running up a mountain is fun

I ran/hiked it, ignore the picture of the bike :)

I live right by the trail head to Paulie's Plunge which takes you up near the top of Beaver Creek. The trail opened up recently (they close the trails that lead up to Vail and Beaver Creek from the end of ski season until July for Elk Calving season) and I hadn't been up it yet so decided it'd be a good idea to run/hike it!

The trail is beautiful! It's all single-track (i.e. if two people want to pass someone has to stop and move aside) and has a nice combo of pitches. You're going up a mountain so, yeah, it's all uphill but the steepness varies and their are some flatter spots where you can actually get a really good rhythm going. The trail crosses Stone Creek (really pretty), goes through a few pockets of Aspens, through a bunch of wild flowers and rewards you with a great view of The Beav once you get to the top.

I somehow managed to run the majority of the way (maybe because I took a rest day the day before?) but definitely hiked parts of it, especially as I was getting near the top. My lower half was toast when I reached the top so I walked most of the way back down to avoid needlessly screwing up my knees (gotta save them when you can!). I'll definitely try to work in more runs on this trail but I'll need to space them out a bit to let my legs recover.