Golden Gate Canyon State Park - Long(ish) Run

Time: 2:36
Distance:  15 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Average
Weather: Cloudy, snow, cool

First...this looks like fun - a completely unorganized, unplanned throw-down on Boulder's Green Mountain. Be sure to read the rules.

Originally, the plan was to head over to Golden Gate Canyon State Park and run the Dirty Thirty 50K course, but things didn't go as planned.

First mistake was thinking the course map and turn-by-turn instructions were in the back of my car.  They weren't. The second mistake was thinking the trails might be mostly snow-free.  They weren't.  The good news...I went running.


With JP travelling, this was another toll run...the babysitter being the one to whom I had to pay the toll.  So, with no time to waste, I sped the 30 minutes from the house over to the state park visitors center, picked up my $6 day pass and headed over to where the Mountain Lion Trail comes down to the main park road.


From the parking lot, I jumped on Mountain Lion, which snakes up a south-facing slope. The trail here was enticingly snow-free. Everything was perfect as the trail climbed up and over several ridges after crossing over Noll Creek. Soon, though, as the trail dropped back down to the creek and followed it up through a ravine, snow was everywhere.  I did my best to keep running, but between the snow and the snowmelt-swollen stream, I had to speed walk far more than I wanted to.

In the early going on the Mountain Lion Trail. Could it be...snow free trails?

 A bit later on the Mountain Lion Trail, after the trail enters the woods and heads up a ravine.

After crossing the stream seemingly a dozen times, the trail left the creek and climbed steadily and steeply up to Windy Saddle before dropping down to the upper part of Forgotten Valley. Here I left Mountain Lion and started climbing up the Buffalo Trail (ain't it cute how all the trails are named for critters?). Still running intermittently on snow, I made my way up to Rifleman Phillips Campground (how's that for a name?).

Looking back up toward Windy Saddle from the backside, en route down to Forgotten Valley

 The climb up the Buffalo Trail, on what appeared to be an old ranch or logging road.

A lake, with historic cabin on the right in the lower part of Forgotten Valley.

From Rifleman Phillips Campground, I ran Gap Road up to Aspen Meadows Campground where I picked up the Snowshoe Hare Trail and ran by Dude's Fishing Hole. I had to stop several times through this stretch to sniff out the trail.  With all the snow, and the dearth of footprints, route finding was a bit sketchy.  After a bit of trial and error, I was able to follow the trail and climbed up and over a ridge and circled back to Rifleman Phillips Campground.  I retraced my steps down the Buffalo Trail to the lower part of Forgotten Valley.  Finally, I hopped on the southern bit of the Mountain Lion Trail and cruised back to my car.

I think all of the trails I ran, save for the stretch on Gap Road, are part of the Dirty Thirty course. (The race is June 5th.) The running Golden Gate is very nice...some steeps, some rocks, some cruisers, and a fair bit of variation in scenary...open, grassy valleys, thick lodgepole forests, rugged mountains and numerous creeks, especially this time of year.  And, the area is peppered with log cabin ruins and a lot of pioneer history.

I was disappointed not to have gotten in more miles. The snow definitely slowed me down, and dampened my desire to keep pressing. And, the clock was ticking and needed to get back home to jP and CP.  Still, it was good to run somewhere new (I hadn't been in the northeast part of the park before), even with the poor conditions.

And, I can't leave without, once again, lamenting the long march of winter. Bring on the warmth and sun!

Elk Meadow Super Loop - Easy(ish)

Time: 1:23
Distance: 10.19 miles
Effort: Easy (mostly)
Body: Good
Weather: Partly Cloudy & Cool

Colorado's Tony Krupicka wins Miwok by about 18 minutes over Hal Koerner!  See the Twitter stream, including pics and video here.  Check out the pic of his feet. Running can be tough stuff...


And a huge congrats to Jim M. who came in 6th in the Greenland 50K today.  Way to go!

As for me...twas a late morning loop using most of the lower trails at Elk Meadow Open Space. I was eager to get in a few miles on this, the last day of the week, since I missed a couple of running days this week due to work and travel.

Felt pretty good on these miles, running steady. Most importantly, though, is the fact that there was not a snow-covered stretch of trail in all 10 of these miles.  Whetted my appetite for more of the same. 

1,178 feet of elevation gain.


Trying to figure out where to do the long run tomorrow...

Aldefer-Three Sisters - Too Short

Time:  34 minutes
Distance: 4.02 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Good
Weather: Partly Cloudy & Cool

Squeezed in a quick run between the end of jP's baseball practice and the time I needed to pick up CP.  Fortunately, the practice was just a quarter mile from the lower lot at JeffCo's Aldefer-Three Sisters Open Space.  Jumped on the Ponderosa Trail and did figure 8 through the park on that trail and the Sister's Trail.  

The "Three Sisters" are big rock formations toward the north side of the park. From the top of the Sisters one is treated with great views down into the Bear Creek watershed and west toward Mt. Evans.  Didn't pause much for views today, though.  In and out.  Too rushed, but glad to have gotten in a few trail miles, complete with a few ups.

Georgetown - Capitol Hill - Tempo

Time: 1:46
Distance: 14.96 miles (can't bring myself to round up...)
Effort: Hard
Body: Good
Weather: Partly Cloudy & Cool

Left the hotel running late to meet Matt A. down on the Mall, where he was playing ultimate. Was planning on doing some tempo work today anyway, but being late made me jump into it straight away with no w/u.

Ran five miles at tempo pace from my Glover Park hotel to the Capitol reflecting pool.  The route was on residential streets for the first two miles (with cars, street crossings and peds), then three miles of bike paths (with a couple of major street crossings) and the gravel paths along the Mall. Made one stop to watch a snippet of another ultimate game to see if I knew anyone playing (I didn't).  I played for a bunch of years in the 1990s on an ultimate club team here in D.C.  The first five miles went like this:  6:10; 5:49; 5:48; 6:14; 5:51.

After that, I ran a circuitous route around Capitol Hill, including a jaunt over by the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium, looking for Matt  No dice. I knew I was late, so I headed over to his place near Lincoln Park and met up with him and CS, just as they were about to have dinner. I was 8.5 miles into the run at this point, which meant it was the perfect time to stop, chat for 45 minutes and have a beer.

Around 9 p.m., I headed out and ran easy back toward the Capitol building, down the Mall, past the Washington Monument, the WWII and Lincoln Memorials, past the Kennedy Center, along the Potomac River, up Rock Creek Parkway and then through Georgetown to get back to my hotel.  For much of the run back I had hunger pangs like I haven't had in ages. I had little but calories on my mind. Strange, since I had a big lunch. Some local pizza and a couple of IPAs took care of that problem!

Average pace for the full run was 7:01.  A whopping 348 feet of elevation gain.

Bergen Peak - Meadow View - Troublesome Gulch - Long Run

Time: 3:36
Distance: 21.1 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Fair
Weather: Cloudy & Cool


Original plan was to do a double up Bergen Peak this morning, but the conditions up high were crappy - like frozen mashed potatoes.  Not fun to run on.  (Although a guy I passed heading up did do a double.)  Still a good amount of snow on the summit trail.  Will be some time before it melts out.  I was surprised how much is lingering up top.  


There was one set of tracks from yesterday on the Too Long Trail. The summit trail was well packed, but the frozen mashed potatoes made for such a lousy running surface, I couldn't bring myself to run it again.  


Instead, I returned to the upper parking lot where I started, refilled my water bottle and grabbed another gel, and ran Meadow View to the rec center, then took Troublesome Gulch down to the water treatment plant and returned back via Lewis Ridge Road into Elk Meadow and took the Sleepy S trail back to the car.


Didn't feel very good today. Eager to be done, by the time 20 miles rolled around.


Felt pretty wrecked the rest of the day.


3,228 feet of elevation gain.

Trail/Road Loop - Easy

Time: 1:09
Distance: 9 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Partly Sunny


The sun finally came out around 3 p.m., and so did I. From home, ran an easy Garmin-free run through several local 'hoods, climbed up the Troublesome Gulch Trail and returned via the Painter's Pause Trail in Elk Meadow.  As I was out, everything was melting fast. The seasonal creeks in Elk Meadow were gushing from all the rapid snowmelt.  Pretty cool.


Up early tomorrow a.m. for a couple laps up Bergen Peak. Hopefully, thing up higher melted off too.  We shall see...

Treadmill - Easy Run

Time: 45 minutes
Distance:  6 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Indoors


With a heavy rain falling, an outdoor run simply was not to be. Hit the treadmill at the Buchanan Rec Center on the way home. Did a half-mile w/u around 8:00 pace, then did 25 minutes of the "random" profile at 7:30 and ended with three miles at 6:30 pace to close it out. Felt good to sweat, but felt deprived having to run indoors after the decent weather of late.


We've gotten about four inches of snow up here over the last 24 hours.  I suspect it will melt fast, as soon as we get a few days of sunshine, but it is a blow after the Tuesday run up Bear Peak in Boulder on nearly snow-free trails (save for a few stretches near the summit).

Sanitas Valley + Exploration

Time: 1:27
Distance:  8.63 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Mostly cloudy and cool


Another maddeningly busy day at work. Still, managed to sneak out around 4 p.m. for a quick run before heading home. 


Ran up Mapleton Hill to Sanitas Open Space and ran the Dakota Ridge Trail up to its junction with the Sanitas Valley Trail. Ran down the valley trail and picked up the social trail that heads up Sunshine Canyon from the parking lot.  


I remembered seeing another unmarked trail heading up off this unmarked trail on a run last week and decided a little exploration was in order. The this narrow ribbon of dirt headed steeply up for a good bit before leveling off and winding through a few copses of forest. After ten minutes or so, the trail started to head down to a dirt road, but I wasn't read to head down. 


Instead, I went cross-country, marching up a very steep, grassy slope bound for what looked like a trail snaking across the hillside 100 feet above.  Turned out the "trail" was little more than a deer path, but it was enough to keep me moving up. I made my way up to the ridge, which was the ridge separating Sunshine and Boulder Canyons.  The ridge-top featured a very well-defined, good-quality trail.  With Betasso visible not too far west, I headed back east, cresting a few small peaks, and ended up on the Anemone Trail, which begins in the Red Rocks area between Sanitas and Settler's Park.


I was surprised how good the trail was along the ridge.  I've heard there's a way to get from Red Rocks to Betasso on trails.  This must have been part of the way. I'll have to head back and explore more up here.  


After descending to Settler's Park, I returned to the office via Pearl and Spruce Streets, just as the first raindrops of the run started falling.


1,475 feet of elevation gain.

Bear Peak - Ups

Time: 1:14
Distance:  4.76 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Good
Weather: Mostly sunny and cool


I love the diversity that trail running offers, not just the diversity of scenery, conditions, terrain and surfaces, but also the diversity of focus a run may require. On some runs, when the trail is rolling and smooth, the mind wanders...checking in on how the body is firing...what the wind is doing...what creature is darting from tree to tree.  Other runs require intense focus...what are the next three moves I will make on this steep descent?...is that rock loose, can I step on it?...should I step over that rock or on it?...where can I place my foot to make that step-up less of a step-up?


Today was one of those intense focus runs. For much of the run, my eyes were on my feet and the 10 meters ahead, and rarely anywhere else. Such is a run up Bear Peak via Fern Canyon.


I tackled this run en route home from a hard, no-time-to-breathe day at work. By the time I found the Cragmore Trailhead, I was ready for a different kind of work and a whole lot of release.  After a quick in-the-car change, I jumped out and set off running up the waterbar-strewn trail that leads up Shanahan Ridge.  I climbed a bit to the Fern Canyon trail and was soon in hyper-focus mode as the trail turned steeply up via a long set of big step-ups. I'd read about Fern being a damn steady climb and it did not disappoint. 


I was feeling good today, with the legs having a surprising amount of pep and no residual fatigue from Sunday's 31 miles (no doubt due to taking Monday off). I was pressed a bit for time, which gave me an incentive to keep up a steady pace. I made it up Fern with no problems and then began the steep, rock-strewn climb up the north shoulder of Bear Peak.


I'd never been up Bear before, and was anxious I wouldn't have time to tag the summit and get back down and home in time to pick up J & C. Summit fever set in as I got closer. I constantly was doing mental math...if it takes me five more minutes to summit, I'll still have 30 minutes to get to the car...and so it went. At last, I saw the summit ahead, complete with three hikers and two dogs (it's Boulder after all) sitting near the summit. I made quick work of the final scrambling to tag the tippity-top in 45:08.. 


I was in such a hurry, I barely took the time to take in the view (shameful!).  With time ticking by, I descended quickly back to the car, returning the way I cam in 29:02.


Fantastic run. Eager to do this one again.


Elevation gain: 2,701

Buffalo Creek - North Fork 50K Course

Time: 5:13
Distance:  31.14 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Mostly sunny and cool


Knowing I need to start stepping up the time and distance of the long runs, I was in the market for some longer trail runs. Earlier in the week, I had seen one of Tim Long's posts about a run he did in the Buffalo Creek area. Tim's report indicated the trails were snow-free. With the North Fork 50/50K coming up in July, I thought it would be fun to run the 50K course today. It was fun...a lot of fun.


The day started bright an early with a 4:15 a.m. wake-up call. After the usual routine and 30-minute drive to the trailhead at JeffCo's Pine Valley Ranch, I was out of the truck and running by 5:45 a.m., just as the first hints of light were breaking the sky to the east.

North Fork 50/50K Course Map - Click for a larger version

The trail starts out with an easy 3/10s of a mile of flat running on an old narrow gauge railroad bed. From there, the course heads across the North Fork of the South Platte River, picking up the Buck Gulch trail, and begins a steady climb to gain the the ridge rising far above the river. After about three miles of climbing, I hit the first trail junction and jumped on the Skipper Trail and began a fast descent down along a creek. Soon, I crossed the creek and steadily climbed up to a meadow and the junction with the Homestead Trail. Homestead winds through a beautiful stand of well-spaced ponderosa pines, complete with a carpet of wild grasses, reminiscent of historical conditions for this habitat type.

Sunrise, looking east from the Buck Gulch Trail

Burned ponderosa pine forest, looking west from the Buck Gulch Trail as the sun rises.

Homestead dumped me out on a short stretch of the Miller Gulch Trail and led me to the rollicking downhill of the Gashouse Gulch Trail.  After descending a few miles, Gashouse bears left and soon I was running through the barren remnants of the 1996 Buffalo Creek fire. With odd rock formations sticking up here and there and downed, burned trees laying like so many pick-up sticks, the scene was as beautiful as it was stark.

A stretch through leafless aspen trees descending on the Gashouse Gulch Trail

Gashouse ended at Buffalo Creek Road, which is now closed to cars and runs next to the area's namesake -- Buffalo Creek. After half a mile, the trail heads up again, this time on the Tramway Trail, which climbs a couple of miles to its intersection with the Colorado Trail.  After 3.8 miles on the Colorado Trail, I crossed Forest Service Road 550 right at the run's halfway point - 15.5 miles. 


After the road crossing, it was time for more downhill, this time on the Morrison Creek Trail. This undulating trail led me back down to Buffalo Creek Road, just a bit uphill from where I picked up Tramway a while back. I got back on the Gashouse Gulch Trail for about 100 meters before hanging a right up the Baldy Trail.

Interesting rock outcropping along the Morrison Creek Trail exposed by the 1996 Buffalo Creek fire

I knew Baldy well from previous runs and mountain bike rides in this area. It's a steady two-mile climb to a gorgeous rock outcropping then another mile of running through a plateau of ponderosas. Soon, it was back on the MIller Gulch Trail for 2.2 miles of up-and-down double-track. I really enjoyed this part of the run. I was cruising along at a low-7 pace admiring the forest and the occasional glimpse of distant rock outcroppings.  On this stretch, I came across the first mountain bikers (heck, the first people)  I'd seen all morning...right at about 24 miles.

A nice stand of ponderosa pines along the Miller Gulch Trail

Looking north at the intersection of the Miller Gulch and Homestead Trails

The trail builders knew how to take advantage of natural features on the Homestead Trail

I continued on MIller Gulch to it's second intersection with the Homestead Trail, which would loop me 2.6 miles back to the intersection with the Skipper and Homestead Trails, which I'd been through 4.5 hours prior. Here I picked up my last trail, the Strawberry Gulch Trail, complete with a sign that indicated Pine Valley Ranch was a mere two miles further on.and, I knew, about 1,000 feet lower.


As the trail turned downwards, I found the energy for a late-run surge and I began cruising downhill, passing a string of mountain bikers cranking their way up. I remembered this downhill stretch from previous excursions and was enjoying the effortless downhill cruise. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the last stretch of climbing, but no matter, I had enough bounce left to make quick work of the climb and soon resumed my downhill cruise.

Cruising down Strawberry Gulch with just 1.5 miles to go

Strawberry Gulch soon intersected with the Buck Gulch Trail, where the real part of my run began five hours earlier. From here, it was another half-mile downhill, over the river and back to the parking lot via the Narrow Gauge Trail.


Other than stopping for equipment adjustments, food, picture-taking and bio breaks, I ran the whole thing. The ups on this course are all gentle and completely runnable and there are few rocks. Most all of the trail is either dirt or forgiving fine granite gravel. And, the scenery is gorgeous. This run has a bit of everything: healthy stands of mixed forests, pure stands of ponderosa, some aspen stands, open meadows, a dozen or so creeks with nice riparian areas and, of course, vast patches of fire-scarred land. 


The fire, while devastating, created a whole new type of beauty. It opened up views that once were obscured by overly-thick stands of forests. Bizarre-shaped, erratic rock outcroppings, once hidden in deep forests, now stand exposed like sentinels watching out over vast stretches of exposed hillsides.


Together, it all adds up to a great place to run. The July North Fork 50/50K should be a very fun, and fast, race. I've given some thought to entering it, but decided I'd wait and see how the San Juan Solstice 50 the month before goes. 


4,252 feet of elevation gain.