With my perpetual craving for more vertical feet, I had to give this a shot – some of it anyway. Rather than doing all five peaks, I focused on two of the three biggies, Green Mountain (8,144') and Bear Peak (8,461'). I had briefly considered tagging South Boulder Peak (8,549'), depending on my physical condition at that point in the run. Obviously, my condition was so that I would omit that third summit.
I started at the South Mesa trailhead around 6:30 a.m. and headed due south for a little warm-up on Doudy Draw. After getting 3 miles (30 mins) on Doudy, I headed north on the Mesa Trail and continued to Chautauqua. I made it to the base of Chautauqua with a split of 1:10 and this is where the fun began. I was really excited to do something different because I typically turn around here and head back to Eldo, but this time I hung a left at Baseline and headed up to Gregory Canyon.
I’ve only run Gregory once before and I obviously forgot exactly how steep it gets through this canyon. Not to mention that Gregory gets sun exposure fairly early and by this time it was shortly after 8 a.m. and temps were already in the mid 60’s. Chugging up Gregory was a formidable challenge, but I knuckled down and proceeded. Once at the top of Gregory, I popped a Gel and headed over to the Ranger trail to begin my ascent up Green.
The Ranger Trail provided a very welcomed reprieve from the sun, but no relief in pitch. This trail offers not only great shade in the lower sections, but also grand views of Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Peaks in the upper reaches. The grand and switchbacks are a blast too. There were a couple moments where I had to slow down into a brief hike, but considering this new route was new to me, I was fine with staying on the conservative side. Once at the trail junction on Green, I cruised up the last quarter mile to tag the summit of Green Mountain in a total time of 2:46. I didn’t stay on top for long, just long enough to suck down a second Gel and carry on to Bear Peak.
I headed down Green-Bear and over to Bear Peak West Ridge. This was another sun-laden section, that got the sweat pouring a bit, but was a serene little jaunt to the initial ascent up Bear Peak. I reveled in this trail’s fairly smooth, undulating single track and expansive views of both Walker Ranch and Boulder through the frame of Bear Creek Canyon. But my joy quickly turned to agony as I beheld the final climb up to Bear Peak.
This is where the wheels began to fall off and any previous notion to summit South Boulder Peak flew right out the window. On a shorter Green and Bear run, I’ve been able to keep a running cadence up this final ascent on Bear - notwithstanding experiencing the feeling of full cardiac drift. This was not one of those days. The pitch is truly gruesome, but is exactly why I chose this route for a long run.
I wearily stumbled my way to the peak and scrambled up the boulders to get the full-on Bear Peak experience and the delicious views of the mountainous West. I sucked back the last of the GU and headed down to Shadow Canyon, now 3:35 into the run.
I’ve never seen Shadow, but I was extremely excited to experience the severe steepness it deals. My excitement (and smile) quickly faded as I “descended” this trail. I didn’t descend, as much as I tumbled my way down this 1.2-mile, 1,700 vertical feet stretch of boulder-riddled, stair-stepped canyon. It’s been called the longest mile in Boulder and I now completely understand why. The struggle not so quickly came to an end as the trail leveled off and I made it to the Stockton Cabin. I then jumped on to Towhee trail and headed back to the South Mesa trailhead.Exhausted and hot, I dunked legs in the South Boulder Creek before heading home.
20 miles, 6,000 feet of vertical, and 4 hours, 38 minutes later, this run marked a turning point in my training, which will hopefully materialize into higher mileage/vertical feet weeks. Next time I’ll hitting South Boulder Peak too!
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