• Home
  • About

A Runner's Story

A Runner's Story

Tag Archives: Tabernash

Devil’s Thumb Ranch

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Snowshoe

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CDT, continental divide, Devil's Thumb Ranch, snowshoe, Sorel Conquest snow boots, Tabernash, Winter Park

meadowI’m interrupting my hiatus to report to you a continuation of this season’s snowshoe activities.  Although I didn’t actually snowshoe.  Ellie wanted to visit the mountains for her birthday and sonofagun if they don’t still have some snow.  We drove up Friday evening after work in about 90 minutes.  Winter Park still has some ski runs open but we didn’t go there.  Devil’s Thumb Ranch is a few miles further north off Hwy 40.  Turn east at the town of Tabernash onto County Road 83.  DTR is three miles down this road tucked into a meadow hanging off the western side of the Continental Divide.
The weather Saturday was gorgeous.  Karen and I hiked around the meadow for an hour in the morning while the girls swam.  Ellie brought along her friend Ivy.  Brit was back home working and watching the house and dog.  The pool is outdoors but heated.  Karen and I had to negotiate around mud and random streams of melting snow on our hike, but it was nice.  Later in the morning, the girls did archery out in the meadow while Karen and I hung out at the pool.  We also did some weights.  This was my first time lifting weights since my surgery.  Karen also introduced me to planks.  I took it easy and felt fine.  The swimming felt like a great exercise to stretch out my abdomen.

We woke Sunday to a few inches of fresh snow and cooler weather.  Perfect for snowshoeing, although not for horseback riding.  The girls planned to ride at 9:30 but the Stables cancelled the outing due to unsafe conditions.  In addition to ice on the trails, a 25 mph wind was blowing which would have made the event unpleasant.  I struck out on my own per plan though.  I left the snowshoes off opting for my Sorel Conquest winter hiking boots.  I could have used snowshoes after the first mile.

The wind dissipated after I crossed the meadow and reached some trees.  This is also where the snow deepened.  I post-holed a bit but only up to my shins.  This didn’t completely kill my momentum but it made for a tough slog.  I was smart enough to bring along my trekking poles.  While snowshoes weren’t absolutely necessary, I would not have been able to hike very far without the poles.  From the lodge, which sits at 8500 feet, I started out via the Interpretive Trail until I reached Horizon.  I took Horizon north to the stables where I merged onto the Moosestomp Trail.  I took this up to 8800 feet which is about the boundary of the ranch.

I crossed several creeks that were not on the map.  Not that I took a map but later I compared my Garmin results to the trail map.  A meadow like this undergoing massive snow melt has innumerable, ephemeral creeks.  Pretty happy with my boots for keeping my feet cozy.  My boots were often under several inches of water but my feet remained dry and comfortable.  My total distance was 3.31 miles with a 22 minutes per mile pace.  Seemingly slow but not really given the conditions.  This is easily my biggest workout since my surgery on April 2nd.  Naturally I was winded but I was never light-headed or dizzy.  It appears the anaesthesia has finally worked its way out of my lungs.

Vacationing in the mountains during springtime is tricky given the random weather and certainty of mud.  This worked out well for me though.  Ellie enjoyed the archery and got in tons of swimming.  I got in my best workout of all of April.  I’m starting to think I might be running again well before my target date of July.  In fact, I have an aggressive plan to hike 80 miles along the Continental Divide Trail at the end of June.  That won’t be running necessarily, but it will be five days of hiking around an average elevation of 12,000 feet.  This spring is mostly downtime for me but I expect to back be on track this summer.

Share this:

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

Like this:

Like Loading...

Search this blog

Categories

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

  • 103,952 hits

Recent Comments

Terry Collier on The Trail Conspiracy
Anonymous on The Trail Conspiracy
Ed Mahoney on Writing Naked
georgeschools on Writing Naked
Ed Mahoney on Argentine Trail

Recent Posts

  • The Trail Conspiracy December 7, 2019
  • Writing Naked November 23, 2019
  • In a Fall’s Winter November 2, 2019
  • Running Errands October 19, 2019
  • An October Run October 13, 2019
  • Argentine Trail October 6, 2019
  • Fall Weekends September 28, 2019
  • Mount of the Holy Cross September 22, 2019
  • The Wedding Performers September 8, 2019
  • The Wedding Hike September 1, 2019
  • Brittany Noel Got Married August 30, 2019
  • Cybersecurity is Complex August 19, 2019
  • Part III: Water, Rock, Man August 13, 2019
  • Aspen August 11, 2019
  • Thirty-Two Years August 3, 2019
  • Box Sets & Writing Conventions July 20, 2019
  • Flattop Mountain July 14, 2019
  • Mr. Sandman July 6, 2019
  • Two Girls Eating June 30, 2019
  • My Cozy Trail June 23, 2019
  • Foot Bridge June 15, 2019
  • 512 June 7, 2019
  • PING June 2, 2019
  • The Tribe May 27, 2019
  • Fence Painting May 25, 2019
  • 50° in May May 19, 2019
  • On Reading May 18, 2019
  • Aspen Heavy Half May 5, 2019
  • Lunch with Sara May 4, 2019
  • Introducing Sara May 3, 2019
  • Mutton on the Rotisserie April 21, 2019
  • Go-to-Market Plan April 20, 2019
  • Tara & Teddy April 19, 2019
  • Heavy Thoughts April 13, 2019
  • Book Marketing April 6, 2019
  • Cairn March 31, 2019
  • Winter Park March 29, 2019
  • Source Content March 27, 2019
  • What About the Author March 22, 2019
  • The Sequel March 21, 2019
  • Joder Ranch March 16, 2019
  • Cyan March 10, 2019
  • Winter in Wild Basin February 23, 2019
  • My Chair by the Window February 16, 2019
  • No ​Risk, No Reward February 9, 2019
  • Ten Thousand Words January 16, 2019
  • RTFM & the EULA January 5, 2019
  • Final Destination December 31, 2018
  • Texas Panhandle December 29, 2018
  • The End November 24, 2018

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

  • The Trail Conspiracy
  • Telephone Pole Intervals
  • Marathon Photos

Top Clicks

  • marathonguide.com/fitness…
  • massageenvy.com/clinics/C…

RSS Feed

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: