Morning on Bald Mountain: Quad Seasoning (and Photos)

As much as I try to not let life interfere with my training, it did just that in early winter.  But with the calendar cresting into February and the beastly Pocatello 50 looming just four months away, it was time to slough off the excuses, throw on some Smartwool, and get to some serious miles and, even more importantly, some serious quad seasoning.

With any singletrack of consequence shut down in Sun Valley until at least March, this meant only one thing, a hike up and run down the local ski hill, Bald Mountain (aka Baldy).  Given the slow start to my winter training, I modified my usual route, cutting about two and half miles off by starting and ending on the River Run side of the mountain.  For those who may care:  I went up Lower River Run then over to College to the top; then down I80 to the full Olympic cat track and back down Lower River Run - for a total of 7.5 miles and 3200 vertical feet (full details and map, here).

Of course, I took my camera along to capture the spirit of the morning and maybe to entice some fellow runners on the next outing.  It really was a stunning day.

Light traffic on Lower College.

Further up College looking over the Pioneer Mountains, including
Cobb, Old Hyndman, and the very top of Hyndman.

Skinners just cresting Upper College
under a waning crescent moon.

Top of the world.

Heading down I80 nearing College.

Cruising down Olympic.