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 :)