a run in the bad lands

[mtwarden]

Had a great run this morning in the Terry Badlands, running the Calypso Trail- 8 miles in (and 8 out)

Got up at 4:45 and out the door at 5:15, ate a couple of Mojo bars and a couple of bananas on the way (it's about a 45 minute drive)- also brought my little thermos w/ a double shot latte

Got on the trail at just after 6:00, temperature 59- perfect! parked by an old homestead. Where I'm parked is just a stone's throw from the Yellowstone R, near where the Powder River dumps in.



The trail is a jeep trail, but doesn't get a lot of use. It starts out following Sullivan Ck and is relatively flat for the first 3 miles or so.



lots of gumbo and sandstone formations



at about 3-ish miles it starts climbing pretty good, gaining ~ 500' in two miles. when you get to the top it opens up and then is more rolling w/o too many steep pitches

unnamed butte



prairie dog town



scenery





trying out a new pack, Black Diamond Fuse- also using a handheld- it's filled w/ Perpetuem- a high calorie drink



also sporting some new gaiters from Outdoor Research, they keep dirt, rocks, seeds, etc out of your shoes-



past the turnaround point w/ about 11 miles under my belt and looking not too worse for wear



heading down



had this waiting for me at the truck- cold water, p&j sandwich, orange and some Fig Newtons!



got back to the truck at 9:15 (little over 3 hours), not too bad for stopping and taking a bunch of pics

[utah_fish]

Totally inspiring! Looking forward to backpacking in a few weeks up in Utah. Nothing like getting out, huh? Doesn't look like there's any good flyfishing in them thar hills.

[Joezilla]

HUGE TIP with those crazy little bumps out in the desert: WATCH ALL BOTTLED BEER! I've shaken bottled beer so hard in the trunk it exploded. It was a rental though

[Joezilla]

Also, does the dirt still come in the mesh at all? was wondering about shoes like that and your type of sand.

[mtwarden]

Totally inspiring! Looking forward to backpacking in a few weeks up in Utah. Nothing like getting out, huh? Doesn't look like there's any good flyfishing in them thar hills.

no fly fishing, but some great trophy mule deer hunting

HUGE TIP with those crazy little bumps out in the desert: WATCH ALL BOTTLED BEER! I've shaken bottled beer so hard in the trunk it exploded. It was a rental though

ouch!

Also, does the dirt still come in the mesh at all? was wondering about shoes like that and your type of sand.

yeah the dirt does come through mesh trail runners, socks block most of it, but after a long run my toes will have some dirt on them- small price to pay though for keeping shoes light, fast drying and your feet cool

[lambertiana]

Thanks for the pics. I have always wanted to spend some time wandering around the badlands.

[WILLIAM.M]

Thanks for the photos Bro

I've got patients too lazy to stretch for 8 Minutes--Much run for 16 miles

You Rock Bro

[mistwalker]

Wow, 16 miles ran through that terrain is impressive! I have no interest in running it but would love to hike it with my camera

[kgd]

Great stuff. My fitness sucks right now. The neoprene gaiters looks like a great idea.

[Henry44]

Impressive!!!!!!!!!!! What shoes are you wearing? regards Henry

[mtwarden]

thanks gents!

shoes are Montrail Sabino Trails- just ordered my third pair, use them for both hiking and running- my retired pair I used this winter when I was running w/ snow/ice- just added sheet metal screws



I've planned my shoe rotation so my current shoes w/ a couple more hundred miles will then become my snow/ice shoes and the original pair pictured above will go to lawn mowing/don't care what happens shoes

[6shooter]

Very nice, wish I had the drive to run instead of walk!

Have you used dirty girl gaiters? (I have a hunch I've seen you mention them before). If so, how do they compare to these OR ones?

[mtwarden]

Very nice, wish I had the drive to run instead of walk!

Have you used dirty girl gaiters? (I have a hunch I've seen you mention them before). If so, how do they compare to these OR ones?

yup- I've used Dirty Girls for a couple of years now, I got a steal on these OR one's so I thought I'd give them a try. The OR's are pretty light, but double the weight of the DG's 2.8 oz/pair vs 1.4 oz/pair; the OR's are definitely a little more robust and have an adjustment (shock cord) at the top so you can fully snug the opening down, the DG are pretty snug, but occasionally something will get through from the top; also retail the DG's are about 1/2 the price ($20 vs $40)

for most of my hiking/trail running the DG's are more than sufficient, if I'm going to be heading into an area that has a lot of rock/scree or doing a fair amount of off trail stuff I'll grab the OR's, most of the time I'll stick w/ the DG's

oh and Dirty Girls you can get skulls!

[tknife]

Some beautiful scenery there for sure, looks like a rough run though! I really like that lone butte shot

[pitdog]

Some beautiful scenery there for sure, looks like a rough run though! I really like that lone butte shot

Had to check back through, was thinking ' I never saw any Butt shots !!!!'

Great pics as always buddy, I like that screws in the soles idea, might have to try that this winter !

[tknife]

We have the same sense of humor Pit, words like "butte" make me laugh like a school boy

[madhatta]

Nice. The Badlands are near the top of my list of places I have wanted to visit for a looong time.

[mtwarden]

thanks gents

got roped into a 10k trail this past Saturday in the same area, reinforced what I already knew- I can run pretty far, but I can't run pretty fast