More Ft Collins Love

Today I checked out the Foothills and Horsetooth Reservoir by foot and bike...the US Pro Tour will come by here next weekend and I rode part of their stage for that day...I expected the roads by the lake to be flat, but man was I wrong:

 See the hill in the background with that road going up? I love hills!!!

 The pavement has NO cracks, the shoulder was nice, the traffic was very very light. Ft Collins is in the background.

 More climbing!!!

 And some more climbing!!!

 Beautiful views, about 10 min riding distance from Ft Collins!!! Check out the road again :-)

Then I went running along the Foothills, and I decided to follow this path that seems to go all through town and around town. What I really really like is that you always have a "gravel" option right next to it.

Or you can just venture off into the foothills and run to the Lake, which might be a 30 min run (or less) to Horsetooth. There are trails everywhere and miles and miles of running without seeing one person is possible right out your front door.

I am in love with this town. Now we just need to find that one house we have been looking for!!! Tonight I am trying out Track practice, which apparently happens every Tuesday and is followed by burgers and beer...it doesn't even shock me anymore. Breweries EVERYWHERE. Beer consumption in Ft Collins must be pretty similar to water consumption. They have happy hours here where you get 2 Dollar New Belgium Pints. Unheard of...unless you are in Ft Collins!!!

15 hrs til Ft collins

How bad can that drive be?

15 hrs? Psssss...EASY

Or so I though.

Just me and Jack. Glad that he is a good listener:-)

Here is how it went:

 Staredown.

 New Mexico, yay, only who knows how many more miles.

 Still new mexico?

 I am getting bored, Jack is getting sleepy. We are still in new mexico:-(

 YAY, half way done. Only 5XX miles to go. 

  Jack, I am out of stories.

 Fantastic packing: 3 bikes in a Mazda 3...pretty sure there is more room!!!

 Yay, Colorado!!!

 Yay, still Colorado...

 Still Colorado...mood is declining...3 more hrs to go...

I finally made it in about 15 hrs. The car is full of dog hair, I think Jack was stressed out and lost hair :-) 

This morning I went on an exploring tour through Ft Collins and here is what I found:

Fantastic doggie parks!!! Everybody is extremely dog friendly!!!

 Fantastic running trails: flat or hilly, there is a great mix of everything here!!!

 And Lakes, EVERWHERE!!! And did I mention trails???

 Dog park lake, for dogs only :-)

 And a HUGE lake right out the front door :-) I love this place!!!

 And you can do triathlon practice DOWNTOWN!!! They even have a dismount zone!!!

I am so excited to explore more this afternoon and tomorrow but what I have seen so far was impressive. Medium size city, everybody outdoorsy, everybody nice and in a good mood, people drive the speed limit or UNDER, bike lanes, running trails, perfect weather, breweries, pools, lakes, ... now we just need to find a house :-)

Fisher Point run or bike - Flagstaff, AZ

One of my goals for the next year in Flagstaff is to explore some of the trails around Flagstaff for running. When I lived here before I always wanted to run certain loops but I never knew how long they  would actually be and if the terrain would be good for running...so here we go, I explored my first point of interest.

FISHER POINT

                                                

Fisher point can be reached by many different trails. I decided to run from Lake Mary Road (Skunk Canyon Trail) towards Fisher Point, up the 1.2 miles to the top of Fisher point, a mile into Walnut Canyon (turn around at the secret cave) and back via Sandy's Canyon. The entire loop was 12 miles exactly and the terrain was great. The trail to and from Fisher point is soft dirt with the occasional rock. The 1.2 mile up to the top was pretty rocky, but nothing that requires trail shoes. Here is the Garmin map:

Park on Lake Mary Road just about .5 of a mile east of the Water treatment plant.

Run on the only designated trail there is.

After about .75 of a mile stay left and run into Skunk Canyon.

Once Skunk Canyon trail ends turn right (left would take you towards NAU).

Stay on that trail and it will bring you exactly to Fisher Point.

Go up if you want, go straight into Walnut Canyon if you want to go see the cave.

On the way back you have 4 choices, we went with Sandy's Canyon...here is how:

Go back on the trail you came from and do NOT turn left towards Marshall Lake (1st turn off/closest to Fisher Point)

Take the second possible trail that goes left into Sandy's Canyon (this is a trail with horse traffic, you can identify it by the horse shoe prints - DON'T MISS IT)

Follow it until it spits you out at Lake Mary road.

Run west on Lake Mary road until you get to the parking lot.

We ended up running back into Skunk Canyon to get our shirts that we had dropped off earlier.

Without going back it would have been an 11 mile run round trip.

1224 ft elevation gain (and the same amount of loss) including going up/down the 400 ft in 1.2 miles to the top of Fisher Point.

Turn off to the top of Fisher Point.

Now that I had done the route from Lake Mary Road, I wanted to explore the route from the NAU rec center on campus. As it turns out, this route is NOT as ideal for running as it has some really rocky spots...

Here is where we went:

NAU rec center to FUTS (Flagstaff Urban Trail System) - Sinclair Wash/Rio de Flag

Ride along Wash under the interstate to a pond - look ahead for the only trail that goes uphill STEEP

Connect to the Arizona Trail (STEEP ONE) which will lead you to a gate and directly onto the Fisher Point Trail

   ------just make sure you don't go off the main trail :-) ------

Again you end up at Fisher Point and you have the option of going up

Return on the same trail (Fisher Point Trail) until you encounter a trail called LOOP TRAIL (where you turn NORTH/down the hill) - it crosses Fisher Point Trail - don't miss it!!!

This will lead you to Hoffman Tank and through the Rio de Flag valley back to the FUTS by Sinclair Wash/Rio de Flag (there is only one main trail, so the chance of getting lost is pretty slim - but it could happen:-)

The loop from and back to the Rec center is about 13 miles and has lots of steep ups and downs.

Since we didn't go up to Fisher Point (not very good on a bike-better by foot), we ended up with 900 ft of elevation gain and 900 ft of loss.

The second route to Fisher Point is much more rocky and I would recommend running the route through the Rio de Flag valley/by Hoffman Tank BOTH ways to avoid the possible ankle twister trails that the Arizona Trail provides.
If you follow the FUTS/Rio de Flag valley to Loop Trail you will encounter this:

LOOP TRAIL TURN

FISHER POINT TRAIL

...nice sandy trails with minimal rocky parts.

I hope this post was helpful for all peeps visiting Flagstaff and please email me/connect with me if you have questions or need a running buddy for this trail. The scenery is soooo beautiful on these trails, I am up for the Fisher Point run at ANY time.

Next up: The 8 mile morning loop from downtown!!!

Summer fun in the sun

Last weekend I drove back down to Phoenix for one day - it felt good to sleep in my own bed again, to be in my house with JR and Jack. We enjoyed a nice evening gardening and harvesting. This year we have purple cocktail tomatoes, yellow mini pear tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, armenian cucumbers, squash, zucchini, basil, rosemary, oregano and mint. Everything is growing beautifully and enjoying the sun and the warm temperatures:

First harvest. YUM.

 

Armenian cucumber.

Heirloom tomatoes.

Yellow pear tomatoes.

Purple cocktail tomatoes.

Basil that was turned into pesto :-)

Friday we made the trip back up to Flagstaff for a weekend of fun. Our friends camped at Lake Mary so we drove out there for some dinner with a good view and fresh air. Eating outside and cooking with camping equipment is always fun. We went for a 5 mile run with the puppies and they were tired and dirty.

 Jack was sleepy.

 Maur still had energy.

The finished product was delicious.

The next morning we departed for a 12 mile adventure run. We started at Skunk Canyon Trail (we think) and ran to Fisher point, then a little bit into Walnut Canyon to explore one of the caves that is HUGEEEE (we didn't go in far because we didn't have headlamps), then we ran back through Sandy's canyon and back to the parking lot. The terrain is perfect for running: a mix of sandy dirt single track and pine needle covered forest trail. Off course I twisted my ankle once - always an adventure with me. Only swelled up a little bit, so I considered it "part of my stretching routine" Hahaha...

Sunday was spend in the forest as well. Slacklining...Jack and Maur had a staredown, while we tried our skills of balancing on a rope that swings if you start shaking (aka Elvis move).

 Brandon showed us how it was done.

After an hour of up and down and up and down I had done it: I wore out Erin, Brandon, JR, Jack and Maur and I was able to do a running jump on, single leg squats, tree pose, box jump jump ons, and walk the entire line!!! Fantastic. That was a good patience-lesson for me, but I wasn't going home without having success. Not today at least.

 JR's pistol entrance was awesome!!!

The view on the rope.

We also spend a good 2.5 hrs playing baseball, which left me super sore. Jack kept running after the balls and we were all beyond exhausted by last night. 

My morning run felt surprisingly good this morning. We explored Cambell Mesa on the east side of Flagstaff, a perfect 6 mile look for running. Not too rocky, slight up and downs, not windy, just awesome. From there you can connect to Fisher Point - all the trails connect - but that would have made a very long run. Next time :-) 

Next up: Last week of my first nursing class, start of the summer semester, and, off course, another running race at 7000 ft :-)