I know, I know—no Alaska stories yet! So, here is the deal: we’re organizing some photo stuff on our end and it’s taking a bit longer than anticipated. You see, I use Will’s photos for my blog, but I also use them for additional freelance work on various sites (if it works out). Additionally, another gal on the trip is writing a piece (Amy is a badass writer and adventurer) and Will is contributing his photos to her story as well. Obviously, I want to make sure the other sites get the photos they need before I take them for my blog, so it’s taking a bit of patience. Luckily, I think it’s about sorted, so I can almost promise my first Alaska post tomorrow!
In the meantime, let’s chat about yesterday’s run. Y’all, I have been loving my time on the trails lately! In fact, I don’t know that I’m ever going to go back to regular road running unless it’s just for a small 3-4 mile maintenance run (and even then, it’s only because of time in my schedule!) I’ve been exploring trails I haven’t seen since college and it’s been lots of fun!
I woke up yesterday bright and early with plans to be on trail by 8am, at the latest. Will was coming along to do some filming for Backpacker, so I woke him up 25 minutes before we planned on leaving. Usually, he needs like 2 minutes, but this time took a lot longer because of all the gear he needed to get together. In the end, we left the house 45 minutes later than planned. Fail.
Then, we showed up at the FlatIrons Vista trailhead, a nice Boulder trail that’s 15 minutes from our house. Upon arriving, we realized that since our car isn’t registered in Boulder County, we would have to pay to park! Will said this was standard in San Diego, but I was beyond irritated. Paying to park for trails?! WHAT IS THAT?! Morals aside, neither of us had cash, so we had to find a new trail on the fly. I was adamant that I wanted to try a trail that I hadn’t visited recently, so we headed up Clear Creek Canyon to Gross Reservoir.
Walker Ranch Loop is a super popular trail but most people start at the trailhead in Boulder. Since we were further south at the Crescent Meadows Trailhead, it was pretty deserted. Unfortunately, hunting season started (bows only) so I didn’t want to veer south of the trail. Instead, I decided to run the 7.8 mile loop counter clockwise. I had grand plans of tacking 2 miles on afterwards for an even 10 miles, but as you’ll see—that didn’t happen!
The first 2.5 miles of the loop were a piece of cake: nice singletrack with a constant trend downwards. The trail continued, shady and descending, till it hit Boulder Creek. I took a quick moment to enjoy the view, but then continued onwards. I knew the climb was yet to come!
After crossing Boulder Creek, the trail follows a fire road uphill before taking a sharp left to stay on the Walker Ranch Loop. The ascent was fairly steep and good lord, was it hot! I found myself zigzagging back and forth on the trail, trying to stay in the small pockets of shade. I definitely was cursing our late start (10:15) because the heat was zapping my will to live!
After the sharp left, I continued to steeply climb. I finally resorted to power hiking because it was much more efficient than my little shuffle-run. After some serious gasping for breath, I topped out on a ridgeline and took in the view. The Eldorado Fire took place at Walker Ranch in 2002 and the slopes still show blackened scars from the burns. I also stopped to read one of the trail signs—did y’all know that Ponderosa Pines have a fire-resistant bark?!
The sun was burning me to pieces at this point and my heart rate was going bananas. Regardless, I knew that I had told Will I would be back by 12:15, so I was stressed about making that cutoff time. Otherwise, I knew he would be panicked and pacing back at the parking lot! So, I ceased power hiking and ran down the backside of the slope, hitting up the Walker Ranch Loop Trailhead. From here, I had 2.5 miles left but it was ALL CLIMBING!
To make an already long story somewhat shorter, I missed my cutoff with Will but managed to nab a cell signal briefly enough to send him a text (for which he was thankful!) The bad part about Walker Ranch is that it is a mountain biker’s heaven! Obviously, I love to ride so no comment there, but I was seriously slowed down on trail because I continued to pull over to let them pass. Riders are supposed to yield to peeps on foot, but I always choose to yield anyway, especially on the downhill. I’ve been downhilling on a mountain bike and it can be stressful when you have to slam on the brakes to avoid a hiker! However, there were SO MANY RIDERS that I felt like I was constantly pulling over!
In the end, I did 7.6 miles with an elevation gain of 1,230 feet. Here’s the topo map from my Polar:
(Just click on it to make it bigger)
This run was HARD for me! The heat zapped my energy, my legs were sore from CrossFit on Friday, and the obscene amount of bikers started to get on my nerves. First world problems, right?! However, I’m glad I did it and Will and I promptly drove to Sonic afterwards to wash the dirt out of my mouth with a milkshake. Priorities, right?!
********************
Did you hit up any trails this weekend?