I ran solo the entire time, pulled water from Lost Canyon Creek at about 8.1 miles and an unnamed feeder into the highest of the Little Five Lakes basin lakes at about 17.5. There's plenty of resupply points though. Next time I do this I'm wearing gaiters.
I took the counterclockwise direction to get the big passes out of the way with fresh legs. Sawtooth pass was every bit the sandy straight up slog past Monarch Lakes that I've heard. Sawtooth had a cornice so had to work around that, and the snow near Columbine lake was obscuring the trail so I stayed up higher on the slabs. Lost Canyon was a dream section. Grinding up Little Five Lakes Basin was beautiful and Black Rock Pass was much more reasonable than Sawtooth. There was a cloud front coming over the pass from the West, so the descent to Cliff Creek was windy and overcast. Perfect running weather all day.
Splits:
- Top of Sawtooth Pass: 2:10
- Top of Black Rock Pass: 6:10
- Cliff Creek Crossing before Timber Gap: 7:54
- Top of Timber Gap: 9:07
Comments
Love this man!