June Runs

Women's Runs:

Some of our COVID restrictions have been lifted, so we started the women's runs again. Yay, I'm so excited to be back at it with these ladies!

Sidewinder:

We kicked it off with a big group going up sidewinder. We saw a good size rattle snake on the way up!

At the top of Sidewinder.

One of the funnest trails to run down!

Here's the snake that we made mad.

Buckskin Morgan:

We had been having lots of rain, so we had a small group show up for Buckskin Morgan. We lucked out and ended up with great weather. We even saw a moose! That's only the second moose I've seen in Kelly Canyon, and I run up there a lot.

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The view from Hidden Vista.

 Trail of Bones:

Another big group, and another rattle snake. This one was a little too close for comfort! At least three of the ladies went right over the top of him before he rattled and warned the next lady in line. She ended up jumping it when she heard the rattle. Stacey was in front of me, and hit the brakes fast. Had us a bit on edge for the remainder of the run.

This was right before the snake fun!

The Butte:

We always get a good turn out and have a fun time on the Butte. It's just unique to run up and around a volcano. Fun evening!

Great group!

I love this picture!

Tablerock Campground:

Another small group because of bad weather, but oh so much fun! It was hailing when I pulled into the parking area. It stopped before we started running. We had a few sprinkles, but other than that, it was a great night. Tons of mud, and huge, unavoidable puddles made for a great time!

A little hail before we started running.

This is one of my favorite areas in Kelly Canyon. So pretty!

 IFTR Group Runs:

Taylor Creek to Wolverine Canyon:

We kicked off June's early morning group runs with an awesome run up Taylor Creek Road all the way to Wolverine Canyon. I loved this one. So pretty!

The view looking down into Wolverine.

Cloward's Crossing:

This was a new one for me! In typical Dan style, we crossed a creek that went up to my belly button. That'll wake ya up first thing in the morning.

Very quiet, peaceful morning.

Crossing the 'shin deep' creek.

There was lots of steam coming off the creek and it looked really cool.

The view from the top.

It's fun to learn new areas, and how they all connect.

 Taylor Mountain Road with Renegade Ridge:

This one was awesome! I made the mistake of saying, "We lucked out with the weather." We were a mile and a half from the cars, and it dumped on us. Opps! :) I actually love running in the rain, and it was the perfect kind of 'no wind' rain. Loved it!

We took a detour off the road the climb up renegade Ridge.

Great views!

At the top!

Running back in the rain.

We all looked like drowned rats.

Buck Road: 

The descriptions of this road are hilarious and accurate! Not real exciting!

Farm fields and windmills....that's literally all you see. Oh, and maybe some stacked hay every once in awhile.

Taylor Mountain Climb:

Kurt asked Mark if we'd want him to show us the trail from Wolverine Canyon that goes to the top of Taylor Mountain. Um...yes! It was awesome! We gained about 1600 feet of elevation in just over a mile! It was tough, but the views were great! We did it on a day with great clouds too.

We made it to the top!

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It was super windy at the top.

The flowers were awesome! Lots of bright red paintbrush.

What a view!

North Indian Creek-Garden Gnome:

I love our Saturdays in the mountains, and this one was quite an adventure. I had to get a little out of my comfort zone crossing some scary snow fields. I hope a lot of snow melts before PUTS. 

We brought a rope for the second water crossing. I'm glad we did, because I would have been nervous crossing without it.

Mark crossing the creek at the second spot.

We ran right past this mama moose and brand new baby. It had to have been less than a day old. Cutest thing ever!

Lots of pretty flowers!

This is my favorite part of North Indian Creek. It was so green!

Heading up the start of Garden Gnome.

These were the snowfields we had to cross. There were several. We had good foot holds, but one slip and we were toast. I wasn't a big fan. Especially on the way back when we were crossing them with huge wind gusts. 

You can kind of tell from this picture of Steph how scary it would have been to slide down these. It was steep enough that you wouldn't have been able to stop yourself.

The view from close to the top of Garden Gnome.

We made it to the top! It was so windy, we couldn't stay on top for very long. There were actually six of us on this run, but two of them climbed to the top of the ridge, which the four of us weren't about to do in the wind. Enjoy my mustache. :)

A quick picture before we needed to get lower and out of the wind.

The snow made it slow going, but parts of it were really fun to go down. I fell down a lot!

Selfie on the way down.

Finally getting back down to the no snow area.

I love the view going back down the canyon.

This was a 15 miler, but it took us a long time. Between the snow, and trying to document the downfall for the PUTS board, we were out there for over 5 hours.

The Butte:

I had a hill day and wanted to go do intervals on the Butte. I messaged to see if anyone wanted to join me. It ended up pouring rain, but I'm grateful for Jenn and Georgina for being die hards and still going with me. We were soaked, and it was lots of fun!

I showed them the trail that goes around the base to the backside trailhead.

Grateful for adventurous friends who like to do crazy things with me.

Jenn and I did intervals up the road hill. Ugh, it was tough!

Sidewinder to Overlook:

Georgina wanted to do Sidewinder to the overlook for some hill training since she got into El Vaquero Loco. I'm always up for this one!

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Another great cloud day! We got done right when it started to sprinkle.

There were lots of wild roses towards the top.

Paradise Loop:

This was our last long one before PUTS, so we decided to do the Paradise Loop, since Steph has that loop in her 50 miler. We've covered almost all of the course in our training so far. This was 20 miler of beautiful fun, but it got a little hot towards the end.

Jenn-Mat-Carrie-Mark-Tricia-Steph

Going up N Indian Creek

There were a TON of water crossings, which was good once it got hot!

Wildflowers everywhere you look down low, and waterfalls everywhere you look up high. We did this loop in the late summer last year and all the waterfalls were dried up. It was so fun to see so many of them!

This was our high point. All the really hard climbing was done.

So pretty!

These two fell down!

This part was a little crazy to get down.

The Sasquatch chair!

:)

The girls

So many waterfalls!

Starting down home stretch!

It was almost 90 degrees when we were finishing up. Sitting in this creek was all I needed to revive myself for the rest of the run.

It was so hot!

Now we get to take it easier for the next two weeks, then it's race time! I hope all the training paid off!

We also did a Big Elk Creek run, the start of the PUTS course, and a hybrid of RONR, but I blogged about those with the camping posts we were on when we did them.