Last time I saw Sarah, she set up a sweet hike above scenic Lake Louise in Banff Nat’l Park. Hike day culminated in a high-altitude tea aside an alpine lake, Lake Agnes. Set the bar mighty high, huh? Well…she IS Canadian after all.
Early morn hot air balloon, diner breakfast – next up, one of my hike faves, Brainard Lake.
Alpine lake, lodgepole pine, glacier snow on the peaks – all at 10,300ft starting elevation…pretty SPECTACULAR. Ever Google the elevation in Toronto? 249ft. True flatlanders. Whatta sport – thin air, little oxygen, yet not a peep of negativity outta Sarah. Hiked to Long Lake – pic I use as my website cover art. LOVE LOVE this place. Sharing the experience with friends, no words. Full heart.
Anything any better? uh…Cue, wildlife. Chipmunks, pika, black squirrels, elk – easy. How ‘bout MOOSE? FAAANNNTASTIC! Shower, change of clothes, night trek up Boulder Canyon to Gold Hill Inn. Fine dining at 8,000ft. Kinda hard to match Banff but folks – an alpine hike, 2 moose & a 5-course meal at 8,000ft – I attempted to reach that bar. WOW, whatta day!
(whole lotta photo credit: sarahontheroad.com)
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- 5000ft higher than my Colorado home
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- perfect day for a hike
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- lodgepole pine & glacier-fed water
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- Ponderosa pine
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- thin air & cool temps – LOVE it!
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- Aspen yellow, the beginning of Fall
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- photo credit: sarahontheroad.com
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- website cover art revisited (Long Lake) — my blog’s now 5 years strong
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- Ro’s a smilin’ — sign of a mighty good hike
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- FAVE shot of the day!
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- alpine pallet, so much colour
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- wildlife alert: MOOSE!
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- a drink & a soak before heading home
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- photo credit: sarahontheroad.com
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- high-altitude fine dining
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- a rare non-hike, non-marathon, freshly-showered dinner pic 🙂
Sunday: [marathon] bib pick-up day in Colorado Springs. 10 minute chore – check, done.
Garden of the Gods. Monolith red rocks curtained by mighty Pikes Peak in the background. 2 ½ hours from home, but I visit this Park at least twice a year. Any excuse, friend/family visit to Colorado – Rocky Mtn Nat’l Park to the North, Garden of Gods to the South. Both treks highlight every itinerary. AWESOME amazing acts of God.
Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Something old, something new – well, at least new to me. LOVE history, LOVE everything Native American. Visited the three-story Pueblo-style Cliff Dwellings, descendants of the ancient Anasazi (existed 1100-1300 A.D.) Honestly not a ton to see & do, but happy to have gone once. Museum’s a bit dated – more walk-thru placards than actual artifacts.
Dinner & a short tourist walk downtown. Highlight: the healing waters of Shoshone Spring & a random local releasing their pet sugar glider (small, nocturnal gliding possum). Startling, unexpected but pretty cool experience.
Night sleeps in Manitou Springs, tomorrow another 26.2.
(even more photo credit: sarahontheroad.com)
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- Colorado road trippin’
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- next stop: Manitou Springs
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- Pikes Peak — LOVE this shot!
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- whole lotta folks had the same idea
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- this Canadian is crazy STRONG!
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- photo credit: sarahontheroad.com
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- super FUN day
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- feelin’ all Native
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- surprise, surprise — it’s a sugar glider (an omnivorous, nocturnal gliding possum)
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- small body, crazy long tail
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- room with a view
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- tomorrow morning: marathon #69
Labor Day 2016 (Colorado mix)
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40, but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.
prevailing winds blew away [dust] in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust – named “black blizzards” or “black rollers” – traveled cross country…
The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres that centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Set a lotta new running goals in 2016 – first ultra distance, first trail race…and this weekend, my first marathon Double.
Boulder⇨ Louisville⇨ Westminster⇨ Englewood. Work, home, dog drop-off, commuter Park N Ride. Picked up Dave [a fellow 50 Stater] Friday nite 7pm & highway’d west. Hour-half to Limon (KS border), 2 hours south to Lamar – a super small town on the Plains (population 7,776), more reminiscent of Kansas than Colorado.
Tomorrow’s marathon would be my 2nd Colorado ‘training run’. [Already selected the Colorado Marathon on May 1st to complete my 50 States Quest.] January ran Cause & Effect Marathon in Brighton (Achilles Int’l charity race); registered tomorrow’s run as a FREE entry thru Mainly Marathons, part of their 5-day Dust Bowl Series. Well…kinda free. Week later signed up for Sunday’s 26.2 in Clayton, New Mexico. LOL>
Good training for next month – when I run State 49 Saturday in Illinois, hop on a plane, then finish State 50 the following morning in Fort Collins 🙂
Hoteled 6 hours at the Cow Palace (yep, completely serious) – then landed 10 minutes away in Lamar’s Willow Creek Park. Bib pick-up & blueberry pancakes. Game on!
Mainly Marathons trademark – FOOD. You’ll never go hungry on one of their runs!
Today’s course: 14 laps on urban trail (dirt & gravel…but this ain’t Moab – no mid-race rock climb required 🙂 ). Have never run so many laps in my life – tough to stay focused repetitive looping. Today we’d collect rubber bands – 13 bands, then one last loop to the Finish. Simple brilliant idea. I proudly collectedly 7 on one arm, 6 on the other.
Felt STRONG this cold day, went out fast. Held third, then slipped to 4th a lap later. Been running desert 5 weeks straight. I’m a cold weather runner, today my kinda day.
Temps dropped, wind blew & my pace slowed. Four laps remaining, tagged a steady runner – Dan from Iowa. Proudly declared ‘Victory Lap’ as I slipped on band 13, downed a handful of salty chips & hit trail, one last loop.
1.87 miles more. Mentally STRONG – FINISHED marathon/ultra #58.
2016 Dust Bowl Series Day 4 – Full Marathon – March 26, 2016 – Lamar, CO
KR Haga Louisville CO 05:00:39
Quick shower at the Cow Palace. SNOW blowing, 2 hour drive ‘cross the Oklahoma Panhandle, diner dinner in New Mexico.
One down, one to go. first marathon DOUBLE in sight – definitely gonna happen tomorrow!
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- population 7776
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- hoteled like a King…at the Cow Palace
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- chilly Colorado sunrise
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- my brief moment in 3rd place
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- race ya to to the top 🙂
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- one down, one to go — next marathon stop, Clayton NM
the Dust Bowl, 1930’s America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTek7ipD4U
Bowling, “Toy Story” Uno (family game night), Louisville Street Faire – and blink…it’s time for all to go home. Always goes so fast.
HOLD ON – we still have Saturday. Today’s destination: the Springs – Garden of the Gods, followed by mighty Pikes Peak.
Visitors Center, drove the Garden loop, hiked 2+ miles around the God’s infamous boulders – finished at Balanced Rock. Top 10 Colorado destination. LOVE LOVE this place!
Elk burger in Manitou, then a mile drive UP to tram parking – had purchased 6 tickets on the 1:20pm train. Ash & Tom were engaged on Pikes two years ago. Good memories.
Lotta traffic, hmm. Arrived to find our train was cancelled – actually STUCK 12,000ft UP. Argh.
Plan B? Hiked Barr Trail to Pikes (28 miles round trip) in 2013. Rode the railway UP same year – but have never driven. Pikes & Evans are Colorado’s 2 14ers accessible [in summer] by car. Tough on the brakes – glad Sis brought the rental 🙂 Outside temp dropped from 91 to 39 degrees within the hour-half ride up to Summit House. Truly stunning views!
My 2015 memory? Sis at the wheel hugging mountain curves while Tori & Jack screamed/jumped & waved their hands wildly in the back. Apparently we picked up a wasp while at Garden – a wasp not interested in resettling outdoors at 14,000ft in glacial snow. No room to pull the car over. Nat’l Lampoon vacation memory. Pretty funny in hindsight.
Ultimately parked without injury, purchased Pikes’ infamous high-altitude donuts & snapped a few pics before clouds moved in & pellet’d the car with snow. Ranger stopped us 20 minutes into our descent – brakes were smoking hot, 30 minute mandatory wait while they cooled.
Jetted back to Denver – WAIT, day’s not over. Sis bought tickets to Colorado’s MLS team, the Rapids. Been a tough year for the local team, last in our division. This day however, the soccer gods shined on Colorado: a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake. All scoring happened in the last 4 minutes. If you haven’t attended a soccer match – GO! Lotta energy, lotta noise, super fun.
2 Nat’l Parks, 2 14er summits, Garden of the Gods, a glacier hike & glissading, mineral springs swim, train ride thru the Rockies, MLS game (professional soccer), geocaching, shopped Boulder’s pedestrian Pearl Street, hiked Chautauqua’s Royal Arch AND toured a silver mine nearly 1,000ft underground.
For monsoon season, this family filled their days. Miss you already sis 🙁
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- beautiful faces, beautiful places
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- Balanced Rock
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- next Colorado adventure: rock climbing
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- Pikes Peak, AMERICA’s mountain
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- long stretch of highway UP
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- outside temp dropped from 91 to 39 degrees
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- inspired “America the Beautiful” in 1893
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- SNOW cloud ahead
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- Rapids 3, Real Salt Lake 1
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- soccer selfie
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- amazing family vacation — miss you guys already!
vacation extras
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- Jack & Ro
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- bowling at Fat Cats
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- Salvadoran pupusa at Louisville Street Faire
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- Chautauqua’s Royal Arch in Boulder
