Front Range SPORTS tacular alpine views—a Ute Trail in setting that’s earned Rocky Mountain A RUNNING National Park Estes comparisons to } Chamonix, France, the START de facto trail-running capital of the world. Like Estes Park, Chamonix’s CUB LAKE LOOP more than 300 miles of trails skirt and traverse a spectacular, daunt- 6 miles ing mountain range: round-trip

the Alps, which include HIGH POINT: 8,620 feet 15,781-foot Mont Blanc. LOW POINT: 8,000 feet And like Chamonix, ELEVATION GAIN: ≈650 feet BEST FOR: Beginning to Estes Park now attracts intermediate trail premier trail runners— runners fond of killer views and varied terrain such as 2013 USA Half ranging from short, Marathon Trail national technical climbs to smooth descents. champion and Boulder TIP: Locals like to run native Melody Fair- this loop clockwise; it’s faster because the child—who seek high- climbs in this direction alpine training ground. are more gradual. “If you run the Lumpy Ridge Loop enough times, you will defi nitely LUMPY RIDGE LOOP see su- perstar ,” Chiplin says. 10.5 miles round-trip Or maybe two-time Leadville Trail 100 win- ner Anton Krupicka, or Fort Collins sensation HIGH POINT: 9,140 feet Nick Clark. Nancy Hobbs, LOW POINT: 7,776 feet ≈2,620 feet the founder and executive ELEVATION GAIN: BEST FOR: Intermediate director of the American trail runners looking to test their mettle on a Associa- couple of burly climbs. tion, frequents the trails Fortunately, sweeping descents and " at single- in Estes Park, as does track o# er relief from two legend Buzz Burrell, the lung-searing ascents. TIP: Much of this trail sits one-time speed record inside Rocky Mountain holder for the National Park, but the trailhead at Devil’s Gulch and John Muir trails (486 and 211 miles, respectively). is outside the park bound- No one gives Estes Park trails more love than ary, which means runners pay no entrance fees. The High Road the locals, though, who’ve been quietly pushing their Estes Park makes a bid to become town toward trail-running glory for years. The town’s Colorado’s trail-running mecca. Asylum Group running club has been pounding these paths once a week for more than a decade, and LONGS PEAK KEYHOLE ROUTE already on the map as the base camp for Chiplin regularly hosts running vacations through his Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park is company, Active at Altitude. In 2009, the Estes Val- working on a new moniker: America’s Trail Running ley Recreation and Park District began collecting a 14.5 miles Destination. This month, the small town will host North property tax specifi cally for building and maintaining round-trip America’s only trail-running conference, the Estes trails, and this year, residents voted for a one percent 14,259 feet increase in sales tax to further support the rec dis- HIGH POINT: Trail Ascent (October 9 to 11). Now in its second year, LOW POINT: 9,400 feet the event brings together industry leaders, retailers, trict, a portion of which will go to trails. ELEVATION GAIN: ≈5,100 feet and runners. “And by design, it also shines a light on “I’ve lived in Estes since 1979 and have been run- BEST FOR: Advanced trail runners with a bucket-list the amazing trail-running culture we have here in Es- ning all this time,” says Amy Plummer, founder of the goal of conquering Longs tes Park,” says event director and local Terry Chiplin. Asylum Group and a member of the Trails Committee Peak. High-elevation experience required. for the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District. “It The Estes Valley and Rocky Mountain National TIP: As with any fourteen- Park host more than 130 individual paths that climb just keeps getting better.” Up next: a possible trail that er, you’ll want to be o# the summit by noon to from 7,522 feet to 14,255 feet and total 355 miles. links town trails to those in Rocky Mountain National avoid potential afternoon Along the way, runners take in wildfl ower meadows, Park, so runners can go from town to treeline without lightning storms. sapphire blue lakes, aspen and pine forests, and spec- ever stepping on a road. —JAYME MOYE FREDRIK MARMSATER FREDRIK

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