Adventures in CB

For the third year in a row I've been fortunate enough to receive an invitation to spend a few days in heaven.  Renee, Rick, Kirby and Charlie the dog have welcomed Sydney and I to their rented home in Crested Butte for a few days.  

I covet those few days for so many reasons.

If you've been to CB then I don't need to explain.  If you haven't, well what are you waiting for?  I haven't actually been there in the winter time - it's apparently paradise, just as it is in the summer time!  And since I'm not a skier or boarder I haven't found reason to make the trek in the winter.  But as a hiker and trail runner it is pure bliss.  9000 ft of elevation surrounded by 12, 13 and 14,000 foot peaks makes for stunning scenery.  And this year has been a wet one in Colorado so the wildflowers for which CB is known were more amazing than I've seen them in the last 3 years (and of course my good camera was in the shop!).  

And then there is time with good friends.  Especially Renee.  We don't talk often, but it's always easy when we do reconnect.  So nice to spend time with friends who know you well (16 years this summer for Renee and I), who know your history and who make you smile.  There's always an adults only dinner which generally involves much laughter, great food and a few drinks.

This year brought a few more adventures than usual.  Syd and I drove over the afternoon of the Barr Trail Mountain Race.  I had a tough race, and while slower than last year, better than last year overall in terms of how I felt (read: I wasn't white as a ghost and ready to pass out at the finish).  My quads burned on the way up much too early (maybe the 9 miles in Victor weren't the best idea on Friday, but it was a beautiful run, with good friends, followed by four of us masquerading as 8 when we had $1.95 breakfast's at the local casino).  I soaked the legs in ice cold water and had a recovery drink, but my legs were still jello-like up to Barr Camp.  I cruised on the downhill - wasn't so sure as I turned around - but ultimately felt pretty solid and let myself cruise.  The last 1/4 mile of the race is just mean - UP Hydro street to the finish.  UP, after having cruised down for 6 miles.  I hate the finish so much that I held on to enough grit to really punch it up that hill this year.  Enough for spectators to comment on my push to the finish.  And I passed at least one guy on the UPHILL finish.  Sweet!

So 12.5 miles RT on Barr Trail, followed by THE reason to run BTMR, ice cold watermelon served up courtesy of my friends at Colorado Running Company, Syd and I hopped into the car to make the 4-hour drive to CB.

Dinner out was yummy though I'm amazed I lasted as long as I did.  By 10 my eyelids were heavy after a full, good day.  Monday brought the adventure of the week for Renee and I.  Took the Subaru on a stream crossing and up a steeply pitched jeep road.  We only made it halfway to the trailhead - too steep for my liking.  The trail, Rustler's Gulch, was easy enough, though I wish I'd had my Chaco's for the three water crossings.  Ah well, a little barefoot crossing is good for the heart rate and the soul :-).  

I have never seen so many varieties of wildflowers as I did this year in CB and the Rustler's Gulch trail did not disappoint.  Fields of yellow, purple, some of the biggest Columbine I've ever seen, red and white paintbrush, monk's hood, lupine, assorted sunflower varieties.  It's near impossible to really describe the palette across the emerald green landscape.  We got chased back by thunder and the need to make sure we were back in time to pick up the boys from their day of rafting.  We survived the drive down the steep pitch of the jeep road, only to forget the importance of rolling up the car windows when fording a creek.  Ooops!  As Renee described it, "Better than a water ride at Six Flags."  Thought for a minute I had a flat tire, but instead an easy fix to the plastic bumper only to discover the front license plate missing from the car.  Ooops!  A quick trip back to the creek did not yield a license plate - still have the back one and the registration and still trying to figure out what to do about this.  

But the story gets even better.  Renee said we should stop in the local mountain store, The Alpineer, to let them know I'd lost a plate just in case someone found it.  They recommended that I call the local radio station because they announce lost & found twice daily!  Seriously?  Yes!  So I called the station, told him my story and was asked to call the DJ.  I did as I was told, gave him the scoop, lost license plate on the road to Rustler's Gulch, name and contact info.  Call back later or tomorrow and if anyone finds it they'll call you.  Really?  Really.  They shopkeeper at one of the local liquor stores told Renee he'd heard the announcement and noted he too had lost at plate at Rustler's Gulch - never recovered.  It really wasn't that deep or treacherous!

I finally got to run Snodgrass - a famed trail that Renee had oft talked about.  It was hard - uphill to start and some good steep pitches but it ran through an Aspen Grove and had awesome views of CB and Mt. CB.  My body wasn't happy to be running these hills again - still feeling the effect of BTMR - but my heart and soul wanted to be no other place.  We were starving when we finished and felt as though we'd earned ourselves pizza from The Secret Stash - another often talked of locale that I hadn't been too.  It satiated and lived up to it's reputation.

Wednesday morning Syd and I ran the Lower Loop - one of my all time favorite runs in CB.  In fact, here's last year's post.  It's a gentle single track along the slate river.  A reprieve that my tired and sore body needed after the beating I had apparently given it in recent weeks.  

It is always hard to leave the serenity of places like Crested Butte and Steamboat Springs for the chaotic reality of life in the Springs.  It's not that I don't love my life here, but somehow things slow down and what really matters - time with friends and family, adventures and a quiet soul resonate so much more clearly. 

On to the next adventure, a girls 14er weekend in Salida to attempt Mt. Princeton...oh, and a 14.5 mile "half marathon" on Vail Mountain this weekend.