This past weekend I wandered west on a bit of an adventure…to Aspen and the Maroon Bells with plans to run the 4 Pass Loop with Ann, Holly, Paula and Logan. I’ve spent the last few days recuperating and I think I’m finally ready to actually tell the story. The story of a beautifully ass kicking trail run with some bad ass ladies!

The little adventure was born on Twitter when Logan got us all excited about her run-all-the-trails Colorado adventure and it became real on Friday night when Logan and I spent about 6 hours making the trek from Fort Collins to Glenwood Springs! SIX HOURS! Our late arrival at Ann’s was made even more exciting when the alarms starting going off at 3:37am. We drug our butts out of bed, slathered on the sunscreen and chugged double shots of espresso.

After a little “uh, do I have enough stuff packed?!” panicking we made our way to the Maroon Lake trailhead and were running toward stunning alpenglow mountains before 6am rolled around. We hit the 4 Pass Loop counter clockwise and spent the first few miles scooting along the trail making our way toward Buckskin Pass.


Photo Credit: Ann Driggers

I quickly realized that my heart has not spent nearly enough time at altitude this summer! My legs were happy to be moving right along but my heart rate was out of control! I felt like such a mountain girl poser getting my butt kicked my Logan, a flatlander dominating the mountain trails.

As usual, as soon as I made my way to the top of the Buckskin Pass it was all worth it – the views were stunning! And the downhill looked like so much fun! We snagged a few photos, said goodbye to Ann [who was bailing early to nurse an injury] then headed on down the trail.

We dropped into the valley to be chased through an unusually lush forest by a pack of mosquitos. The bugs were insane – it felt like the MidWest! This stretch was a weird balance of keeping the pace conservative and moving faster than the biting bugs. At the top of Buckskin Ann and Holly pointed out Trail Rider Pass off in the distance…it looked SO far away but it didn’t take long for our descent to turn into a climb. Once again I was feeling like a pansy as my heart got all jumpy as we got higher.


Snowmass Lake between Buckskin Pass and Trail Rider Pass

The Trail Rider Pass was just as beautiful as Buckskin. The trail ahead zig zagged through an open meadow that was nearly overgrown with wildflowers. The trail was technical and steep with a lot of loose rock and by this time of day we were meeting more and more backpackers. It felt cool when they complimented our insanity but greatly increased the chance of having an audience when we came close to tripping and sprawling across the trail. Lucky for me the people I choose to nearly face plant in front of was a group of trail runners…who applauded my graceful save.


Photo Credit: Paula Mahlburg

[With the volatile weather Colorado has had we made Trail Rider our check point – if the clouds looked threatening we were going to bail off the 4 Pass Loop toward Lake Geneva and Snowmass. The weather was loving on us so we continued on toward Frigid Air]

Once we dropped back into the valley we had a few miles of easy trail along the river and past Kings Falls. Even though Ann had to drop her friend, Holly, stuck with us for the run. It was great having someone who knew the area with us – it took off some pressure to follow the [very clearly marked] trail and made us all look smarter when backpackers asked for directions. It also meant we got a heads up for things like Kings Falls! Holly had us looking forward to it about a mile before it came into view!

After we passed the falls we started climbing. We first had a quick, steep climb that took us up along the falls then opened out to another flower laden meadow just above treeline. By this time darker clouds were overhead but did not appear to be threatening so we continued on…not that we had a lot of other options, we were well past our only bail out option!


Photo Credit: Logan Boon

It was on this climb that my body started to get cranky. Well, to be fair, the ornery parts of my right leg made their presence known before we made all the way down Buckskin Pass but they were manageable at that point. Now the niggles were making their way from my Achilles to my knee, something that had never happened before. I wasn’t sure what to do…so I stretch, poked and prodded the muscles and kept moving forward. What other option did I have?!


Photo Credit: Paula Mahlburg

At the summit of Frigid Air I found the grassiest spot possible and flopped on the ground. I was letting the mountains beat me…I didn’t even take a photo at the top! Instead I crammed some Honey Stingers in my mouth and dramatically whined. It was getting breezy so we snagged a group shot then started down the steep, rocky section of trail that would take us over to the West Maroon Pass. We dropped quickly onto a smooth stretch of single track that took us through fields of wildflowers and to the base of the West Maroon Pass climb. The trail was fun and runnable…and at this point I could still run with only a dull ache in my knee, so I ran!

It was on this climb up to West Maroon Pass that my knee starting pitching a fit. I was okay running through the fields of flowers but once we started climbing again every step became painful. I stopped at a patch of snow to do a little strategic icing but it didn’t help much. The climb up West Maroon Pass was not that difficult but I was struggling. It was extremely irritating to have every.single.step. hurt. And not just ache…I can handle ache and I can handle consistent pain. This was different and I was not prepared, mentally or physically.


Photo Credit: Paula Mahlburg

Paula was kind enough to stick with me as I whined my way up the pass. Once again I was toast when I got there and took zero photos…oops. We grabbed some trash other idiots had left behind and started down the mountain. I had high hopes for the downhill being easier than the up but the mountain crushed them. My forward movement started to look a lot more like a weak limp than a confident step and the next 7ish miles were…stupid.

I had no choice but to more forward propelled by my own two feet [no one wanted me to become their backpack, how rude!] so I just kept going. Looking back it was painful and it was rather demoralizing, but it was not unbearable. Sure, I was insanely ornery – I was wasting perfectly runnable downhill on a leg I had no idea how to fix. I felt like a failure as a runner and like an idiot as a mountain girl. I even cried a few times. But I kept on moving. There was no doubt I’d get back to the trailhead…but it wasn’t going to be the fun, smiley finish I wanted!

By the time my slow ass made it’s way back to Maroon Lake it was over 12 hours since we started running. We had predicted a 10 hour finish at the most. Had I been able to actually run that last stretch we would have all made it back to the car in under 10 hours…but no, my body hates me! Or I just haven’t quite figured out how to understand all of it’s little niggles and fix them on the trail! I’m working on that, so I guess I should thank my body for giving me a chance to figure out knee issues BEFORE my 100 mile run, right!?

All complaining aside, it was a fan-freaking-tastic day to be in the mountains! If you ever get the chance to run [or backpack] the 4 Pass Loop…do it! Seriously, it is an absolutely gorgeous part of the Colorado! As for our day? The weather was perfect, the people we met on the trails were friendly, the scenery was stunning and I survived another rough training run with one more item on my “to learn” list. Up next, a visit to Matt at Handled with Care Massage for a insanely painful deep tissue sports massage and a good long discussion about how to prevent a niggle from getting this out of control!


8 Comments

Laura · July 24, 2021 at 4:31 pm

This looks so amazing and spectacular! And even your story of knee trouble didn’t deter me - I want to go trail running!

Hopefully your knee pain has subsided now? I had some issues a few years ago that were literally completely solved just by frequent foam rolling.

    Heidi Nicole · July 25, 2021 at 12:13 pm

    Life Goal: Make misery sound fun! #accomplished

    It’s still being wonky, no backpacking this weekend…but I think we’ve figured out what the problem is and have a plan so the RRR100 is still 100% on the schedule!

Amy · July 24, 2021 at 5:02 pm

I hope your knee is feeling/feels better. We missed you last night! And congrats on an awesome run. My cover photo on my blog header is from that area and I LOVE it there. Also, what is up with the mosquitos in CO this year? They made our hike near the Sand dunes almost miserable on the 4th of July weekend. I really wish they would leave.

    Heidi Nicole · July 25, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    My leg should be up and running [ha. pun intended.] by next week, no problem! It’s still ornery, but it’s getting its act together!

    The mosquitoes and flies are terrible! And with it being CO no one ever has bug spray!

Cassie @ Rural Running Redhead · July 24, 2021 at 8:58 pm

Why, oh why, didn’t I go?! Oh yeah, I was visiting family. So we’ll have to go next summer, right?

I hope your stubborn leg gets its crap together so you can get back to 100 training ASAP!

    Heidi Nicole · July 25, 2021 at 12:18 pm

    Um, yea. I need to go back and win at the mountain…or at least like life when I finish the loop!

    The leg is getting better. There is a game plan in place so 100M training is back on track!

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