5.6 miles in 1:31:29 @ 16:23 min/mile pace with 2,270 ft. elevation

I had to work from home today (long story) and around 3:00 saw that the forecast for tomorrow was rain. Boo. I was planning on running tomorrow. So, I decided to swap out my last hour of work for an hour later tonight (or tomorrow) and squeeze my run in this afternoon.

I parked at the Shepherd Creek trailhead and decided to climb up the first mile or so of the Francis Peak Trail. It is about 1,500 ft. in a mile and my legs were burning. As I hit the split where the upper terrace cuts south and Francis Peak goes up, it started snowing. That was unexpected. There was still a few inches of old snow at the top as well. Knee-high post-holing at the top. Brr. I should have worn my super waterproof Montrails but alas, I had my brooks cascadias on. Got pretty wet.

At the top of the first section, there is a clearing which the lady I met on my way up (her husband is the trial chief for this section) said is called Quarter Rock – its a 1/4 of the way to Francis Peak.

From there, I took a trail that drops south down into Farmington Canyon. It was steep, and lots of loose gravel. I wouldn’t want to climb it. When I got down to the 2nd switchback of Skyline Drive, I took the road down to the 1st switchback where the pavement is. Looking back, I wish that I would have trekked West across the face of the Mtn., to hook up with the Upper Terrance. Looking on the map now, I think I could have done it and there may actually already be a trail that does, but I missed it. Bummer.

Instead of taking the pavement, I took the trail that runs north of it along the face of the hill. It was a rough trail – lots of loose rock, always at a sideways angle (bad for my left ankle) and sketchy in parts. Towards the bottom, however, I did get to admire the trail-building handiwork of Ryan Lauck.  Seriously, this dude builds 5 star deluxe luxury trails.  Check out these stairs and reinforced walls:

Not too shabby. When I hit the mine (below), I climbed straight up what must have been a deer trail to the Upper Terrace and took that back to Shepherd Creek Canyon.

At the bottom, I swung by the section of trail that I helped cut earlier in the week – looks great.

Overall it was a fun excursion. Lots of vert and not lots of miles, but that is ok because I got to explore some new places.