Bear and South Boulder Peak Run

Today I parked at the South Mesa lot near Boulder to run up to Bear Peak. I hadn't planned on running there but as I often do, I changed my mind in the car while driving to one of my usual weekend run spots. I had run up to Boulder Peak a couple times last summer, once from South Mesa and once from NCAR. Since I had never been to the top of South Boulder Peak and it is on the other side of a saddle from Bear, I decided to bag a double and hit that one also.

I parked and stretched out a bit and hit the trail. I was even more conservative in pace than usual, wanting to save a lot for the latter part of the 2500 or so feet climb.

Cool little cabin about a mile from the start of my run, only accessible by trail. I want to live in it!

The first couple of miles is steady climbing up double track, nothing too dramatic until I hit Shadow Canyon. The trail becomes mostly a power hike up steep trail littered with large boulders for about a mile. (you will have to forgive my estimates, I almost never wear a GPS watch anymore.)

Example of  what Shadow Canyon trail
looks like

 When I got near the saddle the trail levels out to the point that it becomes mostly runnable for a bit.

Burned out forest near the saddle

I headed right at the top of the saddle to head to Bear Peak then after a brief stay at the top headed back down the saddle to South Boulder Peak. Both peaks require some fairly exposed scrambling to reach the true summits. The views to the west are absolutely beautiful and fantastic.

View of the big mountains to the west from Bear Peak

Survey marker near the top of Bear
 Peak. I love coming across these

After hanging out for a bit I headed back down the canyon. Downhill may be harder than going up for me, I don't have the quads to pound down steep grades with boulders!

I got in about eight miles or so with a good amount of elevation gain. Guess it would probably be about 60% running, the rest power hiking. A nice change of pace and good fourteener training. Planning on hiking up Mt. Evans sometime in the middle of July.

One of my little friends. These chipmunks
were all over both peaks.

This fellow is my personal hero. Ran into him three times during the morning.
He hiked up from NCAR and bagged both peaks. I was not rude enough to ask
but he had to be at least seventy years old. Amazing dude!

Special mention goes out to the fine folks that make the Flip Belt. We bought one a couple weeks ago and I wore it today, Packed keys, phone, two gels and some energy chews into it with no problem. Never even knew it was there.