Green Mountain Circuit

Late afternoon loop around Boulder's Green Mountain. Trail conditions were much improved from earlier this week.


Time: 1:13
Distance: 5.2 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Good
Weather:  Clear, breezy and cool

Was feeling pretty perky this afternoon, but was crushed for time. Ran from the mouth of Gregory Canyon to the trailhead. Realized about halfway up that I'd forgotten the Microspikes.  Oh well.  Got to the trail sign and hit the watch.

Ran up via Gregory and Ranger.  An easy 17:25 to the ranger cottage. Had to do a couple hand-over-hand climbs up the slippery, steep rock sections. Other than that, the traction was fine.

The climb up to the four-way was uneventful...just steady jogging, a few short sections of powerhiking through the drifts and a final slippery slog up to the four-way.  From there, it was just the usual dash to the summit.  Hit the split at 43:29.

The winds were howling up top, so I tagged the summit marker and headed down the frontside.  I remember thinking it would be darn-near a miracle if I didn't crash and burn on the traction-less descent.  I slid around a lot, but never went down.  Had a couple of close calls, though.  A fun challenge, to be sure.