Bear (PR), South Boulder

From Devils Thumb TH, Bear Canyon road, Mesa, Fern, Bear; over to South Boulder; back to Fern; down the same.

Started at 6:02 am with Bill W, Matt S, and Jim H from work. Bill put time on me from the start. He headed up Bear Canyon and West Ridge to Bear, but I wanted to see what I could do for Fern. I wanted a comparison with Cragmoor and also thought I could get a PR for this route.

Pretty hard effort the whole way up Bear. Was a bit bummed to not break 50:00 for the ascent. Decided to tack on South Boulder, so didn't really stop on Bear. Down the west face of Bear, hustled to the saddle, then slowed a bit to the top of South Boulder. Didn't stop there either, tried to hustle back to Fern, but faded even more. Saw Bill walking down Fern just as I started down, so I caught up to him quickly. Saw Jim and Matt a bit further down. They continued to Bear while Bill and I took it pretty easy jogging back to the trailhead.

Fairly clear that the Cragmoor route is faster. I got to the Shanahan/Fern junction in 18:42 from Cragmoor last night and in 22:06 from Devils Thumb this morning. And I probably ran that stretch a bit harder this morning than last night. From that junction to the summit of Bear, I was 43 seconds faster this morning than last night.

Not sure what my previous PR was for this route, but I believe it was in the 52-54 minute range. I'll call this a PR.

0:00 - Devils Thumb TH
14:49 - Mesa/Bear Canyon
16:25 - Mesa/Fern
22:06 - Fern/Shanahan
34:22 - saddle atop Fern Canyon
50:58 - Bear
55:02 - Bear/South Boulder saddle (Shadow jct)
1:02:09 - South Boulder
1:06:02 - South Boulder/Bear saddle
1:49:21 - Devils Thumb TH

StreakNavyA with insoles from MountainMasochist