Trail Running in Moab

Dates: 11/2/13-11/3/13

This past weekend was the Moab trail marathon and half marathon. A group of friends from CO were racing on Saturday, so we decided to make a road trip of it, cheer them on, and visit a place we have never been to before.

The first thing that blew our minds about Moab was the incredible display of stars. I have never seen that many stars in my entire life. We could even see the Milky Way, it was so amazingly clear. Too bad my camera couldn't capture the starlight. Instead, we laid on the ground in the middle of the desert to star-gaze.

After a few hours sleep in the Element-camper, we woke up to the sunrise glinting off the red canyon walls. Wow.

Ryan is still sleeping inside

The race start wasn't until 9am, which was awesome. Cody got to see her friends, and hang out with runners, which she loves. Soon enough, it was time for the race to start. I set up my tripod with the GoPro attached and filmed the start (mobile link):

Part of the race course- a rope wall!

After everyone was off, Ryan and I got ready to go run some of the same trail the runners were on. We waited long enough so the course would be clear. The trail we took was called Pritchett Canyon. As the name describes, it's a trail that runs through a canyon on  a mix of sand, hard sand, slick rock and crumbly rock. What a run! It was unlike any trail run we've done before.

Moab is RED

Climbing on rocks in Pritchett Canyon

Look- water in the desert!

More red rocks

What an amazing landscape!

 Cody, Ryan and I were having a blast- running through the thick sand, jumping off rocks, climbing on rocks and taking lots of pictures and videos. Cody loved the canyon, because when she barked, her voice reverberated off the walls and she is in love with her own voice.

Cody leads the way!

We turned around 5 miles into the course and headed back to the finish area to cheer on our runners. We just missed the winner, but saw Sage Canaday and other top runners finish. The winning time was a 3:15- this course was HARD!

Chillin at the finish line

After hanging out with our friends, we packed up our camp, ate some food, and headed to a new trailhead. This time, we went for a shorter run on the Moab Rim trial. It starts at the bottom of the canyon and then climbs 900 feet straight up in the first mile, all on slick rock. This was also the first time I tried Cody's new Ruff Wear Swamp Cooler jacket. It's designed to protect her fur from the sun by blocking UV rays, and also using evaporative cooling when you pour water on the coat. She didn't mind me putting it on and pouring water on her, and even though the temps were up closer to 70 at this point, she was ready to run!

Dog on Rock, in a Jacket

Slick Rock

This was a really cool trail, not only for the interesting terrain, but once you finished the 900 foot climb, you got a view of the La Sal mountains, peaking out over the city of Moab.

Moab and the La Sal mountains

Once on the top, we were in the 'real' desert. It was such an amazing landscape! We also got to see a family of motorbikers, with one kid probably 10 years old, driving over all sorts of crazy rocks.

Really real Desert

Lots and lots of rocks

After a wonderful meal at the Moab Brewery (where we could get full 7% beer!!), we found a new campsite to park the Element-Camper and went to sleep.

Day 2:

When we woke up, we realized again that we parked in an awesome spot.

The little campsite where we parked the Element

The path right above our camping spot

View from the campsite

Breakfast out of the back of the Element

Today's trail run took us on part of the Red Hot 55k trail run that Ryan signed up for this coming February- the Poison Spider Trail. We started where the race ends. The first 800 foot climb was over 4 miles, so this was a much flatter run then the day before. The temps were also a lot higher, and Cody was again wearing her Swam Cooler jacket.

Seriously though- she's wearing a jacket AND boots?!

The trail was a little more rocky at the start, with some more technical footing, but still pretty tame compared to most of Colorado. Running in the desert feels pretty different than other trails- it's a little harder to get a rhythm in a lot of sections, because you're often running over rock that undulates, then running through really deep sand. The constant change of footing makes the terrain more challenging than it would at first appear. However, there were still plenty of sections on this trail that were smooth, flat and fast- especially the long stretch of jeep road.

Running on slick rock with the La Sal mountains in the background. This place was unreal

Cody Rocked her Swam Cooler jacket- that thing kept her fur cool to the touch

Cody did amazingly well running on her second day in the desert. We turned around at 5.5 miles while Ryan finished his long run. When we parted ways, I knew the way to go, but there were definitely times when it was hard to figure out exactly where the trail went- and each direction looks essentially the same! I quickly saw how easy it would be to get lost in the desert.

After finishing up our run, we headed back to Colorado, with a stop in Arches National Park. Arches is an amazingly gorgeous park- the natural formations of these rocks is unreal.

Welcome to Arches National Park. Prepare for mind-blowing nature

I took this one from the moving car. Yes, the iPhone Camera really is that good

Wind and water did this

The Window Arches, viewed from the Torrent arch

There's a 'little' piece missing- 180 tons of rock fell down in the 90s- yikes!

Rockin' the Flannel while running and filming in Arches National Park

Luckily, we could see most of the park while driving, with brief stops out of the car (Cody is not allowed on trails in the National Parks).

Psssh- Cody thinks National Parks are silly! Amazing AdventureDogs should be allowed!! See- she even has her leash on!

The drive home sent us through a horrendous snow storm through most of Colorado, with stranded motorists strewn across the freeway. We were lucky enough to have 3 snowplows lead our way for most of Vail pass, but it took us 7 hours to get home, when it should've been 5. I guess we won't be heading west on 70 for most of the winter! Yikes!

Another car picture. Ryan wouldn't stop anymore ;)

And this is what your dog looks like after running 25 miles for the weekend in the desert:

This is what Cody I looked like the whole drive back. Thanks for driving, Ryan!! ;)

Here is the Awesome Movie Version, filmed with our new GoPro Hero3 Black

Trail Overview (see scale here)

Technical: Class 1

Surface: 2/5 

Vert: 2/5

Crowds: Low- but there is off-road vehicle traffic on a lot of these trails! Very cool to watch
Views: Amazing and very unique
Overall Runability: 2/5

Although the footing isn't break your ankle type of stuff, it still requires concentration, and good form. The changing terrain adds to the challenge. A very interesting place to run- unlike anywhere else I've been!!

Gear Recommendations:

Water- lots and lots of water. Even in the fall, when the temps were low, the dry air just sucks the water right through your skin. I wore my Nathan hydration pack to carry water for me and Cody

Shoes: Both Ryan and I were satisfied with our Salomon sense ultras. If I were running longer than 13 miles, I'd recommend a little more support. The rocks are really sticky and smooth, with very few really sharp and pointy rocks, so for slightly shorter runs, the Ultras worked great. However, I noticed in the evening my feet were sore from running on so much rock, so for a longer 20ish mile run, I'd need more support. I also wore my La Sportiva C-lites, and they worked great, but the extra lugs were probably a touch of overkill.

Details:

Day 1, run #1:
 Day 1, run  #2:
Day 2:

Honda Element Camper/Platform

After sleeping in the back of the Honda Element a few times, I realized that, 1. it's actually comfortable, and 2. it can be even more comfortable with a few modifications. My obsessive little brain got to work, and with the help of the internet, (and the Honda Element user forums), I was able to discover just how easy it would be to add a sleeping platform.

My only requirement was that I could make it without buying any more tools (I own a tool box, a drill and a cheap hand saw). I found a plan that required only drilling, and added only a few modifications of my own.

Logic:

1. I wanted to use PVC pipes as the legs, because then I could make them different heights, if I changed my mind in the process of building. Also, a PVC pipe cutter is only $15, and the end attachment that goes into the PVC pipe was the easiest way to attach the legs to the plywood

2. I wanted to be able to rearrange the platforms to be able to use latitudinally or longitudinally, depending on the adventure. The idea was that if we needed to add another seat, than the platforms should go in longitudinally. Additionally, if they could be stacked in that position, then we could also fit our bikes in while traveling

3. The platforms had to be easy to get in and out

4. With no carpentry skills whatsoever, I had to be able to do this without anyone else's help.

5. I actually wanted the center support to be removable, in case we found we didn't need it (turns out we don't need it right now)

After some careful measuring inside the Element, and consulting the plan linked above, I headed off to Home Depot.

Materials:

(2) 2'x4' 3/4" thick plywood
(10) 2" diameter PVC caps that fit on the end of the 2" pipe- this was the hardest part to find
(1) 10' length of PVC (actually ABS) pipe, 2" in diameter
(26) 1-1/4" bolts, with accompanying nuts and washers. I ended up choosing carriage bolts, after careful consultation with my helper at Home Depot.
(4) turnbuckles (I didn't know what those were until I went to Home Depot)
(4) loops that screw into the board, to attach to the turnbuckles
(1) PVC pipe cutter
(1) piece of 4x8' carpet (with a little room to spare)
(1) tub of carpet glue and spackle

Here are most of my materials:

After measuring the inside of the Element multiple times, I began construction.

The PVC pipe cutting was a lot easier than I thought. The whole process only took about a half a day, and that's from someone who has no carpentry skills and no craft skills.

Before long, I was putting in both platforms to make sure they fit!

From the underside, you can see the legs:

With a little more careful measuring, I probably could've gotten the legs closer to the side panels, but the dimensions were really awkward, and I wanted to make sure they fit. Finally, Cody got in to help demonstrate:

Once that was done, I added the carpet:

I could not believe how well the final product turned out. The turnbuckles secure the platforms in place so they will not move while driving, or stopping short. The platforms also turn the other direction, so that a seat can be placed in while a platform is in next to the seat (no picture yet). Finally, I made an additional support beam that can go under the center section of the two platforms to provide additional support. However, with our camping gear, we've found the support is perfect without the additional platform, so now we leave that piece at home.

And here is the final product, in use!

We can fit almost all of our gear underneath, and the boxes slide out to give us access to our food and supplies. The boxes are 11" in height, and just make it underneath, without the lids. We use a queen size air mattress to sleep on. If we needed more headroom, we could get a foam mattress (the air mattress is nearly 7" high, when filled). We can still sit up on the bed, though, so it's been fine so far.

The platform reaches to the end of where the seats fold down, so the end of the air mattress is supported:

As you can see, we still use the dashboard for storage.

Additionally, when the platforms are in, there is still plenty of room behind the seats so that a cooler can fit.

The Element's back hatch works as a table while camping:

This gives us the perfect car camping set up, without having to unload too much of the car every time we want to sleep. That big gray thing in the picture is my stand up paddle board- even that fits underneath the platforms!

Cody loves it, too!

And here's how much head room we have:

Luckily we aren't too tall!

Trip Report: Mt. Columbia

 Date: September 7th, 2013

We intended to do Columbia + Harvard. After learning our lessons on previous trips (doubting ourselves on Mt. Massive, and not finding a connecting trail to Missouri), I bought a new book to help find more routes.

With the new Element Camper in place, driving up to the trailhead after work was a breeze. We just pulled into the trailhead parking lot (where I unfortunately backed into a giant rock- no damage), inflated the air mattress and went to sleep. We got an early start! On the trail at 6:54am. It was actually dark when we started! However, we didn't use headlamps, since the sunrise was basically right away.

Gorgeous Colorado meadows, before breaking tree line

Another obligatory shot of the early morning sun:

This trail wasn't quite as pretty as some of the others, but it still had plenty of steep vert and fun switchbacks!

As we broke treeline, we had to climb up some gnarly talus. We took the WRONG route, and basically tried to climb straight up this terrible loose rock that gave way with every step. It was like snow, except not soft and forgiving. There was no obvious trail, and there were people ahead of us, climbing up the gnarly rocks. This was our first experience being on a non well marked route, that also isn't very popular. Our route finding skills are terrible, and only got worse throughout the day.

This was taken on the way down- but you get the idea- lots of really loose rock

Slogging to the top

The summit was gorgeous, as always!

After finally summiting Columbia, we could see Harvard in the distance. After consulting our guide book, and trying to understand the directions and trails, we descended the other side of the summit, and boulder hopped for a long time. It was really, really slow, and very difficult to not fall down. Cody did awesome through this whole section- she is so good at bouldering!

Is that Harvard? Who knows?!

Despite having my new guide book and reading over the route multiple times and bringing a picture of the route description with us, we still couldn't find the trail that connects Columbia to Harvard. Because of this, we had to re-ascend Columbia, then descend down the awful rock slide, and it felt like we were doing far too much damage to the mountain. Since we had so much difficulty, Columbia was our least favorite route. If we had done things right, I still don't know if we would've liked it quite as much. Harvard still looks like a nice hike, though

Crazy descent!

Overview:

The climbing doesn't really start until 4 miles, so you can get some decent running in before then. After that, it's slow going. This was our slowest route, by far
Total Distance: 11.94 miles
Total Time: 6:00:00
Moving time: 4:13:28 (21:14min/mile)
Starting elevation: 9,916 feet
Max Elevation: 14,022
Total elevation gain: 4,529
Elevation profile: