Boulder Three Peak Run

It's time to work on my backlog of longer trail posts. I've been running more recently, and it takes a lot of time!

In this case, it was a run on Saturday two weeks ago, up the three highest peaks west of Boulder. As I often do on Saturday I had slept in, and spent some time at home, so it was mid-afternoon before I got going. I had time for two peaks for sure -- South Boulder and Bear -- but ended up squeezing in Green before it was too dark... well, sort of (see below). Here is the GPS track:


Mileage was 16.3 miles, elevation gain/loss 5,400 feet, time 5:00. It was a hot day and I took it slow by hiking most of the uphill, not knowing what shape I'd be in by the end, or how far I'd go.

Here is a nice archway of trees and plants part way up Shadow Canyon. The apples on nearby trees are starting to get big, so I'm on the lookout for bears more than ever:


The sides are full of huge boulders, crevices and a few shallow caves. BEAR!!


Once I get into Shadow Canyon, for the most part I stop running, especially on a 16-miler in midday heat. There are some level or moderate slopes to run, but not many; for the most part it's one mile of rock "stairs" in the forest. I usually run the bit on the saddle at the top of the canyon, in between the summits.

This is on top of South Boulder Peak, looking south. In the middle ground is Eldorado Canyon State Park, where I had been the prior day.


This is looking west towards the Indian Peaks. As far down as it looks, those hills below are still 1,500 feet higher than the parking lot behind me, where I started. Phew!


This is the view from Bear Peak, looking towards Green. I've gotten used to walking along these narrow-topped summit rocks, and today it occurred to me I should probably cool it a bit:


After descending some shattered dark red talus, the trail disappears into the woods on some rather technical and slippery sections. However, it levels out -- relatively speaking -- and becomes some fantastic singletrack through pine woods. Here is a view looking back up at the summit after 15 minutes of descent:


Typical singletrack is below; nice!


Asters along the trail:


The trail then descends into Bear Canyon, runs along the creek bed for a bit, and ascends again towards Green Mountain. It's 1,200 feet down and 800 feet back up. On this hot day, I was starting to feel it. Below is a shot from the summit block on Green, with Longs Peak just barely visible in the background:


After running down Green, I stopped at the Ranger Cottage in the park below. There is a vending machine with cold drinks for $2, which felt soooooo good! I also filled both my water bottles before setting off on the remaining 7 miles back to the south lot near Eldorado Canyon.

This part was fairly painful, since the legs were a bit pounded, I had waning energy, and it was getting dark. At Chautauqua I had calculated I would make it to the car about 10 minutes after sunset, which turned out to be overly optimistic. Let's just say that if it had been any later, I would have needed a headlamp (I brought one today on the same run, even though it was earlier). Below are the flowers growing behind NCAR, at dusk:


I think the sun set with about 3 miles to go, and although it did not get dark immediately, in the pine woods it was a bit spooky. Not a soul was on the trail other than me. I usually make noise on the trail so I don't surprise anything, and this time I resorted to making up nonsense songs pertaining to animals I didn't want to meet. I don't think I'll do a long run this late in the day again without company and a headlamp.