Run Report from Colorado, South Dakota and Indiana

Run Report from LPTRunner Steve Hartman Keiser...

You know we mostly run not for races but just for the fun of being outside in the woods exploring nature and the limits of our stamina.  And also so we can stop running and keep having fun eating, drinking, and whatnot. Maybe mostly whatnot.

Anyway, I’m just contributing an entry about running.  And thanks to a couple family reunions, I’ve been lucky to run in some pretty cool places this summer.

First, Snow Mountain just south of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  This was pretty much a hike from 9000’ to the top at 12000’, then some runnable parts along the summit ridge with amazing views, and running back down.  I’m always glad when I don’t fall.

Sunrise on Snow Mountain

Gore Range from Snow Mountain summit

 

Tiny rose (?) on Snow Mountain

Second, the Black Hills in South Dakota.  Here I got to run on the Centennial Trail for 3 hours and saw no one except this bison steaming in the morning mist.  I had to go off trail a bit to give him some room.  And an hour later when I came back he was actually lying down right in the middle of the trail.  Only in South Dakota!

My bison buddy next to the Centennial Trail

 

Black Hills meadow

Black Hills Vista

I will say that the signage on the Centennial Trail is not nearly as good as our own Ice Age Trail.  I took the wrong fork a couple times and had to backtrack.  And while the single track parts of the Centennial were awesome, there was quite a bit that was on forest roads, which wasn’t as interesting.

So we should be really really thankful that we have the Ice Age Trail!

Finally, last weekend I ran the trails at Potato Creek State Park near South Bend, Indiana which included one nice almost kettle morainish hill and a fun single track mountain bike trail.

I’d love to hear where else people are running this summer!