Day 9 – Running For Town

I guess I was just mentally running towards laundry and a shower. I wasn’t actually running since we climbed 1,000 feet of elevation over 2 miles.

Cold Morning

This was our coldest morning yet, both John and I started hiking in our puffy jackets. Of course we stopped 30 minutes later to take them off, but we were comfortable to start.

Cool Climb

Even though the temperature stayed nice and cool, the climb seem difficult today.

Hot Descent

After climbing up and over a ridge (to Keystone Ski Area and avoid a development it seems) we were able to go down hill. This part of Breckenridge is very exposed, and the ground is sandy gravel with scattered pine trees. Without any shade it gets hot very quickly. The best part of the day was reaching 100 miles!

Side Trail

When we reached civilization I decided to take a side trail down to town. It was an easy way to cut off some of the miles I’ve done before. It’s not especially scenic, so I didn’t mind skipping it to save my feet.

Waiting

While waiting for a ride, I put my time to good use. At home dredge boats are used to deepen canals. Here in Colorado dredge boats were used to mine for gold. The boats would bring rocks up from the creek, exposing the gold on the creek bed. That is why there were (and still are in some places) piles of rocks all over Breckenridge. This boat was from 1905. I can’t believe how much of it is still intact.  I also found the one tree that provided shade and enjoyed my lunch in true hiker trash fashion, in a parking lot sitting on the ground.