Playing with Poles on the Dixon Trail

I've been seeing them more and more at the ultras - trekking poles or running poles. Sometimes, I look at them and think "I'd like to try those on some of the steep climbs around here. See if they help at all." Other times, the thought is "yikes, those look like a lot of weight to be dragging around for not much help." So it's not something I'm sure I want to spend the money on just yet, especially since none of the races I have coming up are going to warrant the use of poles. Maybe later on the schedule, but not right now.  That doesn't mean I can't start collecting the things I think I might need for some of the crazy ideas I have in my head. Collapsible cup since my soft flask water bottles don't count? Done. All the mandatory gear for warm clothes? Double done and dusted. I off hand mentioned something about poles while we were at Mountain Chalet a few weeks ago, not expecting to really see anything. To my surprise, Ron said they had a demo pair! Guess my planned run for the week was gonna change so I could give them a try. Unfortunately, I had to wait a another week to hit up the trails due the the weather. I've gotten soft in my old age - while I didn't mind dealing with the cold, wet and wind for a long run on the roads, I didn't want to slog through mud or snow up high on the trails I'd originally planned on running.

Which brought me to Cheyenne Mountain State Park. With the new Dixon trail to the summit of Cheyenne Mountain completed, this seemed like a perfect place to test out some poles. The climb up was steep enough that I would see how they worked with climbing, there was some traversing on the new trails around the summit of the mountain, and then the descent down. I would also be able to see how the poles carried on my pack with the some extra miles before starting up the Dixon trail. After all, even if I picked up the poles at an aid station during a race, I would still need to carry them! I would also get to play with taking the poles on and off from my pack. I knew the left pole would be a struggle even before the run - my shoulders just don't bend that way to get the pole back onto the pack.

Pausing at Isis's rock

Any time I'm at CMSP on Oct 19th, I always have to swing by and say hi to Isis - my alley cat. She died from cancer in 2011 and we scattered her ashes in 2014. She found a final resting place in the sun, overlooking the trail. So I Incorporated a visit into my first few miles, took a break on her rock and then continued on. While physically, she isn't there anymore I still feel her around whenever I'm up on that trail.

Trail can't be that bad, can it?

Back to the car to resupply. The signs at the parking lot warned there was no water up top, so I wanted to make sure I had enough to do all my adventuring. After all, if I was going to trek to the top, I wanted to explore all the trails up there! The Dixon trail proper starts at the high point of North Talon, so there were a few miles to go through the park to get there. Easy jaunt up Talon and North Talon and then the Dixon. Another sign there warned how challenging the trail was and not to take the hike lightly. Yeah - most of the time those signs are an overstatement. Not this time though! And the number of people I met on the trail who were totally unprepared? More then I'd seen in the entire park! But anyway - I was on the Dixon trail to test out the poles, so when the trail tipped up, out the came the poles. For the climb up to the rest point, they seemed nice - a good way to take some of the climbing stress off my legs and use my arms to help.

Here we go!

Then came the turnaround point at 2.5(ish) miles from the start. Bikes and horses aren't allowed to the summit, so there's a really nice hitching rack and bench where they have to stop. And to be honest, as a mountain biker - with the way the rest of the trail is built, I wouldn't want to be hiking my bike up to just turn around and hike down with it! The trail did get steep, narrow and rocky in a hurry after the turn around, just like the signs below warned. I was still liking the poles as I hiked higher and higher, but not as enamored with them. It made it hard to use my hands on the rocks and I now had four things to worry about placement - the poles and my feet!

Trail markers and faded aspens.

After passing the plane crash, the trail opened up into a meadow. I was just a little late for full aspen colors on the summit, but next year? The Dixon will be very crowded come gold rush season! I had a plan in mind for when I got up to the summit. I wanted to hit every trail, but run up and down the entire length of the Dixon trail. That meant doing a little lolipop on Mountain Loop and Dragon's Backbone.

At the top!

Mountain Loop pretty much started right when the Dixon ended and continued climbing for a while. Traversing right alongside the fencing around the antenna farm for a while, it then dropped back down to the valley. There was some ribbon finding still - with the trail not feeling fully finished. But it was great - a thin ribbon of single track through aspens and pines. Peaceful, high above the hubbub and the perfect blend of rocks, dirt, climbing and descending. I still had both poles out, but found my self carrying them more then using them while I was running. Maybe because it's not something I've practiced, but for real running, they seemed to be in the way. I ran the entire length of Mountain Loop so I could enter Dragons Backbone at the southern end.

This was a fun trail - worth the trek up there to run laps!

Any trail that has the name backbone in it makes me thing of traversing right along the spine of the mountain. Dragon's Backbone was no different. Here was where I really started disliking the poles. I put one away so I had a hand free, but was still having issues. With the rock scrambling and cairn finding to follow Dragon's Backbone, I didn't like having something in my hand. But that was why I was testing them! There will be points in any race where the poles might be nice or might be a pain in the ass. I wasn't going to let them distract me from the awesome views on Dragon's Backbone though! At one point, I looked over the edge of some of the rocks I was scrambling up. Gulp.....

If you're afraid to fall, don't look down! CMSP spread out below, far below!

I was happy I'd decided to do the trail northbound - kept the exposure on my right, which I am more comfortable with. It also allowed me to actually see the mountain and the antenna farm to the north west. Those towers are a beacon no matter where you in COS and here  I was, right below them!

On Dragon's Backbone, below the antenna farm

One more trail sign, because...

Then it was back onto the Mountain loop to finish my lollipop and make my way back to Dixon and to my car. I knew it would be a hard downhill after hiking up, so wasn't anticipating making up too much time from my exploring. The day was becoming much longer then I'd planned! As I started down Dixon, I'd hoped to be able to use the poles for the downhill, but I couldn't. I use my arms too much to have the poles in the way. So away they went and down the mountain I went. I had a choice of just going back down Talon the way I'd came, but I wanted a few more miles. So South Talon and Sundance - just enough to get a solid long run, even if it took me 1:30 longer then I'd though. I'd also learned a lot about poles - granted I haven't spent much time practicing with them and my opinion might change if I did. But for me, they seemed a lot of hassle for limited benefit. And a lot of extra weight when I wasn't using them!