First half of Feb 2024 - snowpacked runs and tons of elevation gain!

Whew, what a great start to the month!

I have been pretty active this first half of the month, and I feel good about my training.

Despite an everlasting lack of speedwork, I've done a LOT of uphill running and elevation gain.

And it's been a very picturesque few weeks.

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A nice snow run in Palmer to start the month, watching small cold fronts roll in over the mountains.

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A few days later, we went to Rampart Range Road and did the Gate to Gate twice (plus a little extra at the top).

The Gate to Gate involves going from the winter closure gate at Balanced Rock (at the base of the road) up to the National Forest Gate. This upper gate marks the end of private property, about 3 miles up.

The first time up, there was a huge cloudburst above Pikes Peak. It was incredible.

Then, the clouds began to come in and a light snow fell on us, but quickly cleared again.

We got a solid 12 miles, and 2300 ft elevation gain this day.

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Pippin got so dirty with red mud on our Rampart outing, that I decided our next run had to be a (clean) snow run.

This day was the most beautiful of all our runs this in this half of the month.

It was a day where the snow clouds kept rolling in over the mountains, then disappating into sunlight over the city.

Pippin found the deep snow again, and dove right in.

I really loved the way the clouds played with the lighting.

Big puffy flakes filled the skies, while sunlight simultaneously filtered through broken clouds.

We wound our way up through Bear Creek Canyon, connecting to the Captain Jack's 667 trail.

We made it to the overlook.

I just loved the way the clouds rolled thick off the mountains behind, but couldn't hold their steam. They parted to reveal Colorado blue skies above.

And the city, far below, was mostly sunny.

To the west, each new cloud brought a fresh layer of soft powder, before meeting the same fate: vanishing away.

As we descended from the overlook down Mt. Buckhorn trail, a foggy cloud settled in over Sentinal Rock.

What a stunning day, netting us over 8 miles, and another 2300+ ft of climbing.

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Our next run was a very cold one in Palmer Park, 10k.

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The next day, I wanted to play in some of the fresh powder that had fallen, so we headed to the South Blodgett Open Space, and ran up the open mesa into the National Forest.

The trail continues up the open hillside until it dips into a steep drainage. We crossed the small rock bridge over the stream, and at this point the real climb began.

The trail in the forest was extremely deep in snow, and VERY steep. I always forget how steep this particular trail is, and it's especially challenging in winter.

Pippin was an absolute workhorse in the deep snow. He pulled me up, up, through the canyon. I kept thinking how much I was going to regret this on the downhill!! 😂 But I was enjoying the climb too much to stop, and Pippin was absolutely in sync with me.

We finally topped out on a small overlook.

We enjoyed the sunlight for a few minutes, but soon it was time to head down the mountain.

I pretty much dreaded the downhill, and it was about as bad as I'd imagined, which was fairly unpleasant.

But after slip-sliding all the way down the steep National Forest trail (even with spikes!), we finally came back to out to the top of the long hillside that returns to the city open space.

We looked back at the mountain ridges from where we'd just come as the cold, clear winter sunset settled over the land.

We added 5.6 miles and over 2400 feet of climbing to the books in today's steep, snowy mountain run.

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What a great start to the month, with a fulfilling amount of front range winter adventures. What a classic February feeling!