Salida Weekend with My Girls

Perhaps one of the highlights of the summer for me was rediscovering Salida.  So as our plans for a trip to go see Amy Schumer in Las Vegas went south (she cancelled her show), our plans to go to Salida for the weekend unfolded.  Rather than bringing in a house sitter for the girls or putting the girls up at a kennel, we opted to bring them with us for the weekend.

Of course the two and a half hour drive down to Salida was a bit tough on the dogs, so what better way to reward their patience than to get out of the car and bust it loose on the trail?

The light was fading by the end of the hike, but the girls were grateful for the leg stretching.

S-Mountain quick hit-3.4 miles, 1:17:31, 23:00 minute per mile pace, 213'.

Sunday got us out on the trail, despite some strong winds and cooler temperatures.  Still, the Rainbow Trail was a fun and rugged challenge.  Certainly not one for trail running due to the loose, rocky sections that can be quite steep.

Of course, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes.

Ok, so that's not really true.

A great view of the Collegiate Peaks from the Rainbow Trail.

Eventually our limited time due to a previously scheduled couples massage put an end to our hike.  Given the challenging nature of the trail, our pups had probably had enough.  The rocks definitely took their toll on their pads.  Besides, not every day should be about epic long hikes.  Sometimes it should be a little challenge, a little relaxation and a little decadence.  4.87 miles, 1:53:38, 23:18 pace, 1269' of climbing.

Mmmmm, Moonlight Pizza.  Is there anything better on earth?  Maybe a glass of their homebrewed Hefferveisen beer...

So we wrapped up the weekend with a morning at the dog park.

Buffalo Creek: 543, Baldy, Miller Gulch, Sandy Wash

Great weather brings out a whole lotta people on the weekends.  Buffalo Creek was busy.  While I have no problems sharing the trails with mountain bikers, today was a bit of a pain because of a group of horses.  The problem is that they kept passing me, which would require me to stop so all six of them (and another half-dozen or so dogs) could pass me, they'd ride for a while, then stop to water their horses, talk or have lunch, then resume just in time to pass me again, requiring me to stop.  By the fourth and final time it was almost comical, but I don't do well with interruptions on the trail and it did disturb my mojo for the hike.  I just wanted to belt out miles and it seemed like there were too many pace-breaking stops to get a good flow.  That combined with running out of water about three hours in, which made me cut the hike a bit short of what I was hoping for today and I can just say that I've had better days on the trail.

A beautiful sky, but man, was it dry.  I don't think I can recall a November this dry here on the front range.  One of the fire departments had it signed as Extreme fire danger (likely one above reality, but still, very high is ridiculous for November).

The view north toward Long Scraggy.

14.24 miles on the day, 4:27:18, average pace was 18:46, 1,305' vertical.

Mt. Sanitas

Needing a bit of a change of scenery and also wanting to check out my favorite used outdoor clothing shop, I decided to park at the Pearl Street trailhead and hike Mt. Sanitas.  Nice crisp air, beautiful clear skies; it was a good day to climb, which is a good thing, because anyone who's done Sanitas knows that is exactly what it does.

4.71 miles, 1:45:00, 1,201' vert, average pace 22:32.  From the Sanitas Trailhead to the summit, 1.4 miles, 951 vertical, I managed a respectable 28:50.

Bergen Peak

Deciding that there was no better way to spend Thanksgiving, I got out for a hike of Bergen Peak.  I was far from the only one.  Actually, I had to go to a different trailhead it was so crowded.  That said, the slight change of scenery wasn't bad for me.  I had a very solid climb up and ran down until I hit the intersection, then went back to walking.  Temps were cold enough that I chose to run off the summit just to get warmed back up.

10.56 miles (from the Lewis Ridge Road TH), 2:59:34, 17:11 pace. 1991' vertical.

Buffalo Creek: Gashouse, Baldy, Tramway, CT, GM Loop

I got out with my former boss, Colleen, for a nice hike in Buffalo Creek.  Perfect weather, about 60F, very few folks on the trail for a Saturday.  Started at the Gashouse trailhead, headed north to Baldy, down Baldy to 543 to Tramway, up tramway to the Colorado Trail and caught the Green Mountain loop at the end.  Rather than doing the trail back, we hit the road, both agreeing that we had enough miles under our feet for the day.

13.42 miles, 1,250' vert, 4:22:48 with an average pace of 19:34m/m.

A great conversation along the trail catching up on other adventures in our lives and trail recommendations for future hikes.

Buffalo Creek Explorations

While I've been mountain biking in Buffalo Creek since 2000, it's only been in the last couple of weekends that I've started doing some hiking and running in the area.  Last weekend I saw a rare sight that begged to be explored, a new trail (or at least new to me).  Going up FDR 543, between where the singletrack portion of Sandy Wash takes off and where the gully trail where Sandy Wash dumps I saw a new piece of singletrack taking off to the south with a wooden bridge across the creek.

Today I decided it was time to explore this ribbon of trail goodness.  What I found was the lower portion of the trail looked new, like they were still working on it new, but the further up I went the more clear it was that this had been a project in the works for several years.  By the upper 2/3rds the trees removed from the corridor appeared to have been taken out several seasons ago and it appeared that it was following a corridor of a trail from before the burn (the Buffalo Creek area has been hit by two significant fires, the Buffalo Creek fire in 1996 and the High Meadow fire in 2000.  The Buffalo Creek fire led to numerous trails being closed that only gradually reopened with a lot of lobbying and hard work on behalf of volunteers).

The trail climbs up from 543 steeply at first and then flattens out toward the top, covering about 1,100' over the length of the climb (about 6.5 miles from the trailhead on 543 at the bottom) where it intersects the Buffalo Burn trail, which eventually runs into the Colorado Trail near Hwy 126 and FDR 550.  I continued along the CT to Shinglemill, which I descended back to 543.  While descending 543 a mountain biker stopped me to ask what I'd hiked today and I tried to explain and he referred to the new trail as Lil' Kitty.  Not sure if that's the name, but that's the best I've got for a name.

Part of the long climb up Lil' Kitty looking back

Looking up Lil Kitty

Finally heading downhill!

This was my first time actually going down Shinglemill, as we'd always come up Morrison Creek, gone across the CT then north through Miller Gulch until we intercepted Sandy Wash.  The view and the trail made me wonder why we climbed Morrison Creek instead of Shinglemill.

The only uncomfortable moment was about 3/4 of the was up the climb when I saw a very large gathering of ravens on the other side of the drainage.  One landed on a rock about 100 yards from me and dropped a 6"+ long strip of blood-red meat on the rock before flying away, harassed by other ravens.  As I left the area the ravens all landed on the same area, apparently fighting over a carcass.  Who knows what killed whatever it was, but in that kind of terrain one's mind quickly goes to mountain lions. There were a lot of deer in the area, mostly does in groups of 6-7, some with bucks.  I also saw several nice looking 4-point bucks in the area without harems.

Ending mileage was 15.7 miles, 4:26:12, and a 16:58 average pace.  It was all hiking this time.

Doubletime

Today started off taking advantage of the extra hour of sleep and hitting the trail early.  Valerie and I met in Morrison for a hike into Bear Lake Park and had a pretty good ramble, for me, discovering more trails that I never had a clue existed.  There's a lot of winter training potential in the park and I plan on taking advantage of the system a lot this year.

We scared up a buck and his harem just after the halfway point.  It's clear the rut for mule deer is here.  Final figures on the hike were 5.22 miles, 1:31:49, and a 17:36 pace.

As is quickly becoming my weekend habit, a single hike or run with someone else just doesn't seem to satisfy me, so after getting a quick lunch, I drove up to Buffalo Creek for a hike/trail run.  I walked pretty much the entire ascent going up FDR 543 along the river until I got to Baldy, then proceeding up the hill for about another mile before deciding I didn't have enough in my legs or light in the day to make the connector to Sandy Wash and turned around.  That left me with a 10.74 mile walk/run (about 65% walking, 35% running), which I covered in 2:42:57 which worked out to be a 15:10 pace.

Completing the day with 16 miles felt pretty solid.  Early on in the second hike I did have some tweakiness in my left foot (4th metatarsal) and right patellar tendon, but both seemed to fade with time and by the time I was on Baldy were gone entirely.  While my legs definitely need to continue to develop and my cardio is a long way from where I want it to be, between yesterday's run and today, it's clear that I'm well on my way to  returning to the fitness level I want.