Buchanan-Pawnee Loop (7/30/2016): Goodbye Ya Ya's! / by Dani Perrot

The route for the day!!!

I have been wanting to do the Buchanan-Pawnee Loop since reading Tony Krupicka's a few years ago (http://www.runnersworld.com/antons-mountain-musings/the-buchanan-pawnee-pass-loop). This weekend, after a few years of building up to being able to do more mileage, Alex and I got out to give it a shot and got it done (11 hrs). Not a quick one but a BEAUTIFUL one. Maybe the most beautiful jike we've ever done.

Started out from the Mitchell Lake TH at 5 AM, making great time to the shoulder of Audubon (first high point) in time for sunrise, then jogged down to Coney Flats, where we had passed through last winter on our overnight trip up the Ogallala drainage. The trail up to Buchanan Pass and the Continental Divide was extremely well graded and a little over-grown, showing how few people travel through this area compared to the Brainard Lake zone. After cruising to the top of Buchanan and celebrating our first pass of the day we headed down (down, down) the canyon to Cascade Creek. We both started to get a little nervous with how far we were dropping, knowing we'd have to gain all of it plus more to get back up and over the Continental Divide at Pawnee Pass.

We hit the junction at Cascade Creek to start going up again at 10:30 AM, and things were HOT down low. We took a much needed break in the shade by one of the waterfalls, ate some food, and tried to cool off. Heads down, we headed further up the canyon, trying to acknowledge and work through warning signs our bodies were showing. Alex's legs were pretty blown up still from a workout earlier in the week and he was experiencing fatigue and cramping. My legs were fine, but my stomach was progressively feeling less settled, and I was having trouble controlling my heart rate. 

Then the clouds started popping up. Like little popcorns exploding out of nowhere, they began accumulating and showing a dark blue underneath. At Pawnee Lake (treeline) we were still about 1,700 ft from the top of Pawnee Pass, and from there would still need to travel through a few miles of open talus and tundra to treeline on the other side. To boot, I could barely keep down water and food and Alex was stumbling. It wasn't a good feeling when we looked up and could see rain approaching, maybe a mile away.

With some help from adrenaline (nothing can get Dani's butt moving like some dark thunderheads), we somehow managed to haul ourselves up the loose rocky trail and crested Pawnee Pass to broken skies above and VERY dark skies just to the south above the Green Lakes Valley. Relieved, we continued hurrying down toward the trees as fast as we could (read: quick shuffle). We ran out of water and had to stop a few times to drink from our filter-straw and finally made it back to the car, headed down the hill to grab a Coke and Pringles, and then finished the day with an enormous pizza and numerous beverages back at the homestead. 

GOODBYE YA YA's!!!