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Sent: Friday, January 09, 1998 4:48 PM
Subject: Long Run #8 Reminder
It seems like only a week ago...
Before I forget, Sandy Canright tells me that if you mention the “Friends of the Peak” when you buy your Pikes Peak Pass (#5 reminder) $5 will be donated to the group to help support their work days, field trips and educational projects. Also, just out of curiosity could you send me a note if you got a pass or plan on getting one. If enough of us end up getting them perhaps I can try to work out a similar “running” deal for future years when they do not have the $50 special.
Get ready for one of my favorite loops on Pikes Peak. We will start out on Barr Trail but about 100 yards after crossing No Name Creek (AKA French Creek) we will take a left and run to a water pipe bridge. For those that have been running with the group this is old news, but this time we will cross the bridge and connect into the COG railway after about 5 more minutes of running. From there we will run up the COG about 20-30 minutes (depending on your pace) to the Mid Mountain Station at 10,012'. We will then turn right and run on a marked 1.5 mile trail. There is usually some good ice on this section so be ready! About one mile into the trail there is a T — we will head right and down and pass by an abandoned cabin. The trail will then connect back into the Barr Trail at the 1/2 mile to Barr Camp sign where we will head back down to finish our run. I will bring a couple copies of a map for those that need them.
***READ THIS IF NOTHING ELSE*****
It is HIGHLY recommended that you bring some water and a Power Bar or something for the loop. This should come in from 2:30 to 3:00, again depending on the pace.
***OK YOU CAN THROW YOUR COMPUTER IN THE TRASH NOW****
Just a few minutes ago Paul DeWitt and I bagged a run we had been planning for a week or so. We ran up behind Mountain Shadows to the site of a plane crash — a DC10 we are told. After about 50 minutes of awesome trail we bushwhacked up some steep (70%) stuff that had some butt deep snow in sections and popped out on a ridge just below where we thought the plane would be. We ran (crawled) up to what we thought was a 9,138' peak but we did not find anything. We split up a bit and worked all the way back down to where we came in from our bushwhack and still found nothing. With over 2 hours of running and it getting cold, we heading out feeling a bit dejected. I came to a spot with an awesome view and there is just something about awesome views that always seems to bring on the call of nature... While I am going wee wee Paul says “look” and there before us was the plane crash site only about 1 minute from the point that we had bushwhacked to 50 minutes earlier!!! It turns out we had come up on the 9,138' peak where the plane was and ran up to another peak at 9,439'. We checked out some cool plane parts and gathered a couple of “we did it” souvenirs before finally getting on our way. I got home just after 3 hours on my feet but the mission was accomplished... What does this have to do with our Sunday long run you ask? Well Paul and I could see Pikes Peak real well from where we were so consider that the tie in;-) Seriously, it was just a neat run that I wanted to share — sometimes as runners we can do the coolest things!
Top 3 reasons why there is no top list this week:
3) Top 3 reasons why plane crashed just didn’t cut it
2) Hands still frozen from picking up plane parts
1) I need a hot shower NOW!
See you Sunday at 8am!
Go out hard, when it hurts speed up...
Matt Carpenter
www.skyrunner.com
The Mining Company's December 1997
Best of the Net for Jogging/Running
The tagline is a joke but if you pull it off I promise you will win every race you enter!
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