National Park Hoge Kempen Trail Walk

 

A small deviation from our Extratrail adventures this weekend - we signed up to participate in the National Park Hoge Kempen Trail Walk/Run in Maasmechelen.  Stefaan and I were planning to walk the 12 km route while Florian was going to run the 22 km route, which would include running up two "terils" (this is a specific Belgian/Northern French word that refers to the steep, perfectly shaped conical hills that are created from piling up earth extracted from coal mines).  

The Corona-proof organization meant that we had to pick a specific time slot to start - only 80 runners/walkers were allowed to start the trail during each hour slot.  We picked 10-11 am on Sunday, Valentine's Day, knowing that we would need about three hours to complete the course.  I was excited to do something that was organized, and looking forward to perks like porta-pottys at the race venue, something we don't always have when we do Extratrails, with cafés and such being closed due to Corona at the moment.

We had had a cold week in Belgium leading up to Sunday, with a good layer of snow that had stayed on the ground for a week.  We knew the trails were probably going to be slippery, but the weather forecast was really good - bright and sunny and supposed to be getting up to 6°C.  We dressed for the cold in layers, put on our hiking boots and headed out.

Maasmechelen is a short hour's drive away, and we found the designated parking easily.  The only downside was that the parking was a 1.3 km walk from the start location!   But we looked at it as a warm up, and it took us through a very fancy neighborhood with enormous houses, which was interesting to see.  The start location was a youth hostel right on the edge of the National Park, and there was a row of porta-pottys ready and waiting.  Other than that, there were no facilities - due to Covid - no catering foreseen, nor aid stations along the trail; however we knew that and were prepared with sandwiches and plenty of water we were carrying with us.

So all we had to do was get started.  Florian headed out first and we followed behind.  The friendly man at the start warned us that the trail was dangerously icy in many spots and to be careful.  We took his advice very seriously - neither one of us wanted to fall - which meant that we started out slowly.  The first part of the trail wound through a wooded section of high pine trees, which was gorgeous with the bright winter sun filtering through the trees.  It felt great to be out and the landscape was beautiful.

After a while, the forest made way for a more open landscape and we came up around a ridge that had a view on a deep valley with small lakes at the bottom which we assumed had been dug out for mining purposes.  All around us were the dried and dead looking scrubby heather plants - but come August all that heather turns an intense purple.  For a long time I have wanted to come to the National Park in August to see this, but have not yet gotten around to it.  I am thinking we need to come back this summer when the heather is in bloom. 

The trail was challenging at some points but definitely not as steep as the Extratrails we have done.  It wound us down to one of the lakes, and then back up again to more heath, and I kept trying to imagine how it would look with the heather in full bloom, as I enjoyed the sun on my face.  At about 8 km, the trail split and the 22 km looped off in the direction of the terils - I was glad we didn't have to hike up those, as Florian told us later they were really tough (especially considering his legs were already tired because he ran a 24 km Extratrail in Stavelot the day before - he is training for a 55 km trail race at the end of March).  By this time we were able to pick up our pace a bit - the paths in the more open areas had thawed a bit and were less icy.

We finished the route after almost exactly 3 hours.  Florian was there waiting for us, having come in about 15 minutes sooner.  We picked up our goody bags (another fun perk of an organized event!) and after that longish walk to our car, we headed home, very happy with our Valentine's Day adventure together.