Week 1: Welcome, and where to park

went yesterday morning and honestly the trailhead lot was way colder then i expected, Reed's right about layers lol. im from the Art Dye area, signed up mostly bc i run but wanted somethign slower for once, kinda just to notice the scenery instead of grinding through it yknow im still sorry lol

ok hot take incoming but the west lot is objectively the better call over the front lot for week 1, and i will die on this hill 💀

1. front lot fills up in like the first 10 min bc everyone defualts to it withotu thinking you end up parking three streets over anyway, congrats you did more walking than if you parked west to begin with
2. west lot has shade in the late morning, front lot you are just baking, ask me how i know
3. the walk in from west puts you right by the doors we're using for nursery drop off which, as the nursery leader, i physically cannot stress enough how much easier that makes my lfie week 1 when everyone is confused and holding a diaper bag and a toddler at the same time

anyway thats my logistics soapbox for the day, side note if anyone parks along 300 E by our house just be norm

so parking... low key this is gonna be the real test of the group not the actual activity lol sara youre still telling people your pace is "average, myabe kinda slow" right, ill believe that when i see it 😂 you said that same thing three threads ago and then were somehow fine the whole time. pick a lane anyway for parking i think most people are just gonna wing it week 1 and then we'll all collectively figure out the actual spots by week 2 once someones car gets blocked in. calling it now

so i gotta be honest ngl i tried west lot exactly once last year bc someone made this same argument and i edned up walking basically the same distance from a different angle, the shade thing is a myth it's shaded for like 20 minutes tops before the sun just relocates and bakes you anyway also the front lot "fills up in 10 min" thing is true but thats kind of the point, if you show up on time instead of the usual mormon standard time 12 min late you get a spot no problem... im just saying the front lot isnt the problem, our collective inability to be anywhere on time is the problem lol nursery drop off point is fair i'll give you that one, cant argue with the diaper bag logistics. but for the general population im still team front lot, fight me 😎

ok but Daniel the "just show up on time" solution assumes everyone in this ward has their life together enough to get out the door with a toddler and be somewhere by a specific minute, which... lol, no. that's not a parking lot problem, that's a Kai-still-doesn't-have-shoes-on problem and no amount of west lot vs front lot debate fixes that one for me personally

i'll give you the shade thing might be shorter than Sara's making it sound, fine, whatever, 20 min of shade is still 20 min more than zero. but the walking distance thing, i don't buy it at all... i've done both and west lot puts you on the same side as the doors we need, so even if the steps are technically similar you're not the one holding a diaper bag AND a tdodler AND trying to cut across the front lot traffic while

Went yesterday too, Katelyn, and yeah that cold caught me off guard, lol! I'm Paul, over by Quail Ridge... mostly stuck to garage workouts but trying to get outside more these days. Thanks for the tips!

Paul right their with you, garage guy trying to get outside for once lol. im Braden, over off the Fox Hollow side. Missed the first one, work ran long... kicking myself since it sounds like the lot was kind of the whole experience. gonna park early Tuesday, I dont wanna test the mailbox theory lol. - B 🙂

lol braden, that mailbox thing got me good 😂 daniel here, orchard row area... work from home so i forget how to wlak anywhere that isnt the kitchen lol. signed up so id have an actual reason to get out before the kids wake up, for me thats basically the whole point. see you at the lot tuesday, early apparently

So Daniel, "forget how to walk anywhere that isn't the kitchen" is sooo real, thats my life too 🥲

Taylor here, Art Dye area, also remote work so parking myself in front of the kitchen counter all day doesnt help. signed up for this bc my only cardio lately has been hauling dirt for a root cellar lol. missed week 1, gonna park early Tuesday for sure, not testing the Reeds mailbox theory 🫠 :)

Sara here. i signed up bc remote work QA testing has me sitting all day, step count is basically zero some days gotta get it somewhere lol. went May 5 and yeah the lot fills up fast, park early like Braden said, learned that one kinda the hard way

Root cellar AND zero steps, that combo is great lol.

We drove up Saturday to scope it out before actual week 1 and their is nowhere to park that isnt someone's mailbox apparently. circled twice, gave up, parked kind of illegally. nobody in this thread has mentioned that part and it's the whole logistics of the thing lol

parking question aside, guy at work was telling me the foothills trail floods out by the the lower switchback whenever we get a hard rain the day before, turns into basically a creek bed for a few hours. worth knowing before week 1 if it storms sunday night. he does the same loop on his lunch break sometimes i'd trust it over whatever the app says. also for anyone parking at the lot by the trailhead... it fills up fast on weekends but should be fine for a tuesday morning group dont be the guy blocking the turnaround, ive seen tow signs posted their