Set out early on Mother’s Day to bag Rose Peak, but also to get much needed tough miles on my legs to prepare me for pacing a friend next month at Western States 100 Mile Run. From Del Valle, we ascended through the clouds and into the sun. I forgot how steep and long the uphill is. Seemed like we slogged uphill forever — but made the first ridge, then down to the creek crossing at Williams Gulch. The next 2 miles up to Schlieper Rock was tough, but we were soon rewarded with a high meadow trail (and curious cows) at Johnny’s Pond. Passed only a couple others in the wooded area above Box Canyon then down to North Fork Indian Creek, which was nice and shaded. One more uphill to Rose Peak. Could see three of my previous peaks – Mt. Umunhum, Mt. Diablo, and Mt. Tamalpais. The weather was perfect – and we hiked/ran the 20 miles in a little over five hours. Saw plenty more people on the way back to Del Valle – though no other runners.
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Responses
I like that you ran it. I have signed up for the challenge and thought about running them all. How many others have you done on the challenge?
I’ve run Mt Umunhum, Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, and now Rose Peak – however a lot less running and more hiking in Rose Peak due to the elevation change. I’ve run the trail to the Peak from both directions – and both are long. Easier from Sunol. Best quality trails thus far have been at Mt Umunhum – very runnable. I’ve run Diablo many times and there are a few ways up to the Peak. Same with Mt Tam, which seems to have the best trail system for runners (you’ll see a lot up there). I’ve also run all of the Tahoe Rim Trail and fast-packed portions of the John Muir Trail.