Mount Sopris from Prince Creek Road:
There was a couple who looked like runners -- in flat road shoes -- at the trailhead who were looking for a trail I did not recognize, and I mentioned that the Thomas Lakes Trail was also great, about 3 miles one way, with an aqua green lake at the top. The girl said they might try that.
I trotted ahead uphill and as mile 1 clicked by very soon and I hadn't even made much progress, I realized I had underestimated the distance. Hopefully they wouldn't overextend themselves as a result. However, I also passed a turnoff to the trail they were looking for, so maybe they ran that instead.
The big lake ended up being 3.8 miles one way.
I bypassed it and headed up towards the Summit Trail.
At the usual point near treeline, I realized I had a long way to go and not as much time as I'd like. Plus, I didn't really want to slip around on snow; talus is already tough enough. I really need to run this trail when there's no snow on the mountain!
But there's certainly something to be said for running down in the warm fall sunshine. Below the lakes there are a couple of meadows, some pine woods, and a long stretch through aspens that's pretty nice.
I wandered around in an aspen grove for a while taking photos. Golden light everywhere.
After the aspens it opens up to meadows overlooking the valley, scrub oaks, and then more pine forest down to the trailhead. Not a bad selection of terrain, and none of it too steep to run.
Afterwards I had a brew at Beer Works, dinner at Peppino's. Went for a walk.
Distance was 10.42 miles, time 3:16 (moving 2:23), elevation gain/loss 2,110 feet, avg. pace 18:53 (moving 13:48), and best pace 7:55.
I got home at 10 PM or so, but it was worth it to have mellow traffic all the way.
