73 minutes
easy pace
midday - sunny and breezy - they said there would be 2-5 inches of snow today, but I ran with sun and blue skies - parked at the Eldorado Mountain TH, took the little singletrack up the first valley to the left, crossed the aqueduct, and hit the old fire road west of the siphon - saw a ton of snow mold on the new mulch back there - at the gate went across the creek, hopped the fence, and explored around a bit on private land (owned by the quarry?) - found a huge section of the uplifted ancient sea bed (like down near the trailhead), found an old mine with little elevated rails coming out of it, and saw the biggest group of ptarmigans I've ever seen (there must have been a hundred of them) - scrambled straight upslope for a beautiful view of Rocky Flats, Table Mountain, and Denver - turned around and came back the same way - meant to go longer, but ended up back near the TH and didn't feel like doing any extra - felt a little groggy on the way out, but felt good coming home.
