Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Westward Adventure: Epic Mount Zirkel Trek!

Sunday, September 1, 2013. Three days of acclimating to 10000+ feet elevation have passed. Mount Zirkel lies 18 miles north of my camp at Luna Lake, perched atop the Continental Divide. The time is 5:15 am, and it is time to go.

I want to make it to the Divide in time for sunrise so I leave in the dark, armed with a headlamp, two water bottles, and a pack filled with calories and a few emergency supplies I have convinced myself will be worth carting over 36 miles. There is also a full water bladder in this pack too. This will be important later.

The previous three days, I have started the day with a time trial up to the Divide. Just to see how my fitness is improving (or not) as the days pass. Today is a long day so I take it easy and walk most of the way up to the Divide. The sky begins to light up as I approach the Wyoming Trail along the Divide, promising a stunning sunrise, the reward for my restless sleep and early rising. Sure enough... the sun does not disappoint (as Sol rarely does).

Sunrise at 12000 feet.

I continue along the Divide, heading toward the Lost Ranger, a 12000+ peak and, upon cresting the thing, I see my object on the horizon, dimly lit by the rising run, Mount Zirkel, flanked by the ever-so-slightly-shorter Big Agnes. Mount Zirkel is the namesake of this Wilderness and rightly so: it commands the Wilderness and the respect of those who wish to gain its summit.

My first glimpse of Mt. Zirkel.

So I run. I run downhill and I walk uphill what with my oxygen problem up at this altitude. The water on my back pisses me off though. Sloshing around, being all heavy and whatnot. Then I notice I am sweating. A lot. From my butt. This is strange as I have yet to sweat noticeably all week. It's so dry and the sun is so intense up here that sweat evaporates before you even notice its there. So why is my ass soaking wet? Damn water bladder broke! The junction between the hose and the bladder itself broke and now the contents are leaking down by backside. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise though? I hate that thing back there and now I have no choice but to empty it out.

And now I feel a million times better! My pack is several pounds lighter, it sits stably on my back, and my butt is refreshed. Onward! After traversing some surprising and beautiful high alpine meadows, the trail descends several thousand feet to about 9500' before the long ascent toward Mt. Zirkel commences. This is great, actually. At 9500' I can run! Uphill! Not a steep hill, mind you, but an uphill incline nonetheless. For the first time in four days, I am able to make about 12 minutes per mile on something other than flat or downhill terrain. Thank you Oxygen! But, the uphill incline is accompanied by a monotonic increase in elevation, as will happen in these things. So eventually I am reduced to sucking air and power walking. But this is also great! Because I am in the mountains!!! I came here to do this and now I am doing this and it's marvelous and wonderful and happy.

After an hour or so making tracks up toward the approach to My Zirkel, I find myself in a high Alpine meadow under the unwavering gaze of these high peaks. I think they are laughing at me and my pitiful attempt to scale them via "running." Anyway, see for yourself, it was a rather moving sight.

Alpine Meadow Approaching Mt. Zirkel

The approach up Mt. Zirkel is a series of long switchbacks up a barren slope into a pass in which the dirt is red. It's name is "Red Dirt Pass." Clever. From here the trail goes straight up several hundred feet onto a flat ridge that runs to the summit. I am always amazed by the boulder fields one often finds atop mountains... makes for slow going but damn its fascinating stuff! Anyway, I figure out which bumpity bump atop the mountain is the actual summit, pass some folks who like my bright yellow shorts, and find myself atop Mt. Zirkel.

And then I cry. For like a minute. This is the first time I actually realize that the past is past and that all I have left is the future. This is a stupid simple concept but I suppose it had yet to occur to me that I am in fact leaving Madison and going west. That I will no longer see the people I am closest to on a daily basis. But then of course, this is OK! Change is good and the future is a terribly exciting place where anything can and will happen. So I spend a few minutes atop Mt. Zirkel, think about all the people who have helped me get where I am today, the people I wish wish were with me right now, and eat a peanut butter-nutella-granola wrap. After sufficient pondering and reminiscing I take my leave from this amazing place and start working my way down the boulders and off the mountain.

Atop Mt. Zirkel. It's been a long exciting road to get here and a long exciting road onwards from here :)

The trip back is just a slog in terms of running. 18 miles back down off Zirkel, back up to the high meadows north of Lost Ranger, a tangle with a little bit of lightning atop Lost Ranger and, finally the long slow descent back into Luna Lake. I'd say more about this second half of the run but I was so overwhelmed atop Zirkel, so flooded with emotion once I realized just where I was and what was going on in my life, that I have so little to say about the second half. Except this: once I got the little bit of sadness out of my system, I was so filled with optimism and happiness about where I can go from here that I hardly recall what went through my mind for the next five hours or so. All I recall is a feeling that things aren't just going to be all right, they are going to be great. And not just for me but for all of us. So much lies out of our control but we can influence things just enough, I think, to always steer our lives toward excitement and happiness. Freakin' sweet!

OK, 36 miles down, about 8500 ft of elevation gain to go with it. All between 9500' and 12500'. A nice little cry in the middle to round it all out ha. Total time? Who even cares? I did this for fun, not for fast. But, for those who like to keep score (me a tiny bit), about 10 hours and 18 minutes on the move. Not a bad way to spend a day! After ending the day with a freezing dip in the lake, all I can do is sit, eat, drink, and contemplate the run and the events of the past 6 years. What a run it has been, literally and figuratively! I think the video atop Mt. Zirkel says it all - where would I be without my friends and family? I'd rather not even contemplate that. I am so grateful for all of you over all these years. And I cannot wait to share many more experiences with you all over all the years to come.

Now, go for a run or a hike in some mountains. Perhaps you cannot always move them but, I can assure you, they will move you.

Peace world :)

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Running in Mount Zirkel Wilderness

So running adventure number one. Mount Zirkel Wilderness near Steamboat Spring, CO. I dropped off some belongings that didn't want to be in the sun very much with new friend MJ in Fort Collins and headed west into the mountains. Four hours later found me driving into Buffalo Pass along a pretty sweet forest service road in my AWESOME new car that I love to own and drive places in a TON. Buffalo pass is where the Wyoming Trail (coincides with the CDT at this point) passes through a nice high, accessible trailhead with parking and many other amenities like a pit toilet. Which is an important amenity. Left the car, hoisted my pack and, for the first time in several years, headed into the wilderness for a five night/four day adventure.


Armed, in hindsight, with a somewhat misplaced sense of self-confidence I hiked 8.7 miles into the backcountry to Lake Luna, a beautiful alpine like sitting at 10500 feet. This is the same lake that Jesse, Steve, Christa, several other Hoofers, and I visited back in 2010 on a whirlwind Colorado hiking weekend. I recall its stunning beauty then and I was not disappointed this year either.


I arrived in an evening drizzle as the sun set, set up a temporary campsite (my intended site was occupied when I got there... this is what happens when you arrive stylishly late to the backcountry mountain party) and spent the first of five nights in this majestic place.

Final campsite for the week! This site is just north of the east end of Lake Luna
up on a little hill above the lake.

The next morning featured a late wakeup (I'm on vacation here!!), moving my camp to the place I wanted to be after the forest service trail workers who had been staying there left, and heading off on the first run. Oy. Running at 10500-12000 feet is hard. There is no oxygen. None. Zero. I was breathing like a fat kid at the slightest aerobic provocation. And when the trail went uphill, which it does immediately from my camp on all the trails I wanted to run, I swear I felt like I had just sprinted a 200 on the track -- that anaerobic, lactic acid feeling in your quads that suggests you have very recently demanded more oxygen for the effort than was available at the time. It was challenging. My first run up to the Continental Divide (so cool to run on the Divide!!) was 1.9 miles uphill and took me over 30 minutes. Once I was up there was not much better... for the duration of the trip I think I only ran a handful of miles that resulted in a pace less than 12 minutes per mile. Remind me that, should I ever run Leadville, I need to take at least a full week and live/run at 10000 feet because even four days of intense running at this altitude was not quite enough to render me able to perform up there. Here, "perform" means "be able to actually run in a manner the average person would recognize as 'running.'"

But, these technical, ability, and acclimation issues aside, the runs took place in the most majestic arena imaginable. The views from atop the Divide were simply stunning.

Looking back on Lake Luna from about 1000 feet of elevation higher.

Many trails were lovely dirt singletrack while others were much more technical.
Great variety to keep every run interesting.

My running schedule for the week ended up looking as follows (along with some random notes I made regarding the runs while I was out there):

Thursday 8/29
AM: 6.2 miles 1120 ft in 1:20:58 (31:22 to the Divide and 23:26 back down [1.9 miles])
PM: 8 miles 1920 ft in 1:47:43 (yarrrr...)

Friday 8/30
AM: 12.6 miles 2640 ft in 2:54:46 (30:22 to Divide and 24ish back down; legs dead at the end but two super hot CDT thru hikers)
PM: 7.4 miles 1600 ft in 1:29:02 (descended from Divide in 19:30 motivated by thunder; 1.8 miles flat at the end with last 0.9 in 5:42, though I think this mileage is a tiny bit suspect; met a huge porcupine on this run)

Saturday 8/31
AM: 19.6 miles 4320 ft in 4:27:51 (30:57 up to the Divide; ran back to car to get a different day pack for long run tomorrow! had to walk a lot but made good time from Luna Lake trail to Buffalo Pass, 7 miles in ~1:22; along Wyoming trail and back again; met lots of cool people who think I should come back for Run Rabbit Run)

Sunday 9/1
Epic run... 36 miles with about 8500 feet of elevation gain. There will be a separate post describing this run.

So a grand total of just about 90 miles in 4 days. Super exhausting but moving. Moving in the sense that I was basically overcome by intense wonder and happiness ALL THE TIME. Except for some of the climbs... they were hard. To conclude, amazing trip, lots of running albeit slowly, and a great opportunity to engage in a great deal of soul searching and hard running. Vacation is the best :)

Wyoming trail was great for running :) 

The Continental Divide is amazing :) 

 My little beach for swimming with or without clothes.

Afternoon thunderstorms often chased me off the Divide.

The granddaddy of all porcupines.

Post-run trip to New Belgium in Fort Collins and some great recovery nutrition!

Look back in a day or two for a more specific post on the 36 miler to Mount Zirkel and back! And for a Grand Canyon adventure! And, eventually, hopefully (foot willing... more on this later), Pine to Palm 100 miler.

Peace, world :)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Fort Collins and Westward

I have not posted in a long time. The past few weeks have been dizzyingly exciting and busy and have featured completing my dissertation, successfully defending it (Dr. Gordon Freeman??), going away party/EP release party, about a dozen gigs with No Name and Riptide, bidding Madison farewell, spending a week in CT where I bought a car and spent wonderful time with my entire family... and now a whirlwind road trip across the country in which I have spent time in wonderful places with wonderful people. Stops in Bethlehem, PA, Philadelphia, PA, and now Fort Collins. I also spent five days in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness near Steamboat Springs in there as well which featured a great deal of running at 10000+ feet. I will hopefully have time to post again in the next day or two as these running adventures are the real focus of this road trip as I make my west towards a new life in Portland, OR!

OK back to the road. Check back soon for some epic mountain running adventures! Today I head to Moab for some runs in that area and then tomorrow night to Grand Canyon for a.... rim-to-rim-to-rim run on Thursday!!!

It's a wonderful life indeed :)

PS Snooze for breakfast and Larkburger for lunch?? I Love CO!