The Fifty (#33), Pawnee Buchanan
joy miles with Ian and Clemmie
In early October, I ran the Pawnee-Buchanan loop with my friends Ian and Clemmie. Ian is working on a ‘50 Classic Trails’ project with his buddies Rickey and Andy. The PB is one of two trails in Colorado, the other being the Four Pass loop. During our run, Clemmie and I decided it was #33 overall. The Fifty is a fun project, and we all agreed the PB was an A+ trail experience squarely deserving of its place on the list.
All photos, except selfie at the end, by Ian.
Selfie by the indomitable, unstoppable Clemmie.
Map here: https://www.strava.com/activities/12940301226
The sun rose after we left the parking lot and starting climbing towards Pawnee Pass. Ian has always been a jolly man, but he seemed particularly alive and well on this morning. We stopped on the edge of a meadow to spy on a eight-point buck, who lounged until the sun warmed him.
The first sign of the wind was the whitecaps on Long Lake. I’d looked at the wind forecast, and expected gusts to 30 mph, but we felt a lot more than that while crossing over Pawnee Pass (50 mph? Venturi effect on passes is a thing to remember when looking at zone forecasts). My hat and sunglasses blew off and we leaned hard into the wind. Wind through hair is a delightful and life-giving sensation.
We ran down the other side on some phenomenal trailwork reminiscent of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol (going down a lot easier than going up), and the winds subsided.
Flowy, fun, fast single track at the head of Cascade Canyon.
The PB might be most scenic to run in the counterclockwise direction, because as you drop down into the Pawnee Basin and then head Cascade Canyon, you’ll see spectacular panoramas of 1.7 billion year old gneiss towers. You won’t miss them going the other direction, but you might have to stop and turn around.
October is a great time to run the PB. As we dropped below treeline, autumn swallowed us up. Yellow aspens cluster across the landscape, and Woods’ rose blankets the ground in crimson. Mix it with the orange and purple hues of Clemmie’s wardrobe, and you’ve got every one of the rainbow of fall colors.
Running is fun. Running with great friends, having great conversations, is pure joy.
On the day, we covered a lot of ground. The merits of the world’s largest aircraft. Expectations and surprises in fatherhood. The immense quality of our best friend Brynn. JTT. Whether we are stronger on ups or downs. And stories of other, old friends trying new things.
I must issue a correction, as earlier I wrote, “The Fifty is a fun project.” Not quite…
The Fifty is a joy project.
