Monday:
I wanted to wake up early and try to get in a run in the mountains, but I also wanted to get on the road to Silverton. And it was Norm’s birthday so I didn't want to make him get up early to go run up a mountain. So we slept in a bit, had our free breakfast and hit the road.
Right outside of Spanish Fork I see something on the side of the road and I am trying to make out what it is. “A bear! It’s a bear!” I point in the general direction. It was a young bear just chilling on the side of his road looking over his shoulder at the traffic. Crazy! Soon after we see 3 really big sheep sleeping inside the railroad tracks next to each other. It was really odd. It was like the intentionally wedged themselves in between the rails.
Finally the scenery starts to change. There are big mountains, pine trees, snow and waterfalls. This is my happy place! We were also greeted with a dark cloudy sky and a little rain. The temperature dropped 40 degrees from what it had been all day. Poor Ava is in the back swigging coke and trying to keep the car sickness at bay. I have come to know this route as well as any route at home and I can tick off the sites as we come closer to Silverton.
We stopped at Mobius Café, which is now called Bear Café. We keep calling it Mobius. We were enjoying our coffee and treats when Enzo and Brandi surprised us by walking in. It’s been weeks since I have seen them. They take us over to the office and we visit with them and Jubilee and John. I had promised the kids I would take them out to dinner. They have been living off ramen and canned soup with the occasional mayo and cheese sandwich. We went to get BBQ at The Pitts Again. Everything but the bread is gluten free and even some vegetarian options. Since it was Norm’s birthday we even had dessert. The deep fried twinkie is not really on my diet but was definitely worth the bite! It was amazing! For my Phoenix friends, they actually have a location in Glendale so you can go visit and enjoy the yummy food. We sent half the weeks budget on dinner so I guess we will be eating canned soup also this week. Luckily, I bought a lot of cheap wine in California.
Back at camp it is raining, the kids have not done the best job setting up the tent and there is water inside and Sinjin has a terrible headache and is not feeling well. We are trying to get air mattresses blown up and the sleeping situation arranged. I forgot to mention that since we are taking the tent, Enzo and Brandi are sleeping in the car so we get Maui (Enzo’s dog) in the tent with us.
Finally everything is arranged and we settle in. With it raining outside we just start chatting and joking and laughing at pretty much everything. Ava is pretty funny. She always cracks me up. We discussed Lore episodes that we liked and didn’t like. We discussed Outside Magazine podcasts and what we would do in certain situations. Norm was outside messing with the tent and sees a moose walking right by our campsite. Ava and I go out to see it. (Sinjin still feeling like crap did not get up.) OMG! It is so cool! I was trying to hold a glass of wine and unlock my phone so I didn't get any pictures, but Ava got some good ones.
Enzo had to go back to town to finish some work so we went too so we could charge phones and portable chargers.
I wanted to wake up early and try to get in a run in the mountains, but I also wanted to get on the road to Silverton. And it was Norm’s birthday so I didn't want to make him get up early to go run up a mountain. So we slept in a bit, had our free breakfast and hit the road.
Right outside of Spanish Fork I see something on the side of the road and I am trying to make out what it is. “A bear! It’s a bear!” I point in the general direction. It was a young bear just chilling on the side of his road looking over his shoulder at the traffic. Crazy! Soon after we see 3 really big sheep sleeping inside the railroad tracks next to each other. It was really odd. It was like the intentionally wedged themselves in between the rails.
Finally the scenery starts to change. There are big mountains, pine trees, snow and waterfalls. This is my happy place! We were also greeted with a dark cloudy sky and a little rain. The temperature dropped 40 degrees from what it had been all day. Poor Ava is in the back swigging coke and trying to keep the car sickness at bay. I have come to know this route as well as any route at home and I can tick off the sites as we come closer to Silverton.
We stopped at Mobius Café, which is now called Bear Café. We keep calling it Mobius. We were enjoying our coffee and treats when Enzo and Brandi surprised us by walking in. It’s been weeks since I have seen them. They take us over to the office and we visit with them and Jubilee and John. I had promised the kids I would take them out to dinner. They have been living off ramen and canned soup with the occasional mayo and cheese sandwich. We went to get BBQ at The Pitts Again. Everything but the bread is gluten free and even some vegetarian options. Since it was Norm’s birthday we even had dessert. The deep fried twinkie is not really on my diet but was definitely worth the bite! It was amazing! For my Phoenix friends, they actually have a location in Glendale so you can go visit and enjoy the yummy food. We sent half the weeks budget on dinner so I guess we will be eating canned soup also this week. Luckily, I bought a lot of cheap wine in California.
Back at camp it is raining, the kids have not done the best job setting up the tent and there is water inside and Sinjin has a terrible headache and is not feeling well. We are trying to get air mattresses blown up and the sleeping situation arranged. I forgot to mention that since we are taking the tent, Enzo and Brandi are sleeping in the car so we get Maui (Enzo’s dog) in the tent with us.
Finally everything is arranged and we settle in. With it raining outside we just start chatting and joking and laughing at pretty much everything. Ava is pretty funny. She always cracks me up. We discussed Lore episodes that we liked and didn’t like. We discussed Outside Magazine podcasts and what we would do in certain situations. Norm was outside messing with the tent and sees a moose walking right by our campsite. Ava and I go out to see it. (Sinjin still feeling like crap did not get up.) OMG! It is so cool! I was trying to hold a glass of wine and unlock my phone so I didn't get any pictures, but Ava got some good ones.
Enzo had to go back to town to finish some work so we went too so we could charge phones and portable chargers.
This is the 2nd time we have seen a moose at South Mineral Campground.
Tuesday:
The day I finally get to go to Ice Lake and Island Lake! We got a late start and I was worried about the rain the forecasted, but we had an amazing day! I wrote a whole blog just about the hike.
When we came to town Norm and I were exhausted and hungry. Our moving time was only 2.5 hours for the hike, but we did a lot of stopping. First with the kids because they were struggling and after because we were taking so many pictures and enjoy the beauty of everything. Also, we had to walk most of the way to camp so that took some time. In the end we were gone for 5 hours.
Food and coffee were our main goals! Then I settled in to get some work done while Norm rested. Ava and Sinjin had something to eat and took off for the playground. I received a text from Sinjin that the very dangerous merry go round that was probably from he 1970’s had been removed from the playground. This is the kids most favorite part of Silverton. The kids wondered around Silverton and eventually we all met up to have dinner. Yahtzee, some reading about cadavers (a book called Stiff by Mary Roach) and finally off to sleep.
Thankfully we had decided to stay the night in the office because it rained and rained and rained all night. Loud pelting rain. Our tent had been set up by Enzo and was missing some parts. (This isn’t his fault. Someone had packed all the tent stakes in one bag the last time we camped.) The tent had water in it when we arrived. We would have been very unhappy people with very unhappy children in that tent.
The USATF Marathon Trials qualifying standards were announced today. I had already decided a few months back that I would make one last attempt to qualify for the trials. It’s where I started in running. And when life took a turn that included a long drawn out and messy divorce I just never really put in the effort required to get that fast again. If I had known what I was doing I know I could have qualified at Eugene (I took one gel the entire race and was struggling to not black out the last few miles.) I know it will be a long process for me. I don't expect the first marathon be a successful attempt. And I am not giving up ultra running so it will be a balancing act of the two types of running. But I know that if I don't try I will regret it.
The day I finally get to go to Ice Lake and Island Lake! We got a late start and I was worried about the rain the forecasted, but we had an amazing day! I wrote a whole blog just about the hike.
When we came to town Norm and I were exhausted and hungry. Our moving time was only 2.5 hours for the hike, but we did a lot of stopping. First with the kids because they were struggling and after because we were taking so many pictures and enjoy the beauty of everything. Also, we had to walk most of the way to camp so that took some time. In the end we were gone for 5 hours.
Food and coffee were our main goals! Then I settled in to get some work done while Norm rested. Ava and Sinjin had something to eat and took off for the playground. I received a text from Sinjin that the very dangerous merry go round that was probably from he 1970’s had been removed from the playground. This is the kids most favorite part of Silverton. The kids wondered around Silverton and eventually we all met up to have dinner. Yahtzee, some reading about cadavers (a book called Stiff by Mary Roach) and finally off to sleep.
Thankfully we had decided to stay the night in the office because it rained and rained and rained all night. Loud pelting rain. Our tent had been set up by Enzo and was missing some parts. (This isn’t his fault. Someone had packed all the tent stakes in one bag the last time we camped.) The tent had water in it when we arrived. We would have been very unhappy people with very unhappy children in that tent.
The USATF Marathon Trials qualifying standards were announced today. I had already decided a few months back that I would make one last attempt to qualify for the trials. It’s where I started in running. And when life took a turn that included a long drawn out and messy divorce I just never really put in the effort required to get that fast again. If I had known what I was doing I know I could have qualified at Eugene (I took one gel the entire race and was struggling to not black out the last few miles.) I know it will be a long process for me. I don't expect the first marathon be a successful attempt. And I am not giving up ultra running so it will be a balancing act of the two types of running. But I know that if I don't try I will regret it.
Island Lake! I wrote a whole separate blog about this trip.
Wednesday:
Still raining when I woke up. I couldn’t even see the mountains through the clouds. I thought I would sleep like a rock, but I did not. And I woke up at 4am and lay there until 5:45am. So I got up and started cleaning up our mess. Norm and I had coffee and hung out a bit. At 10am we left for a trip up Kendall Mountain. I wanted Norm to see the Kendall Mountain course. I have never gone up and not been racing. I just don’t notice the scenery or anything else for that matter. It was nice to take it easy and snap some picks. Climbing, climbing, I know we should be hitting a section of switchback right before you get to the scramble. But where is it? I am starting to doubt myself. I even looked at Google maps (not that helpful by the way. I would later learn that Kendall Peak and Kendall Mountain are two totally different things). We continued moving forward and there it was! I was right about the turn. We start up the switchbacks. As we are getting close to the place where we will start the scramble to the top a runner come down tells us there is a mountain goat that is stalking her and we should be prepared to fight. When we got up to the start of the scramble, there he was. He was clearly none too happy about us being there. But I wanted to check things out. There is usually an aid station here so I never realized that I could look into a basin and see a lake! I looked on the map but this little lake didn’t have a name. We also talked about trying to move forward to what looked like the end of the road, but we would have to cross a large snow field and Norm was not thrilled about that. I get it, I also use to hate running in the snow, but I have learned to love it. We decided to turn back and luckily the mountain goat was distracted by 2 jeeps that came up the road. They were very impressed that we had hiked all the way up.
It’s so fun to be in Silverton for Hardrock! We have been running into lots of friends. Melanie Rabb is here because her husband is running this year. It’s his first time and it took him 6 years. Yay Rob! Melanie is going to run with me to Telluride tomorrow. I was trying to decide on the best way to go. My original plan was to run Ophir Pass, but after looking at a map I thought I might run backwards on the Hardrock course from Silverton to Telluride. I had a few concerns about this plan. For one thing, course marking at Hardrock are not like a typical race. The markers are few and far between. Two, taking this route would mean going down a nasty scree field. Three, there are at least 2 big ice/snow fields. Going across these by myself makes me a little nervous. After talking with Melanie we decided to take Ophir Pass and then drop onto the Hardrock course were it crosses Ophir pass. I am really glad to have company. I also think it is funny that Melanie and I met running on the track at Desert Solstice and now we are running up a mountain pass together.
I took the kids to get one last big dinner before I leave town and they go back to their poor kids camping Ramen diet. When we got back to the office Jubilee came in and asked Norm what his plans are for Saturday. They want him to go back up to Island Lake and then up to Grants Peak to Swamp Canyon so he can film the ladies coming up the scree field. His face did not look so excited about this. I volunteered to go with him. Poor Norm has been telling me how broken he feels after our two days of climbing. In two days we have covered 6,670 feet and just short of 20 miles. The last time he was filming at Hardrock he got lost and then did not get up the mountain fast enough because Anna Frost was passing him and he had to rush to get his camera out as she passed him.
Still raining when I woke up. I couldn’t even see the mountains through the clouds. I thought I would sleep like a rock, but I did not. And I woke up at 4am and lay there until 5:45am. So I got up and started cleaning up our mess. Norm and I had coffee and hung out a bit. At 10am we left for a trip up Kendall Mountain. I wanted Norm to see the Kendall Mountain course. I have never gone up and not been racing. I just don’t notice the scenery or anything else for that matter. It was nice to take it easy and snap some picks. Climbing, climbing, I know we should be hitting a section of switchback right before you get to the scramble. But where is it? I am starting to doubt myself. I even looked at Google maps (not that helpful by the way. I would later learn that Kendall Peak and Kendall Mountain are two totally different things). We continued moving forward and there it was! I was right about the turn. We start up the switchbacks. As we are getting close to the place where we will start the scramble to the top a runner come down tells us there is a mountain goat that is stalking her and we should be prepared to fight. When we got up to the start of the scramble, there he was. He was clearly none too happy about us being there. But I wanted to check things out. There is usually an aid station here so I never realized that I could look into a basin and see a lake! I looked on the map but this little lake didn’t have a name. We also talked about trying to move forward to what looked like the end of the road, but we would have to cross a large snow field and Norm was not thrilled about that. I get it, I also use to hate running in the snow, but I have learned to love it. We decided to turn back and luckily the mountain goat was distracted by 2 jeeps that came up the road. They were very impressed that we had hiked all the way up.
It’s so fun to be in Silverton for Hardrock! We have been running into lots of friends. Melanie Rabb is here because her husband is running this year. It’s his first time and it took him 6 years. Yay Rob! Melanie is going to run with me to Telluride tomorrow. I was trying to decide on the best way to go. My original plan was to run Ophir Pass, but after looking at a map I thought I might run backwards on the Hardrock course from Silverton to Telluride. I had a few concerns about this plan. For one thing, course marking at Hardrock are not like a typical race. The markers are few and far between. Two, taking this route would mean going down a nasty scree field. Three, there are at least 2 big ice/snow fields. Going across these by myself makes me a little nervous. After talking with Melanie we decided to take Ophir Pass and then drop onto the Hardrock course were it crosses Ophir pass. I am really glad to have company. I also think it is funny that Melanie and I met running on the track at Desert Solstice and now we are running up a mountain pass together.
I took the kids to get one last big dinner before I leave town and they go back to their poor kids camping Ramen diet. When we got back to the office Jubilee came in and asked Norm what his plans are for Saturday. They want him to go back up to Island Lake and then up to Grants Peak to Swamp Canyon so he can film the ladies coming up the scree field. His face did not look so excited about this. I volunteered to go with him. Poor Norm has been telling me how broken he feels after our two days of climbing. In two days we have covered 6,670 feet and just short of 20 miles. The last time he was filming at Hardrock he got lost and then did not get up the mountain fast enough because Anna Frost was passing him and he had to rush to get his camera out as she passed him.
Norm says Kendall Mountain is harder than he thought.
We warned about this guy. He would not let us out of his sight and we decided to turn around before the summit.
Careful selfie with the angry mountain goat
Looking into the basin at the no name lake right before the scramble to the summit.
Looking at Silverton as we descend.
Thursday
We are headed to a condo in Telluride today. We love Telluride, but actually thought about not coming this year because we just didn't want to camp here again. Once I found a condo we could afford the whole mood changed. Now every one was excited to come to Telluride. I packed up my bag and left Norm to pack up the car and the kids and get them to Telluride. I had coffee and a cinnamon rice cake with peanut butter. A pretty typical pre long run breakfast. I was going to take some GU waffles with me, but at the coffee shop I saw a GF vegan cookie and bar and decided to buy those. I got my pack ready. I wasn’t sure about water. I don’t typically drink a lot of water. Plus I figured once I was high enough up that if I ran out of water I could just fill up from some mountain stream. I am using the Nathan Vapor Howe, which I love and find very comfortable (although I am still repelled by the color and sorry I didn’t know about the blue color). I do not love the bottle that come with it so I use my Salomon soft bottles from the vest the rubs my neck. I also packed a light weight long sleeve with a hood and wind breaker that is water resistant, but this is a bit heavy. I really need to replace it with something lighter to carry but jackets are expensive.
Norm drove us to the start of Ophir Pass outside of Silverton. He took a picture of us for the blog, but also because I like to have a picture in case I go missing. The “this is what she was wearing” picture. The pass is really runnable. We did some power hiking on some of the ups. It is also has plenty of traffic so if you needed assistance, some would be coming upon you shortly. I was surprised how quickly we made it to Ophir Pass. We could see some people up on top of the scree field. Melanie are looking for Oscar’s Pass so we can drop into Telluride. We knew that course markers on the Hardrock course are few and far between but I had looked at the map many times and even taken a picture of it and felt like we could do this. As long as we could find the turn to go to Oscars Pass, we would be fine. We did not find the turn for Oscar’s Pass. As the town of Ophir came into view I realized this just couldn’t be right. We did see one course marker but it didn’t help us at all. We kept going knowing that we would run through Ophir and at the junction with Highway 145 we would have run 10 miles. I knew that I could run along the highway into Telluride, but this was not the most appealing option.
I had hoped that when we got to Ophir I would have cell service. This would let me call Norm to see if he had left Silverton yet. If he was still in Silverton I could tell him to wait for me and I would run back with Melanie. I didn’t really have a training plan for the day, but Melanie wanted to run at least 20 miles. No cell service. We continued through Ophir and stopped a few times to try to for cell service, but nope. I have always wanted to live in Ophir, but this no cell service thing might be a deal breaker for me.
Once on the highway I had service. I tried calling Norm, but no answer. We kept running. With no idea how far it was to Telluride I pulled up maps on my phone. Almost 10 miles to Telluride. This was too far for Melanie, but she would continue on with me until 13 miles. This would give her a 50K when she was all done. Norm texted me and we stopped so I could answer. After a few exchanges he understood to keep going and meet me in Telluride. At 13 miles Melanie turned and headed back to go the opposite direction on Ophir pass and back to Silverton. (Her husband Scott is running Hardrock tomorrow so he was busy getting ready and resting.). I continued on. At the point where Melanie turned left me with all downhill running. Awesome! I was so happy when I could see that I was coming close to Telluride. When I went under the 145 and was on the multi purpose path to Telluride I texted my family to let them know that I was in Telluride (almost). They were very impressed with how fast I got there. I was at a little under 4 hours including stopping for pictures and texting Norm. I told myself the high school would make me officially in Telluride and stopped running when I got there. Really this just made the most sense because after this point there would be so many people milling about that running would be impossible.
I walked to Baked in Telluride and had a piece of cheese pizza and a small Dr. Pepper. Perfect! Our rental was nice enough to let us check in early. This place is perfect! I made my family unload the car while I juts stood in the shower for a really long time. I have been starving hungry all afternoon and evening. Almost 10,000 feet of climbing in three days has left me really hungry. I feel good except my lower back is stiff. I thought about taking a rest day tomorrow, but I only have a little bit of time and so many trails that I want to run. Norm and I discussed our options and the plan is to follow the Hardrock course from Telluride up Oscar’s Pass tomorrow.
We are headed to a condo in Telluride today. We love Telluride, but actually thought about not coming this year because we just didn't want to camp here again. Once I found a condo we could afford the whole mood changed. Now every one was excited to come to Telluride. I packed up my bag and left Norm to pack up the car and the kids and get them to Telluride. I had coffee and a cinnamon rice cake with peanut butter. A pretty typical pre long run breakfast. I was going to take some GU waffles with me, but at the coffee shop I saw a GF vegan cookie and bar and decided to buy those. I got my pack ready. I wasn’t sure about water. I don’t typically drink a lot of water. Plus I figured once I was high enough up that if I ran out of water I could just fill up from some mountain stream. I am using the Nathan Vapor Howe, which I love and find very comfortable (although I am still repelled by the color and sorry I didn’t know about the blue color). I do not love the bottle that come with it so I use my Salomon soft bottles from the vest the rubs my neck. I also packed a light weight long sleeve with a hood and wind breaker that is water resistant, but this is a bit heavy. I really need to replace it with something lighter to carry but jackets are expensive.
Norm drove us to the start of Ophir Pass outside of Silverton. He took a picture of us for the blog, but also because I like to have a picture in case I go missing. The “this is what she was wearing” picture. The pass is really runnable. We did some power hiking on some of the ups. It is also has plenty of traffic so if you needed assistance, some would be coming upon you shortly. I was surprised how quickly we made it to Ophir Pass. We could see some people up on top of the scree field. Melanie are looking for Oscar’s Pass so we can drop into Telluride. We knew that course markers on the Hardrock course are few and far between but I had looked at the map many times and even taken a picture of it and felt like we could do this. As long as we could find the turn to go to Oscars Pass, we would be fine. We did not find the turn for Oscar’s Pass. As the town of Ophir came into view I realized this just couldn’t be right. We did see one course marker but it didn’t help us at all. We kept going knowing that we would run through Ophir and at the junction with Highway 145 we would have run 10 miles. I knew that I could run along the highway into Telluride, but this was not the most appealing option.
I had hoped that when we got to Ophir I would have cell service. This would let me call Norm to see if he had left Silverton yet. If he was still in Silverton I could tell him to wait for me and I would run back with Melanie. I didn’t really have a training plan for the day, but Melanie wanted to run at least 20 miles. No cell service. We continued through Ophir and stopped a few times to try to for cell service, but nope. I have always wanted to live in Ophir, but this no cell service thing might be a deal breaker for me.
Once on the highway I had service. I tried calling Norm, but no answer. We kept running. With no idea how far it was to Telluride I pulled up maps on my phone. Almost 10 miles to Telluride. This was too far for Melanie, but she would continue on with me until 13 miles. This would give her a 50K when she was all done. Norm texted me and we stopped so I could answer. After a few exchanges he understood to keep going and meet me in Telluride. At 13 miles Melanie turned and headed back to go the opposite direction on Ophir pass and back to Silverton. (Her husband Scott is running Hardrock tomorrow so he was busy getting ready and resting.). I continued on. At the point where Melanie turned left me with all downhill running. Awesome! I was so happy when I could see that I was coming close to Telluride. When I went under the 145 and was on the multi purpose path to Telluride I texted my family to let them know that I was in Telluride (almost). They were very impressed with how fast I got there. I was at a little under 4 hours including stopping for pictures and texting Norm. I told myself the high school would make me officially in Telluride and stopped running when I got there. Really this just made the most sense because after this point there would be so many people milling about that running would be impossible.
I walked to Baked in Telluride and had a piece of cheese pizza and a small Dr. Pepper. Perfect! Our rental was nice enough to let us check in early. This place is perfect! I made my family unload the car while I juts stood in the shower for a really long time. I have been starving hungry all afternoon and evening. Almost 10,000 feet of climbing in three days has left me really hungry. I feel good except my lower back is stiff. I thought about taking a rest day tomorrow, but I only have a little bit of time and so many trails that I want to run. Norm and I discussed our options and the plan is to follow the Hardrock course from Telluride up Oscar’s Pass tomorrow.
Despite my appearance here, I am not pregnant. I really did not want to post this picture.
Headed down to Ophir
Ophir is my most favorite town ever!
Is it weird to have a favorite post office? This is my favorite post office!
Running down the 145. Everyone with Colorado plates gave us room. All others were jerks! I'm looking at you Texas and I'm from Texas so stop disappointing me!
Impending doom will make you run faster.
Can see you it? It's Telluride!
