The second day of camp was to feature a Hope Pass double crossing, but that darn snowpack thwarted the plan. Apparently the creeks we were supposed to cross were 8' deep and rushing at 90 mph, which may or may not be an exaggeration.
The alternate route was to run from the Missouri Gulch trailhead about 2 miles up the road to the Hope Pass trail and then climb the south side of Hope. After descending Hope, we continued up that lovely road to Winfield before turning around and heading back.
I know this may sound obvious, but this weekend reminded me just how incredibly beautiful the Leadville course is. I think when I've pictured this race, I've thought more about the dusty road to Winfield, the never-ending Boulevard, or the pavement pounding after Hatchery. But really, those sections are so small in comparison to the majority of running through remarkable scenery.
We had the option to climb Hope twice and many did. I was one that didn't. I ran the 13.5 miles of the route very well, felt a little bruising on the ball of my right foot, and was just fine calling it a day. Plus they had a mouth-water cookout waiting for us at the trailhead of which I was one of the first to partake in.
At this point, Twin Lakes to Hope Pass is the only section of the course I have not run yet. I plan to get up there sometime in the next few weeks to knock that out.
Enjoy the pics from Day Two.
Yeah, definitely pretty scenic up there! Although I think of mining debris when I think of Leadville too. heh.
ReplyDeleteThe Hope Pass trail looks nice; I'll have to run it some time.
Missouri Gulch across the road is a great running trail too, I've been up that maybe 5 times now running/hiking the 14ers (plus trying to, and turning back due to storms).
You are racking up some solid time on the trails these last couple of weeks! Love the view from Hope looking south. That's my favorite of the whole race.
ReplyDeleteSweet pics man! Twin to Hope is short and probably still well covered. I'd give it a few weeks. Though, this crazy hot weather will do a lot for it. Nice work post SJS!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fantastic weekend down there! Great pics and nice work with regards to your recovery. Hope Pass is simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMtnrunner2 - Yeah, I hiked Belford and Oxford from that trailhead a few years ago. I got my buddies to do a little "trailrunning" on the descent and they were not happy about it. No one fell, but we were all quite sore when we finished.
ReplyDeleteChris - I feel like my mileage has plateaued a little, so I'm trying to bump it up a few notches to introduce a new stimulus. But as we all know, you walk that fine line between growth and injury, so I'm trying to be smart about it.
PG - You can see the large snowfield right on the other side of the pass, but it would have been easy to cross and below it to the lake looked fairly dry. I think the swollen creeks are the main issue right now. The snow is rapidly disappearing.
Jaime - I'm so thankful that I bounced back from SJS right away. With looking at a 2-3 week taper for the LT100, that only gives me about 5 more weeks of final prep work. Yikes, it's coming fast!