South Loop - Indian Peaks Wilderness Area

Every trip I've ever made to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area has treated me with lots of snow, even more water, plenty of color up high and down low and signature technical single track. Mix in some light breeze's and blue bird skies and Saturday's run around the South Loop did not disappoint.

WA and I met up for a great jaunt around one of the nicest trails the eastern side of the divide has to offer. The route was pretty simple:

Start at the Forth of July Road & The Hessie Trailhead intersection.
Up to Kings Lake with side trips to Lost Lake and Betty Lake (Screw Bob and his lake).
Two miles along the Continental Divide to Devils Thumb Pass.
Down the Jesper drainage with a side trip to an aerial view of Diamond Lake(got misrouted due to huge snow fields and lack of trail).

Roughly 21 miles, 5 1/2 hours and over 5,000 feet of up and down. Pace was conservative, energy strong and the company/conversation fantastic. Woody was looking great coming off a nice showing at the Silver Rush just a week ago.

Instead of boring you with details of the run, I'll let the following pics show off what true Colorado summer running is all about (pic of delicious and cold filtered stream water from 11,500 feet not included).

(Temps down low - Upper 90's. Temps at Betty Lake - Mid 60's. Suck it Front Range)

(Woody working the CDT with way to many peaks in the background to name)

(From Devils Thumb Pass looking down on Devils Thumb Lake (L) and Jesper Lake (R))

(Below Devils Thumb Pass and before some guy telling us it was 75 miles round trip from Hessie to Winter Park. Calling BS on that one.)

(The Smooth take off...)

(and the even Smoother landing. HA!)

(A wrong turn led us to this point. Not bad views of Diamond Lake and Arapaho Pass)

(Opening it up along a rare spot of smooth single track)

(It's views like this as to why I love to trail run in Colorado)

Scared Shitless at HR100 (Pacing)

Congratulations to Scott for finishing Hardrock 2011 during his first attempt. 38 hours 22 minutes. 32nd overall. His conservative game plan early on paid off. He was something like 80th coming into Grouse (Mile 41.5) and slowly picked off the competition and looked stronger as the miles went by.

I had the pleasure of crewing and pacing Scott this past weekend down in the heart of the San Juans. Along with his friend Pat and wife Sharron, our team spent the day and a half driving around from town to town, aid station to aid station to ensure that Scott got what he needed.

(Scott and Pat about to leave Grouse)

My pacing started at Chapman Gulch(Mile 81.4) roughly around noon Saturday. By this time, his ambitious goal was to finish before it got dark. Up to this point, Scott's only rough patch was heading up Handies and being annoyed with having to venture all the way down to the Hot Springs of Ouray for check in.

Upon leaving Chapman, I spent the next 15 minutes trying to assess Scott's mental and physical state. He was tired, he was excited to have me march him into Silverton and that son of a bitch was looking strong (though he didn't want to admit that). I set the pace the whole way up Swamp Canyon. Passing folks who own double digit Hardrock finishes scared Scott but he kept on motoring along.

Finally got our first real view of Grant-Swamp pass from a few pitches below. Based on earlier landmarks, I was guesstimating that the group of 4 ahead of us had a 20 plus minute lead. They were also displaying a nice zig zagging route to scramble up during the last 1/4 mile steep pitch. About 100+ yards from where the pitch starts it happened.

Literally minutes ago the sun was shining. It got dark. The sky lit up with a flash and at the same exact time an explosion of thunder erupted. Easily the loudest boom I have ever heard and one of those bolts that start out with a long cracking sound followed by an explosion left with the echos ringing off the peaks. Scared the shit out of me so bad that I dropped to the ground. Scott, just feet away from me looked just as scared. We looked at each for an answer to the question neither of us asked. What now? Another loud boom just to remind us that we were in the heart of a storm.

Funny how the first thing I thought about upon hearing the lightening was whether or not I'd ever see my wife or daughter again. How pissed my wife would be once I told her of this occurrence. How if I did die by lightening that I hope it goes quick cause dying a slow death and getting thumped by that hail would really suck balls.

We quickly decided that heading up and over was our best bet. Going backwards to treeline simply wasn't an option. 1) It was to far and 2) You don't go backwards in a race. Rain, then painful hail mixed in with numerous flashes and booms. Scott and I bee-lined up Swamps face. Sprinted the short ridge line (yes we paid our respects to Joel Zucker by tossing a rock near his plaque) and literally ran fell and tumbled our way onto the switchback heading down Ice Lakes Basin. One more accidental tumble and we would have both been swimming in Island Lake.

That group 20 minutes ahead of us were just feet below the pass and we were on their ass. Didn't think much of it till all a few basically said "I think you just set a speed record heading up Swamps". The rain was still a downpour and every step was either in a muddy bog or in a cold puddle. All Scott or I cared about was treeline and we pushed it during the drop.

Once there the rain stopped. The sun came out. My shivering body warmed up. Cloths (which wasn't much) began to dry. The muddy & slippery drop down the Ice Lakes drainage didn't bother either Scott or I. The Kamm Traverse offered up the best sun rays and we took our sweet time cutting across the mountain face. Arrival into KT (miles 88.4) was awesome as it was being ran by lots of fine Durango folks who know Scott well and a few who remembered me from my days down there. Our split was under 3 hours. All those at the aid station were keeping tabs on Scott and were impressed by the time considering the terrain and conditions we were dealing with.

(Kamm Traverse heading to KT)

As crazy as the last 3 hours were, we still had 13+ miles left. In short, the remaining miles were like this:

South Mineral almost took Scott for a wild ride. How I was able to pull him in is beyond me. We had warm sun and a muddy climb up to the Porcupine-Cataract saddle. We got nailed badly with the most painful hail as we traversed the Putnam ridge. Arm warmers also make good neck gaiters. Once the hail stopped the rain just dropped at an insane rate. Lots of thunder and lightening and each one of them freaked the shit out of me. Dying once again entered my mind. Mineral Creek itself almost swept Scott clear to Durango. Going back out a few steps into the rapids to grab him completely exhausted me. Scott crossed the finish line before sunset!

(U.S. Grant with Grant-Swamp Pass too the left)

(Near the top of Putnam Basin - Enlarge to see hail & Scott minimizing the pounding)

(Scott not excited about crossing the gnarly Mineral Creek)

We crossed Greene St (Silverton's only paved street) completely soaked and freezing to death. We honestly thought we were dead at Swamps, dead above Putnam and for Scott, dead at Mineral Creek. Yet we were laughing our asses off at all the shit we had just went thru over the past 8 hours. Right then a car stopped along side Scott and yelled out something like "Hell Yeah! You rock!" The car drove off honking and thumbs up sticking out the window. Scott asks me "who in the hell was that magician driving around in a clown car?" I replied back laughing, "That was Ricky Gates complementing your soon to be kissing of the Hardrock."

Thursday night thru Sunday noon spent in the San Juan's. God's country. A place I would love to one day call home again. A place that some how gets more beautiful with each and every visit. I can't thank Scott enough for letting me help him out on his amazing accomplishment. Funny how a down right scary 8 hours and 20 miles are easily the most enjoyment I've ever had of running in my life. Hoping he gets in again next year so we can do it all over again!

Mt. Princeton & Tigger Peak

Sunday morning had me up at 3am and at the Mt. Princeton Trailhead in time to see this.

As I was snapping this picture, I could hear El Mexicano Elite and his good buddy John calling out my name as they were running down Mt. Princeton road. PG and his buddies (keep in mind they all had just ran the Pikes course 24 hours earlier) had arrived the night before and set up camp along the road at around 11,000 feet. The both of them were kind enough to run on down and keep me company as we started out the climb to the top.

The trail to the top doesn't waste it's time with any flat sections. From the get go, the trail heads up and up and up and.....The road itself is extremely runnable the whole way till you hit the singletrack at treeline. Mind you the road is steep, dusty and relentless. A brief stop at the above mentioned camp site and PG and I were off to the summit.

(PG approaching his Base Camp)

Pace along the road was relaxed for me. I was working but never was I pushing hard. Upon leaving the camp site, I had every intent of sticking with PG to the top.

However something just took over me as we finally got off the road. In my mind, one of the sweetest combinations out there is single track above treeline. Second I stepped foot on this terrain I was off.

While the running was limited, my effort wasn't, as the trail gets pretty rocky and technical as it cuts along the north east side of Tigger Peak. Then one's left to a crawl as they navigate half a dozen switchbacks to the ridge that connect Tigger and Princeton. Once on the ridge, it's a straight shot up to Princeton. At times a trail was visible but for the most part we were navigating Class 2 terrain. Footing at times was sketchy at best and the grade was sick. I was able to touch the ground in front of me without having to bend over.

2 hours and 4 minutes is what it took me to climb over 5,400 feet in 6.7 miles. Shortly after PG came climbing up. Weather was perfect at top. 60's sunny and little to no wind. Views just amazing (outside of the fire smoke impacting the Arkansas Valley). After 20 minutes of soaking in the views, we began our journey over to Tigger.

(Mt. Antero to the South)

(Tigger Peak and my car way the hell down there. Note the trail we just came up.)

(PG approaching 14er #2 of his huge weekend)

Down the face of Princeton, along and up the ridge and before long we were relaxing on Tigger Peak. Trail was nonexistant and required lots of rock hopping and path finding but well worth the excursion as it added a bit more vert, distance and time to our outing. We continued on down the south ridge of Tigger Peak which offered up amazing views down towards Chalk Creek. Before long we were finally on Mt. Princeton road and heading down to the camp site.

A quick refill of water, some chips and I headed back down to the car alone. Made quick work of the remaining 3 plus miles to the car. Don't know the specific stats of the day as I fumbled around with my start/stop button numerous times. However I'm guessing around 14.5 miles and 5,700 feet of vert in like 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Outside of a nice gash and huge bruise on my right palm, I was feeling pretty good afterwards. Who needs a recovery drink when a cold Hazed and Infused beer is waiting in the cooler.

(Tigger Peak with Princeton barely visible to it's right)

June / 1st Half Year 2011 Summary

Runs - 26
Workouts - 6
Injured - 0

The Bad:

Trade-Offs (Running versus Lifting Weights) - What available time I have dedicated to training is limited so I have to make them count. During my single days, that was never an issue. Now with a family, demanding job and an emphasis on running ultras, sacrificing one for the other has become a choice I've had to make. Tough choice as I'm a firm believer that a mixture of both benefit me tremendously when it comes to running. I guesstimate that for every workout, I miss out on roughly 6 to 7 miles. Enough miles to having me thinking which would be the best balance for me.

Left Ankle - Since I've started trail running, I've rolled my left ankle too many times to count. Pain comes and goes with that ankle. However, over the past month, the left ankle has been consistently cranky. Specifically in the morning but feeling fine once warmed up. Not sure if this something to be concerned about but I need to watch it.

Yard Work - Yeah, I suck at this and my back yard is a perfect example of it.

The Good:

Running - The last 20 days of the month have been way strong and very consistent. I've been very happy with how quickly my body recovered from the Dirty Thirty. Even more happy that I've been able to increase my weekly miles and the body respond nicely.

Gym - So I didn't sacrifice my weight lifting this month but was tempted to numerous times. Main reason I stuck with it is due to the once broken left arm. I've been rehabbing the crap out of it and it's been responding nicely. The muscles surrounding the elbow are still week but I notice a huge improvement every time. This alone is enough reason to sacrifice miles. Wonder if I'll feel the same way in July.

Baby Girl - My little one is simply amazing and must know how important it is for me to get back to my morning runs and workouts. At just over 3 months old, our little monkey has decided that sleeping thru the night is a good thing. And that means I get to sleep thru the night. That I get to wake up at 4:30/5:00 am every morning to get my training in. That I don't have to run after work. That I get to spend more time with her. My daughter rocks!!!!

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1/2 Year Summary
Runs - 150
Workouts - 21 (Damn Broken Arm)
Injured (Running Specific) - 0 (Thankfully the Broken Arm didn't impact my running)

Somewhere between 1150 to 1200 miles on the year. 90K of up and down. Initially I was embarrassed to post these figures. Then I looked back at what has transpired over the past 6 months. I've broken my left arm. I've been given a lot more responsibility at work. My wife and I had our first child! I mean seriously, a lot of shit has gone on so far this year. So now, I'm not so embarrassed. Actually I'm damn proud of being able to balance a rather hectic life while keeping my priorities in check.

Looking Forward:

Running time in the high country might have been delayed and will likely be shorter compared to prior years with all the snow, but I'm still taking advantage of it. With trips planned every weekend during the month of July, the number of blogs I post will increase nicely.