We left Austin at 6:30 on Wednesday and with plenty of bathroom stops, waffle house for 3:30am breakfast for dinner, Cadillac ranch stop etc., our 5 person 1 hour -minimum driving rotation had us in Westcliffe, CO after a 14 and a half hour drive. Not too bad in a minivan… plenty of space, satellite radio, portable DVD player, multiple iPhones, and copious amounts of snacks to get us to destination alive.
I also brought my little FlipCam and since my Camelbak has handy side pockets, I popped it out quite often to take some video here and there.
After a night of camping in Alvarado Camp grounds, with generous portions of pasta with meat sauce and a few libations, we hit the sack and were up at sunrise the next morning, ready to attack the day.
Most of the running was done at an average elevation of 9,000 feet. At time we’d get well over 10,000, and we’d also go as low as mid to low 7,000 feet. I never felt a lack of oxygen, or hard to breathe, which was my big worry, but the climbing is in a different category from anything you see in Texas. Regardless how many hill repeats you do, it doesn’t quite compare to the continuous ups we faced. (and these aren’t even the nasty super big 12,000-14,000 foot mountains!
Day 1 was about 22 miles. Plenty of ups and downs, and very different surfaces, but no steep and long climbs compared to day 2 and 3. We stopped at waterfalls, had a 15 minute lunch break, and ran about a 10-11min per mile pace throughout knowing we had 2 more days to come. The total runtime including stops was about 5 hours 15 minutes for me. Once we reached destination, Ken who’s training for Leadville 100 went back out and added more miles over a couple more hours.
Click here for video of day 1
After the run, we hung out, I attempted to take a bath/icebath in the frigid creek, but failed miserably as I only lasted about 15-20 seconds in the water. We had a delicious Pork Chili with tortillas and/or fresh baked cornbread. (not a big fan of cornbread, so I loaded up on Tortillas)
After another campfire session with some libations, we hit the sack and got up yet again, at sunrise for a 9:15am departure after some breakfast, and breaking down the campground.
Day 2 was about 20 miles total long. It featured ups and downs but nothing to crazy for the first 14 miles, and then a loooong and steep 4.5 mile, 2300 foot climb. There really was no way to run it except for a few spots here and there, so we power walked it over 1.5 hours. Once we reached the summit, we had a quick 20’ish minute descent back down to our next and final campground. The run took us right about 5 hours. (When we reached the summit of the big climb, Ken decided to run back down the way we came and do it again, therefore adding another 9 miles to his total for the day.)
Click here for video of day 2
The third campsite was called Hayden Creek and we had spots 8 and 9. They were outstanding spots and the photos I’ve posted are from the spot. Plenty of room to spread out 8 tents etc. We had a REALLY good chicken and rice meal. Seeing that it was the last campout of the trip, a few of us may have had a wee too much to drink in the Jim Beam and Miller Lite department which prove to make the 3 day’s run a bit more challenging than it needed to be. ; )
Day 3 was about 22 miles long. This day was the hardest of them all, as we started right away with a 1,700 foot climb, then ran an additional 4 very steep climbs, of which two were probably around 1000 feet. Every one of these climbs was steep as hell, and by the time the 2nd to last hill was before me, my legs were cooked. But I fought through the desire to go sleep under a pine tree, and kept pushing along as hard as I could. Ken, David, and Steve dropped me before the final climb, which proved to be ridiculous after all the prior climbs, and the night of lack of appropriate hydration. The climb had 3 or 4 false tops, as you would be climbing and finally see sky instead of trees ahead, so you’d think you were there, only to find out there’s more ahead, just in a different direction, or through a meadown etc. You’ll see in the 3rd day’s video how I reached an Aspen Grove, and figured I was done, only to find yet more climbing, then more after that.
Click here for video of day 3
All in all, it was a great great trip, and I hope to do it again, no later than next year.
4 comments:
Awesome! You should do part of the Colorado Trail next year...
Awesome video! So glad you filmed Ken relieving himself;-)
No- it looked like a fantastic trip, thanks for sharing!
you know Katie, I actually have a longer version of him relieving himself where I ask him if he can pee with no hands. Hence why he's "handless". i opted to keep it in there, just to show that we also hydrated and pee'd.
hahahah
; )
Ahhh, the handless dare explains it. I thought he wasn't going to get 'situated' before facing the camera...i covered my eyes.
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