There wasn't a course for SBP in Strava (when I did this) and Homie just did 1:00:30. So...
I went over this morning to see how the new course is. It takes the new Towhee Trail, which hits the Mesa Trail and then descends a bit to where the old Towhee hit the Shadow Canyon Trail. Then the trail is the same until just below the saddle where there are two new switchbacks. The upper section is incredibly burnt out and you can see the summit (nearly) from below the saddle! Normally you can't see the summit until you about 1 minute away. A bit sad. It's harder to follow the trail from the saddle up since so many trees are gone...
I made the start of the canyon, at the shed, in just under 24 minutes. To go under an hour, you want to be here in 23 minutes or better to give you 30 minutes for the canyon and then 7 more minutes to the summit, so I was a bit behind. I worked hard in the canyon, but pretty much hiked everything. Amazingly two people passed me on their way down! Ugh. I was out too late - it was nearly 7 a.m. when I started and it already felt hot.
I made the saddle in just under 52 minutes and knew I could break an hour but it was going to hurt to break 59 minutes. I hurt and topped out in 58:58. Not bad. This is probably a minute longer than the previous route, so that is still 5 minutes off my PR, but anything under an hour is hard.
I came down really slow as the canyon is even more technical than before.
1 comment:
Have only been up once from S. Mesa since the closure lifted. I am rusty with all the new changes and dorked around a good bit with the new trails lower down, starting up Towhee, then up to Mesa? (wide dirt road-ish trail), up, then got on the new Homestead (descending)aiming for upper Towhee, but that was closed. Was not shooting for any time goals, but was still a little frustrated to have to bust my ass above the saddle to break an hour. Still not sure what the most efficient route is at this point.
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