Had a marvelous run yesterday and thought I'd share a few pics.  This was supposed to be a roughly 13-14 mile loop, w/ about 4-5 miles being gravel road.  We missed a turn (unsigned and very faint trail) that turned into about a 17 mile (~ 5000' elevation) out and back.  Sometimes it's OK to miss a turn, this was one of them.  Got us farther into the Wilderness Area and never touched foot to a road

The Gates of the Mountains were named by Lewis and Clark in 1805 when they were traveling up the Missouri on their journey to the west coast.  It was made into a Wilderness Area in 1964.  We saw several elk and deer and lots of bear sign (but no bear).  A large complex of fires in the late 40's consumed a large chunk of territory, including the infamous Mann Gulch Fire which claimed the lives of 13 fire fighters.

We saw several elk and deer and lots of bear sign (but no bears).  The area varied between thick forest, open meadows and stands of burnt timber. A wide variety of wildflowers were on display throughout.   While there were several steep ascents, most of the trail was runnable.  It took us almost 4.5 hours to cover the 17 miles, so it wasn't lightning fast by any stretch

some bear sign

headed up Hunter's Gulch

a devil's slide

random shots

I was wearing my Osprey Rev 1.5 (that our own Lace had a hand in designing)- excellent pack and now my go to pack for any of my long runs

thanks for looking

Nice run, and great shots. Thanks.

I had a feeling it was true about those bears, now we just gotta figure out the one about

a tree falling......

What a beautiful locations for a long Sunday run!  Thank you for sharing!

I wouldn't mind getting lost there either.  Nice pics.  Are those trees dead from fire damage?

AT- yup, in places the burn must have been so hot that it sterilized the soil as there are no new trees coming up

Queen- thanks; manpri's?  

That looks like a blast...thanks for sharing them, they brightened up my day (spent in the office).