Purgatory

After camping in Black Canyon, I took the Tomichi route to the bottom of the canyon. Under a mile, with ~1,900 feet of vertical, all scree. Kinda stupid, but I had a moment of peace at the river, and the climb out was a nice workout, as expected. 

 

Gunnison River

I was in and out in under two hours, drove the rest of the south rim, and then headed back through Montrose, Ouray, and Silverton to Cunningham Gulch to camp. I climbed Little Giant to get my daily 13er, and enjoyed a campfire with friends.

Saturday I climbed Little Giant again and made a loop out of it down to Silver Lake, out the south of that basin over a pass, then around and up Deer Park Creek between Whitehead and Rhoda peaks, down to Highland Mary Lakes and back to the campsite. I summited Rhoda peak again--I think I already did it my first day in Cunningham Gulch, but the 5 or 6 maps I have of the area are all inconsistent about which peaks are named and which trails still exist. The loop was only 12 miles but had 5,500' gain, and ended up being mostly off trail, with some pushing through dense brush and private property avoidance in Deer Park Creek basin. 

The view from Rhoda

Silver Lake

 

Yesterday we packed up to leave Cunningham, since the condo reservation I made in Purgatory was starting. I gave a CT hiker a ride to the trail, and stopped for a run from Andrews Lake to the Twilight Peak group. I attempted North Twilight but stopped about 200' shy of the summit because the class 3 scree across steep chutes and repeated false summits were annoying and I mostly wanted to be running. It was pretty and it would have been fine, but I would have preferred to be with a buddy or wearing long pants. I jumped in Crater Lake on my way back as penance. 

Nice campsite overlooking Crater Lake

NE ridge of N Twilight Peak

I drove down the other side to Purgatory and relaxed at the condo. One of my pacers got sick and cancelled her flight, and another isn't coming to the condo until the day before the race, so it's way more space than we need, in case anyone else out there wants a place to sleep, shower, or do laundry before the race.

I think I'll actually start tapering now. I'd like to explore the final climb of the race since I think knowing what's coming might make it less miserable when I'm 31 to 38 hours into the race. Other than that, I'll be trying to relax.