Monday, January 21, 2019

A Barr Camp "Plus" Day

I had wanted to attempt a summit of Pikes Peak this morning, but the winds were high, and the road was closed (I had planned on up only).

Instead, I headed up the trail, set on Barr Camp at a minimum, but I knew I wouldn't be satisfied without going a little beyond.

I was a bit early before the club run since I had planned to summit, but I was also skipping the pavement due to my ankle being angry lately.

It was nice to see Tim, who had headed out early for his run also.

The trail was icy at the start of Barr, and fully snowpacked beyond No Name Creek. 




It was gorgeous conditions, actually, as the worst of the wind was only above treeline. You could see snow blowing off the front face all morning.



Most of Barr from Bob's Road up felt like running in sand. The snow hadn't melted a lot, so each step had a lot of give. I'd expected at least some postholing today, but not this low down! It's definitely winter conditions on the trail, but it's beautiful. 




It was nice to sit in at Barr Camp for a few minutes and chat. Ultrarunner Craig stopped in, I'm amazed by the distances this guy is able to do.

I wouldn't be able to stay too long as I opted to push for AdaMan rock, as Zach said he'd hiked Elk Park several times with snowshoes and it should be packed in.

Well it did help to follow Zach's snowshoe prints, it was still mostly postholing. I broke trail off of Elk Park towards AdAMan Rock and did the short scramble to the outcropping. Views were outstanding but it was very windy on top.





As I jogged down, the trail had melted out quite a bit, but there were still very icy patches caused by the snowmelt and wind combinations.




It made for a great day of adventure in the mountains, although it was not what I had planned.

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