Because the road up North Cheyenne Cañon is still closed for bridge construction, I decided on a route that started at the bottom of the Cañon near Starsmore Nature Center and ascended trails all the way up to Frosty's Park, with the end goal being the summit of Mt. Big Chief.
I got a little later start than I'd prefer for such a warm day, and I was already very warm ascending North Cheyenne Cañon via Columbine Trail.
I must say, they did a great job of keeping the trail open during the ongoing road construction! They made some improvements to the current trail and also cut a new trail that allows you to connect to Mt. Cutler and Mt. Muscoco directly from Middle Columbine Trail. (At least I don't recall a trail like that existing before, unless I missed it.)
I ascended Columbine Trail as quickly as I could to get out of the lower canyon heat (feels like summer already!) I passed by a cute waterfall after the Columbine Trail split, and then joined Mt. Cutler Trail.
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| Top: The start of my day, up Columbine Trail to Mt. Cutler connection. Bottom: The view across to Mays Peak from Mt. Cutler Trail. |
I took the split off to the west from the Mt. Cutler saddle, and I was on the Mt. Muscoco Trail, climbing upward!
The Mt. Muscoco Trail has a couple little staircases or "mini Inclines." A short climb later, St. Peter's Dome stood tall in the distance. Bright blue skies greeted me on my westward journey towards the new Daniels Pass Trail.
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| The Mt. Muscoco Trail connects to the new Daniel's Pass Trail System, with many miles of brand new trails! I was only able to see a small section of them today. |
I arrived at the junction that went up to the summit of Muscoco and bypassed it. Although I've summited Muscoco before, and it's a lovely open rock outcropping with a great view, I had a destination today. Time to keep moving onward towards Daniels Pass.
A nice breeze helped cool me off when I descended the slope to the bottom of the Daniels Pass Trail, and then immediately began another hot, sunny climb towards Gold Camp Road.
The new segment of trail that I got to check out is very nice! A proper amount of descending and climbing, a nice combination of sunny and woodsy trail. It will make a good destination for future runs as well. I look forward to doing the Sweetwater Canyon trail which comes off of this trail someday, too.
My planned route was to reach the top of Daniels Pass where it connects with Gold Camp Road and then descend a short portion of the road to the creek crossing where I would join the St. Mary's Falls Trail.
I climbed quickly up past St. Mary's Falls and at the upper junction, continued onward towards Mt. Rosa.
I had a plan to cut further south on the trail, by using the connector trail to 381 that I'd accidently taken last year during my summer solstice run and Mt. Rosa attempt.
I'm not sure what this trail is called. It is shown on the Pikes Peak Atlas but not named. From the looks of it, it could be an old Forest Service trail that is no longer maintained. It cuts south off of 624 near the campsite shown in the photo below.
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| Top: Campsite near the stream, just south of the critical trail junction. Bottom: The 381 connector trail, completely covered by snow in some spots. |
I pondered how glad I was that I'd discovered this trail last year. Even though it had taken me off of my planned course at that time, it was the perfect shortcut for today's run.
I soon encountered some deep snowdrifts on the trail. They were mostly avoidable by going to the side of the trail. There were also a lot of downed trees along the trail. It was clear that this trail had not been maintained in a while, but it was still navigable with careful route-finding. I'd love to see this trail cleaned up a little, and I wonder if the Forest Service is interested in fixing it up.
Finally, I came to the junction with FS road #381, and out into the bright sun on top of a ridge.
The clouds created neat patterns in the sky as I gradually ascended on the wide open road.
The low-lying forest foliage is already bright green, indicating the warmth of this spring so far.
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| Neat rocks and spring colors on FS road #381. |
After what seemed like a long uphill followed by a short downhill, I came to the junction with trail #626 (Frosty's Shortcut), which was clearly labeled. This trail felt long, climbing a little and descending a little. I finally came to the other side of the trail where it joins FS #379, just a bit below Frosty's Park.
At this point, I recalled what the SummitPost article about Mt. Big Chief said - the trail to the summit originates in the Frosty's drainage, climbing to the west from a pull-off where a seasonal pond fills the road.
I searched carefully for the trail on my west, and soon came to the seasonal pond that was mentioned. The trail was there, clearly cutting steeply up the hillside from the pull-off.
I ascended the first couple hundred feet of trail, climbing diligently over more downed trees. The social trail was very steep, reminiscent of the steep Tenney Crags social trail.
Then, I stopped to catch my breath on a fallen log, and looked at the time. The day was slipping away from me already. It was clear that I'd be racing the darkness on my way down. And now that I'd stopped, I realized I had the beginnings of an achy headache.
I was so determined and excited that I'd pushed on and on this far. The subtle fatigue I'd experienced on the Frosty's Shortcut Trail had been only the starting indication that something was wrong. I now was getting a pretty bad altitude headache. I was around 10,500 feet - a little below the elevation when I'd encountered an altitude headache last time on the saddle of Mt. Rosa, but not significantly lower.
I knew the best remedy for altitude sickness was to descend to lower elevation.
I was probably also slightly dehydrated and drained by the sun. Although I still had a little water, I was rationing it because the early heat of the day had cost me more water than I anticipated.
I was so close, yet so far! I had only between half a mile to a mile of climbing left to the summit of Mt. Big Chief, but today would not be the day. Instead, the summit of this majestic mountain would have to wait for a day when I was better prepared and better acclimated to the altitude.
Time to go down. As usual, my planned downhill route was simply down Old Stage Road out of the National Forest and back into town. I descended the short remaining segment of 379 and connected to Old Stage. My head was still throbbing, but more mildly with every gradual downhill step.
I felt well enough to at least climb a small rock outcropping off the side, near a cut in the road.
Here, I sat in the sunlight for a minute, looking at the beautiful blue skies above the large Mt. Big Chief, the mountain which had eluded me today. I used my small binoculars to look at the massive cliff face on the south side of the mountain. It looked like a rock climber's delight.
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| Mt. Big Chief on the center-right with clouds above. |
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| Mt. Big Chief on the left with Almagre peeking out in the distance on the right, with clear blue skies above. |
After a snack and a few careful sips of water, I returned to the road. I jogged the flats and downhill parts, but slowed down to a hike on any small uphill sections.
Luckily, I felt a little better as I lost altitude, and still got some nice photos of the mountain summits that surrounded me.
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| Top: Knights Peak. Middle: Rolling hills and distant clouds to the south. Bottom: Looking back at Mt. Rosa. |
As I slowly felt better, I enjoyed my surroundings. I love looking at all the outcroppings and pinnacles of Pikes Peak Granite that make up the scenery along Old Stage Road.
Soon, I reached the Devil's Slide, and I knew St. Peter's Dome was just around the next bend.
I also knew that the road began the steep descent into South Cheyenne Cañon after the St. Peter's Dome parking area.
As I descended this part of the road, I felt better and better, and I sped up quite a bit - jogging all of the remainder of the road, even the last remaining segments of uphill on my way out of the National Forest.
The shadows got longer as I exited the National Forest and came to the paved road.
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| Top: St. Peter's Dome parking area. Middle: The sun makes its way towards the west as I exit the National Forest. Bottom: Looking back at St. Peter's Dome, the prominent outcropping in the center. |
When Alex met with me to pick me up, I stopped my GPS and saw that I was right at the marathon mark! My planned route had been 27.5 miles, so I had only skipped on the last three-quarters of a mile of ascent at the top, which made me feel better about not attaining the summit. I'd still come so far and accomplished so much!!
By the time I was done, my legs actually still felt pretty good, despite the elevation issues I'd faced earlier in the day. I felt really good being able to attain the marathon mark on this run.
It's evident that I have the training to go the distance, but my altitude training has been seriously lacking. I will have to focus on getting up to higher elevations more often this summer if I want to avoid issues like altitude headaches on future adventures. Otherwise, I still feel a great deal of accomplishment from this jog, as I was still able to connect our network of trails together to create a great marathon-length adventure run.
And between all the ascending and descending, I got 6300 feet of climbing for the day!
Thanks again friends, for journeying along with me, and I hope to share more interesting mountain tales soon! The weather is quite warm and the east- and south-facing hillsides are totally snow-free, so more adventures will be coming. 😀
