Buffalo Creek Trails
With inclement weather in the forecast (and some rough family medical news during the week), we wanted to get some good trail time in this past weekend. We decided to hit the Buffalo Creek area Saturday and that meant a "mandatory" stop at the Donut Mill in Woodland Park on the way. The cinnamon roll needs no caption - it is hubcap sized!!! You have to earn that one!
We started out low, along Buffalo Creek, and then started to climb up Shinglemill trail. It starts in the trees ...
... and then out into one of the burn areas from the big fire in the late 90's. It was absolutely fabulous weather with bluebird skies and high 60's most of the run. Kathleen is nearing the top of the first big climb.
After cresting Shinglemill, we blazed down Morrison Creek trail.
Steve on one of the clearings on Morrison Creek - we really love this area!
Kathleen rounding one of the huge boulders on Charlie's Cutoff. 
We climbed Baldy and were glad it was not any warmer. It is a steep climb and has a fair amount of exposure - not good on hot days. This is a huge slab of slickrock that you climb on the baldy ascent. It is good to reach this because it is almost to the summit - yeah!
We took Homestead over to Sandy Wash - this is the last climb! There were a couple bikes ahead of us but really not much traffic for such a great weather day. We saw maybe a dozen bikes and a few runners. After this climb, it is generally descending to the finish - nice!
One of the shady sections descending along the creek. Savor these - after the fires in this area, shade is at a premium.
Group photo on the Sandy Wash trail.
We have been scoping out some spots to do our cold soak in the creek - mountain stream water needs no ice! The toes were numb in about 2 minutes and we could only stand about 8 minutes total - quite refreshing! We had a great run - our longest ever - just a bit over 16 miles. It was a great day in the "low" mountains and we really enjoyed the day. Shoes - K La Sportiva Wildcat
S Brooks Cascadia
More Sun and Fun at Ute Valley Park
A couple light dusted areas of snow on Pikes Peak ... and more to come. We were greeted to brilliant skies again Sunday morning at Ute Valley Park - our neighborhood trail running gem! We had a slight problem, though - we used up our "good" legs Saturday and were just plain tired! So we decided to roll with it, get in a short trail run, and then let the legs relax.
Kathleen cruises across the top of the bluffs at UVP.
Steve coming down through some of the sandstone maze on top of UVP. Look at those blue skies!
We ran down through the bottom of the park on our way out. Kathleen hops across the trickling stream - careful now, the moss is a bit slick! It was another awesome day but the legs only put up with about 7 miles. Still a great little run an a great way to top off the weekend trail runs.Shoes - K Montrail Odyssey
S Asics Trabuco
The weather man was correct also - Monday we had snow - yes, that's right - snow and wind chill in the high 20's! Very cold last night, and rain today with more snow tonight. Don't feel too bad for us as we are supposed to be back in the 70's for the weekend, just in time for more Happy Trails!!
