Baldy Laps: The end of another season

View from the top of Baldy

It was a great season, it was a tough season, and it was all too short. Summer arrives late in the high country surrounding Bozeman. With about 17 hours of daylight at the summer solstice, the heat builds, the snow melts and the last of the passes open by mid-July. The melting snow floods mountain meadows releasing a nuisance of summertime bugs. So we get up as early as we can muster to head out running; cool early mornings and constant movement keeps the skeeters and flies from congregating too thickly upon us. Backpacking gets delayed until August when the ground is drier, the nights are longer and cooler, and the bugs are less annoying.

Devil's Backbone

There is so much to be grateful for in these short seasons. Wildflowers bloom as soon as the snow clears: stunning displays that are more expansive and various than any bouquet could ever be. I got out for some long wonderful days. I’ve been trying to figure out, which day or race or backpacking trip was my favorite. My two days with my son-in-law Chris were up there: pacing him for the last 25 miles in Devil’s Backbone gave me a chance to get the pictures I needed to write a story that’s been percolating in my head for 4 years. We managed the first half of the Hyalite HURL route, but busy schedules and early October snow kept us from going back to complete the circuit. That’s high on my list for next year: either completing the HURL as a run, or finding a partner to backpack the whole route as a two-day venture—my preference.

Escalante Route: Grand Canyon

I fit in three backpacking trips this year. I was ill when I dropped off the rim of the Grand Canyon in March for 5 days of beautiful trekking with a runny nose and stuffed head: Ugh! Josh and I had three days of perfect weather in the Spanish Peaks Wilderness in the days leading up to the Ridge Run in August. I got to backpack in Iceland at the end of August, but pneumonia, which followed me home, caused me to have to forgo my last planned backpacking trip in early September.

Josh atop Spanish Peak

I got ill three times this season and ended up in the emergency room twice. That’s never happened before. It’s got me concerned that I am pushing this ol’ carapace so hard that I am weakening my resistance to viruses. For now, I’m assuming I was just unlucky, if it happens again next year, I may have to make some training adjustments.

The tallest peak I climbed this season was 10,926-foot Emigrant Peak overlooking Paradise Valley. Me and my trail running bestie, Forest, got that one in late September. Forest and me are regular training partners these days. We work well together except when he gets the zoomies. Then it’s a bit of laughter followed by No Forest! Stop Forest! When his youthful exuberance persists beyond my capacity to enjoy it.

Running the Bridger Ridge

The last stretch of the Ridge Run down from Baldy was another memorable moment. I had been running with Jared and Shane, two 30-somethings, on and off for much of the race. On the 4000 foot descent from Baldy, I was determined to stay with them with the hope that I would best my time from 2024. Shane would get ahead of us, but he didn’t have trekking poles and would slow down on the steepest descents. “Shane you slacking dog, can’t stay ahead of a 67-year-old!” I thoroughly enjoyed abusing him as I passed him, only to be passed back once the trail flattened. Jared stayed with me in part because there were spots he could get lost once we left the Ridge—the trail isn’t marked and I had gotten lost on my first Ridge Run.

Peak bagging in Iceland

Okay, they both beat me, but by less than a minute each, and I put in my best ever descent from Baldy in my six Ridge Runs. I kept running past the finish line to the nearest shady spot where I collapsed. This ol’ dog was spent.

Baldy is where the season begins and it’s where it ends. The M trailhead that serves as the main starting point for climbs up Baldy is heavily trafficked and faces south. The trail to the M is always stomped down enough to stay open; beyond the M the trail slowly reopens between winter snows as determined hikers and runners posthole their way upward.

The first trail race of the season is the Baldy Blitz; it takes place in mid-May when snow often still covers the top half of the mountain. We climb to the top in just under 4 miles, then turn around and race back down. It’s a hoot.

The season ended suddenly this year with the first heavy October snows. Wind and sun however, keep reopening the trail up Baldy, so Baldy laps have been how I am ending this season. I’ve been to the top three times in recent weeks: the wind turned Forest and me back on a fourth attempt. It’s a steep climb; I’ve been trying to best my fastest ascent of Baldy, close but no cigar as of yet.

The HURL route

The next snow may end my efforts. That’s okay, my body could use some rest: that, and I’m ready for skate and downhill skiing to supplant running for the most part until April.

A few final notes:

·         I have one more story that I’ve written: a winter solstice ski story; I’ll post it in early December. Other than that, I am done for this year, and will likely only write a few more stories before spring. I have my first novel, a political science fiction story entitled "The Fifth Dimension Project," to finalize and get published: that’ll be the focus of my writing efforts over the next few months.

·         I am always looking for raging partners. I have some ideas for adventures for next season, as I expect you do. I invite folks to write me, maybe talk over lunch or a beer, to agree on a plan. Yeah, I’m old, but I still have some fight in me, and maybe you’ll get to appear in one of my stories.

·         I didn’t include links to the 14 stories I’ve written this year about the adventures I mentioned above and lots of others, but they are all easy to find by scrolling through my website.

Thanks for reading!

Chuck

Forest at Hollowtop Lake