Mon 8/6 - AM 6 hour run/hike, Barr Trail

Made the full round trip, although it may not have been such a great idea. Started out feeling reasonably confident that I would get to the summit, continued to feel this way right up to Barr Camp. Clambering over the many boulders and step-ups between Barr Camp and A-frame things was annoying, with short walking breaks interspersed. The stretch between A-frame and the 2 mile to go marker was something else entirely, as mostly running turned into mostly walking then became all walking. I had more or less decided to turn back at that point, but after a 10 minute break I realized that the elevation gain in the previous mile from A-frame was much more than the elevation gain over the final two miles to the top. With that justification I struck out for the summit, which took another 45 minutes or so of  mostly walking. Definitely not acclimated to this kind of altitude of course, hopefully no lasting damage from the effort. After a very long break at the summit mainly eating snacks, headed back down in a deliberate manner. This worked out relatively well, no falls and only a couple of close calls. Nice break at Barr Camp on the way down, in fact spent almost an hour total on break over the course of what ended up being a full day in the saddle. Down lower I was able to negotiate the Ws near the bottom much quicker than I would have thought w/o killing myself after tucking in behind someone coming off the Incline. Predictably stiff at the bottom but not as tired or beat up as I expected to feel, which I have to ascribe to the walking on the way up and taking it easy on the way down. Looking forward to returning here next weekend a little more tuned up to this kind of altitude.

 the summit is there, a long ways away

 A-frame

 looking up from 2 miles to go

looking down from 2 miles to go

Rampart Reservoir, with burnt area from the fire to the south and east

end of the line

hummingbird at Barr Camp

 same feeder, different bird