Half Lonesome 2023 Details

Since we are less than a week away from the High Lonesome lottery, I thought, I’d create a page with the details of the 4th annual Half Lonesome. It will be on June 30th at 4am. Last year, there were only two of us since many thought 2 weeks out was too close to the race. This year, we will go 3 weeks out. It’s a little over 50 miles with 13.3k feet of climbing at an average elevation of 11k feet. The route follows the race route for the first 30 miles and then deviates to the CDT via a small cross country scramble. It then rejoins the race route at Tin Cup.

This is a “no drop” run, but if you feel that you can’t keep the split pace, there are many drop spots or places crew can meet you. I’ve projected the splits on the last 3 years and the whole route will take 15 hours or so. The drive time estimates are based on starting in BV.

Intersection of Chalk Creek Dr and Co rd 290 for a 4am start on Friday the 30th Start:  38°43’22.2″N 106°10’46.8″W – 25min drive

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B043’22.2%22N+106%C2%B010’46.8%22W/@38.722833,-106.1802182,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d38.7228317!4d-106.1796706

Bail out point 1 : Raspberry Coordinates: 38.689344, -106.170766– 30min drive
Estimated time: 5:05am

Easy meeting point for crew Alpine Coordinates: 38.709844, -106.289312 -35min drive
Estimated time: 9:10am

Bail out point 2 : Cottonwood Coordinates: 38.764577, -106.336511 – 45min drive
Estimated time: 12:25pm

Bail out point 3 : Tin Cup Coordinates: 38.6923, -106.4142 (note that this road is awful so the person will need to walk 4 miles to St Elmo – 45min drive to St Elmo)
Estimated time: 4:30pm

Hancock AS Coordinates: 38.639211, -106.361804 – 1 hour drive
Estimated time: 7:00pm

Sawatch Ascent

This Sunday, I ran a new race. The race starts above Mt Princeton resort and follows the Colorado Trail for 9 miles. The course turns West and circles Mt White and returns to the start. Click here for pictures of the course

After 18 miles, I reached the high point where I jumped in the air for a picture. Unfortunately, my hamstring cramped and I spent the next 5 minutes walking it off.

Run options

Here are a few options for a long run, starting from easiest to hardest. This is a casual event so we will stick together and enjoy the scenery.

Monarch Loop – unless we would want to hike 3 miles on Hwy 50, we’d need to stage a car. Follows the HL route from Lost Wonder hut to Fooses but stays on the CT the whole way. Estimate 7 hours. Caltopo route: https://caltopo.com/m/HSE94

Browns Pass loop – Not a lot of runable areas for normal people on this route. Park at Denny creek, climb Yale, drop down the East ridge, hike to Brown’s pass, back to Denny. Estimate 8.5 hours. I’ve done this route many times (https://www.strava.com/activities/5858478624) Caltopo route: https://caltopo.com/m/QRSJ

Hancock loop – giant loop on a portion of the CDT that is not in the race. There is 9 miles of forest roads that will have some traffic. Little cross country and since the Hancock road sucks, I’d recommend we start by the Pomeroy turn-off. Estimate 10 hours. I did this in July (https://www.strava.com/activities/5613543128). Caltopo route: https://caltopo.com/m/PA52

Raspberry to Ptarmigan – Follows the HL route from Raspberry. At Cottonwood, we climb Grassy Gulch and drop down to Hwy 306 at Ptarmigan. Easiest to have a crew for this one, but staging would work. Lots of climbing. Estimate 10.5 hours. Caltopo route: https://caltopo.com/m/FE6Q4

Back in Austin

Typical pose for the long car rides to and from Colorado.

Tracy is taking advantage of her new boat on the lake.

We’ve been making a lot of feasts.

The snow was crazy. We ended up losing power and water for about two days each. We had a minor pipe issue but nothing compared to a lot of the people in Texas. I went for a run the day the snow started to melt. It was wild to see ice floating in the creek.

We also volunteered at a vaccination center.

Off to Mexico

We had planned a 50th birthday trip for Tracy’s triplet brothers and me. Unfortunately, everyone bailed except us. We were a little concerned, but we usually just stay at the resort and have limited interaction with people. The resort employees took great precautions, but a lot of the guests seems to be unconcerned. Our routine was a run on the beach every morning, breakfast and swimming at the quiet pool, and dinner at 6pm so no one was in the restaurant. Flying wasn’t bad, but we took full precautions.

Here’s a few pictures from our 10 days there.

Couple Preston updates…. He’s back at school and rescued a dog named Jasper. We had some friends that visited the beach near Preston and ended up meeting him at the dog park. She referred to this picture of Preston and her daughter as “masked awkwardness”

Summer is ending

Over the last 7 weeks we’ve been really busy. We’ve had several visitors and done many adventures. We’ve explored new trails and set personal records on others. The weather is getting chilly and we are starting the process of packing for Austin.

Monte, a new friend stayed nextdoor at the Surf Hotel for a week. He needed a break from Louisiana and seemed to enjoy his time in BV. He managed to make it to the saddle on Yale his first day here.

Preston surprised us on Labor Day. We had no idea he was coming, but he managed to show up on the worst 2 days of the summer. The day he arrived was thick with smoke and the following day, we got a foot of snow.

We’ve also had some lazy days around the house. The dogs have had the best summer- they walk 30+ miles a week but also relax in front of the TV with us.

I did a little more trim painting but left the project of painting the doors until the spring. We also had a mystery vegetable start growing next to the door. It turned out to be a squash and we assumed that it came from seeds in the compost.

Our neighbors came over on Thursday night and we sat of the deck and listened to the concert happening in the park. The sunset was gorgeous only to be followed with a full moon.