Belford/Oxford Run

Victory! After intentionally choosing a cloudless day before trying to get to Mount Oxford for the 3rd time, I made it. I had been turned back due to bad conditions and/or weather on two other occasions. Here is the GPS track:


Total time for the round trip from the trailhead was almost exactly 5:00 hours, total gain/loss 5,800 feet, mileage 10.8 plus another 0.9 on the forest road (see below). I hiked steadily on the uphill, and ran the moderate slopes (my definition is pretty wimpy) and downhills. I ran probably 30% of the uphill/outbound segment on this rather steep trail. A bonus this time was a decent amount of running above 13,000 feet, which I rarely get to do because of rough terrain.

My favorite thing to see going into a weekend is a forecast like I saw yesterday. It means there probably won't be any afternoon thunderstorms, and you can spend all day wandering around on high ridges and peaks in wonderful sunshine. It means pure bliss. Here is a photo from near Buena Vista, with Mount Princeton in the background, and not a cloud to be seen:


At the end of Chaffee 390, a dirt road that leads partway to the trailhead, there were two small rockslides that had distributed large rocks onto the road, mainly on the uphill side. Somebody could have really wrecked their vehicle on them, so I parked up the road a bit, jogged back and cleared off the road. The biggest rocks were too heavy to lift, but I was able to roll them. So, don't let anyone tell you Ayn Rand fans don't ever help other people ;)

A little philosophical detour is in order here. The question is: why would an advocate of rational self-interest bother to stop to clear rocks off the road for others? The answer is that self-interest does not only involve material things and situations; that's a mistaken view of Objectivism. Self-interest involves moral and psychological values as well, such as the pride in seeing something that needed to be done and doing it, and the recognition that others deserve the same respect we give ourselves, resulting in a general attitude of goodwill. The truth is, in popular usage "self-interest" has both bad and good meanings mixed together. Objectivism's usage of the term is closer to that of the popular psychological self-help industry; that of nurturing and self-respect. Detour over.

This is peak season in the mountains, so the trail was crowded. Thankfully, there is room along the dirt forest road, at the price of getting a coat of dust on your vehicle:


Here is the initial section of trail, where my body wakes up and realizes I'm expecting it to do something significant. Usually it does not like this, and protests with discomfort and gasps for air :)


Below is the now-familiar view of Missouri Mountain ridge in the background as I exit the forest. It's not uncommon for the sky to still be clear at this point, yet produce rain after noon.


This is Mount Belford. The "peak" visible in the middle is actually a high point on the ridge leading to the actual summit, which is behind it. The trail zigzags right up the ridge on the front. It is steep and will test your conditioning.


I ran only a couple hundred yards of this because I was too busy stepping up over rocks in the thin air around 12,000 feet, which -- needless to say -- is tiring. I like to hike these sections nonstop at about the same tempo I would use on flat land, and stay just below my aerobic threshold, the objective being to go as fast as possible without stopping.


Here are some views back down into the valley:



Even with the cars in the parking lot, I was surprised how crowded it was on top. Wow! Belford's summit is a smooth, arched ridge with an elongated biscuit of orange rock smashed on top of it.


The rock is really interesting and provides shelter from the wind on the south side, which gets a nice dose of sun in the summer. I like to sit in this natural warming hut for a few minutes, out of the wind and admire the view. It was windy this trip (as usual on this ridge), and today I'm still a bit congested from my head being hit by wind for hours on end. This is Mount Oxford, my next objective, which is about 1.5 miles away by trail:


Looking back up at the summit area:


The next photo is the other direction. This is facing south (roughly), and the trail heads out for a quarter mile and then makes a sharp left turn towards Oxford.

The trail here is above 14,000 feet, and very runnable, although I quickly found I had to take it easy. Atmospheric density at that altitude is only 56% of that of sea level (and 22% less than my neighborhood), and you really feel it. I don't get to run up this high very often, and I had a huge smile on my face and was laughing. Woo-hoo!


The next picture is at the end of the quarter mile, looking east at Oxford. The trail makes a steep descent of about 600 feet before gradually ascending again to the summit. There were runnable sections here, particularly along the small ridges, which were a total blast.

A note about the surface. Although the descent here is steep, the dirt was strangely grippy compared to the front side of Belford, which was a slippery mess (I almost ate it once, having to do a reverse Road Runner to stay standing). Whereas the latter was brown dirt and little pea-like pebbles that caused your feet to slip, I stuck like Spiderman all the way down this slope, with my toes pointed straight down. It reminded me of the Mancos Shale in Durango.


Here is one of those crazy thistles. These look like they're going to open their eyes and bite you if you come too close.


This is the view looking back west at the descent from Belford (the summit is off-screen to the right).


In the other direction is the summit of Oxford. Look at that sky! This is at 1:00 PM.


Here is a wider view looking back at Belford. The summit is the little knob of rock on the right; note the yellowish color compared to the surrounding grey.


Fast-forwarding to the descent off of Belford, I thought this green hulk of a mountain was interesting. It was... big. And green.


Here's a nice vertigo-inducing shot down the descent. Yes, I was running this, but only when the path went strongly to the left or right, which allowed it to level off. This was slippery and I took a lot of it slowly. I could have used my spikes today.


This shows the entire hanging valley above treeline. The fifth photo from the top was taken from just this side of the trees at the end of the valley. The cabin ruins are just inside those trees.


At the end of the run I stowed my stuff in the car, filled up the bottle and started on a run down the forest road, with the aim of adding on a 10k or so for a total of ~17 miles, like my runs last week. I had in mind a nice quiet run on a forest road, lined by woods. Reality intruded rudely and quickly, when I realized I left my shades at the car, and when truck after truck came down the road, filling the air with dust and causing me to cough. OK, well, I guess not; I only added about a mile. I packed up and drove off.

Afterwards I recuperated and grabbed a bite in Salida, and walked a bit and enjoyed the amazing weather. The Arkansas River that flows through downtown is full of people swimming, tubing, fishing etc. this time of year. Here is a parting shot of the river from downtown, with a kayaker on the left, and a boy playing in the calm shallows in the right. Ah, summer.