Melissa's Birthday Adventure

Today we celebrated Melissa's 30th birthday by summiting Pikes Peak. Her birthday is actually tuesday the 17th so it was her last summit of Pikes Peak in her 20's. The weather forecast was perfect especially for the middle of October. Neither one of us had been on the mountain since the marathon. John and Fisher came with us and my mom was kind enough to drive to the summit and give us a ride down. It would be Fisher's 1st official summit day too. All the other times I have taken him on the mountain we have gone at most to 2 miles below the summit and back down which is actually tougher than just going to the summit. He did awesome and it was perfect temperatures. It was in the mid 30's at the summit with minimal wind. We started about 8am in the morning and it took us about 5 hrs to get to the top. We were in no rush to get to the top and we really didn't run that much. It was nice to be on the mountain and not be focused on pushing hard and training. It was also nice because it wasn't too crowded for a weekend with only your more experienced hikers on the mountain compared to the middle of summer. We started to see snow in a few places once we got to Barr Camp and the patches of snow got a little bigger as we got above treeline. And a few places below the summit there was snow on the trail.

Taking a break at A-frame. You can see the snow in the background.
A-frame with the summit looming behind us!
About 3/4 mile above treeline. Just over 2 miles to the summit!
John and Melissa heading up. Just over 1 mile from treeline and a little under 2 miles to the summit.
Looking south towards Mt Rosa and Almagre Mountain.
Meghan lost in the boulders with the summit house in the background.
Willie and Fisher watching my mom coming up the Golden Stairs. She and Willie came down 1 mile to meet us and then back up. We are about 100 feet to the summit.
Just below the summit.
The summit! 14, 115 feet.

John, Me and Melissa! Shortly after summiting, we headed into the summit house for coffee, hot chocolate and the world's best donuts. I also gave Melissa her b-day presents. It was a great way to celebrate her entering into the 30's.
The northside of the Peak from Crystal Reservoir on our way back down the road! The temperature was in the 60's by the time we got back down to Manitou about 3:30.

Elk Park to Pikes Peak Summit and Back!

Last weekend was our last big training run before the big race day on Aug 22. The three of us met up at my place at 7am, jumped in the car and drove up to the Pikes Peak toll gate. The wait wasn't too long and we were up to Elk Park in no time! The elk park trailhead starts at about 11,800 feet according to my GPS with great views of Colorado Springs. It was very windy and chilly to start so we quickly headed out on the trail with all our gear and plenty of water. The trail quickly drops in altitude protecting us from the wind. It is a beautiful trail and a great alternative to get to Barr Camp and/or summit Pikes Peak. Lots of runners were already out on the trail. We covered the 5.5 mile stretch in a little over an hour and dropped 1,500 feet in elevation. We made a quick break at Barr Camp and then off to the summit. We passed many other runners out training as well as hikers. Barr to the Summit took us just about 2 hrs with a stop at A-frame. It was a great feeling getting to the summit. Took a long break in the Summit House refilling water, buying pretzels and coffee and staying warm. It got quite chilly at the top once we stopped. We were all tired but all decided to continue on with our training plan which was go back down the same way we had just come up. We met another runner in the Summit house that was training for Leadville 100 and he was out on a 35+ mile training run from his house in Green Mtn Falls. Even crazier than us. So off we were and it actually felt pretty good going down and the tiredness disappeared and we quickly warmed up. The weather was still looking great too! Made it to Barr in no time, another quick break and then it was off to Elk Park. Most of the way the back was up hill with a few downs but in the end it only took us about 25 mins longer than coming out. We only saw one other hiking group on the way back. It was nice to have the trail all to ourselves. Total miles was about 23 miles with 7 hrs on our feet. We were DONE at the end but managed a couple photos (see above)-you can see the summit in the background! Didn't get back to house until almost 5pm. What a day! Loved it!