Pajarito and Canon de Valle

Got out for a great run on Friday with Crone, Stockton, Geist, and Coblentz. We covered roughly miles 24-35 of the Jemez 50 course, plus a short off-trail section between Pajarito Mountain and Canon de Valle. Starting at the bottom of Pajarito Canyon, we ran up and out of the canyon, hooked up with Nail Trail, and continued up "Geist's Gap" to Townsite Lift. We pushed a comfortable but honest pace up most of the climb, with a little bit of a surge coming into Townsite but that was it. After a quick refueling break we hiked/ran (mostly hiked) the final section up to the summit of Pajarito. The air was nice and cool in the woods, a wonderful break from the searing heat we've had recently. Just as we were getting to the top we saw a beautiful young bull elk pop out of the thick trees and bolt off.

We paused again at the top to tighten up the shoes and check out the summit marker, then scrambled/ran down the backside. The drop to the top of Canon de Valle was about 1000 feet in half a mile, through a mix of large grass clumps and rocks.

Approximate route; click for larger version

The descent down Canon de Valle started out pretty mellow but it wasn't long before Crone and I got stupid and turned on the afterburners for a little mano a mano. It's actually a really great section of trail for some high speed downhill practice. We called a truce just before hitting the Perimeter Trail and then it was a short cruise back to the cars... followed immediately by breakfast burritos at Hot Rocks. Total for the morning was 11-12 miles, and 3000+ feet of gain. Below are several photos.

Townsite Lift

A glimpse of the Caldera from the Pajarito ridge line

Hmmm, that looks tempting

Stellar views from up top

The descent down to Canon de Valle, with Cerro Grande in the background

The top of Canon de Valle. Cerro Grande in upper right.

Running through this is hard to beat!

As it turns out we made it back right around the time that the Stage III fire restrictions went into effect, which means that all National Forest lands in the area are now off-limits unless specifically listed as being open. I personally think this is the right decision until the fire danger passes. Yes it eliminates a significant fraction of my trail running options but that's hardly the most important thing in the big picture right now. Besides, there's still Dale Ball, and it's almost time to start my taper for the North Fork 50km anyway.

The weekly numbers: racked up a decent amount of vertical this week. I'm just enjoying the hills too much to want to do anything else.

Mon: 7.1 mi / 1400 ft. Nail Trail at tempo pace.

Tue: 8.5 mi / 1800 ft. Nail Trail to Townsite at long run pace.

Wed: 5.9 mi / 900 ft. S-Site easy with Porter, who was recovering from Lake City.

Thu AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Easy.

Thu PM: 6.1 mi / 1300 ft. Camp May Trail to Nail Trail with the lunch group.

Fri: 11.6 mi / 3200 ft. Pajarito - Canon de Valle.

Sat AM: 3.7 mi / 1300 ft. Hike up/down Picacho with kid #1 on my back and my visiting brother in tow.

Sat PM: 30 min core work.

Sun: 5.3 mi / 500 ft. Easy

Total: 52.4 mi / 10800 ft.

The boy atop Picacho (8500 ft)

And the week before, which aside from Saturday's effort was mostly easy:

Mon: 5.9 mi / 900 ft. S-Site easy.

Tue AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Easy.

Tue PM: 7.2 mi / 700 ft. Flattish with a few medium tempo miles to mix things up.

Wed: 30 min core work.

Thu: 5.9 mi / 900 ft. S-Site again.

Fri: 6.3 mi / 600 ft. Ran the kid to preschool in the stroller, then ran back home.

Sat AM: 13.8 mi / 4300 ft. Borrego to Winsor to Norski and back (10.0 mi / 3200 ft) at a good effort, followed by a lap on the Borrego-Winsor-Bear Wallow triangle (3.8 mi / 1100 ft) with Nyberg.

Sat PM: 30 minutes in the pool.

Sun: 3.6 mi / 500 ft. Easy

Total: 46.8 mi / 8300 ft.