A run on Labor Day to avoid predicted crowds in the parks.
Route: leaving the car at the Foothills Trailhead (a small car park but fairly empty at 11am on Labor Day) and running north to the start of the trails. Taking the Eagle Trail and then Cobalt, though obviously getting lost and needing to pick our way down a slight hill to find the trail again, and hence to another trailhead parking spot. Along Sage and Eagle to 51st St (a dusty gravel road) and along this, now at a walk, to the road to the Reservoir Complex ($7 for swimming) for a swim in a tiny patrolled section of the reedy reservoir. Then back the same way to start on Eagle, spurn Sage and bend left past an almost pretty tarn, gain ground, cross a barren minor valley and eventually return (via Degge Trail) to the start.Conditions: surprisingly cloudy with rather flat light but warm enough to swim outdoors and teeming with very squeaky critters!
Critters: (seen and heard all around all the time) prairie dogs
Pub: the Upslope Brewery at Lee Hill Drive for Upslope, Yuzu Zest IPA, India Pale Ale a taster of Southern Hemisphere Double IPA (and some nachos).
