I had this run planned for earlier in the year but injuries held me back. Now as fit as I had been in awhile I set out on what would be a very hot day, reaching 30+ Celsius in the open granite areas. The run starts at the entrance to the BLT Trail parking lot, going on a short section of crusher dust (400m) before the Bluff Trail begins.
This trail is broken into loops and is commonly run in parts. I wanted to create the ultimate challenge and run all trails, including the trails that close each loop. I ran in a clockwise loop to start, crossing over on each loop close, basically running this in a figure 8 pattern. This means that each loop closure trail will end up being run twice.
The entire trail system is a constant roller coaster of shorts hills. The first loop is very technical with roots and rocks and the majority of any people or dogs you will encounter. Loop 2 and 3 open up considerably and include much more smooth granite terrain, making them very runnable. Loop 4 has become very overgrown in the last couple of years and was more like a jog / walk due to not being able to see the trail until you were right on top of each step.
The day went well in general, though due to Loop 4 being so over grown, my pace was a little lower than I had hoped and I then ran low on water on a very hot day before the end. This made the end of the run a little tricky as well, since I had to slow down due to the heat. Lakes are very close at all points though, so if you have a water filter, refilling would be possible. I carried all of my supplies on this unsupported run, which included 2 litres of water / electrolytes and a small amount of calories (I consumed 400 calories over the course of the run).
At 30+ km, this is a run best done with the summer light, but possibly better on the edge of the summer season when it is a bit cooler. There is a chance of coyotes and bears.
I wore a medium lugged shoe. A proper trail shoe with lugs and ideally a rock plate of some sort of best due to a variety of tripping hazards.