San Juan Mountains - The Return of the Boomers!

Three day Memorial weekend followed by two days of work followed by four days of vacation with the family.  I wish more weekends were structured like this. 

With good friends in Durango, any excuse is a great excuse to make my way down to SW Colorado.  This time around, the wife and I decided to spend Thursday and Friday in Ouray before heading to Durango thru Sunday.  For some reason, Ouray still considers the first week of June as either "Low" or "Mid Season".  That means lodging is still cheap.  Especially for those spots located just feet of the creek and 3 blocks away from the heart of town. 

Temps in Ouray at 3pm Thursday were 84.  Ridiculous.  Overnight low never dipped below 50.  My morning run during the little ones nap was done along the Perimeter Trail along with some scouting of the Portland and Owl Creek trails.  After a few attempts over the years, I finally figured out Perimeter loop.  Granted I never once looked a map and have always relied on horrible trail markings.  

The loop is roughly 4 miles long and offers up a healthy 1,500 feet of up and down.  If you're in town, do this loop.  You will not be disappointed.  The views it yields of the small mountain town are second to none.  Especially along the no fall zone near Cascade Falls along the north east portion of the loop.

Saturday's long run started and ended along the Colorado Trail at Molas Pass.  More importantly it was spent with some old friends.  SK who I've paced at both Leadville (2010), Hardrock (2011) and likely Steamboat (2012) and Pat who also paced SK last year.  All that beautiful San Juan mountain weather on Thursday and Friday was not around on Saturday.  Not along the highest elevations at least.  Dark clouds and strong breezes greeted us at 10,600 feet as we started our run west bound towards the Engineer and Mineral Creek turnoffs. 

(Looking back east towards climb 1 and Snowdon Peak)

The only real climb of the day is at the start and tame with over 1K of vert.  Pace for the day was easy.  3 days of travels, 2 days of various sleeping in beds not mine left me a bit stiff.  After the climb we quickly came across a few of these. 

(Hopefully visible bear footprint)

 

Not pictured were the huge piles of bear shit.  Both prints and poop continued on for a few miles.  The nice thing about running with SK and Pat is they've been runners and hunters of the San Juan Mountains for decades.  I would have never seen the prints much less known it was bear shit. 

This portion of the Colorado Trail was awesome as it hoovers around 11,600 feet for miles.  The up and downs are minimal but relentless as the trail is weaving in and out of numerous creek headwaters. 

8 plus miles in we saw our first flash to the south of Engineer Mountain some 5 miles away.  None of us were concerned till an insanely strong gust nearly knocked us over.  Temps dropped big time.  Snow started to fall.  We continued on for another 5 minutes but decided to turn around.  The snow fields were big and soft and when avoidable, the trails were just a marshland.  We were going nowhere fast.

 (Another mile plus up wold have been our turn around point.  Weather and conditions forced us around a tad bit earlier)

We backtracked for 5 plus miles and of course the weather was perfect.  As we were approaching the Sultan and Grand Turk face, we went off course and started wrapping our way around Putnam Basin to the Bear Creek headwaters which put us at the Putnam Aid Station of Hardrock.  The trail there was a beat up hunters trail and took forever to traverse the 1 1/2 miles to the basin.  However it was well worth it as SK and I relived our time here just last year after enduring our second thumping of rain, hail and lightening. 

 (Location of the first/last aid station along the HR course - along with some great memories of last years pacing)

Back to the car we went.  About a mile plus away from the car, the nice weather changed yet again.  We made quick work back to the car with no signs of rain or lightening.  SK and I decided to run the Colorado Trail till it hit US 550 some mile plus away and return back to add on to our miles.

 ( A mile plus away from the TH.  Them dark clouds laid down the hammer on us 10 minutes later)

Maybe 100 meters into the run we were greeted with the simultaneous heavy rain, flash of lightening, crackling of thunder and the loud BOOM!  We turned right around and sprinted to the car.  Boomers for another 15 minutes.  Graupel for another 30 minutes.  This mountain running in the San Juans can get down right scary.

(Already in the planning stages - hopefully next year)

Overall the weekend was a complete blast.  Some stats for the quick weekend.  Friday's run - 6 miles - 2,000 feet of climbing - 1hr 10mins.  Saturday's run: 20 miles - 3,000 feet of climbing - 4hr 45mins.  And a pair of shoes that after 500 plus miles have finally torn.