State Number 3 - Mt. Sneffels, CO

State Number 3 – Mt. Sneffels Marathon, Ridgway, CO

11 August 2012

A week after Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Midnight Marathon, it was time for us to move on to southwest Colorado to take on the challenge of Mt. Sneffels Marathon in the communities of Ouray and Ridgway.

On Friday 10 August, we made our trek to LAX for our non-stop Allegiant Air flight to Grand Junction (GJT).  This was our first time flying on this particular airline.  The MD-82 aircraft taxied to Runway 25R for the standard LAXX Seven departure between the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Catalina Island escarpment with clearance given to filed flight level three minutes later.

Allegiant provides seasonal airline service to GJT with zero amenities.  They even charge $15 per person for carry-on bags – what a rip-off.  Passengers even have to pay two dollars for beverages including water.

We arrived in Grand Junction too late for packet pick-up, but were able to pick up our bib and tech shirt Saturday morning before the marathon began.  We rented a car at GJT and drove 90 miles to Ridgway, were we found solace at the Ridgway Lodge and Suites.  We checked in around 2100 hours and were worn-out form our trip.  We retired early for the evening since we had a marathon early the next morning.

The annual summertime running of this marathon is set between the southwestern Colorado towns of Ouray and Ridgway.  The Mount Sneffels Marathon takes runners in an out and back course along high-elevation gravel county roads between the two towns in the Uncompahgre River Valley.

Ridgway is a small unincorporated community of about 800 residents with an elevation of 7,000 feet, in the southwestern portion of Colorado and is a former railroad stop on the Uncompaghre River in the northern San Juan Mountains.

The steep forested mountains and cliffs surrounding Ridgway on the south, east, and northeast make for a picturesque setting.  The Uncompahgre River runs through the town and flows into the Ridgway State Park and Reservoir, to the north.  There is a notable wildlife presence — mountain lions, badgers, deer, elk, bears, coyotes, wild turkey, and bald eagles are indigenous to the area.  

The San Juan Mountains are home to numerous gold and silver mines of years past and is a popular destination for hiking and 4WDing on the many jeep trails.  These mountains claim fourteen of the state’s 14ers, peaks with elevations exceeding 14,000 feet, with the tallest being Mt. Uncompahgre at 14,309 ft.  In comparison, California’s Mt. Whitney rises 14,505 ft.

The name Uncompahgre comes from the Ute language, translating to "dirty water," "red lake," or "red water spring" and is likely a reference to the many hot springs in the vicinity of Ouray.  The river is a beige color similar to that of the Colorado River.

Ridgway is most notably known as the setting of John Wayne's movies True Grit, and others including How the West Was Won and Tribute to a Bad Man.

Ready, Set, Go!

We primed ourselves for the marathon and headed across the street to the Ridgway Soccer Field in time for the 0600 packet pick-up where we received our bib and tech shirt.  We train at an elevation of around 350 feet with occasional hill runs reaching 800 feet.  So, I immediately noticed the high elevation air after a light jog from the car and since we did not acclimatize ourselves beforehand, I know this was going to be a challenge.

After we pinned our bibs to our shirts, it was time to line up for the start at 0630 hours where approximately 70 runners participated.  After the horn sounded, we were off and running.  The weather was rather cool with mostly overcast skies, but it didn’t take too long before I was sucking in air.  I slowed my pace a little to conserve energy.

The county roads in the region are all comprised of roller-compacted ¾-inch aggregate base material.  The entire course was on these county roads, so running on a gravel surface was different than a paved surface as small pebbles managed to find a way into my shoes.

From the starting line at Ridgway’s Soccer Park, runners made their way along County Road 23 to the town of Portland making a turn onto Mary’s Road then making a turn onto Suzanne Lane where a significant hill posed a challenge for runners, especially those not acclimatized to the 7,000-foot elevation.  I could hear a lot of huffing and puffing as we made our way up that hill.  This was about the 10K mark of the course and the point where I became exhausted and the need to walk as the elevation was beginning to take its toll.

County Road 17

Suzanne Lane connected into County Road 17 which meandered around the hills, looped around Black Lake and followed alongside the Uncompahgre River into Ouray.  At this point, I was still running a significant portion of the first half of the course, although slowly.  I really believe it was a combination of the high altitude and just completing a marathon the week before.

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), white fir (Abies concolor), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), blue spruce (Picea pungens) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) were the most common tree species found along the marathon course.  Although, a variety of aspen trees (Populus sp.) were also spotted.

As runners entered Ouray, we crossed the Seventh Avenue Bridge over the Uncompahgre River to Second Street.  From there we made a loop around Ouray Town Park adjacent to the pools of Ouray Hot Springs where we reached the turn-around only to follow the same course back to Ridgway.

At this point, I was totally spent and was walking a great deal.  Although the second half of the course was a net downhill, that provided little incentive to continue running.  I enjoyed the scenery and was content with my pace.  When I would come upon a photographer, I would start running again and look strong, only to stop as soon as the noise of the shutters would stop.  The photos of me could be construed as misleading as I was not feeling that strong, but oh well.

With less than six miles to go, I noticed that my fingers and hands became swollen.  It became difficult to bend my fingers to make a fist.  The skin molded itself around my ring and it was impossible to move or turn it.  Since I was strolling along the river, I made my way over to soak my hands in the ice cold water which caused the swelling to subside.  I succeeded in doing that twice before the finish line.

With about 5K left, the sweeper vehicle patrolling the back of the pack approached me and asked if I needed a ride to the finish.  I immediately told them I was ok and was going to finish on my own.

A man soon passed by who was utilizing the Jeff Galloway method of run-walk-run.  For a while, I was following him, but just didn’t have the energy to hang on.  The walk breaks just weren’t long enough. 

As I came up over the brow of a hill, I spotted the finish line area and found some energy to finish strong.  I was so thankful to finish as I was totally spent.  My Garmin read 5:27:36, a personal worst.  My time in Nevada was about two minutes faster.  Wow!  My wife finished about eight minutes later.

Hard-earned medal

We hung around the finish line area for a few minutes before heading back to the car.  I had a difficult time walking the quarter mile or so to the car.  After we cleaned up and checked out of the hotel, we drove to the Hot Springs Inn in Ouray which served as our residence for the next two days.

The City of Ouray serves as the county seat of Ouray County with a population of about 800.  It is also known as the “Switzerland of America,” as the backdrop of the San Juan Mountains is reminiscent of the Swiss Alps and its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by steep mountains.  U.S. 550, Third Street through the city, transitions to the Million Dollar Highway guiding travelers out of Ouray to the Town of Silverton and destinations elsewhere.

The Hot Springs Inn is situated along the bank of the Uncompahgre River with our room overlooking the river and the steep mountain walls of the valley.  We walked down to the river to soak our achy tired feet in the ice cold water.  The swelling managed to subside, but we couldn’t stay in the water for very long as numbness set in quite quickly.

Ouray Hot Springs

Later, we drove on over to the Ouray Hot Springs to soak in the hot mineral spring water for a restorative experience.  There were several pools of varying temperatures, ranging from 88 degrees to 106 degrees. 

While at the hot springs, we met a couple who used to live and work within a few miles of our home.  They live in Colorado now but vacation in the Ouray area so they can hike the 14ers.  They completed a hike to the summit of Mt. Sneffels that day and were in the hot springs for their restorative experience.  What a small world.

Ouray Overlook from Perimeter Trail

The next day, we made our way up to Box Springs Canyon to see the famous waterfalls and hiked a portion of the Perimeter Trail above Ouray.  While on that trail, I could see how the canyon cuts into the Precambrian Uncompahgre Formation.  From what I read on the information sign at the trail head, the bedding of the formation is an almost vertical relict.  The gorge then drops for another couple of hundred feet to the canyon floor.  Overlying the vertical rock formation, with a profound angular unconformity, are Paleozoic marine sedimentary rocks consisting mostly of limestones and dolomites and some shale and sandstone that are assigned to the Elbert Formation and Ouray Limestone, both of Devonian age (c. 420 million years ago), and the Leadville Limestone of Mississippian age (c. 350 million years ago).  Such cool geology just staring you in the face.  I was dying to learn more, but time didn’t allow for that.  Nor was a professional geophysicist available.

After our canyon experience, we made our way up the Million Dollar Highway, U.S. Highway 550, to the Ouray overlook.  The views of the valley and the city were spectacular.  It is no wonder why the area is called the Switzerland of America.

After a brisk hike to Cascade Falls and some lunch and a refreshing beer in Ouray, we drove up to the Bachelor of Syracuse Mine for an hour-long tour of an old gold mine of the early 1900s.  We all donned hard hats because of the low clearances in and around the mine.  Of course, I did manage to hit my head on an 8 by 8 horizontal timber though.  Ouch.  A retired miner acted as our tour guide, leading the group 1,500 feet deep into Gold Hill.  As the group trudged in the mud and water on the shaft’s floor, the guide revealed and demonstrated some of the secrets the miners used in the early days.  It was tough, back-breaking work and if the lights went out, it was really dark, as the guide demonstrated.  It was somewhat cool in the mine as the temperature of a cave is approximately the average annual surface temperature in the region the cave is located.  It may have been cold, but it was certainly refreshing compared to the warm temperatures outside.

By now, it was nearing the end of the day and we were getting tired.  For the past few hours, brief sporadic showers rained over Ouray.  Even with the precipitation, we slipped on our swim attire and made our way to the hot tub and relaxed before turning in for the evening.

As Monday morning dawned, it was time to head back to Grand Junction.  We checked out of the hotel and made the two hour drive to Grand Junction.  The drive back was in the daytime as opposed to nighttime when we arrived so I could observe the various landscapes rapidly changing as we drove north on U.S. Highway 550 to Montrose which connected to U.S. Highway 50 into Grand Junction.  The vicinity of Ouray contained stands of coniferous timber but promptly changed to a variety of broadleaf trees, manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.) and farmlands north of Ridgway.  The Uncompahgre River joined the Gunnison River near the City of Delta which in turn, joined the Colorado River in Grand Junction.  Between Delta and Grand Junction, the landscape quickly turned to desert mesas and canyonlands indicative of southern and eastern Utah.

Jimmy'z -- Try it

As we approached Grand Junction, we noticed a billboard advertising Jimmy’z Hamburgers located on N. 12^th Street and Orchard Avenue.  I told my wife that I am hungry and that a hamburger looks good.  They advertised the best pastrami hamburgers.  We’ll have to find out.

After a quick stop at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens (nothing really struck our interest there), we found our way to Jimmy’z.  I was offered a sample of the pastrami, which I accepted.  It was hot and delicious.  That flavorful taste only confirmed my decision to order a Grand Mesa burger with pastrami, while my wife ordered a Jimmy’z Original burger with fries.  The pastrami was well seasoned and very juicy.  The juicy burger made a mess, but it was delightful. 

It was now time to return the rental car to the airport and check in for our flight back to LAX.  Car drop-off was quick and the smaller sized airport made security screening easy.  After we boarded the Allegiant Air MD-83 and pushed off from the jet way, we proceeded to taxi to Runway 11 for a straight out departure.  The aircraft maintained Runway 11 heading until 7000 ft MSL where we made a right hand turn bound for LAX.  Once airborne, the unstable air over Grand Junction caused the aircraft to really bounce around, but once above the clouds, the ride was smooth for the straight in VFR approach to LAX Runway 24R.

We arrived home safe and sound with another state checked off my list in my quest for fifty states.  Mt. Sneffels afforded me a remarkable marathoning experience as I got a taste of high altitude running.  I would do this marathon again if I spent at least a week in the area adjusting to the elevation beforehand.  Our pleasurable visit to the Ouray area unquestionably gave me a Rocky Mountain high.