Nice.  I did the the 25k there a few years ago when my daughter and I were backpacking in the Winds. My daughter helped out at an aid station while I destroyed my legs just before a backpacking adventure. Beautiful course. Well organized and the RD is pretty cool.

Nice.  I did the the 25k there a few years ago when my daughter and I were backpacking in the Winds. My daughter helped out at an aid station while I destroyed my legs just before a backpacking adventure. Beautiful course. Well organized and the RD is pretty cool.

If you did the 25k, you ran it backwards from the turnaround to my starting point. Your first 8 miles were really tough. It would be MUCH easier to run the other direction and finish where you started. The RD is clearly demented.

That looks like a great race and fun weekend! I had never heard of this one and now have added it to my list of races I would like to do someday. Those lakes and streams would be awesome for a cool down at the end and along the way. In most of the pictures that show the trail, it appears to be mostly nice smooth single track. Is that how most of the course is or are there some rockier stretches as well?

Good luck at Leadville, I hope the legs get rested up and ready to roll!

Looks like a beautiful and fun course.  Definitely going to add it to my list of possibilities for next year.

And wow - doing that a week before Leadville is pretty gutsy!

Nice report and pictures.

How noisy is the Klymit V pad?

My uncle has a Big agnes that is noisy when you move around on it.  The Thermarest version is noisy as well.

Curious if this one is "Quiet"?

Nice report and pictures.

 

How noisy is the Klymit V pad?

 

My uncle has a Big agnes that is noisy when you move around on it.  The Thermarest version is noisy as well.

 

Curious if this one is "Quiet"?

The Klymit Static V is dead quiet. The material they use is a bit different than what you usually see. These things are also tough as nails. The welds won't split and they're almost impossible to damage. Check them out.

While out running today I was thinking back to that race of a few years ago. We shared the trail at one point near the top of the climb in first part of the 25k with a large bull moose. Pretty cool. That would have been about the 7-8 mile mark for the 50kers.

 

But another thing I remembered was not so cool--the last few miles towards the finish the trail was an ATV and dirt bike trail. Sharing the trail with some conflicting type peeps along with the noise, dust, and smell. Some of the dirt bikes were running with expansion chambers so you could hear them a long ways off. After traveling across a few states and to do this event and having a pleasant mountain wilderness run it kind of wrecked the scene. The campground at the finish was totally full with the ATV crowd. So my question is :Was there any of that for your race?

 

I bring this up as a few people mentioned their interest in the race and thought they should be aware. Might not quite be the wilderness run you hoped for.

You're talking about the final descent to the finish, which is jeep/ ATV trail. On my way down, I met 2 quads that were heading up. I also met 4 horseback riders. Other than that, it was all runners. The campground at the finish was full of runners (largely my running group). Aside from that short section, it's all single track and theres no access for vehicles. I would also add, the guys on the quads pulled over and let me have the trail when they saw me. Otherwise, this is definitely a remote, wilderness trail race.