Fri 8/10 - AM 80 minutes

Mt. Falcon. While I was here four months ago, I had forgotten how tough the climb is from the parking lot to the top of the ridge, over 30 minutes of solid climbing. Once there, wandered around  to the various points of interest including the "Summer White House" site, mansion ruins, and the Eagle's Eye shelter with longish breaks at each of them. Headed back via Castle Trail, a thudding descent with a couple of near misses. Right hammie not quite as stiff as yesterday, SI joint remains stuck though.

 Preposterous idea given the remoteness of the location

 Thanks to WWI this is as far as the project got

 mansion would have had a nice view though

 red rocks and dinosaur ridge

by the fountain, near the gates

Thu 8/9 - double, 80 minutes total plus 15 minutes in the Chatfield Res

AM - 50 minutes plus 15 minute in the reservoir. Same route as the other day but didn't fee like going all the way to the designated swim beach. This meant jumping in at a rather nasty, muddy, smelly, weed-choked spot which was quite gross. Much more wave action on the water today as well compared to the other day, rolling in swells the likes of which aren't typically seen at Walden. Run portion felt better than I could have reasonably hoped for although right hammie feels strained.

PM - 30 minutes easy jog in and around Cheesman Park plus drills and strides. Glorified excuse to do the post-run stretch and core routine which has been noticeably lacking of late. Hammie is indeed a bit of a mess at the moment, as is left SI joint which is twinging every time  I get up from a squat position.

Wed 8/8 - AM 6 hour run/hike, Longs Peak and Chasm Lake

Might be more appropriate to characterize this as a "hike/run" given the gnarly terrain and of course the sheer wackiness of the Keyhole route, but undeniably a decent workout as well as a massively entertaining and scenic day. Originally this was going to happen tomorrow, but schedule got changed around a bit when I realized the run I had planned for today was much too far away from where I was staying. Bagging two fourteeners in three days within the first five days of the trip is certainly not the way to do things, and I have lingering concern that I may have incurred a mild case of altitude sickness from the hike up Pikes and this only exacerbated it. However, it was either today or never given the schedule for the rest of the trip. Hit the trail much later in the morning than my previous visits here, just before 6 in fact. Once again the running lasted around 90 minutes before turning into a mix of running and hiking, then hiking across the Boulderfield, then scrambling beyond the Keyhole to the summit. On the way back down, took the side trail to Chasm Lake and while I wish the trail itself was flatter instead of going up and then back down as it heads toward the lake, it was definitely worthwhile to lay eyes on the lakes, falls, and marshy meadow between them. Legs tired of course, some unique demands being placed on them by all the scrambling, but overall not as sore as they felt after the Pikes Peak hike. Less overall distance certainly a factor in this. Without further ado, the pictures:

 trail to Chasm Lake just after sunrise

 first view of the Keyhole, very far away

 closer

 Boulderfield seen from Keyhole

 bullseyes mark the "trail"

 very crowded in the Trough

 up the Trough

 snacks are puffy at these heights

 summit is a big area

 this is part of the trail too

 Peacock Lake

 Chasm Lake

Tue 8/7 - AM 65 minutes plus 20 minutes in the Chatfield Reservoir

Who knew, one can aquajog in Colorado. I had been planning on staying at a different campsite but it was full, Chatfield State Park was the fallback. Enormous place, with my campsite about 4 miles or so from the swimming beach. Did an out and back to the pond with the dip in the middle. Water is of course colder than Walden at this altitude but that's not a bad thing at this time of year. The two legs of the run both started out slow and gradually got quicker, then a lot quicker right near the end. Felt better than expected given yesterday's long day, although the left SI joint is quite stuck from that and in regular need of gapping.

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

Sun 8/5 - double, 1:45 total

Did AM - 90 minutes, North Cheyenne Cañon. After much perusal of various maps, I went out and took a different trail than the one I wanted, of course. Not a big deal in the end as the loop I had in mind originally would have actually been on the short side. Started up the Seven Bridges Trail from Gold Camp Road, running alongside the creek

this trail started out mellow enough but soon got much gnarlier than I would have liked with steep sidehill sections in loose gravel, not helped any by the runoff from a freak rainstorm earlier in the week. Eventually I got to Jones Park, the point of the whole thing, which was slightly underwhelming based on what I had read:

From there the plan was to take the 667 to High Drive. To my chagrin though I found that this trail was "multi-use" meaning redneck dipshits on motorbikes tearing it up and creating sine wave hummocks. Eventually I took a side trail which I figured was the 666 (Bear Creek Cañon) which it was. What I didn't realize is how long this thing would descend, for what seemed like forever, until it spat me out at the base of High Drive. Left calf didn't appreciate the descent, some left over soreness from the combo of the race and hill drills have left it very tight.

the 666, aptly named

The run up and over high Drive wasn't as taxing or endless as I thought it would be, a pleasant surprise. Eventually found myself at the same spot I first came upon in April during that trip

10 minutes of downhill running from there put me back at the start. Legs a bit trashed from all the up and down but it could have been worse.

PM - 15 minutes plus drills and strides. Needed to do the post-run stretching routine after skipping the past two days.

Sat 8/4 - PM 60 minutes

Garden of the Gods. The travails of traveling well worth escaping the disgusting conditions at home, with last night being the worst so far of the summer for sleeping. Slept very little between the muggies and typical pre-trip mania/anxiety. The run got started on the late side after the trip to the Springs and various shopping stops. Took it easy for the first 10 minutes or so before getting into some of the more rolling terrain. Left calf and heel not feeling so great, apparently the drills yesterday had more of a negative effect than I initially thought.