View of the Indian Peaks Wilderness from Flagstaff Mt.
It’s almost May and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t antsy to get up into the big mountains. We had a beautiful weekend in Boulder (70s and sunny) and I finally had the good training run I’ve been waiting for, a solid 26mi/6300ft mountain run through the Boulder hills, on a lot of clear trails. From Bear Peak to Green Mt to Flagstaff Mt to Sanitas, I covered all of the main Boulder mountains that are open, while it was a very enjoyable but challenging run, something was definitely missing from the day as a whole. After some celebratory food and beers at Southern Sun I decided what I was lacking was the thin clean air and expansive views that one gets at 12000ft. The invite went out to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a jaunt up to one of my favorite high country locales, Chasm Lake.
Meeker and Longs from Chasm Junction, always a beautiful scene.
One person took up the invite, so at 730am on Sunday Adelaide and I headed for the Longs Peak Trailhead to try our luck up at getting to Chasm, knowing full well that a lot of snow was still present. It was a balmy 50F at 830am at 9500ft at the Longs Peak Trailhead, much warmer than expected. The trail was nicely packed so we left the traction behind and headed on up. We slowly made our way up the hill, and as we climbed out of the trees the wind picked up and temperature dropped. The view from Chasm Junction was spectacular as always; snow glazed rock pillars jutting from Meeker, The Loft choked with snow and the immense face of The Diamond looming overhead. The final traverse to Chasm Lake was steep hardpack snow, so we decided to forgo the Lake for today, and enjoy a nice easy jog back down.
Running near Chasm Junction with Longs Peak in the background.
To cap off the weekend Adelaide and I stopped by Hall Ranch on the way home for a pleasant hilly 10mile run on the Bitterbrush/Nighthawk trails. From wind and snow packed trails to warm sunshine and dry dirt. A total of 43.2miles and 10700ft of elevation gain put me in a good spot going into my taper for Quadrock. More importantly though this brings me into the meat of my Hardrock training (now 4th on the waitlist), so I’ve got a lot of work ahead. For now time for a little relaxation, some more cross training and to catch up on house chores (like the planting the garden!).