In Oregon now after 5 days in Juneau. Going to MHW/Montrail meetings before heading back to Colorado on Thursday.
It was pretty sweet to have a little Juneau getaway. The weather miraculously was really nice while I was there. In 5 days it only rained for a few hours and was sunny more than half of the time!
My first morning there I woke up and looked at the mountains. Mt. Jumbo was the mountain I could see from my friend's house where I was staying and right away I felt the draw of the alpine. I "needed" to go up there. Quick breakfast and that was where I went. Up, up, and up.
After craving steeper terrain for over 2 months (in Colorado I haven't found much of anything that climbs more than 7 or 8 hundred feet per mile) it felt like pure bliss to be climbing at a clip of 1,400 ft. per mile. Up, up, and up. Hitting the snow felt even better. And when the snow got deeper, that felt even better.
On this morning there were still some clouds, but once I got above 3,000 ft. I was above all of the clouds and could see only snow covered mountain tops in every direction. I felt more nourished by the mountains and the landscape in that moment than I can possibly describe with words. I could have left Juneau right then and been happy with my trip. But then I just kept getting more and more nourishment.
70 more miles of mountain running, lots of sunshine, and dozens of social engagements later and my time there was done.
I don't know exactly why I went there, or what it was that I was looking for, or what it was I found, but whatever it was I know that I liked it. And the great thing is that I also find myself more excited to head to Colorado on Thursday then I have been about being there yet. I haven't really accepted Colorado as "home," but I feel like taking this trip to Juneau is going to help me do this much more in the coming weeks than I have been able to so far.
Remember your real "home" is in Cleveland, NY. Glad you had a great time - have a good couple days in Oregon. Love you
ReplyDeletehey, been following your blog for a long time. have even raced with you a few times, always in the back of the pack though. i had a footwear question for you about running up high in the snow. do you wear a waterproof shoe or sock, or just stay light and deal with it later? usually i just run in my normal set up and deal with it but when going long it can get cold and uncomfortable in the winter. thanks for any advice on this.
ReplyDeleteGeoff - not sure if it is because you are in Ned and don't want to come down, but Shadow Canyon, Fern Canyon, the front side of Green, ... I think they all are hit that mid 20 percent grade.
ReplyDeleteBut I am not sure if I'd call it pure bliss bro.
Come run in the San Juans and then sign up for hardrock. You have a place to stay. Mike
ReplyDeleteI hope you're finding a great late season "peak" and are flying high mental and physical health-wise. Your clarity is pretty cool and I just hope that you proceed to smash whatever event you have coming up (SF?).
ReplyDeleteJuneau seems like a great place to be. Glad to hear that you're having a great time running again
ReplyDeleteGZ, i've run both up and down shadow, fern, and front of green and they are good solid climbs for sure, but in juneau they wouldn't even be in the top 10 challenging climbs. the very upper part of fern where it gets really steep for about 700-1000 vertical - in juneau i'm used to going up stuff that goes like that for 3,000+ feet. for sure there is some good climbing to get in around boulder but it's on so much smaller of a scale than juneau that it's been a bit of an adjustment to get used to for me.
ReplyDeleteworm, i don't change my footwear at all in the winter. my feet stay plenty warm from friction/circulation.
hola... don't know how long you'll be in oregon but if you head out the gorge, almost to hood river, there is a run you can do @ mt. defiance... just about 5,000 ft. of vertical in a little over 5 miles... it's the highest point in the columbia river gorge and is considered to be one of the toughest hikes in oregon, if not the toughest... people use it as training for climbing mt. hood, even though many speculate that it is tougher... at any rate, i'm just a recreational green-horn when it comes to the trail/ultra scene, but i tackled this one last week and it was amazing... f***ing burly, but incredible none the less... enjoy oregon and happy travels...
ReplyDeletepeace and good things to you,
jon
hola again... guess i missed that whole part about leaving thursday...
ReplyDeletemaybe next time...
jon
Sounds like you had an epic time. I just stumbled on your blog but man i love your writing style. Makes me want to take a trip to Alaska and run the mountains.
ReplyDeleteGlad your running is going well, Geoff. See you tomorrow for some easy, mellow, medium-grade, tepid Colorado mountain running :)
ReplyDeleteSeriuosly though, I suspect the average grade of a CO mountain, going straight up a hill, would be less than Juneau's glacier carved mountains. The trails around Boulder and in the mountains are designed to avoid erosion, so are switchbacked. In Juneau you are probably off trail alot more = steeper as desired. There are still plenty of steeps though around CO if you know where to look.