If you like rugged, remote, low-crowd loop trail runs with mileage above treeline as well as runnable alpine single track in the lush pine forest, then the Bowen Gulch - Baker Gulch loop is for you. There were exactly 0 people on this loop when I did it in mid-October. Amazing.
From where we camped, this is a 21 mile route with 5,600' of vertical gain, ranging from 8,800' - 12,100' above sea level. The trail is entirely single track that ranges from buttery smooth, rolling terrain to loose, steep, washed out dry creek bed.
Cody, our Australian Shepherd, and I ran this loop in mid-October and had a blast. The family drove up from Golden, CO on Friday night, took I-70 to the CO-40 exit, over Berthoud Pass, through Winter Park and Granby, up CO-125, and down CO-21A until you get near the Never Summer trailhead. The trip took about 3hr 15min to get to the campsite.
We saw three trucks with people near the trailhead, all of whom had hunter blaze orange on. This was October and the hunting season was in full force. Be aware and visible.
Running up the dirt road for .25mi, we found the #1141 Never Summer trailhead on the left side of the road and we started up. This is fairly runnable grade, narrow single track with rocks and roots but no big jumpy moves all the way up from 9,900' to the top of Fairview Mountain at 12,140'. Around 11,400' you'll see a junction to Jack Park Trail on the left. Continue right up the steeper trail to stay on trail #1141. At 11,800' there is an unmarked trail junction. Take the trail on the left to go up to Fairview Mountain. If you go straight, you'll be on Bowen Pass Trail.
At the top of Fairview Mtn. there's an amazing view on both sides. Enjoy. Most of the Bowen-Baker loop is below treeline, so take some pics. The trail down to Parika Lake is loose gravel but lots of fun to bomb down. Continue down the trail from Parika Lake on fairly steep, technical rock trail with switchbacks and creek crossings. You won't make up a ton of time on this downhill because of its difficulty.
At a creek crossing at mile 6.5, you'll see the Baker Pass Trail on the left. Don't take this unless you want to add miles to your loop. Keep right and keep going downhill. From the top of Fairview Mtn. down to the Bowen-Baker Trailhead it's 6 miles of non-stop downhill with lots of creek crossings. I drank the water untreated and didn't get sick. YMMV.
Just before you arrive at the main Bowen-Baker trailhead near CO-34 Trail Ridge road (my mile 10), you'll get to the registration box for hunters and backcountry overnight hikers. Run past this through open forest on a crushed gravel trail, and then at a small parking lot, take a hard right and go through the gate to get on some smooth rolling trail. Follow the trail signs to the right on some gentle uphill single track for ~3 miles up to the trail junction that leads to Trail Ridge Road (left) or Bowen Pass Trail (right). Take a right to stay on trail 119 Bowen Pass Trail. This trail is very smooth and runnable for 3 miles, so take advantage. Once you get to 9,800' it's much rockier and steeper.
There is not much water for the next 4 miles from the previous junction, until you cross the creek and head toward the Blue Lake trail turnoff, so take advantage when you can. Continue on Bowen Pass for another 2 miles until you see the Bowen Lake trail junction on your left. Stay right on the Bowen Pass Trail. The next 2 miles is rocky and steep up to treeline and the open basin near Ruby Lake. We heard elk calling to each other in this basin with incredible views of Cascade Mtn. to lookers left, Ruby Mtn. next to it, Bowen Pass Straight ahead, and Bowen Mtn. on lookers right.
Climb up 400 feet of vertical from 11,000' to the top of Bowen Pass. At the top of the pass is a junction. On your left is the Cascade trail, part of the CDT. Continue straight on Bowen Pass Trail down the other side of the pass. In about .2 miles you'll reach the junction to the Ruby Mountain trail on the left, which says it's part of the CDT. This trail will take you the long way down to western-most Illinois River trailhead. Stay straight to drop back down onto trail #1141 to get back to your start. It's about 3 miles of single track downhill with views for days. Trail #1141 exits onto the dirt road and back down to wherever you decided to camp off the road.
The Anna Karenina principle describes an endeavor in which a deficiency in any one of a number of factors dooms it to failure.
The Anna Karenina principle for running 100 milers:
100 Mile Finishers are all alike; every DNF is different in its own way.
6 reasons why runners (including myself) fail at 100s:
Nutrition - You need to eat (and keep down) enough calories, water, and salt to make it through 100 miles of running. That's ~200-300 calories per hour. It’s an all-day eating contest.
Pacing - You need to be able to sustain an effort that can last 100 miles while ingesting enough calories. Are you going out too fast? Yep!
Training - You need to put in enough miles/hours to be physically/mentally prepared to run 100 miles. But not so many miles that you burn yourself out in training. Everyone is different.
Equipment - You need to have protection against the extreme elements: cold, heat, rain, snow, lightning, hail, etc. Did you bring protection with you and make it available to you at key points in the race?
Injury - You need to stay safe in training and during the race. You've already won most of the battle if you get to the starting line healthy.
Will to Finish - You need to want it badly enough to endure the very lowest points during the race. How much do you want it?
A successful endeavor (subject to this principle) is one where every possible deficiency has been avoided.
The name of the principle derives from Leo Tolstoy's book Anna Karenina, which begins:
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
You never know where or when your pup will suffer an injury. But when you’re in the backcountry, it’s almost certain to happen at a less-than-ideal time. That’s what happened to Dante, our 5 month old puppy, when we were skiing at Berthoud Pass in Colorado on New Year’s Day. We made mistakes that day, but here’s what happened and what we learned in order to be prepared going forward.
Dante’s leg was cut by our skis when we were skiing down the slope to our car. We were heading there to put him in the car because he was tired, but on the way down our skis knicked his back paw, right where he has an artery near the surface of his skin. Although the cut was not big and not even that deep -- it did minimal tissue damage -- the blood vessel was penetrated, and blood started pouring onto the snow, flowing heavily.
We quickly wrapped a neck gaiter around the wound but it was flowing through that, and he was squirming so we didn’t get a tight wrap around the cut. We then tied the sleeve of my down jacket around the cut to put pressure on it. This was not effective either, so I squeezed his leg tightly as I skied him down to the car. Blood was pouring through my clenched fingers.
A Colorado State Patrol vehicle happened to be in the parking lot, so I waved the Officer down and asked him for help. A man also came over and asked if he could help. These two people were crucial in saving Dante’s life. The Officer calmly made a tourniquet out of gauze while the man applied a bandage and used his kid’s scarf to wrap around Dante’s leg. Alaina held Dante still, and I looked for our medical kit, which was buried somewhere in the emergency bin in the back of our 4Runner. I couldn’t find it, so I was directed to get towels from the Officer's vehicle.
Once Dante’s bleeding had been stabilized and it wasn’t pouring through the make-shift bandages, the Officer called in on his radio to find out where the nearest animal hospital is, since we have no cell service on Berthoud Pass. The hospital is in Fraser, about 16 miles down the pass, away from Denver. This was good news since the road into Denver was bumper to bumper traffic. Alaina held Dante’s sleeping body with his injured leg elevated and compressed in her arm. We drove until we had cell service and called the hospital. The recording said they were closed for New Year’s Day and to call the Emergency Vet number. We had to re-play this message several times trying to memorize the number.
We called the Emergency Vet who said she was in Grand Lake, about 40 minutes away. The road was dry and traffic light, so we made it quickly to the Vet’s house. She was in the process of setting up her mobile vet clinic but it wasn’t ready yet, so we put Dante on the floor near the kitchen. The Vet quickly and calmly assessed the wound, informing us of the extent of the injury. She decided to put him under anesthesia since he needed internal stitches for the artery and external stitches for his skin. She performed the surgery and bandaged and cleaned him since he had a lot of dried blood on him and then brought him out of anesthesia.
Everything went well. We thanked the vet many times, paid for the surgery, and drove back home. The wound would need to be in bandages for 10-14 days until the stitches were no longer needed, and the internal stitches would dissolve on their own. Dante slept the whole way back.
We felt relieved but also extremely lucky. Overall, we caught a lot of breaks and Dante will be fine, but it certainly could have gone so much worse. We might have cut him on a different trail and needed to skin back uphill to the car. He would have bled a lot more because we didn’t have an emergency kit on us, and I would’ve been carrying him so it would’ve been slow. There might not have been a highly-trained professional or extremely generous volunteer in the parking lot. But there were, and we have called and thanked the Officer. We don’t know who the volunteer was, but many many thanks to him.
What we learned:
Skiing with dogs is dangerous. We knew this but didn’t realize how quickly the injury could become life threatening. If we choose to ski with our dogs again, we would be far more cautious. Right now we have no immediate plans of skiing with the dogs again.
Always travel with an emergency medical kit. Better yet, one in each of our avy bags. In the backcountry, we are the only aid we can count on. We were VERY lucky to have the parking lot nearby, and even luckier to have an officer and a volunteer willing to help there. We should know what’s in our kit and how to use it. When blood is flowing, it’s not a good time to learn.
Hospital contact numbers and locations. Before we go, research the nearest 24-hour Emergency Vets and Hospitals (animal + human) and have their phone numbers in our contacts list. Some animal hospitals are not open on the weekends or holidays. You can never count on cell service in the mountains.
Always have boots on the dogs. It may not have prevented this particular cut, but since nearly all cuts happen on their lower legs/paws, even just a thin barrier would help.
A very serious cut like this can happen at anytime. We are almost always a 1+ hour drive away from a hospital -- human or animal. Even when out running, a stick or barbed wire to the wrong part of the body can turn deadly if we can’t stop the bleeding. A small first aid kit should always be on us if we are more than an hour away from a hospital, even on ‘short’ runs.
Jax's first big adventure was the day I brought him home. I flew to Minnesota to meet with his breeder and take him on a plane ride home to Colorado! He thought this adventure was simply the best thing ever- he ran around the hotel hallways, went on a car ride, got sooooo much attention at the airport, walked on leash for the first time and then got to fly!
Jax Meets Cody!
Jax's next adventure was meeting his big sister Cody! Cody was 8.5 years old when we got Jax and still had the energy of a 3 year old pup. She has a lot of personality, and wasn't 100% sure about the idea of a puppy- she wants ALL the attention!
Jax was able to slowly worm his way into Cody's heart. His sweet, silly demeanor made Cody realize that maybe it would be more fun to get attention from the humans AND Jax!
Jax and The Bunnies!
Next up on the Jax Adventure List was to meet the resident bunnies- Buster and Zoe! The buns-o's are very dog savy, and thought that maybe Jax was another bunny friend!
Jax also thought that maybe he was actually part bunny! He loved sharing (stealing) lettuce from his little bunny friends
He loved his little bunnies, and made sure they were properly snuggled and clean!
The Adventures Begin!
At 12 weeks old, Jax got to go on his first ski adventure! Since he was too young to ski on his own, he got to take a ride in his parents backpack! Jax had a blast hanging out in the backpack and even took a nap while skinning up the slopes. What an amazing little pup.
Winter adventures included snowforts, playing at Loveland pass, adventures with Cody in the snow, visiting A-Basin ski area and even a hike to the top of Mt. Morrison! So many adventures in just his first month in Colorado!
As Jax continued to grow, his big sister Cody showed him the ropes of hiking on trails and posing on rocks! He was such a good little student and Cody didn't want to admit it, but she loved teaching Jax all she knew.
Jax and the Water!
As the weather warmed up a bit, it was time to get Jax into the water! He loved the idea of water, but actually getting wet? Not so sure :)
Luckily he loves the water enough to enjoy paddleboarding and kayaking- even on his first time out!
Jax, Fearless Adventurer!
From an early age, Jax's fearless nature came through- he loves standing at the edge of a huge drop off, or just trying anything that looks scary.
As Jax continued to grow, his adventures mounted. A weekend in Vail:
Another weekend in the Sangre De Cristos:
His first backpacking trip to Blanca Peak, where he hiked to 13,800, but didn't summit:
A weekend in Aspen, running in the mountains and paddling:
Adventures outside of Winter Park:
Adventures on the water:
Adventures in the San Juans, part 1:
Adventures in the San Juans part 2- with the Grand Parents. Durango and Silverton:
Adventures in Ouray:
Adventures in Maroon Bells:
Jax Climbs Mountains!
Jax's first 14er- Mt. Elbert in a snowstorm!
Adventures in Leadville:
Adventures in Steamboat Springs:
Adventures with my little human friend (aka nephew):
Adventures on trails closer to home:
Adventures near Cottonwood Pass:
Jaxy loves to run mountains!
Jax's second 14er- Mt. Yale:
Jax's third 14er: Grays Peak:
Adventures to Crested Butte:
Adventures closer to home:
Adventures while skiing:
Jax Goes to Rochester and Turns ONE!
For Christmas, Jax made the long journey to Rochester, NY to hang out with family
Christmas is also Jax's birthday. He had an awesome birthday celebration with his doggie and humans friends.
It was tiring being the Birthday Boy!
Visiting Rochester was tons of fun!
Adventure to Wolf Creek:
Jax loves to play with everything, but his favorite toy was an exercise ball!
A Hut Trip!
Jax's first hut trip to the San Juan's! We skied 8 miles in to the North Pole Hut where we hung out and skied with friends for 3 days.
There are also just the daily adventures to North Table and around the neighborhood
Jax found ways to adventure even when doing little things, like taking the stairs:
...Or chasing a ball:
..or playing at the park:
Even during his Chemo treatments, Jax is still living his best, most adventurous life. We took a 5 day road trip from Denver to Moab to Grand Canyon to Lake Powell and back. Jax (and his family) had a blast!
At the Grand Canyon, Jax was the most popular point of interest!
Jax has lived every day as the best day ever, from the moment we brought him home. His happy go lucky, goofy personality has infused our lives with endless happiness. Every day, he reminds us to approach each moment with joy, and every day we strive to #livelikejax
Jax's Story:
I really don't know how to write this. On March 13, 2017, our 14 month old Australian Shepherd, Jax, was diagnosed with stage 5 terminal cancer, lymphoma. The previous Friday he ran 8 miles, then skied 6 miles on Saturday, but was feeling pretty lethargic Saturday and Sunday. He went in to get neutered on Monday and I told the vet about how lethargic he was, and that his gums were a bit paler than normal, so she ran some initial blood work, which came back normal. She started the sedation, but he responded really poorly. She ran more blood work and saw that he had virtually no red blood cells, no white blood cells and no platelets, something called pancytopenia. She had us pick him up immediately and rush him to the emergency vet. Once we got there, they gave him fluids, ran more blood work, did a chest x-ray and an ultrasound. None of the potential causes for his condition were looking good. With how poor his bloodwork was, no one could believe that he ran as much as he did the previous week (close to 30 miles).
He stayed overnight to get a blood transfusion and on Tuesday he was well enough to get a bone marrow aspiration (pulling cells from inside the bone marrow). At that point we knew it was going to be cancer, we just didn't know if it was the kind that would kill him in a few weeks (leukemia) or a few months (lymphoma). He came home with us Tuesday night, and acted like normal, healthy Jax. We spent all day Wednesday doing all the things Jax loves, which is well, everything :)
The vet sent the bone marrow cells to a pathology lab at CSU and on Thursday we got the only 'good' news of this whole shitty week- he has the type of cancer that can at least sort of possibly respond to chemotherapy- enough to give us a few more months with him, best case. Since we have this one small chance to have more time with Jax, we are going to fight for every day. If we decided not to treat him, he would probably live a few more weeks.
We chose chemotherapy, which would give him a good quality of life and could give us more time with him. Despite having very aggressive cancer and having very poor bloodwork, Jax's outward symptoms were almost non-existent. On the outside, he's the exact same dog as always, it's almost impossible to tell he's sick. He eats everything in sight, plays all day, and only occasionally acts a tiny bit more tired.If I hadn't been worried about him on Sunday for being just a touch tired, and said something to the vet, she would've started the surgery and he would've bled out on the table and we would've lost him then.
There's no explanation as to why he got this, especially at 14 months old, and there's almost no precedent for the way his cancer has manifest. He has no swollen lymph nodes and no circulating cancer in his blood- it went straight into his bone marrow. The doctors think he may have been sick for only a few weeks, but there was just no way to catch it earlier. It is completely unexplainable and it makes me so fucking angry.
Jax's Treatments:
During Jax's chemo treatments we tried to approach every day we had with him in the same way that Jax approaches life- that this is simply the best day ever and everything in it is awesome and man life is so good, isn't it? Well, we tried to do that most days, when we weren't sobbing uncontrollably in a grocery store aisle. When we got Jax's diagnosis, we started making a list of all the things Jaxy loves. We soon realized that we would have to list literally everything. He loves his adventures in the mountains, but this silly dooder is just as happy sitting on the front porch watching the world go by. Even after spending a night in the hospital, getting jabbed with needles, shaved and getting his bone marrow poked, the next time we went there he was rushing through the front door like he was at the candy store- he couldn't wait to see all his new friends
Throughout his chemo treatments, Jax continued to enjoy going to the vet- even to the point where he always had a 'vet-boner'!! :) He handled each drug in the highly regarded 'CHOP' protocol extremely well. He had an upset tummy once, and only had a few days where he was more tired than normal.
For a few weeks, the chemo drugs seemed to be working really hard against the cancer. He was able to RUN with me, just like normal, for a whole 2 weeks. His red blood cell count was still in the 'moderately anemic' state (aka- most dogs would be tired on a 1 mile walk)- but Jax was a super dog, and didn't need red blood cells to climb mountains :) He also maintained his incredible sense of humor and enthusiasm for life during all of his treatments. Jax was just the sweetest, silliest, happiest dooder-face in the entire world. We were able to live our lives like Jax every day while he was sick. We went on our daily hikes and runs, we played soccer in the backyard, and he barked at us after dinner to make sure we kept playing with him, all day long. We even went on a spontaneous trip to Moab, the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell with my parents in a rented 30' RV!
The Final Week (6/6/17):
To Live Like Jax- to live every day without regrets. To see everything in life as an adventure, even stairs. To live with so much happiness exuding from your core, that the whole world smiles in your light. To only see good in everyone and everything. To do everything with equal parts silliness and enthusiasm. To have so much passion for life, that he fought to the end with every cell of his body.
Oh Jax. My buddy-dooder face. We fought so, so hard for you. We did everything we could to help your body fight this horrible disease. You fought as hard as possible, while still enjoying every second out of life, never letting cancer or chemo get you down. Thank you, Jaxy. Thank you for being the most incredible dog and showing us what it means to truly live life. I am so sorry that your strength and our love wasn't enough to keep you with us forever. This really fucking sucks.
Jax's strength declined very quickly. Last weekend he was able to hike 3+ miles in Salida, and was still playing and jumping for his soccer ball. By Tuesday he needed a blood transfusion. On Wednesday, his white blood cells started losing the fight and his fever set in. By Thursday his platelets started failing and he started having bleeding issues. He was still eating and running around the backyard because he still wanted to fight. Since we were waiting for one more chemo drug to kick in, we gave him his third blood transfusion on Saturday, hoping against hope that it would work. From Saturday to Monday morning he had used up the entire transfusion plus some, and only had 10% of his RBCs left. He had zero platelets, and almost no more white blood cells. Any other dog would not be alive with his counts.
Last night all of his friends at Wheatridge Animal Hospital came in to give him hugs and kisses and see all of the adventures Jax has been on. They needed to say goodbye to their special little buddy. We came home and Jax ate steak, hamburger and chicken for dinner. He even wanted the bunnies lettuce. Then he had some ice cream. And some more ice cream. We snuggled into his soft fur and reminisced about all of his adventures. He was tired. After chasing one last squirrel, he let us know it was time. He climbed into our bed one last time. This morning we brought him back to the hospital to say goodbye, to make sure we didn't let this stupid cancer cause him to suffer.
Our world is shattered into a million pieces. We knew this day was coming, that his cancer was incredibly aggressive, but nothing prepares you for the end. He fought as hard as any dog could ever fight against cancer. He lived more in his 17.5 months on earth than most dogs live in a lifetime. He fought to stay happy and silly until the very end- he lived like Jax.
Thank you to everyone for all of your amazing support. We have been truly moved to see how many people care so much about sweet Jax. I wish you all could've met Jaxy McDooderFace, he made this world a better place.
