Southwest Sortie

We were ready for a bit of down time and decided to catch a little getaway to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We have not been down there in quite a few years and figured it was a good place to relax a bit and catch a few trail runs.  (Actually stole borrowed the blog post title from Trail Runner mag's article on Santa Fe trail running a few years back...)  So we found a little casita (VRBO comes through again!) to rent away from the Plaza and it's busyness and headed out Sunday morning.  We did not have high running expectations coming off of Saturday's race, just grab a few runs and some down time - oh, and as it turned out, some sweet weather.

Sage loves these adobe homes with the cement floors - she was in heaven.

Run One - Dale Ball Trail system

Monday AM, headed over to the northern end of the Dale Ball Trail system - a real Santa Fe gem.  This network of twisty singletrack trails rolls in and out of wooded arroyos, up onto hilltops with pristine views (see above), and down into lush creek bottoms all in the middle of suburbia.  Aside from some hilltop vistas overlooking million dollar adobe homes, most often the feeling out on trail was more remote.  As we were getting our bearings and preparing for launch, an older gentlemen strolled into the trailhead at the finish of his morning run.  Turns out, Mr. G is preparing for the Pikes Peak Ascent, his 19th running, at age 80. I hope I look that good at 80 - holy cow! 

Kathleen rolls the northern end of Dale Ball trails.

It was sunny and moderately warm as we made our way through this exquisite labyrinth of trails.  As would be the case each day (except Sunday when it snowed several times on the 5 hour drive...) sunny, cloudless skies would greet us each day - nice.

Kathleen is dropping into one of the arroyos in the photo above.  It was amazing that within 500 - 600 feet net elevation change, there was so much variance in ecosystem - the desert has some cool stuff going on! 

Climbing away - either up or down in the desert - no flat.

Topped out and ready for the final descent to the trailhead.  It was a great day on trails and the Dale Ball has about 17 miles of singletrack trails, along with connections to the Atalaya trail, another popular Santa Fe route.  We put in 10 miles on race-recovering legs and were pretty satisfied with our effort.

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S - LaSportiva Wildcat

Stats:  10 miles, 1850' elevation gain

Run Two - Jemez Mountain Trails

We have always been somewhat intrigued by the Jemez Mountain Trail races held in May each year in Los Alamos, a short jaunt to the northwest from Santa Fe.  We figured we could swing over and check out the main loop used in the half marathon to get a taste for the trails.  What we did not realize is that most of the race photos we had seen were from the 50k or 50M course, which venture out into the Valles Caldera National Preserve - it appears to have been spared from much of the fire damage.  The HM course, unfortunately, is smack-dab in the middle of the massive burn area from the Cerro Grande fire of 2000.  It would not take long to figure that part out.  We headed into town and started from the Mitchell trailhead. 

Once on the Mitchell trail, the climbing gets serious in a hurry.  As you can see in the photos, the carnage from the forest fires is everywhere.  This had to have been some beautiful forest previously - sad.

Lots of climbing through the downed Lincoln-Logs.

Bottom-center, you can see some of the switchbacks snaking the hillside.  We were gaining altitude in gobs!

Some typical tread on the climb - looking up trail toward one of many switchbacks.

Kathleen climbing toward the top of Mitchell trail, not far from summit - whew! 

Summit at last - 1540' ascent in 2.2 miles - ouch.  That's about 13% average grade and serious climbing for our standards.  This photo is at the junction with the Guaje Ridge Trail, which we would use to traverse the hillsides across several ravines.  We would be dropping to the right on the photo.  (For a reference point, the longer races head off the saddle to the left corner of the photo.)

Looking back across the Guaje Ridge Trail to Pajarito Ski area - you cannot even pick out the trail amongst all the downed trees!  Lots of log hopping on the day - glad we were not on mountain bikes for this one...

We finally dropped onto the Upper Guaje Road trail, which was an abandoned two-track that was at times singletrack but mostly road width as seen above.  The nice thing was that we finally got down into a mostly non-burned area - TREES and some color in the landscape - thank you!

 Kathleen enjoying the Perimeter Trail.

We hooked up to the Perimeter Trail at the base of Upper Guaje - sweet singletrack cruise bordering the west side of Los Alamos.  This trail rolled us all the way back over to the Mitchell trailhead.  This run packs a big punch in a short distance, mostly due to that slog up the first stout climb.  It is all premium singletrack aside from the Upper Guaje, however, be prepared for the sad sight of charred landscape if you go.  (As a side note, I would not recommend  this on a hot day - mid 60's sun felt awful warm in some places as you are seriously exposed here.)  All in all, a good run of 10 miles, as we skipped the in town start/finish piece of the HM course.  Los Alamos definitely warrants another visit - tons of trails and a very nice community.

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For a quick history/geography lesson to go with our trail story, here are a few photos from the aftermath of the Cerro Grande Fire - sordid details of this massive failure in oversight at Bandelier NM can be read here.   48,000 acres burned and 235 homes burned to the ground in Los Alamos.

Circled area is the trailhead where we parked - first photo from Run Two.

 Arizona Street with destroyed homesites - purple line is where Perimeter Trail now traverses.

Charred mountainside west of Los Alamos, most of which encompassed the top half of our run.

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FYI - We would also suggest running the Frijoles Canyon Loop in Bandelier National Monument if you are in the Los Alamos area.  It is a 13+ mile loop that we ran part of before we were real runners - spectacular trails that we were on and is on the To-Do list for the full loop.  The Frijoles canyon had been flooding badly from late snow melt, so it was suggested to steer clear of the area.  Next time...

Shoes - K Asics Gel Trabuco

S - LaSportiva Wildcat

Stats:  10 miles, 2300' elevation gain

Run Three - Winsor Trail

We wanted a shorter, recovery type run on Wednesday, so we headed over to the Winsor Trail near the village of Tesuque, a bit west of town.  This is a long trail that runs all the way up into the alpine areas around Santa Fe Ski Basin.  We were hoping to just run a short section along Tesuque Creek to spin out a bit and stay cool along the water.  It was forecast for upper 70's - not something we have had any chance to acclimate for in Colorado yet this spring!  What we didn't realize was that the gentle climb along the creek was, um, not-as-gentle-as-hoped-for.  This would be a great trail to explore when the higher, more alpine sections are dried out - snow runoff is apparently late from the cold spring weather.

Tesuque Creek along the Winsor Trail.

We ended up running less than an hour but it was nice to run along with the sound of running water always on one side or the other.  The legs were, however, in need of some rest so we kept it short.

Shoes - Both LaSportiva Wildcat

Stats:  4.5 miles, 975' elevation gain

Another Beautiful Desert Sunset.

A Southwestern Desert Getaway

The Journey

After a first quarter to the year that was a bit tumultuous, we decided to take a bit of down time and wanted somewhere that would not be cold and would not be far from home. With Kathleen having some nagging issues with her neck after her January accident, we knew we were not going to be doing any long runs on the trip. So we decided to head to Taos, New Mexico where we could get some sun, some running, and some good relaxation. Turned out, that was a good plan.

We started our drive in wet and spitting snow but by the time we hit the turn at Walsenburg, CO, we had some blue skies breaking out - sweet! Those are the Spanish Peaks - East on the left at 12,683' and West on the right at 13,625'.
Mount Mestas showing off some fresh dusting of snow from the morning cloud cover as we start over La Veta Pass.
We are not much for junk food, however, I have had a weakness for Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies from a very young age - they make great "traveling fuel" !!!
We arrived in Taos to blue sky with some fluffy clouds, much better than the snow that was falling at home! This is the view off the porch of the casita we were renting for the week. Miles and miles of sagebrush and mountains - awesome!
After tooling around the plaza for a bit and making a run to Cid's Natural Food Market for supplies, we put our feet up and started planning our activities (or lack of...) for the next few days. We had a fantastic sunset, as we would each evening.

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Sunday's Fun Day

We took a run on Sunday from our base camp on the Taos Mesa, down into the Rio Grande Gorge to the John Dunn Bridge - a local landmark. Kathleen is running high up on the rim above the river, with the Taos mountains in the background.

There it is folks - The John Dunn Bridge, with the Rio Grande River flowing beneath.

Posing for the group photo at the bottom of the Gorge.

Steve starting back up out of the Gorge, with the soothing sounds of the running water to help with the relaxation.

Kathleen makes her way up - notice the switchbacks cut into the western wall of the Gorge.

More great views of the mountains from atop the eastern rim.

Our neighbors for the week - Morningstar Alpaca Ranch. The alpacas were always curious when we went by their pastures and would line up to watch us. We finished with a nice 8 mile run and then kicked back for the afternoon.

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Monday on the West Rim

Monday we headed out to the West Rim Trail, which starts at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge northwest of Taos. The bridge is a 1200' span across the gorge formed by the Rio Grande River and sits 650' up from the waters below. The trail roughly follows the western rim of the gorge and travels through mostly sagebrush desert but has incredible mountain vistas for the entire length of the trail. Kathleen runs here with Taos mountain in the distance.
You can see the mouth of the gorge opening on the left of this photo. It was once again a bluebird day - not a single cloud in the sky. Kathleen peeled off a bit early as she was feeling like keeping the runs short to help with her neck discomfort.
This tree seemed like a good spot to turn around. Hard to beat views like that - makes it difficult to concentrate on the run...
... however, this is not the spot to have a lapse of judgement and step off the trail!!! There is the bridge in all it's glory, with the Rio Grande far below.
Kathleen grabbed Sage and headed back out to meet me as I finished the run. It was a nice 8 miler, with a faster than normal pace as the trail is relatively level around 7100' elevation.

We took a little time to visit our curious neighbors in the afternoon.

The chocolate colored gent in the rear is Logan - Kathleen purchased several skeins of yarn from his coat and is knitting a small bag with it. We'll put up a pic when it is finished. Alpaca yarn is highly prized in the knitting world and makes very durable and warm clothing.
My girls catching the afternoon sun on the deck - Kathleen is knitting, but not yet with Logan's coat!

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What the heck ???

Kathleen has had some issues with chronic bronchitis but has not had it for 15 months - the longest span in many years - until TODAY. Right in the middle of what was supposed to be a relaxing trip. This is crap. But, alas, under protest, it is here to stay.

So I decided to head out from base camp again and do the R2R2R ...

...but not THAT R2R2R. :-0 This was Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Taos-style. I ran from the east rim of the gorge, down and over the Dunn bridge, and up the switchbacks onto the west rim. The view of the Rio Grande looking south from the third switchback.

On top of the west rim ... in Awe!

Coming back down from the west rim, I had a good view up river to the bridge. Once again it was a fabulous weather day, but I would have preferred to NOT be running alone.

A helpful rock took a photo for me!

Looking down from 3/4 of the way up the eastern wall - you can see the third and fourth switchbacks cut into the western side. It was another great day to run and I got in a nice 10 miler with a couple sharp climbs thrown in.
The girls were basking in the sun when I returned. You can see the start of Logan's wool being crafted into a bag - Kathleen was busy while I was gone! She is hiding the disappointment of not running well - she is not happy with the turn of events for sure!

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Lemonade Anyone???

If you get lemons, you just need to make lemonade, right? We knew that, for the most part, Kathleen would just have to "ride out" the bronchitis. Though she did not sleep much Tuesday night, she felt OK Wednesday, so we decided to do at least a couple more tourist type activities.

We cruised down to Ranchos de Taos to visit San Francisco de Asis Chapel, one of the most photographed churches in the southwest.
The thick adobe walls do stand out nicely against the azure blue desert sky - quite a visual combination. Murphy's Law was at work today - there was work being done on the inside of the chapel, so it was an exterior-only visit.

Had to get a family photo at the Taos sign!

If you are in Taos, you need to go to 5 Star Burgers - no questions asked! They serve antibiotic free Angus Beef burgers and tasty sweet potato fries - mmmmm! I personally recommend the Taos Burger - battered green chile, barbecue sauce, and cheddar - just earn it on your run! We finished off the day with some shopping at the plaza, and a vist to Rooster's Coffee - Java Time!
After a sunset like this it is hard to leave, but we headed out Thursday morning to head back to Colorado. It was not the relaxation we had envisioned, but if you are going to have "forced" down time, there are probably not many better places than this. It was off to the doc for neck checkup and antibiotics for Kathleen - yeehaw... But we're not letting it spoil a good time and good memories from the desert!!!