Travel Delays in Panama 2021

Engineer Aide Station at the Hardrock 100

June 2021 Stau in the Cog Parking Lot

Railroad Couloir on Pikes Peak, May 30th, 2021

The Scholar's Lair

Barr Trail April Snow Day

2021 03 15 Skiing High Drive

Skiing High Drive

Driving to the Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs

2021 Cleanup of illegal campsites

Seven in New Mexico 2020

Barr Trail Fire Cleanup Part 2

2020 Pacific and Crystal Peaks

Barr Trail Fire Cleanup

Barr Trail Fire 2020

Barr Trail Fire Rough Cut 1

2020 Bear 100 Fine Cut

Jagged Project Part 2

Jagged Project Part 2 Rough Cut 1

Walk around Manitou Springs in late April

Wildwood Trail: Portland, Oregon

Chewy the dog: Lost and Found Part 2

James on the Incline

Caballo Blanco 80K Finish

Finding Chewy

Tracks Cabin Creek Loop

2019 IMTUF 100

2020 New Year's Run

24 hours in Zacatecas

2019 Barr Camp Christmas

Snowy Morning Run

Falcon Trail Run

Ruxton Avenue Walking Audit

High above Guanajuato: a Trail Run

The Jagged Project 2019

The Jagged Project Fine Cut v2

Marathon Day

Cataract Blues

Pikes Peak Summit via Bottomless Pit

KuhfluchtWasserfalle hike, Farchant, Germany

Cows come home

Williams-Waldo Trail Run

Doug and Viola's Place

Alyson Kirk's Cruel Jewel 100 mile race (new ending)

Alyson Kirk's Cruel Jewel 100-mile run

Portrait of the Artist: Seven Starlena

Alyson Kirk: A Climbing Life

Walking around Manitou Springs

Before the Rain

CRUD RTP Fun Run

Storm King Mountain

Something is following us

Deer Creek Canyon

Trails off the UPT

Longs Ranch Road Run

NoName Trail Run

Town Overlook Run

Pikes Peak Ascent on May 13th, 2012

Top of the W's run

UPT Snowy Run

Crystal Park "Run"

Selfie Stick

Carnage on the Course

Fence Removal on the Intemann

Looking for old trails near Cascade

Looking for the bird's nest

Top of Longs Ranch Road trail run

Denver Art Museum

Ponderous Posterior 22-mile Fun Run

Barr Trail Run to the Top of the W's

Red Mountain Trail Run

Williams Canyon Hike Run

Barr Trail Snowy Run

Intemann Snowy Run

A Walk in the Park (Garden of the Gods) with Marlene

Fence clearing

Free Little Library

Catamount Open Space Hike

7 Bridges Creek Repair

Ute 100 mile trail run

I’m older. I’m slower. But I can still make my way through a 100-mile trail race with 19,000’ of elevation gain and run the last four miles at a 10-minute per mile clip.

This was the inaugural year for Sean “Run Bum” Blanton’s epic Ute 100-mile trail run in the seldom-visited La Sal Range of southeast Utah. I’ve roamed the canyons and trails of SE Utah a dozen times over the last twenty years but before last weekend I’d never set foot in the La Sal’s. They beckon from Moab and Blanding and from the canyon rims across the desert—majestic, snow-covered, and promising of cool respite from the desert heat. I met Sean last summer in Moab when he was planning this race. I caught his enthusiasm for the course and told him, “I’ll run your race.”

We started at 3 AM with headlamps running up a gravel road. Stupidly I hadn’t put fresh batteries in my headlamp, so I struggled with the terrain in my low light for the three hours before dawn. I had a set of fresh batteries, but it would have taken too long to replace them in the dark.

Running alongside Will Carlton and his friend, the friend talked about breaking the run up into 33-mile segments, each about eight hours, in order to get a sub 24-hour finish. When he enthused about the possibility of picking it up at the finish I scoffed. You don’t pick it up at the finish of a 100. I was wrong. Somehow, I had too much left at the end and fairly flew over those last four miles. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Will Carlton

The first aide station at about 15 miles arrived about 7 AM followed by a short out and back that showed where we were in the race. Familiar faces from our small ultrarunning family. A lot of them were unknown to me though, because Sean Blanton, well-known in the East for his challenging courses and meticulous organizational skills, brought a lot of his fans out west to see this new course.

At the next aide station, 26 miles along, we picked up the first of three drop bags. Time for sun screen, hat, sunglasses, and a can of Starbucks Double-shot Espresso coffee. I was surprised to see Will Carlton sitting in a chair upon my arrival. I thought he would have been farther ahead. He left before I did, but I caught up to him again after the third aide station about 35 miles in. We ran and walked and talked the miles away leading up to crux of the race, a steep climb to the highest point on the course--Mann’s Peak at 12,272’. I remarked on the fine trail building skills of whoever made the trail up this peak—nice easy grade, water bars to get the water off the trail, and when the trail got steeper, some excellent stone stairs. I could tell that the Forest Service took great pride in their trails here. Great trails, beautiful scenery. Too many cows though, fouling up the streams and leaving their cow pies to accidentally step in. Yuck.

I struggled with the ascent of Mann’s Peak and had to let Will go on. Step by slow step I gradually got up to the top. My old nemesis, Nausea came on strong. I threw up five times on the summit. Dizzy and spent I couldn’t muster up the energy to run down. I walked the steep switchbacks down until the trail flattened out more. Only 40 miles into the run and I was toast.

I spent some time at the next aide station, resting, drinking, tried to eat something, got some crackers for the road and set off on the next segment, an infuriating mountain bike trail through scrub brush and desert that seemed like it went in circles. It was hot. So hot. I mostly walked, but was able to walk 17-minute miles. At the next unmanned water-station I came on Will again. He was in sorry shape. He had a pacer, but she couldn’t seem to get him motivated. There were popsicles though! Wow. The little things matter halfway into a 100-mile run.

Shortly after we left that aide station was the last time I saw Will. Later I found out that he dropped. I had reception on my cell phone and texted Rebekka that I was hot and spent. She texted back, “Are you done?” No, I replied. I’m going to finish.

I had seen somewhere that the next aide station was at 56 miles and I fixated on that for my goal as I slowly made my way. I thought I could make it there before 8 PM and before it got dark. Coming off the hated “Jimmy Keene” mountain bike trail onto a gravel road there was a race vehicle with a man offering water. When he said there were three miles to go to the next aide station I protested, “My watch says 1.5 miles!” The next aide station was at 57.5 miles, not 56. So hard! I decided that I was going to take a nap when I got there. I did lay down, but gave up on sleep because it was too noisy. I still spent nearly an hour in the aide station before embarking on the 6.5 mile “Miner’s Loop” that brought me back to the same aide station.

The longest climb of the day was next. 3200’ elevation gain--starting on a gravel road, followed by a seemingly endless single track. I played leap frog with two groups—one man and woman, and another group of a woman and two men. Both groups were hiking faster than me, but when they stopped for breaks I would go by them. As I passed each group I told them that I was the tortoise. We all reached the top about the same time. Relentless forward progress is the ultrarunner’s mantra. Just keep going.

Pressing on through the night at one aide station I asked what the cutoff time was. I was four hours ahead of cutoff time. Later, upon finally reaching La Sal Pass, the last full aide station at mile 80, I was a mere hour and a half ahead of the cutoff. Yikes! The good news came when the aide station captain told me I only had 15 miles to the finish line. Maybe 15.5 she hedged. It turned out to be 16 miles by my watch, but close enough!

Downhill for five miles of easy runnable trail before another very steep climb of 1500’ in a mere two miles—two 39-minute miles. Ouch. Coming down off the highpoint the trail was full of rocks and hard to run. I ran a lot of it, but was dismayed by how slow the miles were—18 or 19-minute miles downhill? Finally reached the easy gravel road to the finish line with about four miles to go. I could see someone a quarter of a mile ahead walking. What the heck? Let’s go! I started running. Feels good. Let’s let fly! I’m rolling it up! 10-minute miles. I’m passing runners. One guy was running. I passed him and he tried to track behind me. That lasted about ten seconds. I was flying! I ran my second to the last mile in 9:41, my fastest mile of the race. I recalled looking at my watch early in the race after the first mile and seeing 10:14 thinking that would be my fastest mile. Wrong.

I came in just under 37 hours. Not a fantastic time, and as Rebekka pointed out I got chicked by an “old lady” of 64. Good for her. I’m learning how to finish these things. That’s what’s important. On to the next challenge. This coming weekend is the Pikes Peak Marathon. This will be my tenth time running that iconic race if I can recover enough in time.

Trail 713 AFA

Walking around Glasgow

Snowy Spring Morning

Asteroid shot of our home with Mavic Air drone; Manitou Springs, Colorado

Quickshots with the Mavic Air

Got my drone back!

Dave Philipps talk on his book "Wild Horse Country"

Apres la neige

Mary's Mountain Trail Run

Man's Best Friend: The Story of Sam the Wolfdog

A Day in the Life of Rebekka, Ultrarunner

Railroad Couloir

RTP SW side of Pikes Peak

The Crater

On September 25th, Chewy the dog and I went on a little adventure to a seldom-visited spot on the slopes of Pikes Peak-- "The Crater." The Crater is a geological phenomenon likely formed by a glacial moraine at the time of the last ice age. It is flat and appears from a distance to be a crater. Rarely it will fill with water. I've been to the Crater half a dozen times, but never when there was water in it.



Two weekends before while doing trail work with Friends of the Peak on the last mile of the Barr Trail near the summit of Pikes Peak, looking down from the one-mile-to-go sign I saw water in the Crater. The following weekend I tried to go to the Crater, but I took a bad fall running on the trail and limped home. This little movie chronicles my successful journey the following weekend.



The most efficient way to reach the Crater is to run nine miles up the Barr Trail to the 3-mile-to-go sign then cut across the slopes on an obscure 100-year-old Fred Barr mule trail leading into the cirque. From the middle of the cirque, one proceeds east across granite scree and large boulders, then down steep timbered slopes. Just before reaching the Crater there are a series of a dozen springs coming directly out of the mountain. Sometimes these springs produce enough flow to fill the Crater.

Pancake Rocks Trail Run

UTMB the Movie

Buffalo Peaks Trail Run

Trail Blazers: The Story of Ring the Peak

Leadville Trail Marathon, 2016

Ring the Peak 2016, 54 miles, 9,500' elevation gain/loss, fifteen starters, seven finishers.