Varvel Family: July Running/Hiking

We had a crazy bad winter, and a very wet spring, which has all led to an insanely green and beautiful summer. Running has been good this month!

Bigalow's Beast & Little Kellys:

We kicked off July's running with a big 4th of July climb up Bigalow's Beast. Then we dropped down into Little Kellys, for a nice 8 mile run.

Climbing Bigalows.

Mark at the top.

Tricia at the top.

Glen's Grunt-Hidden Vista-Rolly Polly-Buckskin:

I met Jenn and Jeremy for a nice early morning loop in Kelly Canyon. We had a big, bright, full moon.

Love the big moon.

Hidden Vista

Jeremy-Tricia-Jenn

Kelly Canyon Figure 8:

Mark and I did a hot, 11 mile, figure 8 in Kelly Canyon. We really liked this route. Good amount of up and downs.

Blackhawk:

Mark and I have a race in August, in Boise, that is probably going to be scorching hot. We've started working on some heat training. Once a week we go on a heat and hill run when he gets off work. Blackhawk is always a favorite. We had a nice 20 mph headwind while running this, but we both still got our fastest time up, so that's a good sign.

Wolf Flats:

Jenn and I did an early morning 8 miler on Wolf Flats. This is a pretty one for the sunrise.

It was still a little dark along the river when we started.

Pretty sunrise.

Lemhi Pass-Copper Queen Mine:

We were in Salmon for the weekend helping Bailey with Nora, while we crewed for Mason on the Beaverhead 100k. Mark and I needed a 12 miler, so we ran from the first big aid station while we waited for Mason to come in. Such a beautiful area.

We ran right past the old Copper Queen mine.

The mine.

Windmill Road-Cress Creek Canal:

Mark and I needed and 8.5 miler, and we wanted to go early in the morning, so we needed something close. We tried Windmill Rd, across the highway from us. It was dark when we started, and we could see lightning up in the clouds to the side of us. We started up the road, and only made it about a mile and a half, before the storm moved fast and ended up right above us. We turned around and booked it back to the truck. I was running an 8 minute mile, which is fast for me. We had rain at our heels, and lightning right over head. We made it back, and decided the Cress Creek area looked pretty clear, so we drove over there to finish our miles.

Sunrise with the Tetons before we had to change locations.

Cress Creek Canal.

Cute little thistle all by itself along the river.

Freeman Park:

This one kicked our butts! We started at 5:30 PM, and it was 90*. We did a half mile warm up, then 800 m surges with a 400 m recover. After five of those, we cooled down for a half mile, and drove home trying to not have heat stroke. 😅

Devil's Staircase-Hurricane Pass-Alaska Basin:

We had a beautiful training day in the mountains. This is one of our favorite runs, and the flowers made it extra good this year.

Starting up Devil's Staircase.

On Devil's Staircase looking back on Teton Canyon.

Going along the shelf.

Shea-Tricia-Mark

Heading off the shelf to cross Alaska Basin.

Sunset Lake.

One of my favorite mountain lakes.

The flowers on the way up to Hurricane Pass were incredible.

Looking back from the switchbacks.

Battleship Mountain.

Hurricane Pass & Schoolhouse Lake

This was the best lunch spot.

Going back by the lake.

I made a reel of the day's adventure.

Ririe Roads:

I skipped the women's run tonight, because it was an hour drive each way for me. Mark and I did a short loop around Ririe. Even on the roads, our area is so pretty.

Blacktail:

Two Blacktail hill repeats. So hot! Someone pulling a boat, going the opposite direction stopped and asked if he could give us a ride. You should have seen the look on his face when we told him thanks, but we were just out for a run. 😆 Apparently we're a special kind of crazy.

We would have jumped in the lake if not for all the swimming rattle snake stories we've heard about this year.

Windmill Road:

I needed a 9 miler, but in order for Jenn to be able to go, we had to start early. I mean ridiculously early. We started running a little before 4:30. We tried Windmill Rd again, and once more, had to outrun a storm. We had rain nipping at our heels again, and big lightning flashes all around us. We managed to stay ahead of it on the way back, but a few flashes were a little too close for comfort.

The sky was amazing right as we finished.

Mt Baird:

I finally got to cross Mt Baird off my bucket list, and I loved it! It's a 10 mile out and back with about 4000 ft of gain. It's the tallest peak in Bonneville county, at just over 10,000 ft. We saw a bear in the first couple miles, so our day was made right from the start. Joyce and Phil hiked it with us. Phil doesn't usually do our kind of crazy, but he did great! We were afraid he'd never speak to us again once we were done, but he recovered pretty fast. The flowers were insane, and the views from the top were amazing. It was an all around great day.

The view up the trail.

Mark-Joyce-Phil
We were taking this picture when we heard a noise. We looked across the ravine, and there was the cutest bear wandering around.

We got to the top of Little Elk, and we could finally see Baird, and where we needed to go. Mark and I have been to this point several times before, but always to go down waterfall canyon, not to climb Baird. From this point on, we were in new territory.