Yesterday's Pikes summit was so much fun! I started out with Sharon, on the Incline. We took the bailout and continued up Barr trail from there. The day was bright, warm, and refreshing.
Sharon wanted a short day today, so she turned around just before No Name Creek. I forgot to get a photo with her before she headed down the trail, but it was nice to touch base.
Above No Name Creek, I ran into a group of ladies who were headed to Barr Camp at a steady pace. I crashed their group and kept pace with them. As it turns out, Katie, Carrie, and Amy were the same ladies I had seen passing me in the gully on my way up Almagre last week! I must run into them pretty frequently on the trail, as I'm certain I passed by them on the Missing Link trail the day that I ran with Jim.
I'm thankful I had a group to help push me to Barr Camp!
I reached Camp in 2:06 and spent about 5 minutes catching up with Zach before I continued on for the summit.
And then, not far past Barr Camp, Lindsay caught up with me! This run was shaping up to be quite productive, since I had different people to help push me along on each section of the trail. It was also nice to see Adrian for a while, as he turned around at A-frame.
Above treeline, Lindsay dragged me all the way to the 2 to go sign. I finally settled into my high altitude pace above that, continuing at a slow and steady pace.
After the Cirque, we ran into Matt who had his car at Devil's playground and offered us a ride back down the big hill. How wonderful to see so many other runners on such a fine midsummer Sunday at 14,000 feet!
Although we took our time above treeline, and stopped many times to catch up with people we knew, my total summit time was still 5:08. Not bad for a moderate effort day!
It was so nice to see so many friends. Thanks again to Sharon, Katie, Carrie, Amy, and Lindsay for all running with me along different segments of the trail so I didn't have to be alone for any one portion for very long! And thanks to Matt for the ride down the mountain!
After that, my husband met us at Memorial Park and we hung out for a while and checked out the crafts fair in Manitou. A perfectly nice way to wrap up a long run day on the Peak!
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