Monday, May 23, 2011

Indian Creek Trail Run

I finally got over to run the Indian Creek trails with Scott B. on Saturday.  We started at the trailhead about 10 miles west of Sedalia.  I had the route figured out, but had no idea what type of elevation we would be in for.  I can confirm it's quite a hilly place to run.  We piled up about 5000' of climbing over 21 miles.

There were a few other trail options available.  Needed to save something for the next visit.

It was about 47 degrees when we left HR, and were met with 33 degree temps when we got out of the car.  Nothing better to warm you up than a good climb in the first mile!

If you're like me and can't get enough of remote, densely forested, singletrack running, Indian Creek is for you.  There's a two mile stretch of wide dirt road as you head towards Roxborough, but everything else was singletrack.  I can't remember any run I've done with 19 miles of what you see below.

The pic is blurry, but the forest is pristine.

Small open spaces would pop out of nowhere every so often.

Around mile 7, we came upon a whole bunch of these.  They were fresh!  And big!


Scott's last big run before the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty!

Entering civilization around mile 12.

Me bombing the Elk Valley Trail.

Scott cruising the Roxborough connector to Waterton Canyon.


This is the stuff I daydream about!

And this.

One of the many meandering creeks.  They're everywhere.

The last long climb back to the trailhead.  We were pooped!
Simply an awesome day on the trails.  In preparation for the SJS 50, I started running through every creek we encountered.  I wanted to see what logging a few hours in wet feet would do.  There was no shortage of places to get and keep them wet.  Other than feeling a little soggy in the boots, my feet were just fine when we finished.  I'm sure the Drymax socks had something to do with that.

If you haven't run in Indian Creek, you need to get down there and check it out.  It's not far from anywhere in the south metro area.  By adding the Ringtail & Swallowtail trails, you could easily increase this run to 30+ miles (not to mention hopping on the Colorado Trail for some kind of an out & back).

4 comments:

  1. Such great running out there. It really is one of the nicest places around. Looks like you had a good climb to finish with!

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  2. Good stuff, Woody. Certainly whetted my appetite for more!

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  3. Hey Woody!

    Looks like we are running some of the same races this year (solstice, leadville). lets get together for a run soon!

    Aaron M from steamboat

    aasmarks@indiana.edu

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  4. Great to hear from you Aaron. I didn't know you were in for SJS & Leadville! Right on. I'll shoot you an email with my plans for the next couple weeks. If it doesn't work out, let's catch up at SJS.

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