Trail #5--Peaks Trail and a weekly recap

Last Sunday, Adam and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Since we traveled to Michigan the week before, we didn't take a trip or anything, but went out to dinner in downtown Denver at a nice restaurant I've been wanting to try for awhile.  Maybe next year we will rent a house in Breckenridge for a few days to celebrate.

1 year ago in Breckenridge, CO

We also spent Saturday and Monday-Wednesday looking at a lot of houses.  The first house we looked at on Saturday was great--huge private back yard, updated, good price.  Unfortunately there were already 4 offers on it and the sellers were making their decision 1 hour after we saw it.  I need a little more time to make a decision than that.  We saw a couple other houses we really liked and one was also quickly under contract while another we thought about overnight and it went under contract too.  

On Wednesday, Adam saw a house he liked in the morning, so I left work to go look at it and a few other houses.  We put in an offer and by Wednesday night we were under contract.  So, we started the process on Saturday and were done by Wednesday (well at least with the search assuming all goes well).  

I ran a mile race on Thursday and relaxed most of the 4 day weekend if you can call racing a mile and trail running "relaxing".

On Friday, I took Mickey up to Frisco to run the Peaks trail.  It's an 8 or so mile trail that runs from Frisco to Breckenridge and I've been wanting to run or mountain bike it for awhile.  We got a late start, but thankfully it was cool (low 60's) and cloudy so it wasn't too hot.  

The plan was to start in Frisco and run to Breckenridge and back.  It seemed like the trail was going to be pretty easy to follow, so I didn't bring any map or directions.  I got off course early on and ended up running quite a bit out of the way.  After that I found the trail and stayed on it pretty well the rest of the way through until another wrong turn at the end. With my extra running in the beginning I didn't make it all the way to Breck.  I turned around at Cucumber Creek, which it turned out was only .6 miles from the Breck trailhead, but I didn't know that at the time and I was already 1:20 into the run and 5 mins past the time when I said I absolutely was going to turn around.

The trail was really nice--shaded a lot of the way and followed/crossed creeks which was great for Mickey to cool off and drink from.  It was really pretty and not super rocky. The elevation gain on the run was around 1700ft and most of that was on the way out, so the run back was mostly downhill and  the whole run was mostly gradual inclines and declines.  I'd like to go back and finish the whole run, but there are so many trails in the area that I want to explore, it may be awhile before I get back to it.

5 miles back to Frisco--I wasn't quite tired yet, but I was getting there!

There were so many beautiful wildflowers along the trail.

Mickey kept splashing in the creek to the left of the trail

This was my favorite part of the trail

Some of the peaks along the trail

One of the many bridges along the trail

The columbines were my favorite flower along the trail

Mickey leading the way

It only took 2 hours 40 minutes of running, but I finally wore out Mickey for a day

I got back to my car and was exhausted and frustrated after getting lost for awhile within a mile of the car.  I hadn't really planned on running more than 2:15, but I got caught up in the trails and the goal of making it all the way to Breck.  I opened the back door of the truck to let Mickey in and the wind caught the door, blew it all the way open and into the car next to me.  The car door blew into the handle of the car next to me and was stuck.  Seriously, what are the chances of this happening?  I was so tired and just wanted to go home and now I was stuck to another car!  I called Adam and he called the local Sheriff's Dept and after waiting awhile, two Sheriffs showed up.  They laughed at the situation, then they and another guy in the parking lot tipped the other car enough so that I could close the door.  I'm glad I finally got to leave with neither car damaged, but it was just so random at the end of a long hard day.

My door wedged into the other car's door handle.

On Saturday, Adam and I took Frito and Mickey up to Lair o' the Bear which is one of my favorite parks.  I ran with Frito and Adam played fetch with Mickey in the creek.

Running with Mr. Frito

Mickey waiting for a stick to be thrown.

The 4 day weekend went by way too fast.