Ruby Creek Traverse
I decided that I wanted to go run that loop the night before without thinking much of the FKT. When I woke up, I realized that there was a chance I could get that one if I tried, so I did. On the way over the Ruby Gulch TH I stopped by Daylight Donuts to get breakfast. 3 Sausage rolls, 1 Bear claw and a cup of coffee. Breakfast of champs. After getting my things together at the TH I started up the road with the ‘Danger sign.’ I pushed a decent uphill pace for the first mile and was about 1 minute ahead of the FKT pace by mile two. There was a little bit of bushwacking heading up a avi gully. It wasn’t that bad IMO. It was a steep climb getting up to Engelmann. The second mile was a 2k push. It felt good to push the pace a little bit on the way up and so I did.
Once on top of Engelmann I took a couple of pictures and then ran down the ridge towards Robeson. It was an easy trot over beside stepping on a rock with the inside of my left foot. It immediately bruised it which hurt a little bit for the rest of the way. Anyways, heading up the ridge to Bard was very straightforward and a enjoyable hike. There was a little bit of snow on that North aspect going up which made for a couple of slick steps, but not enough for me to put the spikes on.
When I got to the top of Bard, I took a couple more picture and kept the momentum going. I honestly had no idea if I was on pace or not, but I was having fun running hard and push the ups. Parnassus was another quick jog over. I didn’t stop on top of this one. Just kept on rolling. Going down Parnassus was a solid pitch to open it up a little bit. There were a few patches of snow there as well. Once off the last 12er I had about 20 ish minutes to get to the finish. Running down the avalanche patch was a bit spicy. Super steep, tons of deadfall. I slipped a couple of times while bombing down some open patches and glissaded the rocks, it was kind of fun. Once you reach the bottom of the avi path theres a few minutes of bushwacking, tree hopping mess getting back to the road.
It was a fun, short route. It’s about 8.5miles and 5200ft of vert.