• Home
  • About

A Runner's Story

A Runner's Story

Tag Archives: IllegalTrailRunners

Grand Lake

09 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Boulder Marathon, CDT, continental divide, IllegalTrailRunners, massivemileage, RMNP, training plan

north inlet trailThe last thing I remember Friday night was looking up at the stars, undiluted from urban light sources, high in the Rocky Mountains outside Grand Lake.  Sleeping cowboy style, I dodged fallin’ stars aimed straight at me.  I finally tucked inside my tent after midnight once the temperature dropped.  Rob and I camped out here to hike a 25 mile segment of the Continental Divide Trail.  The accuracy of CDT maps are specious as my Garmin captured 29.5 miles.  Fortunately the weather was cool, between 40° and 60° so that our water lasted through those final four unplanned miles.

Grand Lake sits at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, and is also part of the headwaters to the Colorado River.  A quaint mountain town with wooden boardwalks and expensive but good restaurants, it’s worth a stop if you’re near Rocky Mountain National Park, or the Winter Park ski resort.  Grand Lake anchors the southern end of Trail Ridge Road.  Rob and I ate surprisingly good Mexican food at El Pacifico.  After two large margaritas, I was seeing stars.

Flat Top MountainThe 25 (29.5) miles would complete my 90 mile running week, for a total 510 miles of my massive mileage Boulder Marathon training plan.  I run 20 miles today to begin my 100 mile week – the final week before I begin my taper.  I can still report no muscle strains or injuries.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  I’ll start some strength training and work on my pace once I cut my miles by half.

We got some decent running in Saturday on the trail.  This section of the Continental Divide Trail is a loop that begins and ends at the North Inlet Trailhead outside Grand Lake.  It’s contained within the southwest corner of Rocky Mountain National Park, so permits are needed for camping.  We stealth camped, setting up our tents shortly after dusk to avoid the Park Rangers.  We encountered a number of group backpackers who camped along the trail.  One father was trekking his kids on a 3 day outing, targeting 8 mile days with their heavy packs.  There is a Big Meadow trail that shortcuts the CDT, forming a slightly shorter 24 or 25 mile loop.  Sporting light packs, we ran about two miles worth of the big loop.  The coolest part was running across the alpine tundra among the rock cairns above 12,000 feet.

burn zoneAnother cool section of trail was this burn area on the northern part of the loop.  Would have been hot without shade but we benefitted from partial clouds and 60° temperatures.  I’m happy mixing up hiking with my running.  I count the miles toward my training plan because hiking with Rob at high altitude is little different than running.  We maintained a 3 mph pace for essentially a 50K ultra.  Ascending above tree line had my cardio going.  I imagine I burned well over 3000 calories over the ten hour hike.  Once I finish my coffee this morning, I’ll set out on a 20 miler on the LoBo Trail to begin my 100 mile week.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Search this blog

  • Boulder Marathon
  • Britt&Eric
  • Colorado Trail
  • Covid-19
  • covid-noir
  • cyber war
  • Ellie Rose
  • Geek Horror
  • Marathons
  • Margot
  • Medical Files
  • Novel
  • Other Stories
  • Politics
  • ReBlog
  • Running
  • Snowboard
  • Snowshoe
  • Storytelling
  • training plan
  • Victoria BC

Buy Full Spectrum Cyberwar at Amazon

Buy Cyber War I at Amazon

Buy on Amazon India for ₹99

Buy on Amazon U.K. for £2.27

English Edition on Amazon Germany

Buy on Amazon Brazil for R$11.29

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 136,679 hits

Girlfriend Cult

Recent Comments

Terry Collier on Sunken Garden
georgeschools on I saw a Bear
Terry Collier on The Niwot Loop
Ed Mahoney on ATX Half 2023
georgeschools on ATX Half 2023

Recent Posts

  • May Flowers Under a Runner’s Sky May 13, 2023
  • Sunken Garden May 6, 2023
  • I saw a Bear April 23, 2023
  • The Niwot Loop April 22, 2023
  • PSA April 15, 2023
  • Easter Birthdays, Bunnies and Eggs April 8, 2023
  • Happy Memories March 25, 2023
  • ATX Half 2023 February 22, 2023
  • Adelsverein January 28, 2023
  • A Runner’s Day January 7, 2023
  • Last Run of the Year December 31, 2022
  • Christmas, for me… December 26, 2022
  • Craft Shopping for Christmas December 10, 2022
  • A Slow, Late Fall Run November 25, 2022
  • November Runs November 20, 2022
  • Tech Debt November 19, 2022
  • The Runner’s Field of Battle November 13, 2022
  • Stealin’ from God October 24, 2022
  • A New Start October 23, 2022
  • Baby Margot Birthday October 9, 2022
  • The City of Flowers September 24, 2022
  • Dog Park by the Sea September 19, 2022
  • The Lane of Pain September 17, 2022
  • Run Rabbit Run August 28, 2022
  • Wild Horses August 21, 2022
  • The Day Running Died August 17, 2022
  • Boulder Marathon Training – Week One August 7, 2022
  • Mount Sanitas July 30, 2022
  • The Trail and Me July 23, 2022
  • Mount Zirkel Wilderness July 13, 2022
  • Full Team Hike July 4, 2022
  • Village to Village July 3, 2022
  • Beaver Creek July 2, 2022
  • Summer is Here June 12, 2022
  • Birthdays May 22, 2022
  • Fall River Road March 25, 2022
  • A Tale of Two Gerasimov’s March 11, 2022
  • The Hero February 26, 2022
  • Full Spectrum Cyberwar February 24, 2022
  • Run Nan, Run February 20, 2022
  • Running Sunrise to Sunset February 13, 2022
  • Cyberpunk Runner February 5, 2022
  • A Winter’s Run January 15, 2022
  • Turkmenistan January 2, 2022
  • Counting Families at Christmas December 26, 2021
  • Austin Boardwalk December 23, 2021
  • Like Christmas for the First Time December 19, 2021
  • Restoration November 27, 2021
  • India Kinks November 15, 2021
  • Run a Little, Write a Little November 6, 2021

Colorado=Security

Blogroll

  • Alohawk's Blog
  • Barbie's Blog
  • Boggy Creek Lumpster
  • George Schools Blog
  • I, Cringely
  • Prostate Chronicles
  • Shut Up + Run
  • Sustainable Sunrise
  • The Rogue Botanist

Web Sites

  • Amazon Author Page
  • Austin Marathon
  • Bolder Boulder
  • Brit's YouTube Songs
  • Colorado Marathon
  • Colorado Runner Magazine
  • Colorado Trail
  • Girlfriend Cult
  • Lobo Media Ltd
  • My YouTube Site
  • Race Pace Calculator
  • Shoes & Brews
  • Trail Runner Magazine
  • Zaremba Graphic & Web Solutions

Goodreads

Top Posts & Pages

  • Art or Business? The Future of Prospect
  • Foot Fetish
  • Runner Porn
  • Performance Enhancers
  • Stealin’ from God

Top Clicks

  • None

RSS Feed

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • A Runner's Story
    • Join 249 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • A Runner's Story
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: