Hurricane Canyon and Lake Manitou

We had a great CRUD long run today, exploring some fairly off-beat trails on the flank of Pikes Peak. As nice as Barr trail is, there are literally hundreds of miles of better trails on the mountain where you don't have to pick your way around oxygen-deprived tourists with ski poles. Anyway, today's route started in downtown Manitou and headed up Williams Canyon, my favorite canyon in the area. The wet spring and recent (yesterday) rains made for nice lush surroundings and we were all soaked well before the creek crossing later in the morning.

Williams Canyon (next 2 photos):




We took a connector trail up to Waldo Canyon and then ran Waldo to the trailhead on Highway 24, getting in a bit of speed work crossing the road with its 55 MPH traffic (think Frogger).

Waldo:



Longs Ranch Road has a similar grade and surface to the Powerlines climb during the LT100, though it is hard to simulate the 75 miles on your legs at that point during the 100 miler. As steep as it is, if you've ever "run" this dirt road in hip deep snow, the dirt is a welcome relief.

Longs Ranch Rd (next 2 photos):



Longs Ranch Road tops out around 9000 feet where several trails branch off. You can go down through the Manitou Experimental Forest to No Name Creek, take a trail over through Eagles Nest to the top of the Incline, take Bob's Road over to Barr Trail, or take a nice overgrown single track trail through Hurricane Canyon to the French Creek drainage at the base of the Manitou Lake dam, which was our route today.

Hurricane Canyon (next 3 photos):






Lots of Elk scat and wildflowers along with plenty of fallen trees since this is not a highly used trail. From the dam, we scooted down trail 638 to the 7.8 mile sign on Barr trail, and then back down Barr Trail which was teeming with people on this holiday day.

Trail 638:


Route Specifics: 4:38 total time. 21.27 miles and 9000 feet of altitude gain. That amount of gain seems too much to me, but that is what Steve's GPS said. I'm guessing more like 6000 ft gain.

As for me - I'm finally feeling like a real runner again and not holding up the group on these long days. Next weekend is the Leadville Trail marathon where I'll be running with my Dad; we did this in 2007 and this year he hopes to break 5Hrs.

Catching Up

Yes I'm still alive, if only barely. My surgery recovery has been very slow with me still being super fatigued. I had follow-up blood work done yesterday and will hear the results next week in case I need to do anything different than my current plan, which mainly consists of suffering twice a week on the CRUD runs. My only event on the slate at this point is running the Leadville Trail Marathon in 6 weeks with my Dad. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up! All the normal CRUD guys, along with 2009 newcomers Eric Grossman and Scott Jaime, have been kicking my butt on the Thur CRUD hill workouts. Look out for Eric at the WS100, and Scott at the HR100 this season as both are in good shape and getting faster each week.

We had a nice run today with the CRUD group through the Air Force Academy (Falcon Trail) and partway up Stanley Canyon. A few of the guys went up the whole way to Rampart Reservoir but I turned back right after this photo for a 3 hr run.



Just for Brownie, I wanted to show a few of my latest furniture pieces. This first one is a desk/secretary made out of Cherry. This piece includes more than 200 dovetails as well as a lot of inlay using other woods (maple, walnut, and mahogany).




Finally, this is a King size bed made out of Walnut and Curly Maple. The clients are quite short as you can see.

Crystal Park/Section 16 Run

After a spring "blizzard" on Thursday, we got the chance to run in some snow for today's long run. Luckily there wasn't as much snow on the southwest side of town as up here in Palmer Lake, but still enough to have some fun. The contrast of the blue sky, green trees, and white snow is always a sight to see.

So today's run was an 18.3 mile loop starting and finishing in Manitou Springs. We ran up Crystal Park rd, which is a paved road that winds up a private neighborhood for about 8 miles. This is a nice grade and they plow it so we got all our uphill running out the way without having to worry about the snow.

We had a nice group again, including Scott Jaime who came down from Denver and the return of Tony K after his winter in Oregon. Photos courtesy of Larry D and Steve B.



Turntable for cars partway up the hill:


This is the actual turntable mentioned in the sign above:


CRUD regrouping at the day's high point of about 9200 feet:


From the high point, we got on the Palmer Trail for a nice fluffy downhill run towards Section 16.

Stylish Rick:


Deep snow on the Palmer Trail:


Here we are re-grouping at the intersection of the Palmer Trail and the Section 16 trail.


We took the counterclockwise direction on Section 16 down to Hi Drive, and then took Hi Drive down to the Section 16 trailhead and then on around to the Intemman trail junction.

Intemman Trail:


The Intemman trail goes over some nice red rock single track back to the bottom part of Crystal Park Rd.

Beautiful Colorado Day:


Name that Dork:

Balanced Rock/Winding Staircase Loop

Today was just a beautiful day for a long CRUD run. We ran one of my favorite all-time loops. Starting from our house in Palmer Lake, this loop runs through Glen Park to the Palmer Lake Reservoir trailhead. From there, we went up the Reservoir trail towards Balanced Rock Rd (FS 322). All photos by Steve Bremner.



After passing the two Palmer Lake reservoirs and turning onto FS 322, it is time to climb. This steep and rutted road gains about 2000 feet and travels 9 miles until you end up at Rampart Range Rd (FS 300).



Still a bit of snow in shady spots.



After running about 2.5 miles on Rampart Range Road, the loop turns right on Winding Stairs road (FS 323) to return to the Reservoirs. This road starts out pretty mellow but then drops a thousand feet in less than 2 miles near the end while affording great views of the reservoirs below.




Scott Jaime bringing up his typical position in the rear.



Group shot with Pikes Peak in the background.



For most of the run, we were treated to spectacular views of the North Face of Pikes Peak, which got a dusting of new snow yesterday.



Back at our home in Palmer Lake rehydrating.



The entire run is about 21.4 miles and gains just over 5,000 feet. The high point is 9300 feet. With summer coming, I'll be running this one a lot in the next several months.

Blodgett Peak Run

Blodgett Peak at 9423 feet is one of the taller peaks within the Rampart Range, which runs from just north of Pikes Peak up towards Denver. Blodgett is just northwest of Colorado Springs and we decided to climb it today as part of our weekly CRUD long run. This would normally be a slippier proposition this time of year, but we have had a very dry winter so far.



We started at the Woodmen trailhead in Colorado Springs and headed 2 miles north on the Santa Fe trail. At Ice Lake, we headed west and followed some Air Force Academy dirt roads towards the base of Blodgett.


It is hard to tell with no leaves, but this scrub is actually a version of Oak tree called Gambling Oak. It grows on open slopes that have lots of sun exposure.


The trail gains about 2500 feet in 2 miles, so it is quite steep in places.


At about 8800 feet, we finally get off the arid eastern slope into a more alpine environment.


Rick getting close to the top.


Tara on the top.


Rick pointing out where he took a dump on the way up.


CRUD Group Shot


We came across this very cool ice in a creek on the Stables trail. It reminds me of wood grain going all different directions.


After the top, we split up into two groups for the return trip. There is an old airplane crash nearby that some went to check out, while the others cruised down to the Falcon trail and then back to Woodmen. All in all a nice run interrupted with a beautiful hike up Blodgett.

Mt. Herman Rd/Limbaugh Canyon Loop

Mt. Herman


The weather here has been greatly lately, allowing for nice runs up higher that are usually much more snowpacked this time of year. This run started at our house in Palmer Lake and headed over to the base of Mt. Herman (about 2 miles away). It then essentially makes a big clockwise circle around the mountain.

Monument Rock

On the way, you get a nice view of Monument Rock.

Mt. Herman Rd starts as pavement in Monument, CO and soon turns to dirt. It then goes about 12 miles up till it intersects with Rampart Range Rd. There are just tons of smaller forest service roads and trails that branch off from it, making it a great place for running.

How Many Rules Did I see Broken Today?

That would be 2: lots of trash and an idiot shooting his gun right off the road into the woods (and towards Trail 715).

As you get off the dry, east face of Mt. Herman you start to get some great lush views.

View Up the Road


Trail signs don't seem to last long out here, but I did see two on this run (that is out of about 12 trail intersections I passed!). This point is at a little over 8500 feet, and then it is a nice gradual descent down Limbaugh Canyon through some very pretty meadows. A creek runs down the middle but right now all the crossings are nice and frozen.

Trail Interesection





The difference from the shady parts of the canyon to the arid east facing overlook was amazing. The temperature was also about 20 degrees cooler in the canyon than down in town.





Overlook of Palmer Lake

This is at the opening of the canyon towards the bottom. You are looking down into town. Our house is about 1/2 way from where I took the shot to the lake. The lake has a nice flat dirt path around it that is exactly 6 laps for 5 miles so I do some of my workouts down there.

From this point on the trail, you can either trespass and go straight back to town, or veer off to the right on a new trail that runs down the east face of Mt. Herman back to the base of the mountain near Monument Rock. Depending on the exact route you take, the loop is 12 - 16 miles.