Bright and early Saturday morning, Gretchen and I drove to Auburn, to meet Chaz and our friend Bill, who had generously agreed to drive us out to Robinson Flat, so we could do a one-way run on the Western States trail. We had left a car in Foresthill, which was about 34 miles down the trail, using the route we took (with a little add-on).

Bill left us at the trailhead, and we began our journey, first stop was the Duncan Peak Fire Lookout on Little Bald Mountain.

Gretchen and Chaz on the road up to the lookout

Gretchen coming down from the tower

Less than 1 mile after coming down from the lookout, Chaz very loudly rolled his ankle, crashing down to the trail in pain. Our options were limited- if we turned back to go to Robinson Flat, we would have no ride out. If we continued on, the soonest place he could possibly get a ride was another 15 or so miles. Most people would have taken this turn of events badly- we were less than 3 miles in to a 30+ mile run. Chaz however, sucked it up and powered through, accepting it with a smile. Even when we made fun of him for taking a small short cut. 🙂

He was able to cut some sections a little short, and  we took our time, stopping frequently to enjoy the scenery and take a crap load of pictures of each other. It was the perfect day- 29 miles for Gretchen and I, about 26 for Chaz. Our new friends Jerome and Cindy gave us a ride from Michigan Bluff to Foresthill, and there was a small party with pizza in the parking lot- best way to end our run. We hit Joe Caribe for dinner before Gretchen and I headed back to Truckee.

plank break

the biggest pinecone ever

Pucker Point!

PP

PP- again

near Last Chance. There was a subaru parked nearby that we considered stealing for Chaz…

We ran into these super cool people, who were scouting out locations for trail work days

running down towards the Swinging Bridge from Last Chance

Met Jerome near this little bridge- he later gave us a ride from Mich Bluff to Foresthill

Seriously? You want me to pretend to run fast, on a sprained ankle, so you can take pictures?

newly built Swinging Bridge with cool horses and cool riders

GB and JP on SB

the giant stump- Deadwood

a landscape forever changed

El Dorado Canyon

El Dorado Creek.

who’s super duper excited to be on the Western States Trail???

swollen mess

and even worse the next day. good job Chaz