13 Comments
Apr 15Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

Hi Sarah,

This one has been a roller coaster ride for me. At first I was like, WTF? no Lake City? And then I was like, that’s OK cuz we don’t need more promotion. And then I was like, but wait, these are the type of people that we need to be attracting, not OHVers. So how about a little love for Lake City? Are we the red headed step child of the San Juan?Help us offset the OHV push. 5 fourteeners within 15 miles of down town Lake City! Hinsdale County 96% public land and over half of that designated Wilderness. More contiguous tundra than any county south of the Alaska. We have an exceptional percentage of ultra runners for this small year round community of 300-350 with a dozen registered this year and many many prior finishers.

Have you seen our ice climbing scene this winter? We have much to offer to the human powered sports and pastimes. We need more counterbalance to the motorized crowd.

I love your writing. You inspire me to do my own.

Jerry

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Thank you, Jerry, for this feedback! You're right, I overlooked Lake City because it's a fairly long (3+ hour) drive from my home. It's just over the mountains from Silverton (if you take the high-clearance, white-knuckler Cinnamon Pass), but by highway, it's a long trip around. But it's definitely worth a trip there. Folks, read & see pics about the San Juan Solstice 50 here: https://sarahrunning.substack.com/p/up-and-away-for-the-day and make the trek to Lake City! I have not ice-climbed there in the winter but hear it's great.

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Apr 14Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

This is so helpful! We love Telluride and are coming back this summer. Bookmarking this post so I can refer to it again and again. Thanks!

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Look me up, let's go for a "run"! (which in these mountains means a lot of hiking)

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Mar 28Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

My travel slate for the foreseeable is too full to allow for a telluride etc visit but someday I’d love to run those trails!

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Mar 26Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

Happy to read you are doing GNAR Runners events this year. Love Never Summer. Curious if you are planning the 24 hr race or shorter at their CO 24 Hour Run. I’ve never done 24 hours around a 1 mile loop and this one is tempting.

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Yes, the 24 hour! I've done two 24-hour events with one-mile loops previously, both in San Francisco.

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Mar 23Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

As much as I love your posts you should totally take next week off and enjoy a vacation!!! I truly appreciate the Colorado photos it’s been too long since ive been there. I do remember silverthorn, Dillion, Alma, FairPlay, the donkey races (get your ass up the pass 🤣) gotta get back there

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I don't have aspirations to run Hardrock but I would love to visit the area one day and maybe do a multi day run/hike of the course. Thank you for sharing so much detailed information of the area.

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Mar 21Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

Thanks for this. Now I’m wanting to plan a trip to CO 😀 the trails look majestic.

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Mar 20Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

Ooooof! Mud season here in Vermont too!!! So I totally get it :) Enjoy the family vacation. Hope it's the recharge you need!

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Mar 20Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith

Thanks for the info. You don't need to explain reasons for your topics! I love reading them all!

Since Ridgway SP is a favorite place to escape from CO Springs, I relish trails and adventures to explore in the area. You are perfectly suited to write local travel advice! I can't wait to find a new favorite trail.

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Thanks for reading, and I appreciate that :-)

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