Got up this morning and looked at the forecast for Pueblo - 70, sunny, and windy. Two out of three ... hmmmm ... road trip to Lake Pueblo State Park! At this point in the year, we would probably run in a hurricane to get 70 degrees, so a little wind was tolerable. We are not sure if it hit 70 - it was 68 when we left the trailhead to head north again - but it sure felt GOOD to be out in the warm sun. Now there is a bit of a trade off as you can see in the photo of Kathleen above on Pedro's Point: this is high desert with lots of rolling ... well, rolling desert!
It was nice to be running around all the water again. The water in the resrvoir was higher than when we last visited in January by six to eight feet. The park report was showing 36 degree water temp, so although we saw many boats out today, we saw NO water skiers! Steve is on the Outer Limits trail and you can see several boats in the inlet behind.
There were good views of Pikes Peak from pretty much everywhere on the trails today with the clear skies.
By this point on Outer Limits, we were heading more easterly toward Pedro's Point and we were beginning to gain a little shelter from the wind. Pretty much the first 7 or 8 miles we were running more into the wind than away from it - however we were warm at the same time, so it was all good!
The evergreens always have color, but we did notice that the deciduous trees are getting their leaves already in Pueblo - wow. The cactus are also blooming so spring must be around the corner - woo hoo!
CAUTION: Please do not step off the trail.
Kathleen is all grins as she cruises down the waterfall trail. How could you not be smiling on a day like this with buff desert singletrack under foot?
Coming out of the Waterfall trail and ready for the climb out to the trailhead. You really don't want days like this to end when it is March.
The view heading up Rock Canyon trail. Lots of loose shale and big rocks - appropriately named trail. The running here is a nice change from our normal alpine type runs - lots of sharp ups and downs, not many long climbs or descents, and plenty of loose talus and shale to keep your eyes focused on the trail. Oh, SAND too!!!
We will probably have the grin on our faces even when we wake up tomorrow. We were able to run a bit over 13 miles of awesome high desert trail. We had to take a little drive to get there, but it was well worth the trip. It was one more step to thaw the winter fog off and get charged up for a new season! Happy Trails to all this week and hope you begin to thaw out as well!Shoes - Asics Gel Trabuco
