Run 182 - Finishing up Alkali Creek area

June 29, 2024

It was a great morning for a run with the temperature in the mid-40s with clear skies and no wind.  Shelley and I met at the intersection of Strawberry and Alkali Creek and, leaving one vehicle there, drove to the High Sierra dog park to start our run.  The route indicated it would be 5.26 miles and this was the first time we did the “drop one car at the other end” routine.  The route map:

The run from the dog park to Alkali is about 3/4 mile and one we’d done in the past.  When we got to Alkali Creek, we turned left.  There was a surprising number of other runners out this morning.  They must be the fair weather type as through all our through winter runs we rarely see anyone else out.

Alkali Creek is narrow with not much of a shoulder to run on but the scenery is nice with rimrocks lining the way.

Our first stop was a new housing development called “the Timbers.  The streets are in but only a few houses.  Here’s what we saw there:

We were at the end of that street with that big house, shown above, and thinking how nice it was here until we heard the roar of a jet engine.  I pulled up the satellite view of where we were and the airport runways are just above us, beyond the nearby ridge.

We continued down Alkali.

We had a long out-and-back on Woodland.  WOW!  It’s a serious hill.  It wound to the left before it flattened out a bit.  I was hoping to see a No Trespassing sign so we could turn around but the only ones were marking the adjacent land, not the road.

Two short out-and-backs on Tomahawk and Pine Tree.  We stopped to look at garage sale between them.  Then it was out-and-back on Sun Valley.  The road went up a ways but we turned around at the No Trespassing signs.

It was a short jaunt back to where we’d left one car on Strawberry which gave us a perfect distance top today’s run.

Run 181 - First visit to Briarwood

June 24, 2024

Briarwood is a neighborhood south of Billings but within the city limits due to a strip of land that connects it to the city across the Yellowstone River.  The area is definitely upscale with big homes that wrap around a golf course.  I saw one place for sale and the sign said it was part of the agent’s “Luxury Collection.”  I made up a couple version of a route map and decided on this one.

I parked in the lot for the golf course and started by running Briarwood Blvd. south to the main highway, which I think is called Blue Creek Road.

The golf course tunnels that go under the boulevard.

It’s hilly around here.  My first out-and-back was on Donegal Court.

Then it was another one on MacTavish Circle.  Did I mention hills?

Some of the scenery.

The only yard art I saw today was on the end of Glenfinnan Road.

This lot is for sale.  It has a great view but looks to be vertical.

A big rock.  I wouldn’t call it yard art though.

A few dead end streets in this area.

In my experience, the more upscale the neighborhood, the more likely they have rules about what can be parked.  This was a common sight.

A short out-and-back on Fife Circle.

Most neighborhoods have a city park and so far I haven’t seen one.  However, this empty lot has a half-court basketball thing.

I kept going…

On Prestwick I saw this, one of the more unique places so far.

I got back on Briarwood Blvd. and headed east.

I’d seen this other neighbood on the map and wondered if it was something I needed to run.  It’s private but doesn’t say “No Tresspassing” but I wonder if it’s in the city.  Something to think about for my next run out here.

As I ran along Briarwood, I’d come up to streets on my left and at three of them a vehicle came up to the intersection and ran the stop sign as they turned right.  I’ve had a couple close calls over the years with cars that do that, that is, approach the stop sign and only look left.

Some sights along Turnberry Circle and Rosemont Way.

Missing a fence?

I did an out-and-back on John-O-Groats Court.

I think this was mowing.

Troon was my last out-and-back.

I arrived back at the lot for the golf course and my GPS was really close to the distance predicted by the rout map.