Waterton Canyon/Colorado Trail-Section 1 Group Run

It's not often that I get out for group runs, mostly because of limited time. Today I jumped on an opportunity to run with an excellent group at Waterton Canyon and on section 1 of the Colorado Trail. The group included George Zack, Brownie, Sean O'Day, Jim Petterson , Wes Thurman, Ryan Kirchner and about 20 other folks--from Boulder and Colorado Springs to Evergreen and here in Denver.

Due to time constraints, I turned around after about 1:50 and 11.2 miles and ran back with Wes, who is training for his first Western States 100 (lucky him--he got in on his first entry!). Stats on the day: 22.45 miles, 3 hours, 40 minutes, and 3005 feet of climbing and the same for descending. I ended the week with just shy of 75 miles. I felt good on the trail, especially on the climbs, and had a great time. Section 1 of the Colorado Trail is beautiful, with great running, though you don't get "that" high (about 7,500 feet). Below are some photos from today's adventure, and be sure to also visit George and Sean's blogs (links above) for addition shots:



Gathering in the Waterton Canyon parking lot.



Starting from the Waterton Canyon parking lot.

Heading to the Colorado Trail trailhead. I'm to the far right. Photo by George Zack.

Here I am making my way up one of the climbs. Photo by George Zack.



Me on another climb. Photo by George Zack.




A few sections were laced with snow. Brownie is in the red shirt.

This photo doesn't do the view justice.

Another shot of Brownie battling the snow.

We're hanging out not far after hooking up with the Colorado Trail.
After about 5 minutes of chatter, I said, "Are we gonna talk or run?"



The dam at Waterton Canyon. It's bigger than you might expect.



Another shot of the dam.



This photo was taken accidentally but, honestly, I think it's pretty cool.

 



Again, the view here was beautiful but the photo doesn't really reflect that.
This was taken from Waterton Canyon Road inbound.