Stunning Rampart Reservoir Trail

One of the key links in the Colorado Springs water supply chain, Rampart Reservoir sits at 9000' elevation in the Rampart Range approximately 17 miles up the mountain from town and has approximately 500 surface acres. From the eastern shores of the reservoir there is an awesome perspective of the grandeur of Pikes Peak. While we have enjoyed this trail by mountain bike in the past, today would be the maiden voyage as a trail run. Traffic was light today for a summer day, however fishing is limited and boating prohibited right now because of problems caused by growing numbers of Zebra Mussel. These thumbnail-sized critters like to clog water lines and water pumps in the system that brings water to town - not good!
Above is a nice shot of Kathleen running on the western shore of the reservoir. We started at the eastern end of the dam wall and headed west, so the western shores were our first trails of the day. We don't get much water time aside from small streams, so this was a good "water-day" for us!
Found a nice ledge for a group photo which always helps - this was right past the foot bridge where traffic merges in from the mountain bike trailhead off of Rampart Range Road. This is also the spot where water comes in from the pipeline off the Continental Divide, many miles to the west.
Steve enjoys the nice flow of trails and the great sunny day we had!
One of the many inlets that the trail follows along the shoreline. While there are no major climbs, this trail is a continual flow of short ups and downs (see profile below) that begin to sap a little from the legs. The 11.5 loop gains an accumulated 2250' elevation, and when combined with a base elevation exceeding 9000', this is a challenging (but extremely fun!) run.

Tomorrow is forecast for clouds and much cooler, so we were very thankful for such great trails on which to spend a sunny day in the mountains - good times!

Road ride with Becky at the United States Air Force Academy

Today, Becky and I saddled up our road bikes and headed over to the United States Air Force Academy. It was a beautiful morning for a ride! I snapped the picture shown above looking over the sport fields, track, and cadet area. The pointy tipped Chapel is in the distance. The Academy is one of the best road rides in the area. The roads are clean, have very wide shoulders, the traffic is well controlled, and the scenery is fabulous!
Becky was kind enough to show ME how to use the timer on MY camera - it turned out to be a pretty setting for a picture! It looks like we are in the middle of nowhere high in the mountains when actually we are not far from the Cadet area and Visitor's Center. Interestingly enough, we saw predominantly more women riding today than men. I think we saw about a dozen other ladies riding and only three men. Weird. Anyway, we ended the day with two laps on the main loop, about 30 miles total. It was an enjoyable ride!

Long Day at the Office

We woke to another blanket of clouds this morning and put off our plans to run the Rampart Reservoir loop - higher elevation and cloud cover were not appealing, so another day for that. (Anyone interested in Rampart should see this page describing the Pony Express trail race there in September - http://www.pprrun.org/events/PonyExpress/main.htm.) So off we went to run the Falcon Trail on the US Air Force Academy. It was strangely quiet on the trail which is unusual for a weekend. Eventually we did get to enjoy some sunshine and that was a bonus. Kathleen got the day started off on the wrong "foot", so to speak. She stubbed her toe less than 2 minutes into the run, skidded to a stop on her left side, and claimed the grand prize of a nice gouge on the ankle, raspberry on the hip, and scraped calf. (Not to mention the fact that she soiled her new hot pink Dirty Girl gaiters!) No serious injury, though, so we were on our way again after dusting her off a little.
Kathleen running along the northern side of the loop, above the lower reservoirs - it is weird looking down and seeing no water, as they are repairing the eastern wall of the large reservoir and it is completely dry.
Steve running the same section, with Blodgett Peak looming in the background. It stayed hazy for a while as the clouds were burning off, and it was remarkably humid considering our arid climate.
We love to ride this stream crossing on our mountain bikes, especially on warm days. It's a little different prospect while running, as the remaining 5.5 miles with wet feet and shoes could be a little harsh. This nice log bridge is a new addition since last summer and works quite well for foot traffic.
Unfortunately after mile 8, Steve was beginning to feel the effects of not being able to take in any food. It was a strange occurrence that has rarely happened, but he now knows what is meant by having to run the last miles with your head! But we both finished and surprisingly made it in 5 minutes faster than the first time we ran the loop earlier in May. It was a good long run and we earned our calories today - German Chocolate cake to be exact!!!

Life is nothing if not a daring adventure. Helen Keller