My big "fall colors" loop for 2020!

I finally got out of the house!

I've felt pretty stuck the last week as I haven't been out of the house in that time. (Running is just about the ONLY time I leave the house - pandemic still raging.) I knew I had to take a bit of rest before doing an adventure run that would be close to the marathon distance, but it gave me a case of the taper tantrums nonetheless.

I haven't had as much adventure as usual this year, since I'm still basically totally avoiding people, even out on the trails. But I had to get at least one big run in for the fall.

By the way, for those of you who haven't used it yet, Colorado Parks & Wildlife has created their own app called COTREX. This app allows you to see all the trails in the state, and create custom routes that "snap" to the trails. This makes it super useful for accurately estimating distances for adventures! 

I mapped out a loop route connecting Mount Herman Road #320 -> Monument Trail #715 -> Balanced Rock Road #322 -> Rampart Range Road #300 -> Mount Herman Road, and it was estimated to be 23.3 miles. 

Monday morning was the time to go. My husband dropped me off at Mount Herman Road, right at the base of it (the junction with Red Rocks Road, by the overnight parking lot). Mount Herman Road is #320, so I'll use that number to refer to it from now on.

I started out just after 6 am. I had wanted to leave even earlier, but I was glad I waited an extra 30-40 minutes since the sun was just barely beginning to show when I started my run. (Crazy how late it rises in the fall, no?)

The sun shining below the horizon, with Monument city lights in the distance. 

The stars were still showing when I started, even with nautical twilight beginning to give a little light.

As I ascended, you can make out the road that I came up on the left side of the photo. 

Initially, my plan was to go on this loop clockwise (320 to 300 to 322 to 715), but at the literal last moment when I approached the Monument Trail #715 parking area, I changed my mind. And I'm thankful that I decided to do this loop counterclockwise instead, for a whole lot of reasons.

My primary reason for changing at the last moment was my concern that I'd miss the junction of 715 with Balanced Rock Road #322, since I'd never been there and was unfamiliar with the area. My concern was well-founded, because when I popped out from the junction, 715 was a barely noticeable trail that joined a rutted segment of the rough OHV road. I might have missed it going in the other direction. 

I also knew that going clockwise, I'd have a pretty big uphill near the end of 715 right when I was at mile 20 to 21, and I decided I'd rather take it as an early downhill at mile 3 to 4 instead. I'm quite glad I did that.

A third reason was that I figured the trail would be empty this early in the morning. (I was right - I didn't pass a single person on foot the whole day.)

Finally, the deciding factor was that I felt a little bit bored of going up 320 already, and I wanted to experience more trails and adventure early on during my run, while I was still fresh. I could easily run down a road later on in the run when that would be all I wanted anyway - an easy, smooth downhill where I could just tune out and run. (It wasn't quite that simple, but more on that later).

With the light steadily increasing now, and civil twilight strong enough to see without a headlamp, I joined the Monument Trail #715. A short uphill was followed by a long, winding downhill that popped out into the first aspen grove of the day.

Sadly, the first grove was all bare. I was a few days too late for that one. But the leaf cover on the ground was still pretty, and I coasted along in the cool morning air.

The cold mid-autumn early morning light illuminates freshly fallen leaves and aspens prepared for winter.

I kept my hopes up for fall colors, since I knew there were more aspens along this little valley. And soon enough, there they were! Fall colors with cool rocks on Mt. Herman in the background. 

A few of these aspens still have leaves, along with some other fall foliage in the foreground. I just love those "stacked" rocks on the back side of Mt. Herman.

Soon I was leaving the valley, and turned around for a snapshot of the sun illuminating a distant mountain as it began its daily journey. 

I noticed my hands were getting quite cold, as I was spending too much time taking photos and not enough time running. No problem, I balled them up inside my gloves and sped up, and soon they were warm again. It was then that I tried to drink from my water hose, and realized that it was totally frozen! I was surprised the ambient temperature in that little valley was not only below freezing, but cold enough to freeze my hose. I reminisced about all those times at Incline club when our water hoses froze and we all stuck them inside our shirts to warm up enough to drink. Instead, I took a sip from the water bottle in the front of my pack, realizing that the day would heat up quickly and be quite warm soon.

After the valley, trail 715 comes to a junction. To the west (left in my case) is a short climb that connects to Balanced Rock Road #322, an OHV road that I'd be taking west for several miles. Near the top of the climb, the sun finally met up with an aspen, giving it a golden glow.

The road 322 starts out really rough (how can anyone operate any motor vehicle on something like that?!) But it soon levels out and becomes more reasonable. 

Soon after climbing the first hill on the road, I found an overlook to the valley that I'd come from below.

Somewhere way down in that valley is the aspen grove I spent so much time photographing. It didn't seem like that much of a climb at all!

I thought that road 322 was going to be mostly uphill, but it was actually quite undulating, with some nice downhill segments. The steeper parts were reminiscent of Longs Ranch Road, but they were very short segments.

Soon after another little climb, I came to a ridge that showcased the valley to the north, AND the Pikes Peak massif to the west. I actually gasped in amazement at seeing the monolithic Pikes Peak standing tall in the distance. This road was traveling along a ridgeline with an open view and it was amazing!

Although it's hard to tell from the photo, the valley to the north displayed the sheer area of the massive Rampart Range. And this is only a small portion. All this glorious National Forest that we have in Colorado is a blessing. 

A fantastic view of Pikes, with Almagre to the left. These are the only two major summits in the region that reach above treeline.

I made it a game to find the "Balanced Rock" that gives the road its name.

Is this "Balanced Rock?" It's kind of small.

A more likely candidate. 

I'm not sure I ever found "Balanced Rock," but I did find more aspens!

It was intermittently very windy, so my hair was blowing around a lot!

These aspens were closer to the Rampart Range Road side of 322.

I really loved this view of Pikes with the single rock.

Soon I was nearing Rampart Range Road #300. This is the main "spine" through the Rampart Range, with many roads and trails connecting. I'd be running on it for only a short segment of around a mile, connecting back to Mount Herman Road #320.

When I ran through this section, I was getting a little tired, but for some reason I thought that I was done with uphill for the day once I reached 320 again. At least, the segment below that I was familiar with is a steady descent in this direction. 

Boy, was I wrong. I reached 320 and immediately had a short hill to climb. "Okay," I thought, "it'll just reach the ridgeline and then begin to descend." I went up a bit, and then a short descent. But I could see another uphill in the distance. I kept undulating for one mile. Two miles. I saw an intersection of a OHV road on the map. "Maybe after that intersection, the real downhill begins." Nope. The road kept going up and then down. It was torturous. I just wanted a nice, steady, long downhill.

Furthermore, it was getting downright hot now. I actually forgot to put on sunscreen this morning, and I could feel my skin getting a bit too hot. The shade from trees along the road was super sporadic, with what felt like big sections of hot sun beating down on me.

At least I wasn't so beat down that I stopped taking photos!

This "Balanced Rock" on Mount Herman Road is better than any I saw on Balanced Rock Road!

Finally, after what felt like 5 or 6 miles, the real downhill began. At this point I was in survival mode. At least the downhill made it more bearable. I kept a pace somewhere between shuffling and jogging, but at least I wasn't walking.

The view of the road down below curving around the mountain was a welcome sight.

I kept on pushing at the end, though my shoulders were so tired that it hurt to move my head fully to the side. But I felt a sense of... gratitude for this experience. I wasn't so totally toasted that I was beat down to a walk, and I could still enjoy the repetition of putting one foot in front of the other. I was tuning everything else out and just running. It felt good.

Still, I was happy when Alex arrived to pick me up, exactly at the same time when I came back to the intersection with Red Rocks Road. Perfect! 

My loop ended up being 24.7 miles, just 1.5 miles shy of a full marathon. I knew it would likely be at least slightly longer than the COTREX app predicted, and I did take a few photo detours. I am totally satisfied with that. Not every long adventure run needs to hit the marathon mark!

I feel like I lived a lot of life in a day. I always feel enriched by long adventure runs. They bring back so many old memories, and build so many new ones. And they challenge me in a way that hurts, but I enjoy overcoming that pain and sticking it out to the end. I like to break out of the mindset that says "I just want this to be over." My favorite runs are those when I can finish by living with the pain, instead of fighting against it. It doesn't always happen. Believe me, there are times when I just want a run to be over. But my favorite feeling is having that thought, but then overcoming that mindset and being at peace with running more.

The highs and lows of endurance running are such good training for life.

I miss you all! This low point of me not being able to run with you will come to an end someday. Until then, stay healthy and happy!