Summer in Steamboat - Scene One

Been a little while since a post here, so it is time to dust off the keyboard and put some words to a little escape we took this week over to Steamboat Springs.  We have been contemplating a long-term escape from the Front Range of Colorado if everyone and their brother continues to move to our area (another 4 million in the next two + decades, nearly doubling our state's population), but that's another story for a different time.  We're going to have to start posting horrible pictures and telling everyone how awful a place it is to live :))  Back on track here - now for some good scenery and Happy Trails (and roads, but that's next post ;-) )

Last Sunday we took a drive up to the northwest part of the state.  We like to stay clear of I-70, so we went through South Park and caught Highway 9 over Hoosier Pass - pictured above, then up through to Rabbit Ears Pass and over to Steamboat Springs. August is sometimes a spotty month for travel across these areas as the dry summers can occasionally leave a lot of brown, drab landscape.  However, with the REALLY long/cold spring in the mountains, everywhere we drove it was green and lush.  And yes, folks in the mountains are actually talking about summer starting, just in time for about 6 weeks of it until snow starts up high - ouch, is that ever a short season!  Did a double take on the sign marking the distances off the pass - see below:

 Couldn't help noticing someone had been on Hoosier Pass recently.... We had to stop and pay homage!

(Any coincidence that Beth placed her sticker so close to High Country Healing???)

After the 4.5 hour drive over to Steamboat, we drug out the road bikes and went for a nice, mellow 18 mile spin around town to flush out the legs a bit (we had done an 8 mile tempo run the day before).  This is a great place to bring the bikes as there are countless miles of quiet country roads to ride without fear of being run off the road or ending up in crazy traffic.  We even sat out at Starbucks enjoying some great weather and kicking the feet up while enjoying some high octane beverages!!!  We also spent some time pouring over the map plotting out our trail excursions for the next several days.  Let's get rolling!

 The Rabbit Ears - unique volcanic plugs atop Rabbit Ears Peak

Monday found us back over on the east side of Rabbit Ears Pass at the Dumont Lake trailhead for the Wyoming Trail, part of the Continental Divide Trail that crosses from Rabbit Ears to Buffalo Pass.  This is some wide open country as the total trip across is over 20 miles by road from east to west and it is about 18 miles by trail from Rabbit Ears to Buffalo. 

 Dumont Lake - alpine lake #1 for the day

 Kathleen on the start of the Wyoming Trail

The first 1.5 miles of the trail winds gently along a diversion ditch that the forest service uses to spread out the watershed.  The trail skirts a huge alpine meadow above Dumont Lake that is bursting with wildflower activity.  The trail dips through a stream near a diversion point and then sharply climbs into the first section of forest.

 Been a while since we had snow on the trail

The dense forest, along with elevation that is mostly in the 10k + range, harbors snow for long periods of time and it is holding on to quite a bit this year.  This was the start of many miles of snow, mud, and standing water on the trails - summer is almost here!

 Indian Paintbrush bloom along the Wyoming Trail, just before Base Camp

 One of MANY creek crossings on the day - Fishhook Creek after the descent from Base Camp

After about 4 miles on the trail, there is a connection over to the USFS Base Camp trailhead.  From here, the Wyoming Trail continues on, shown at times on maps as Trail 1101, Base Camp Trail, CDT - all the same trail.   There is a sharp descent in to the Fishhook Creek drainage, quickly followed by another climb up to Fishhook Lake - #2 alpine lake of the day.  Base Camp is a popular spot for hunters who pack in on horseback in the fall - wear blaze orange if you run here in the fall!

 Fishhook Lake - stunning.  Why would anyone want to live here....???

 HT at Fishhook Lake

 Next up - Lost Lake - we found it!

 Finally to #4 - Lake Elmo

We had some great stretches of trail out past Lost Lake to Lake Elmo.  A lot of the trail passes through meadows that are seeping marsh ground and there was lots of standing water on the trail.  We got pretty used to the shlish-shlosh feeling of soaked feet as we ran 90% of the day that way.  Lake Elmo was the elusive lake for us as we have seen the others before either from the Rabbit Ears side on foot, or from the Buffalo Pass side on mountain bike.  When you look west from the trail at this point, you are looking over the back side of Mt Werner, home to Steamboat Springs' ski area.

 Starting back from the far side of Lake Elmo - just around the bend, the trail is under water

 Leap of Faith!

Given the fact that back in March Kathleen could at times barely lift her arms shoulder high, and had to carefully step up or down for trail obstacles because she had lost all her strength, seeing her regain enough strength to jump across the creek was one of the moments that made the trip for me.  While she is not by any means back to her old kick, this was a moment that gave me a spark of hope that we have her headed on the right track!

 Typical trail surface for most parts of the CDT - lots of footwork, no daydreaming

 Heading back down from Base Camp

 Racing the rain clouds back to the trailhead

The clouds had pushed in on us pretty heavy from the start.  We had several periods where the sun teased us for a while, but moreso we were watching the skies, not wanting to be caught out in the expanses of this pass in severe weather.  It is not like the rain would have hurt so much - we were wet from the knees down the majority of the run.  The lightning is what you have to fear up here!!!

 Coming out of the forest with Dumont Lake off in the distance

 Dropping out into the huge meadow and the connection along the diversion ditch

 Kathleen runs in the wildflowers

 Back to the start - Rabbit Ears monument and the end of the trail

This photo was a bit deceptive - the skies to the northeast were still showing blue, yet behind Kathleen as she took the photo were huge black storm clouds.  We finished out with 15 miles in pretty big country.  Although the trail conditions weren't perfectly stellar due to the standing water on much of the trail and the profuse number of downed trees that broke up the running rhythm at times, it was a great day to be out.  And what a better way to end a run like this - we had left over pizza from BeauJo's waiting in the car - nice!  Stay tuned for more from the trip and here are some parting wildflower shots on the way out from the trailhead!

 Could you run here?

 Red "Carpet" treatment

Flowers everywhere

Other than at the parking area at the trailhead, we did not see another person along the entire route.  Peace, quiet, and solitude......

BTW, minutes into our drive back, the rain commenced - Happy Trails!

Another One Bagged: Bear Peak, Boulder, CO

Following a week of unstable weather with hot temperatures and evening storms, some quite violent, the weekend was calling for HOT and no rain - ugh!  Saturday morning we were out really early for a good tempo run on Santa Fe Trail - had to beat the heat, so we were off the trail by 9 am.  No time for pics, either :)

Sunday, we had an "appointment" in Boulder to meet up with Tim for a run, then have lunch to chat about crewing him during the Leadville 100.  The original plan was to run some nice trails in Flatirons Vista and Doudy Draw trail areas south of Boulder.  However, with the forecast high of 96 in Boulder, that plan got scrapped in favor of a less exposed, more forested route.  There is a trade-off:  The less exposed route is also quite steep....

 Starting into the Bear Canyon Trail

We started up the Shanahan Trail, climbing at a good rate but just seasoning the legs for the GOOD stuff to come.  Even with the 7:45ish start (yes, that meant rising at 5:15 on a weekend morning to drive to Boulder!!!), it was warming rapidly down on the southwest side of Boulder.  Fortunately, we were soon into the trees which provided a nice canopy for a large portion of the run.  From Shanahan, we caught the Mesa Trail and took that over to the start of the Bear Canyon Trail.  This is a very nice trail that ascends the canyon between Green and Bear peaks.  As seen above, it was a beautiful day.  We made our way up the Bear Canyon trail and then decided to see some new terrain and headed over toward Bear Peak.  The Bear Peak West Ridge trail starts to get a little more aggressive and it is apparent that it is traveled less frequently than the neighboring Green Mountain trails.  BTW, the trails are all shown on this map.

 Tim running the West Ridge trail - did you know this guy did Hardrock last week??
He even let us hold the buckle.....

 Kathleen on a nice section of the West Ridge trail - she went rockstar today!!

 South Boulder Peak - the highest of the Boulder Skyline peaks

 Views are constant - The Continental Divide from one of the lower flanks of Bear Peak

After several runnable sections on the West Ridge trail, the ascent of Bear Peak becomes predominantly a struggle for survival good power hike.  The back side from which we would summit is all rock, so there is a lot of natural stair climbing.  Topping out at 8461', the summit of Bear provides stellar views:  Longs Peak to the northwest, the Continental Divide to the west, and Boulder and beyond to the east.  Spectacular - once you catch your breath.  At only a bit over 5 miles into our "run", we had already gained a whopping 3075' elevation - yowsa!

 Behind the tree and below the Flatirons, NCAR is perched on the open hilltop

 Longs Peak framed nicely by the trees

Time of day and rising temps caused another change of plans here.  The original route would have called for us to drop off Bear into Shadow Canyon and run it out to the bottom end of Mesa, then take Mesa back up to our trailhead.  This would have left a pretty good clip down low to run exposed to the sun.  So we were duped into followed Tim and dropped off the summit on the Fern Canyon Trail.  We have done a steep trail or two in our day.  But this thing is ridiculously steep.  We clipped off the first 1000' of descent in about three quarters of a mile - commence quad mashing session!  We followed Fern all the way down through the shaded canyon until we dumped out onto Shanahan again.  When we first came out of the trees in the last mile or so, the heat hit you in the face right now.  We were glad that the alternate route was chosen because that roll across Mesa would have been ROASTING!   The route ended up at 8 miles - a poor indicator of the work that it was!  A very scenic route nonetheless and did a nice job of prepping us for our next stop:

I was remiss in getting a group photo, so I had to dig deep in the HT photo

archives for some mug shots - a perfect collage with our favorite Boulder eatery!!!

No better way to refuel beat up legs than to head over to Beaujo's for some fine PIZZA and salad bar!  We sat around stuffing our faces and chatting up crew duties at the Leadville 100, now a quick 5 weeks away.  After his experience at Hardrock, this could be a great course for Tim to roll really well.  We're looking forward to it.  It was 91 when we left town, don't know if Boulder hit the upper 90's but it had a good start!  We had a great day and Tim delivered the goods on the trail tour as always!  Happy Trails!!

Shoes - K Columbia Ravenous

S - Montrail Masochist

T - Hoka BondiB

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Just a quick update - if you recall, Kathleen had mentioned a while back that CU Boulder grad Michaela Cui was doing a charity ride from Alaska to San Francisco to raise awareness and funds for The Graves Disease Foundation.  A local television station in California did a news segment highlighting the ride - it can be seen here.  Michaela and Chris will be finishing the ride on Wednesday and celebrating in Crissy Park after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge - Congratulations after 3200 miles on the bike!!!

It's cool in them there hills

Last Sunday morning, we took off early to head into Mueller State Park near Divide, CO, for a trail run.  It was cloudy and very muggy at home but was supposed to warm up rapidly, so the half hour trip up the pass to run above 9000' elevation sounded like a solid plan.  We visited Mueller a month ago to try out some trails, and at that point, only half the park's trails were open due to elk calving.   So we had in mind to run the "other side" on Sunday, including a large loop we had done years ago on skis.  It was nice and cool, in the low 60's when arrived, but also quite humid.  Since we last blogged we have encountered a meteorological breakthrough - July Monsoon started and we have had at least some rain for six straight days (and it is raining now as I type).  With the rains has come humidity - an oddity for us and most likely short lived - which does not mix well with altitude and minimalist oxygen supply.  But the cool air sure was nice, so we sleeved up and hit the trail.

 Kathleen in big timber on Elk Meadow trail

 Morning clouds shadow the back side of Pikes Peak

 Who needs singletrack - go for Tripletrack!!!

We started out from the visitors center and ran over to catch the Elk Meadow trail, then ran it out to the Cheesman Ranch loop.  These trails alternate between shady forested paths to wide open rolling prairie grass.  As scenic as this park is, we saw almost no one the whole time we were out.  Aside from people really close to the parking area, we saw a mountain biker and two sets of hikers - that's it.  Talk about having the trails to yourselves.

 Old collapsed barn - a deer came out the side "door" as I approached 

and I nearly dropped the camera from the startling it gave me!

 Cheesman Ranch

 Almost to the top - Cheesman Ranch Loop

The trails on the northern half of the park, while more mellow in grade, follow the similar pattern to the trails we ran last month on the southern half.  The main road in the park is on the high spine, approximately 9800'.  All the loops start down, go through rolling areas, then ascend back to the spine.  We really like to finish on downhills - don't point fingers - YOU DO TOO!  That does not happen here.  So after a long loop out on Cheesman, we finally made it to the top and decided to head over onto the Homestead loop and connect over to the Revenuer's Ridge trail we liked so much. 

 Starting out onto Homestead - dropping our hard earned elevation

 Meadow on Homestead trail - there are quite a few spots in Mueller

where the trail is grass instead of dirt

All finished - a nice tourist from Longmont, CO took our photo for us!

We enjoyed the trails we ran on the north part of Mueller and finished out our run just under 12 miles.  The elevation on the run ranged from 9200 to 9800 feet and the total climbing was around 2000' for the route.   It ended up being a fabulous day for running here as temps were in the low 70's when we finished - plenty warm when you are 2 miles closer to the sun!!!  Both of us had a good run and didn't really feel like pushing on any farther.  This area, as well as Rampart Reservoir nearby, give us good options for close proximity altitude training - gotta figure out that vexing little altitude issue I have going one of these days :)

Shoes - K Montrail Masochist

S - Pearl Izumi SyncroFuel XC

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In other news, gotta throw out a huge congratulations to our friend Tim on his finish at the Hardrock 100 - you need to read his race report, then sit down and chew on it for a while - it is gritty, raw, a bit disturbing, but also a compelling look into arguably the hardest ultra out there.  Hats off to JT also for doing a heck of a job pacing Tim in from Telluride to the finish.

There is a video that has done laps around the net in ultra circles that also gives some insight into how this race tears you down to raw existence from John T Sharp's experience there in 2010.  You can see the "bigness" of this race a little bit in his video account.   I will warn you ahead of time, as his weariness builds, his language degrades noticeably - not in a vulgar way, more in a "I'm getting beat down by this race" way.  Just be warned and send your kids out for ice cream ;-):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi93ivFcvy0