Sunday we drove west about 7 miles to the trailhead for the West Rim Trail. The trail follows the rim of the gorge formed by the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge is quite the tourist attraction, and after about a mile, the trail was free from traffic. The trail runs about 9 miles south to the Orilla Verde Recreation area, where the trails are at river level.
We had a nice hiker snap a group photo before we started our run.
There was a bench that stuck out into the gorge about .5 mile into the run that looked back to a fantastic view of the bridge and the river far below.
The trail was a combination of single and double track, with a lot of rocks, and was fairly flat most of the way. Of course, at 7000' elevation, 'flat' is always a good profile for the first day of running in the high desert! Just behind Kathleen on the horizon is an all women's mountain bike group ride coming toward us with about 20 riders.
We saw a couple perched on a ledge meditating near this overlook - what an awesome sight to have while clearing the mind.
Fields of sagebrush and the mouth of the gorge in view in the background - pretty much a blueprint of the entire length of the trail that we ran. We went out about 4 miles and turned around for an 8 mile run. The breath-taking views along the way made this a fantastic outing with a little tourist factor thrown in for good measure!
Sunday evening we had a fantastic sunset to cap off a great day!
Sunday we drove west about 7 miles to the trailhead for the West Rim Trail. The trail follows the rim of the gorge formed by the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge is quite the tourist attraction, and after about a mile, the trail was free from traffic. The trail runs about 9 miles south to the Orilla Verde Recreation area, where the trails are at river level.
We had a nice hiker snap a group photo before we started our run.
There was a bench that stuck out into the gorge about .5 mile into the run that looked back to a fantastic view of the bridge and the river far below.
The trail was a combination of single and double track, with a lot of rocks, and was fairly flat most of the way. Of course, at 7000' elevation, 'flat' is always a good profile for the first day of running in the high desert! Just behind Kathleen on the horizon is an all women's mountain bike group ride coming toward us with about 20 riders.
We saw a couple perched on a ledge meditating near this overlook - what an awesome sight to have while clearing the mind.
Fields of sagebrush and the mouth of the gorge in view in the background - pretty much a blueprint of the entire length of the trail that we ran. We went out about 4 miles and turned around for an 8 mile run. The breath-taking views along the way made this a fantastic outing with a little tourist factor thrown in for good measure!
Sunday evening we had a fantastic sunset to cap off a great day!
