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Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 1998 3:45 PM Subject: Incline V2 TH #9 LR #29 Tomorrow is THE INCLINE. Those that use IE3 or above can preview your handicap here http://www.skyrunner.com/story/handicap.htm Sunday is the Ute Loop. However so much snow has melted that we may want to switch to an A-frame run or even higher. We will meet as usual and decide then. I for one want to run all the way up on as much as the Barr Trail as I can find and then B-line it for the top. It looks like most of it will be gone by Sunday!!! *************** I have been asked to pass the word that there is a work day scheduled to do a re-routing and maintenance work on the Mt Esther trail on June 13th. Call the Trails and Open Space Coalition to pre-register — 719-633-7480. *************** OK here we go... First, this is going out to 37 people. 24 people were purged from the e-mailing list for failure to send in either a list or an excuse! The list is NOT ranked yet — that way you can see what other trails that person liked. Also I sent a “SEE YOU” letter to the 24 people so perhaps we will get some more before I try to rank them. It looks like Waldo could be the winner but I see a lot of Barr stuff and Rampart too. I would add Rampart to my list if we take one runner’s ideal to start up an old tradition;-) 1 Barr Trail 2 Trails in the Garden of the Gods 3 Intemann Trail 4 Waldo Canyon 1 Bear Creek, It starts on High Drive, either well down from the top of the road or a short jog up from the caretaker’s house, and it goes to Jones Park. I’ve hiked it , but not run it. As I recall it’s a long gradual up and is rather scenic. 2 The 7 Bridges trail, through Jones Park to the Mt Buckhorn trail, although the 7 Bridges trail is a little hard on the ankles in spots. #1 Catamount Trail in Green Mtn Falls. #2 Mt. Heizer Trail in Cascade. #3 Mt Esther Trail in Chipita Park. 1) Waldo Canyon.... Step for step I think it’s one of the best one hour workouts you can find. It’s got everything; uphills, downhills, scenery, obstacles, you name it. As all runners know, the secret is to go early or go late to avoid the crowds. 2) Palmer Park....I have a run there that I call the perimeter. The perimeter takes me about 45 minutes to run. One of my favorite runs is to take it fairly easy on the 45 minutes it takes me to get to the park, then smoke the perimeter, and coast home for another 45 minutes. 3) Ute Valley Park...Again arrive early or late. It’s short but pleasant. 1. Rampart rev. (a little altitude and a good work out) 2. Pikes Peak trails. (more altitude and a very good workout) 3. Trail 16. (close by) 1) Garden of the Gods (especially the Neobarra trail on the East ridge of the valley reservoir.) 2) Fox Run Park (like my old stomping grounds from high school) 3) Ute Valley Park (really nice to run from my house to the park and do a loop or two) 1. Intemann Trail 2. What we call “the ridge,” it runs from behind Manitou High School south above the cemetery. Then you can run back and connect with Intemann to the cemetery, there is a cut thru between the 2nd and 3rd house on the left, run past the south side of the high school track and back up to your car. 3. Barr Trail! 4. Waldo 1 Monument Valley and a trail that runs out of Monument Valley to the north along a railroad and connects to the Templeton Gap Trail north to Palmer Park is one of my favorites 2 Monument Valley from downtown until the RxR crossing, along the RxR crossing to Shooks Run and then south the full length of Shooks Run until connecting back into Monument Valley at Nevada Avenue (Dorchester Park), again turning north to Bijou and back downtown. 3 Barr Trail, 4 the Incline 5 Waldo 1 Cheyenne Canyon on the Columbine trail and on Captain Jacks early before the mountain bike throngs arrive. 2/3 Waldo Canyon and many of the trails near Rampart Reservoir are okay but often too crowded Now I could offer the run up Mt. Fuji and many of the trails in La Paz Bolivia (13k’) as favorites, but I think this is beyond the our local universe. 1. The trail just above the creek that heads toward the Cog. 2. The Garden of the Gods single-track trails. 3. The Palmer Park cross country course. I live in Boulder and my favorite trail is Sanitas. 1) Rampart Reservoir. I used to run this after work on a weekday, starting from Rainbow trailhead, and running down to the reservoir and around the north shoreline. At about 5 miles, there is a large rock jutting out into the lake. I used to (mid-1980’s) stop here and skinny-dip; the rock made for some good diving, and was a great place to dry off in the sun. Then I’d pull on my shorts and run back. Sadly, this trail and the lake get way too much traffic now to do this — unless the Incline Club wants to help resurrect an old tradition! Now, however, you’ll usually have to play leapfrog with mountain bikers who use this trail — avoid it on weekends! 2) Another often-overlooked trail-running area is Ute Valley Park. It’s fairly small, so you can’t get a lot of distance out of it, but it’s good for short stuff. Lots of boulder-hopping to do here — but watch out for rattlesnakes! 3) Palmer Park is also close and convenient. Variations are nearly infinite. -- For the more adventure-minded, I like running the Willow Lake trail, which reaches a lake at about 11,500’ on the west side of the Crestones. It’s about 5 miles up to the lake. Access is from the town of Crestone, on the west side of the Sangre De Christo range (northeastern San Luis valley) — anticipate lots of company at the trailhead, since it’s a very popular backpacking area! But the views as you climb the trail are fantastic! 1 Bear Creek Regional park trails 2 Barr Trail 1) Anything in the Cheyenne Canyon area including Upper Capt’n Jacks, FS# 666, 667, 622, 624, and Old Gold Camp Rd. 2) Waldo Canyon 3) Barr trail 4) Garden of the Gods 5) Section 16 6) Trails out of Palmer lake in the Rampart Range including Winding Stairs, Butler Canyon, and some of the FS roads. 7) Rampart Res 8) Ute Valley Park 1 Barr — of course (except those last three miles where there’s NO air) ;-) 2 Waldo Canyon — if you go up the loop to the right, when you come down the other side, it just reminds me of running through the woods as a kid. 3 Ute Valley — it’s close to home and there are a lot of different connections to the trails so you can get some pretty good variety. 4 Palmer Park — not so close but the trails seem endless. 5 Section 16 — what a hill (easy compared to the incline). 6 Monument Valley — hey, I know it’s flat, but sometimes that’s good. It’s only a couple blocks from work downtown for our lunchtime runs, and when we run home from work, it takes us most of the way. 7 The INCLINE — how can that NOT make someone’s list. Gotta be the hardest mile around. It’s not that it’s so much fun — it just feels good to stop when you reach the top! ;-) 1) Rampart Res 2) Elk Park 3) Waldo Canyon 4) Barr Trail 5) Crags If you want some good trail runs in the Boulder area here are my favorite: 1) Green Mtn (awesome!!) 2) Mesa Trail (pretty flat but nice) 3) Mt. Sonitas (okay) 1. Those trails that I have yet to discover. I make this selection due to my intense desire to explore uncharted territories. 2. Columbine Trail 3. The Illinois Prarie Path. A back home specialty. 4. Palmer Park. Even though many of the single tracks are pilled waist high in horse droppings by the stable. 5. Barr Trail (The entire network); Elk park being my favorite section 6. Monument Valley. Enjoy the aspect that the whole community frequents this place to exercise 7. Chisom Trail. Another trail outside of Colorado, located in the heat of Plano, Texas. 1 Ute trail 2 Palmer park trails If you ever lived in Oregon the Wildwood trail is 18miles of up and downs in the trees on the West side of Portland, then there is the Miller Killer trail in Ashland Oregon — I don’t have the foggiest Idea why they call it that — just one hill or was it 100 1 Waldo 2 Garden (I run a trail loop from the old Camera Obscura parking lot, north along the ridge above Rock Ledge Ranch, up Bretag past Siamese Twins, pick up the Strausenback trail and then Buckskin Charley back.) 1 Barr Trail, of course 2 Elk Park 3 Rampart Reservoir 4 Waldo Canyon 5 Ute Indian Loop 6 Section 16 7 Horsethief Park Trail 8 Horsethief to Pancake Rocks Trail 9 The dirt roads and trails around the Crags Campground 10 Upper Gold Camp Road 1) Stanley Canyon at the Academy 2) The Ridge at the Academy My favorite trail is back in Chicago nice and flat, the Prairie Path. It starts in Chicago and goes west through all the suburbs at least a 100 miles. 1) St. Mary’s falls trail, past falls, up Buffalo Canyon, up to the top of Mount Rosa. 2) Severy Creek trail to Cincinnati mineshaft or all the way out to Elk Park Knoll 3) Elk Park Knoll to Barr Camp 4) Stanley Canyon to reservoir, out the west side then take the “backdoor” trail to Rampart Range Reservoir 5) Trailhead 713 out of the water treatment plant at the Air Force Academy to Stanley Canyon Reservoir from the south side. 6) 7 bridges trail to cabin remains, left up to Frosty Park, then right on road to the top of Al Magre Mountain (4 hours round trip). 1) Elk Park Trail 2) Barr Trail 3) Garden of the Gods (trail network around the park) 4) Waldo Canyon (only early in the morning when there are fewer folks on the trail) 5) Pancake Rocks Trail (over on the other side of the Peak) 1 Palmer Park — any 2 Section 16 3 (Where’s) Waldo 4 7 Bridges 5 GOG horseshoe trail 6 Columbine (in Cheyenne Canyon) 1. Ute Valley Park (not mountainous, but . . . .) 2. Section 16 3. Barr Trail 1) Barr Trail 2) Susan Bretag — Siamese Twins Trails in Garden of the Gods. 3) Ute Valley Park. 1. Incline to experimental forest, to trail on left that takes you towards Barr camp, and down Barr. 2. Elk Park trail to Barr Camp and either up to summit or back. 3. High drive to Bear creek trail to Jones Park & back. 4. Gold Camp Rd to St. Mary’s Falls & back. 5. Waldo Canyon 1) Rampart Res — especially with mountain bikers to chase and pass. 2) Falcon Trail — Rarely see anyone on this trail. Able to get water at fire station if needed. Start and finish at B-52, about 13.5 miles total distance. 3) Garden of Gods — I have a loop that is about 6 miles. Only problems are when horses MESS us the trail. 4) Waldo Canyon — I like to do multiple loops on this trail. 5) Ute Valley — short ( < 4 mile) loop which is close to home and I use as more of a tempo training run. On a full moon, this run is a good one. 1. Garden of the Gods — starting from the main parking lot, the Bretag trail and several others make up a ~ 5 3/4 mile loop around the park. My favorite by far. 2. Waldo Canyon 3. Falcon Trail 4. Rampart Reservoir 1) Severy Creek to Ghost town hollow (especially if you start at the Mt. Esther Trailhead) 2) Mt Rosa from the High Drive Parking lot. (Very popular up to St. Mary’s falls, then its pretty calm from there to the Summit) 3) Goose Creek loop near Deckers (especially good in the fall) 4) Stanley Canyon to Rampart Res. (Up to Stanley Res. this can be very crowded, but after Stanley, the crowds disappear) 1 Rampart Reservoir (13 miles?) 2 Up Rampart Road from Cedar Heights to the overlook (19 miler). 1. Falcon Trail 2. Trail 713 (just North of Blodgett’s Peak, southern boundary of USAFA. Goes back towards Rampart Range Reservoir) 3. Palmer Park 4. Barr Trail (of course) 5. Sante Fe (kind of boring but nice long stretch for longer runs) 1 Elk park to Barr Camp and then to the top of the Peak 2 Incline then down Barr Trail 3 The Ute Loop 4 Scar mountain behind MCI (lots of big horn sheep, great views) 5 Part of Section 16 then Intermann back home 6 Waldo 7 GOG trails for easy runs (too herky jerky for hard and/or long workouts) Before move — Ute Valley Park, before that move — Palmer Park — my favorites are almost always the ones I can run to! Also the COG loop is way up there on the list but that involves private land. ************* Go out hard, when it hurts speed up... Matt Carpenter http://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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