On September 9th a few minutes after 8am, I set out from the Stone House gate to run the loop clockwise. It was a chilly 40 degrees, but warmed up quickly and was a bluebird day. The road miles were a nice warm up before starting the climb up South Baldface. I moved steadily and efficiently up the ledges and started to open it up a bit on the ridge. I found the climbs up the Royces to be the biggest grind of the day, covered in leaves and unrelenting. I found a small trickling stream to filter water from coming down from East Royce - less than ideal, but I knew thanks to the current drought, even the Cold River at 113 is currently bone dry. The climb to Speckled was much more enjoyable with stretches of runnable terrain. I was feeling great when I reached Blueberry Ridge, it's one of my favorite trails anywhere, such good running. I did make one mistake where I hadn't realized that the Lookout Loop on Blueberry was part of the route until I reached the 2nd terminus - at this point I turned around and backtracked to the entrance to complete the loop and carried on to the steep descent of White Cairn Trail and back to the gate to finish. I ran alone and carried all my food and water. Really fun and challenging loop in such a beautiful place. Evan's Notch is such a gem.