[at-l] Sunrise, up for over 24 hrs and a moonlit walk (trip reports)

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Haf a most wonderful, if exhausting, few days.

Combined a few things I have enjoyed over the years. 

Eating, hiking, trail running.

On Saturday, woke up at 2:30 AM (after 3 hrs sleep)
and met some friends at my favorite caffiene fix
place. At 3AM, it was not open to say the least.  Had
to get gas station coffee instead. It was hot, had
caffiene and woke me up.

The destination for this early in the morning was
Tremont Mountain in Golden Gate Canyon state Park.

This 10k foot mountain has a nearly 360 panorama that
includes the divide, the Great Plains and the
foothills. At sunrise, it is a sight to behold.

Part of the "hook" of this trip was the making of
breakfast for all the hikers.  My buddy Nahum and I
went to grocery store the night before and bought 6
dozen eggs, 6 bell peppers, onions, cheese, tomatoes,
etc. etc. Did the prep work. To make this story short,
we bushwhacked to the summit, watched a gorgeous
sunrise and then made scrambled eggs for all. 

Yummy-licious.  Pics at:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/co05?&page=4


Made it back to the car, went to the Boulder Res at
10am and started the next part of the weekend: A 24 hr
relay race on trails and dirt roads. Our team was in
he Co-Ed Open division (6-10 people) .  The day was
blazingly hot, no shade, in the mid 90s! :O Each lap
was 7.14 miles in length.

But we all persevered. Ended up staying up, cheering
peopel and enjoying this low key event. Had a great
run at 12 midnight. Full moon, cool air, frog croaking
and crickets galore.  After my lap, took a well
deserved power nap. (U for 22+ hrs on 3 hrs of sleep)
Woke up, grabbed some coffee (see a theme here? :D),
and noticed that we were in first place! Wow! We were
happy to be in 5th place (out of 9) as we are not
"hard core". We just wanted to have a good time. To
make another long story short: We won our division! 

The second place team was sponsored by a sports drink
and had one more person than us (including a
professional mountain biker) :D  Yee ha!

Our team did 171.4 miles total, was able to get in
21.4 miles myself. Nice article (with our names in
print as winners.. woo hoo!):
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/running/article/0,1713,BDC_2413_3798983,00.html
(go to www.bugmenot.com to avoid registering!)

Finally, last night, did a full moon hike. My favorite
loop in Boulder: Up Fern Canyon, down West Ridge. Had
some awesome sunset views of the divide. Walked back
in the full moon. Did not use my headlamp once!
Besides the views were the smells. The flowers were so
fragrant. Awesome night!

Tonight? Much more low key.  Seeing something that
took place in a galaxy far, far, far away.

Mags


************************************************************
The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com