Friday
We picked up our bibs for both Friday’s race, in which I ran with Cathy and Saturday’s half-marathon. We picked up our bibs in the mid-afternoon, walked the shops in town then returned to the MH for dinner.
I did not get any photos of our Friday night run, a 5K around Estes Lake. It was extremely windy and Cathy and I stayed together for the entire distance. She was even able to “draft” behind me when we ran directly into the wind! It was almost dark when we finished but we met a couple from Oregon while waiting for the start and enjoyed talking with them before, during, and after the race. They convinced us to stay for the awards ceremony. We are glad we did, as Cathy and I both placed in our divisions!
When we returned to our truck, we saw a young lady in distress, her battery on her rental car was dead. We jumped her battery and got her going. She was very grateful as it was now dark and we were alone in the parking lot.
Saturday
In the morning Cathy stayed in camp while I left at 4:45 a.m. for the race. I arrived at 5:00 a.m. and the first three parking areas were full. It was still dark! After parking and walking to the start area, the sun began to rise. This is the crowd in front of me and behind me at the start. I dropped back three corrals to start with the couple we met the previous evening. This run was at an elevation approaching 8,000 feet and it was challenging to say the least.
Here are a couple of photos of the view we enjoyed in the morning. This was at the seven mile mark.
Meanwhile, back in camp, Cathy saw these guys near our MH. The little meadow in camp is called “Elk Meadow” and now we know why!
After the race, we decided to take a drive into the Bear Lake area. This area has been closed to parking as early as 8:00 in the morning and we decided to find out the reason for its popularity. It is actually a series of trailheads leading into alpine lakes, waterfalls, mountain summits, with distances ranging from short hikes of .8 miles to multi-day wilderness hikes. The weather was beginning to storm in the higher elevations near the trailheads. The wind was fierce coming down the canyon, we saw an area that all the trees were laying like match sticks from a previous wind gust.
Coming down the hill, we took a dirt road to an area known as Beaver Meadow. The brook running down the middle of this meadow (Beaver Brook) had some decent sized cutthroat trout. The elevation here was about 8,500 feet.
Cathy spotted this fella while we were driving out of the meadow. We got relatively close, as these shots were taken with a wide-angle lens. It is now pretty evident that if we want to see animals, I must leave my telephoto lens in camp!
As we reached Bear Lake Road, Longs Peak came into view. At 14,255 feet, it is the highest peak in the park. I had previously obtained a trail guide and it was my original intention to make a hike to the summit. I have since found out that it is a class three climb, very dangerous scrambling near the top and has resulted in several deaths. The national park has issued multiple warnings in an effort to keep knucklheads like me from attempting it. It looked so easy! Scratch Longs Peak.
Travelling with the Schinglers 