Running through the Switzerland of America

Another day living the Sweet Life.  Steve and I decided to head up the Million Dollar Highway and find a place to run/hike after our bike ride to Telluride.  We found some amazing things on the drive up.  A river flowing under the highway.  Some mountain flowers.  A little lake at the top of the pass.  Avalanche blowouts.  And lots of places to run.  There must be a million hidden treasures of trail runs in these mountains.  I know I am only seeing the tip of the iceberg.  It makes me want to go back and explore every weekend.  I have always said I never want to own a vacation home because I would have to spend time in one place.  Instead I would rather explore all different places.  Well Ouray may very well be changing my mind.  I think I could explore here every season of the year.  After a little bit of exploring we settled on a trail run called the Bear Creek Trail.

This trail is an old mining trail that takes you back to the Grizzly Bear Mine.  From the Grizzly Bear Mine you can connect to the Yellow Jacket Mine than eventually you would end up on a jeep trail called Engineer Pass, which is the first half of the “Alpine Loop” with Cinnamon Pass completing the second half of the loop. It is extremely scenic and very long.  Our trail for the day starts at 8400 feet and climbs to 10,000 feet in 2.4 miles.  The trail is part dirt and part broken slate and mostly switchbacks.  It is absolutely gorgeous and like nothing I have ever experienced.  I decided I wanted to take my time and really take in the experience of this trail.  All I could think about were the old miners traversing with their  carts and mules.  Insane!!  Spots on the trail were covered with avalanche debris.  The picture at the top of this post is a HUGE tree that had been pummeled by an avalanche!  It was absolutely crazy.  In one spot there was still snow sitting over the trail that if you slipped or the snow broke you would fall and die.  Here is why I love him:

Steve (stern and concerned): “Baby we are not going over that.  I am not letting you go.”

Me (unsure of how to handle someone telling me no): “But baby, we need to get to the mine.  I think we will be alright.”

Steve (hesitant, serious and father like-unsure of being with a crazy woman): “You are crazy.  There is no way we are going over that.  No.”

Me (desperately wanting to go over continuing to explore ways to get to the other side and satiate my need to explore):

” Look, there are footprints.  We can totally do it.”

Steve: (hesitant and scared) “Let me see.  Geez.  Why don’t you ever give up?  Alright, let me go first.”

Me (excited but now a little worried cuz my man could fall to his death):”Yeah!!”

Steve (a bit worried about falling to his death but somewhat playful): “Now you don’t think this is so fun do you.  I could fall and die!”

Me ( a bit worried):” Go baby!!  You will make it!!”

Steve (really worried cuz it’s my turn) ” Just follow my footsteps and you’ll be fine.  Take your time.”

Me: (thinking about how I could arrest a fall) “Holy Shit!  This is freakin scary!”

We made it

By the time you hit Yellow Jacket Mine you are at 11,100 feet after 4.2 miles.  There was a storm front blowing in so the top of the mountain was super windy and we could see a storm blowing in, so we headed back down to the car.  What took us 2 hours to ascend took us 30 minutes to descend!!  And just like that we were down and on our way back to Denver.  What an incredible weekend/beginning of the week.

Again, my Steve, thank you for being the voice of reason.  In the 9 star ki I am 1 water and you are 8 soil.  You are my rock.  You keep me grounded and flowing with purpose. I love you.