplished trail runners to pick their favorite destinations for off-road running.

Maria Barton, 49, Apple Valley

Find it online: www.co.dakota.mn.us/parks/ parkstrails

Setting out on trails made running "fun again" after years of competitive road racing, and in 2003 Barton switched almost exclusively.

Something about not doing the same repeated foot strike on a road or foot path suited her. "I do think the terrain and variety was much more forgiving for me," Barton said.

Today, Barton is better described as trail racer than trail runner. The physical therapist completed the Superior 100 Mile Trail Race (for the third time) in September and the Wild Duluth 100K in October. She typically runs 10 ultra races of varying distances each year, ranging from 50 kilometer (31-plus miles) to 100-milers.

The 2,000-acre Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan, the largest in Dakota County, is Barton's regular playground. She has trained there for at least 15 years and is normally on the trails four times a week.

Barton said the trailheads at Jensen and Schulze lakes are particularly good starting points. These trailheads are well marked with heated restrooms and plentiful parking.

Joel Button, 46, Stillwater

Go-to trail: Afton State Park

Find it online: dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/afton

Button is particularly dialed in to off-road pursuits. He competed in the Superior 100 in September (the course goes from Gooseberry Falls to Lutsen). It's just one of many endurance trail events he's taken on since transitioning from road to ultramarathon running in 2005.

Button likes to course through — and up and down — Afton State Park. The variety of trails keeps him interested and challenged, he said. There are open meadows. There are heavy-laden woods. The park is large enough (20 miles of hiking trails) that looping isn't necessary. There are big climbs and descents — ideal preparation for his bout with the Superior race. And some trails are more "technical" — trail vernacular for rocks, roots, mud or other aspects that raise the bar.

Many restrooms, too, are well-located. Which is no small thing out there.

Afton also boasts simpler pleasures: Sweeping views of the St. Croix River. Clusters of transcendent fall foliage, one color overlapping the next. And solitude. Getting on the trails is "my way to get away from the phone and e-mails and texts and be alone," said Button, an attorney.

Adam Schwartz-Lowe, 41, Duluth

Go-to trail: Superior Hiking Trail (between Duluth and Jay Cooke State Park)

What advice can be had from a hard-driving trail racer fresh off a victory in the Superior 100, plus a series of personal records over the past year? First, go easy.

"Really, slow down and look for even effort on the trail," Schwartz-Lowe said. "Slowing down on the hills, power hiking if you have to. You don't have to run everything."

He finds his Zen on the "SHT." But forced to pick a particular stretch of this 296-mile trail, he goes to Canal Park and heads south toward Jay Cooke State Park. In the 40 miles or so between the two, Schwartz-Lowe likes to lean into the bluffs. There are a number of spur trails, too, such as the one that runs to the summit of Ely's Peak near Skyline Parkway.

"The running itself is more interesting," he said of his treks on the SHT. "I lean toward more technical, rugged terrain. I enjoy that type of running more. You see more interesting things."

John Storkamp, 35, Hastings

Find it online: www.shta.org

As race director of September's Superior Trail Fall Races (100 miles, 50 miles and marathon), Storkamp views trail running as a singular sport — not merely an alternative for road runners.

Trail use is surging, said Storkamp, and Minnesota is at the forefront of the trend. The state has an edge thanks to excellent access to hiking trails, a diversity of races in varying distances, a willing and substantial volunteer base, plus experienced event organizers.

The Superior 100 has become a national-caliber event, he said, in the same league as the Western States 100 (California) and Leadville Trail 100 (Colorado). Runners from 45 states and five countries lined up for this year's race.

It's no surprise to learn the SHT tops Storkamp's list. He first cut a path there as a backpacker in his midteens. "It never occurred to me to run on the trail. I just did roads like everyone else," he said. By his early 20s, he was regularly running off-road.

"What is really fascinating is people are running [trails] who have never run roads," continued Stor­kamp. "Somehow they got into running and avoided pavement from the beginning."

Larry Pederson, 60, Zumbro Falls, Minn.

Go-to trail: Zumbro Bottoms (part of Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest)

Find it online: www.tinyurl.com/lhfjqz6

Larry Pederson's trail-running history is as deep and wide as some of the terrain he's traversed around the state. He was trying trails in the mid-1990s and enjoyed the experience so much, he decided to start his own race. The In Yan Teopa 10-mile trail race was born at Frontenac State Park near Red Wing in 2001. Today, it's a September fixture.

So, as a longtime runner, race director and volunteer, Pederson's mental list of trail possibilities is difficult for him to winnow. But southeast Minnesota's Zumbro Bottoms and its 50 miles of trails "has a little bit of everything," he said. From forest roads to single-track running and hiking, there is enough variety to accommodate every skill level. Some of the bluff climbs in the Zumbro River Valley are especially technical.
The Cliff Trail stands out, he said, because the payoff is so great. After climbing rocky switchbacks, runners follow a little spine of bluff, straddled on both sides by deep valleys. "You can look up the whole river valley," Pederson said.

The Bottoms are best known as horseback riding trails and camps from May to November, but the multi­use trail system is a go-to spot for runners and hikers in all seasons.