Never Summer Traverse, Nokhu to Baker

The Never Summer Mountains. Ah, yes, the name alone makes you want to get out there and get stuck in. Catch sight of the magnificently jagged peaks and ridgelines that constitute the 14-mile range and the siren call gets just a little louder. Pick up a map and feast on the north-south spine that runs from Cameron Pass in the north to Baker Gulch in the south, and you're all in. At least I was.

But despite the obvious aesthetics of the line, very few others have attempted it. Indeed, I could only find interweb evidence of two full traverses, one by the legendary Colorado alpinist Bill Briggs and partner Bart Miller in 1994 (10:45), and one a little more recently by Lisa Foster (24 hours), the authority on obscure (and less obscure) routes in Rocky Mountain National Park. However, for reasons inexplicable to me, both parties had chosen to forego the Nokhu Crags, the dramatic northern bookend to the range, on their ridge runs in favor of dropping east to Thunder Pass. To me, the line demands an ascent of Nokhu.

And so it was that I found myself rudely awoken in the back of an old Subaru Legacy, with partner Cam Cross, at 2:15 on Sunday morning under the moonless shadow of the emblematic spires of the volcanic Crags. The early morning plan was simple: hoof steeply for the northeast ridge of Nokhu, ascend to the spires, then tuck in behind Cam - a former Estes area mountaineering guide - who had conveniently scouted the first four peaks of the route a few weekends prior.

Some 2,300 feet and 80 minutes later, we found ourselves somewhat trivially on the peak. Despite the horrendously loose nature of the rock on Nokhu, there exists a largely solid route to the summit by way of a series of gullies. I would provide the beta, but to be truthful I was no more than a passenger following closely behind the beam of Cam's headlight.

Cam Cross. It was windy out and I had a fairly serious case of goggle envy.

The Crags: basically a slag heap.

But picturesque from certain vantage points.

At four in the morning on a moonless night, there were no views to be had, so we quickly descended our ascent gully and contoured west and south across a series of loose and steep scree fields, negotiating around the western base of the spires until we finally found ourselves on something a little more solid under the southernmost spire of the Crags. From here, our route would head directly south by way of 10 more peaks on the knife-like ridge that defines the north-south spine of the Never Summers.

Another 80 minutes later, and after more very loose ridge negotiation, we were on the summit of Static Peak, an appealing triangle of a bump on the ridge between Nokhu and (the Baron von) Richthofen, the high point of the Never Summers. Despite its prowess as the highest and perhaps most visually appealing summit in the range, Richthofen is in fact a very easy get when ascending from the north. Somewhat appropriately, I think, the sun was also making its first appearance of the day as we made our way up the Baron's north ridge, unveiling the striking beauty of our surroundings from on high. And while the winds were definitely stronger than we would have liked at a steady 20 miles per hour, we both agreed that things could have been significantly worse.

After a brief jog west to Richthofen's sub-summit, I made the executive decision to forego the loose ridge under (what would turn out to be) Tepee Mountain, for easier grassy ledges some 100 feet below. Erroneously, we were under the assumption that the large triangular peak directly in front of us was Tepee, but alas we ducked under Tepee which in fact sits slightly off the ridge to the east, not far from Richthofen. What we thought looked like a triangular tent-like formation was in fact no more than a sub-summit of Lead Mountain despite its dramatic look.

Early rays lighting up Lead Mountain. The triangular peak in the foreground was what we had incorrectly thought was Tepee.

The ridge to Lead Mountain from under Tepee.

A moody Lead Mountain with the beautiful Hart Ridge behind, connecting to Mount Cirrus. 

Tepee is the spire off to the right of the main ridge, under a dominant Mount Richthofen in the top right of the frame. This view is from the summit of Lead Mountain. Mahler, an outlier off the main north-south ridge connects to Richthofen to the west (left) on precariously loose rock. 

Following a fairly significant goat trail across ledges and scree we were soon back up on the ridge and tagging Lead's sub-summit before heading directly for the slightly higher Lead itself, following the very steep western summit slope on frosty rock and into heavy winds. Cam had stashed provisions here on his scout a few weeks prior and we enjoyed a nice 10-minute repose on the leeward side of the peak, camel'ing water and munching on dried apricots, now 4:45 into our morning.

The 10 minutes on Lead had left a little lead in the old pins, and shortly thereafter on the heavily bouldered and steep descent to Hart Ridge, I caught a toe and supermanned shin and knee first into some very unforgiving granite clinging onto a boulder by an arm that was now out of socket at the shoulder. Ooof! The ball was easily popped back into socket, however, while the throbbing from my lower leg was reduced to dull background noise some 10 minutes later, now playing in concert with the low-grade headache that was thumping around in my skull after five hours of effort above 12,000 feet. Fun indeed.

Hart Ridge is a long, sweeping and dramatic connector between Lead Mountain and Mount Cirrus - the first of the cloud peaks, which sits high above the aptly named Lake of the Clouds. We were expecting heinously loose rock on our way to Cirrus along the bumps of Hart Ridge, but were in fact pleasantly surprised by the relatively stable nature of the talus. We stayed largely on top of the ridge with a few forays to the gloriously quiet (and sunny) leeward side, as the terrain dictated. Yes, most things moved, but mainly in a rocking motion rather than a more menacing collapsing motion. And so it was that we found ourselves tagging Cirrus just 65 minutes after leaving Lead, now 5:52 into our morning and already starting to get a whiff of the barn with a majority of the tougher and looser sections of ridge behind us.

Lake of the Clouds under Howard's east ridge.

Howard was next in line and it was something of a gimme, with some tundra at the saddle that actually allowed us to open our stride for a while. From Howard, the impressive looking Cumulous loomed a mile and a half down the ridge. This would be our last long connector, but once negotiated we would be looking at a relatively benign three-peak cruise into the finish on rock that was getting progressively more predictable by the peak.

Across the bumps that connect Howard and Cumulous we stuck pretty religiously to the ridge and nearly always found a non-technical route through. Once we hit the upslope from the low point on the ridge we started to shred on spots of tundra on the eastern side of the ridge, which was now intermixed with increasingly reliable rock. Things were starting to click nicely into gear and it was beginning to look like we'd be close to hitting our 10-hour target and 12:30 rendez-vous with Dana at the Baker/Bowen trailhead.

The north face of the Cumulous summit ridge.

Cumulous done, and with three peaks remaining we were officially smelling the barn on terrain very reminiscent of the bricky, solid and fast (relatively speaking) talus of the Mummies. And so it was that we whipped through Nimbus and Stratus before grunting out the final push up Baker, the end of the line before the descent into Baker Gulch. 

Nimbus, with southern Never Summer Peaks behind. 

Stratus and Baker from Nimbus, both of which we'd tag in a little over three-quarters of an hour.

A quick fist bump on Baker and we were off to the races, unleashing a fun 2,200 foot descent on the southwest slopes of Baker down to the Michigan Ditch and the Baker Gulch Trail for the ~3.5 mile run into the finish at the Baker/Bowen trailhead some 10 hours and two minutes after we'd started.   

Cam checks the watch as he hits Baker, our final peak on the morning, 8:56 after departing from near Cameron Pass. Stratus and Nimbus sit behind. 

Although we had steady winds all morning, we both agreed that we'd dodged a weather bullet. The forecast had called for rains Saturday night, which never came, and for gusts of up to 50 miles per hour on the morning. We may have seen one or two gusts up around that mark, but really the wind ended up being more of an annoyance than a hindrance.

The Never Summers have a reputation for being inordinately loose and chossy, and indeed they are, but the reality on the ground was a lot less treacherous than we had been preparing ourselves for. The route still demands a sustained level of focus, and absolutely no technical hand hold or foot placement should be trusted without first being tested, but this is an incredible line on one of the most inspiring ridges that Rocky Mountain National Park has to offer. Get after it!

Stats:

Start: A pull-off on the Lake Agnes Road at ~10,200'

Nokhu Crags (12,485') - 1:20

Static Peak (12,580') - 1:22 (2:42)

Mount Richthofen (12,951') - 0:29 (3:11)

Lead Mountain (12,537') -1:35 (4:46)

Hart Ridge (12,500')

Mt Cirrus (12,797') -1:05 (5:52)

Howard Mountain (12,810') - 0:22 (6:14)

Mount Cumulous (12,740') -1:09 (7:24)

Mount Nimbus (12,706') - 0:45 (8:09)

Mount Stratus (12,540') - 0:23 (8:32)

Baker Mountain (12,397') - 0:24 (8:56)

Ditch (10,200') - 0:32 (9:28)

Baker/Bowen (8,900') - 0:34 (10:02)

Total: 10:02:26

~18 miles with ~8,500 of accumulated vertical 

Three Weeks Ending August 17

Week Ending August 3

Mon - 6 miles easy (500'). Felt a little off today, so just jogged things out on the Valley Loop to Arthurs from Soderberg.

Tues - AM: 5 miles (1,500') easy. Jogged an easy lap of Horsetooth.
PM: 6.5 miles track. Workout was 1,200 open followed by 12 x 300 relay repeats w/100 jog between each interval. I came in with the intention of taking these easy, but predictably enough started getting competitive as the workout went on and the back and forth between me and Sarah, and Lee and Garcia starting playing out. Sarah would lose ground to Garcia and then I would pick it back up against a slowing Lee. Came down to the final rep, where I was able to out-lean Lee into the finish. Fun stuff, but I tweaked my knee in the process. Doh.

Weds - Off. Gave my knee the day off after overextending it at the track.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') moderate hill tempo. I had wanted to get a good tempo done on Centennial Rd this morning, but I played it safe with my knee and decided to up the return tempo just moderately.
PM - 5 miles (1,500') easy. After heavy rains, the Soderberg trailhead was closed to foot traffic so we relocated the biweekly Towers Time Trial to the upper lot for a go at Horsetooth. Still concerned about my knee, I invited Alistair out to join the group to see if he could better his Horsetooth PR of 45:30. He seemed pretty motivated, so we got after it from the gun and he tore up the mountain in 39:37 for a huge six minute PR. It was super fun to watch Alistair run with a group like this. Adding to the fun, we saw a bear on the way back down, before Alistair let rip dropping me and my dodgy knee in the process.

Horsetooth TT group. PR for Alistair. 

Bear sighting on the way back down. 

Fri - 7 miles (1,800') easy. Jogged out a nice easy Horsetooth to test the knee and things felt good.

Sat - 6 miles (2,500') hiking and bagging. Drove up to Cameron Pass with Abby Saturday afternoon in preparation for a tour of the Never Summer route on Sunday. With the late start, we kept things reasonably short and accessible. Starting at the Cameron Pass parking lot, we headed out on the Ditch Trail for just a half mile before bushwhacking steeply for Table Iron Mountain (12,060'). Breaking above the trees, the craggy and cliffy west face looked intimidating, but we were able to negotiate to the north with little difficulty. As the name suggests, the top was flat and red. From Table Iron it was a simple traverse over to Iron Mountain (12,265'), from whence we dropped back down to the saddle and then dropped back to the Ditch by way of a couple of steep, wildflower-chocked drainages. Fun route.

Richthofen, Static Peak and the Nokhu Crags (12,485') from Iron Mountain (12,265'), with 'The Electrode' as the high point on the ridge leading to Static between Richto and the Crags. 

Abby on the Iron Mountain descent

Sun - 46.5 miles (10,500') long. The original intention for the morning was to run the full Never Summer 100km loop, but I ended up cutting it short at 46 miles due to the route being a little more taxing than expected (and because I had a convenient bail-out option). The morning began with a beautiful early ascent of Seven Utes Mountain (11,453') from the Gould Community Center and a fantastic contour and descent into the serene and uber-picturesque Lake Agnes (10,663') at mile ~11. Pete and I have been bashing around these parts all summer and finally figured a great route into Agnes the weekend before on an old logging road. It pops out right at the cove (after some light bushwhacking), leaving a nice section of trail around the lake to get on the Ditch Trail. It was my first time on the next section up to and around the American Lakes and I have to say I was blown away at how stunning the bowl up there behind the Nokhu Crags is. This really is going to be a phenomenal race course.

After a crewing snafu at Cameron Pass (and a 25 minute wait), I headed up North Diamond Peak (11,852' and high point on the course) at a strong push and enjoyed an almost windless ride along the carpet that is the Medicine Bow Ridge to the Montgomery Pass 4 x 4 road, enjoying more incredible views in the process. After bashing across the Yurt contour trail, I met up with Cam at Ruby Jewel Rd to knock out the stunning high alpine Hidden Valley section of the course, which at 10 slow miles is probably the crux of the route. I started bonking a bit on the descent off Kelly Lake and then really hit the wall heading up to the Clear Lake Spur, where Pete and Karla were waiting with water. Although I wanted to bail there, I forged on and ground my way up to Clear Lake (10,600') where I sat for quite some time, perched scenically under South Rawah Peak, trying to collect myself. On the descent I made the decision to bail so took the short way back to the northern trailhead meeting back up with Pete and Karla, followed two minutes later by Abby who had somehow managed to run a marathon while totally lost in the woods (long story). All in all, this was a fun morning, but man did I ever get my arse handed to me? This is a tough course.

Crags early morning from the west near top of Seven Utes. 

Crags a couple hours later from American Lakes on the east side.

The carpet ride on the Medicine Bow ridge. North Diamond (11,852') is the high point at the end of the ridge and the high point on the Never Summer 100km course.

Overlooking Kelly Lake (10,805') in the Hidden Valley section of the course under the Medicine Bow Mountains. 

One of three moose sightings on the morning. Saw a flock (?) of big horn sheep at Kelly Lake too. 

Total: 92 miles (19,700')

Week Ending August 10 

Mon - 6 miles easy. Jogged out some recovery mileage on the valley trails.

Tues - AM: 4 miles on the mill. Ran for half an hour on the mill at the Parker Lifetime Fitness where Abby works to conduct some metabolic testing. Ran at 100 mile effort with a contraption strapped to my face. The results show that my body is quite fat efficient, meaning that I burn mainly fat while at 100-mile effort and my calorie intake need only be in the 100 calorie per hour zone. This means I have been consuming way too many calories in the past, which may account for my stomach issues in recent races. Anyway, Abby and I are taking the information from this test and working on a nutrition plan for Steamboat. Fingers crossed.
PM: 6 miles track. Workout was 1,200 open, the 8 x 400'. Again, tried to keep these under control to stave off any potential knee issues, but got a bit racy towards the end and re-tweeked the knee.

Weds - 7 miles (1,800') super easy. Jog/hiked a summit of Horsetooth, babying my strapped knee in the process. Felt okay.

Thurs - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Drove out early to Salt Lake City to attend the Outdoor Retailer show with Altra. Got in around noon and headed out to Red Buttes for a few miles on the spiderweb out there.

Fri - AM: 6 miles (1,200') easy. Jogged up to the 'living room' with Zac Marion and Zach Bitter from where we enjoyed the killer views of the Salt Lake Valley and Cottonwood Canyons.
PM: 3 miles with 1.6 miles at 15% on the treadmill over the course of 15 minutes. I never run on the treadmill, but the OR uphill challenge marked my second visit to the mill of the week. Somewhat out of shape, I was predictably worked by this exercise in pain, cutting my speed as the run progressed. Paired up with Bronco Billy, we ended up in a dead heat. Major sweat fest.

Warming up with Jeff Browning before setting it at 15%.

Sat - 15 miles (2,500') easy. Super early start from the Upper Big Water trailhead with a bunch of Altra athletes for a super-fun tour of the Lake Desolation area of the Wasatch 100 course. It was so cool to see this area at a different time of day and while not completely exhausted. The Wasatch are just burly, burly mountains and I love getting up in 'em. Got some great beta from Craig Lloyd on some of the link-up opportunities in and around the area: one day.


Credit: trailandultrarunning.com

Sun - 21 miles (5,000') easy. Back home and strapped for time, I ran locally at Horsetooth and Lory, completing the classic double summit of Horsetooth and Arthurs. Been a while since I ran long on the home trails, so I was extra appreciative of the fantastic access that I have and which I typically take so much for granted.

Total: 73 miles (13,000') 

Week Ending August 17

Mon - 7 miles (1,800') easy. Jogged out a nice easy summit of Horsetooth with John and Adam from Minnesota, who were on their way to Leadville to crew and pace my good friend Bob Gerenz who was getting ready to take his third crack at the classic 100 miler. About an hour PR for Bob as it turned out.

Tues - 12 miles (4,000') easy. A nice light day at Rocky Mountain National Park with my good friends Takashi and Masa from Japan, both of whom helped crew me at Mout Fuji earlier in the year. Did the classic Flattop, Hallet, Otis and Andrews Glacier loop, while photo-shooting some stuff for a new apparel brand - Teton Bros - that Takashi has launched with a couple of partners in Japan. Tacked on East Glacier Knob at the end. Beautiful weather and just a fun, fun loop.

Cruising around the Andrew's Galcier tarn. 

Glissade!

The new Lone Peak 2.0s are pretty sweet

Scrambling up Otis

Me and Takashi heading down Otis on our way to Andrews Galcier.

PM: 3 miles at the track. This was an emotional evening at the track, as we were there primarily to dedicate a beautiful bench to one of my biggest running inspirations, Jane Welzel. Workout was: 1,000 open, followed by a light 8 x 200, with runners sharpening for the Mountain Avenue Mile on Thursday. Took things nice and easy.

On the Quada, Quada bench with the incomparable Jane Welzel.  

Weds - 7 miles (1,800') easy. Casual jaunt up the Tooth (133).

Thurs - 8 miles easy and hard. Jogged out a few miles on the Blue Sky trail on my way into town, then ran a couple of laps on Mountain Avenue for the Mountain Avenue Mile. First up was the kids' race, where I paced Alistair to a 7:09 finish, then it was time for Beauty and the Beast (old farts) where I got a read on just how unfit I am currently, not even able to breach 5 minutes (5:07 - 73, 78, 78, 78); Oovay.

Friday - 5 miles (2,000') hike. Up in Leadville to pace a couple people the next day, I hooked up with Abby to go bag Sheridan (13,748') before heading back into town to discuss pacing/crewing plans with Tony Stafford and then Mike Aish.

Saturday - 38 miles (~6,000') pacing at Leadville. Picked up Mike at Winfield and was pleasantly surprised at how well he ran the contour trail over to the base of Hope Pass. The climb up Hope was pretty good, although Mike started slowing significantly towards the top, and then markedly on the descent. He was complaining of sore knees and was moving really slow. Rob Krar went through a quarter of the way down and then Ian passed on the meadows into Twin Lakes - a 20 minute lead evaporated. I really thought Mike was done and buried, but after a quick shoe and sock change he was out of there. I dilly dallied getting stuff I needed and it took me a half mile to catch back up to Mike who, to my surprise, was marching up the hill to the Elbert TH with conviction. Once we hit the high point at the Elbert trailhead, Mike really started building a head of steam and by the forest roads he was really rolling to the point that I was now concerned he was moving too fast. I kept my mouth shut and we were soon passing a surprised Ian, putting mileage on him very quickly. Mike would stay on the gas until near the new field section into Outward Bound, where he suddenly pronounced a need to walk. Ughh, followed shortly thereafter by a gut emptying session in the meadow. I left him at Outward Bound thinking he was in trouble, but to his immense credit he rallied to the finish knocking out a hugely impressive 1:49 from May Queen to the finish for second overall, and easily the fastest closing split ever recorded.

Breaking above the trees on Hope with Missouri Mountain behind.

Rolling with less than 30 miles to go. 

Part two of my pacing gig came around four or five hours later. Tony was in a bit of trouble when I picked him up at Outward Bound as he just wasn't able to get calories in. The march up Powerline was slow, but we got there eventually. I ended up banging my toe pretty good on the Colorado Trail section so had to pull the plug at May Queen handing Tony off to Jim for the trudge through the night. Despite his troubles, and to his immense credit, Tony still finished in a respectable sub 26 hours on his first go at the distance. He'll be back to get that big buckle next year.

On a side note, I have nothing but positive things to say about the race management this year. Clearly, those involved listened to the bitching from last year and got it spot on in 2014. Very well done!

Sunday - Off. after 45 minutes of sleep I headed home early enough to beat the traffic. I wanted to get out and hike with the kids, but Alistair nixed all and any hiking plans so we went into town and got ice cream instead.

Total: 80 miles (15,600') 

It's been a very busy August, so I'm getting the mileage in where and when I can for Steamboat. I feel like I have a good nutrition plan figured out with Abby for the race, so I am hopeful that with an agreeable stomach I can more than make up for my current lack of fitness and register a decent finish. Time will tell on that.

Week Ending June 15

Mon - 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls loop. Headed out late in the day for a Horsetooth summit, but just couldn't muster the energy, so bailed with a consolation loop on the lower trails.

Tues - AM: 6.5 miles (1,500') easy. Horsetooth summit. A super casual jog in the heat of the day with an extra layer just to warm the legs a bit for the evening's track workout.
PM: 6 miles track. It was good and hot at the track this evening, so I got some strange looks warming up in pants and a jacket, but I like to get a good sweat going before doing anything intense like a track workout. Nonetheless, it always takes me the first couple of reps to really commit to doing these things. Workout was: mile, 4 x 800. Eased in on the first couple laps of the mile, then worked the second 800 a bit. For the 800s, we were working in pairs with the second runner (me) joining/pulling the first runner on his second lap before soloing his own second lap. This dynamic led to a lazy first 800, before I figured I needed to push a little harder on the first lap as the second runner: 5:30, 2:40, 2:36, 2:35, 2:35. These reps felt really, really good - totally under control with plenty in the tank to push harder had I wanted.

Weds - AM: 6.5 miles (1,500') easy. Horsetooth summit. Good and easy.
PM: 6 miles easy. Easy out and back on the Valley trails.

Thurs - 10.5 miles (1,200') easy. Ran the Blue Sky/Indian Summer out and back with Sarah, Lee and Slush. Latched onto Sarah's uptick in pace over the last couple miles, otherwise just a nice early morning cruise.

Fri - 6 miles easy. Jogged an out and back from the Blue Sky trailhead to Shoreline/Nomad. Layered up for this one and got a solid sweat going.

Sat - 12 miles (2,000') easy. We stayed at the Montgomery Yurt up at State Forest in the Medicine Bow Mountains this weekend, which was a total blast. This trip had a dual purpose. In addition to wanting to get away somewhere remote with the family, I was also champing at the bit to get up to State Forest - now snow free up to about 10.5k' - to start scouting the Never Summer 100k race we plan on debuting next year.

Up with the sun, I followed the Yurt Trail connecting the Montgomery Pass Rd to the Ruby Jewel Rd - starting approximately 26 miles into our intended route. This is typically a winter trail intended for yurt to yurt ski tours of the park, so the realities on the ground in the summer were less than ideal. The well-defined ATV track of the designated trail soon gave way to mainly cross country travel with a hint of trail thrown in here and there through the trees. On the final clear cut before I was supposed to pop out on the Ruby Jewel Rd I totally lost the trail and ended up bushwhacking through the woods on the 9,600' contour that the trail was marked as following over the final mile or so. Once on the road I jogged up to the next trail intersection, passing the exit point of the Yurt Trail after a quarter mile, so just a little low, but good to know that the trail goes all the way through. From there, I picked up the Mtn View Trail, shortcutting through a heinous clearcut near the bottom to get back on the main park road, from whence it was a jog back to the yurt. This was a fun, if somewhat slow and frustrating morning, and an eye-opener for the kind of terrain this race is going to take in. Following the run, we hot-footed it out to Steamboat for an afternoon in the hot springs followed by the usual downer of watching England perform poorly in the World Cup.

Yurt Fun

Yurt 'trail.' XC travel will be required.

Once clearcut, these saplings are growing in thick and fast.

Sun - 10 miles (1,800') easy. More scouting, this time in the far northern section of the course under Clark Peak and the Rawah section of the Medicine Bows. The first half of this run was on well-maintained forest road, which gave way to overgrown madness on the connector 'trail' I was scouting. As is common in State Park, which has been extensively logged over the years due to heavy beetle kill, a lot of the old logging roads are now being aggressively reclaimed by vibrant saplings which have been lapping things up in the moist environment. After bushwhacking the final mile of trail/road, I finally popped back out on the eastern side of the loop from where I enjoyed a return on super skinny trail that clearly sees heavy game activity but little human passage. With the vibrant wild flowers, remote location and game-rutted trails, this whole section was very reminiscent of some of the more remote sections of the Big Horn course.

Trail coming in from the Hidden Valley Alpine section, which also takes in Kelly Lake. 

Once a trail. A half mile later and it was solid bushwhacking with no discernible evidence of a trail.  More scouting required.

Diamond Peaks, Nokhu Crags, Richthofen and Mahler on the south end of the course (north end of the Never Summers). The first 25 miles of the course route under and around the Never Summers by way of Seven Utes, Lake Agnes, Michigan Ditch and Michigan Lakes. Then up Diamond Peaks and into the Medicine Bows for some ridge running to Montgomery Pass. So good. 

Much of the course can be seen here through a clearing on the north end. The Never Summers are off in the distance, before the contour under the Medicine Bow Mountains and through alpine terrain in Hidden Valley on the left side of the frame. The low point on the course will be about 8,500' with approximately half of it run above 10,000', topping out at just below 12,000' on North Diamond Peak.

The trails, as it turns out, are not always so well defined. Heavy marking will be required in a number of sections.

Moose country.

Total: 68 miles (7,800')

A little low on the mileage again, largely due to the light weekend volume brought on by poor route finding and time constraints. But it was still a super fun weekend in a truly unique, beautiful and under-visited part of Colorado. Pete and I will be up at State Park for much of the summer figuring the best route possible for next year's Never Summer 100km. If interested, we're planning a preview/scout of the course with any and all that are interested the weekend of July 18/19. We've reserved a couple sites at the Bockman Campground for up to 12 people, but further reservations are probably required at this point if you're interested in joining.

What else? Ah, yes, Western States is less than two weeks away. I really have no idea how this year's race is going to play out. While I feel less prepared than any previous year from a pure fitness standpoint, I also have an inner confidence that I'll still be able to get the job done in a respectable time. I feel little to no pressure to perform, despite putting some fairly aggressive goals out there on the interwebs, which I believe puts me in a good mental spot. I know how to run these things, so I just need to execute on race day. That's it really - no time to be overthinking things now.

Mike and I will be driving out Wednesday evening, getting into the Tahoe area Thursday around noon. We'll need to source some kind of accommodation, likely in the Reno area, and then I'll be speaking on the Veteran's Panel that night with such luminaries of the sport as Karl Meltzer, Meghan Arbogast and Topher Gaylord. How I came to be considered a veteran, I am not quite sure, but it should be a fun evening and hopefully I have some useful nuggets to impart. Consider stopping by if you're in the area.