Up/Down front from Chautauqua
5.17 miles/2,479 vert./1:52:12 RT(1:07up)/avg. HR 133 Garmin Data
With a few upcoming days of baby juggling on the horizon, followed by 2 days of being unable to get outside and a fresh foot or so of snow tempting me (at the higher elevations at least), I could not accept the prospect of not being able to get outside to enjoy some time on the trails.
I called Homie and proposed a night lap of Green and he was in. We met at Chautauqua and got going around 7:30pm, where there was enough light from town to illuminate the Flatirons, Flagstaff and made our headlamps somewhat unnecessary. The sight of the Flatirons pasted in snow and lit up in the soft Winter (like) glow was hard to describe. I was regretting not bringing my camera to at least try to capture it (guess you had to be there). Microspikes helped on the lower sections of trail, but as soon as we got onto the Amphitheater trail, they were marginally helpful at best in the increasingly deep and unconsolidated snow.
We went pretty easy on the up and down, mainly dictated by the poor footing, trail breaking, conversation and waiting on Sierra. She never got too far behind, but we always knew where she was, since I attached my red flashing bike light to her harness and worked amazingly well to keep track of her in the dark.
As always, I was grateful to have Homie along and it was great to see Sierra turn into a young pup in fresh snow.
