Trail run from Green Creek to Virginia Lakes

Running past East Lake

"I always loved running - it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."

~Jesse Owens

This past summer my friend, Jess, and I did some amazing trail runs. The most challenging was our run from the Green Creek trail head to Virginia Lakes.
We did this run two times this summer. The first time was on July 2nd. I honestly underestimated how hard this run was going to be. We parked at the Green Creek trail head (8,000 feet) and ran past Green Lake, East Lake, Nutter Lake, Gilman Lake, and Hoover Lakes, over Summit Pass (11,100 feet) and then down into the Virginia Lakes basin past Frog Lakes, Cooney Lake, Blue Lake, to Big Virginia Lake (9,850 feet) where my family was hanging out and fishing. The run was a total of 12 miles long.

About halfway into the run I was out of water and not feeling great. I was stopping at every little stream to dunk my head in the water. We completed the run in 2 hours and 46 minutes which comes to an average of 14:13 min per mile. Jess and I were a little disappointed by our time and were determined to run it again.

Going up

Looking back on where we came from

At the top of Summit Pass looking down on the Virginia Lakes

We knew what to expect the second time. We tried again on August 9th. I brought more water and a couple mints to suck on during the run. This time I was not as defeated. We took less walking breaks and completed the trail in 2 hours and 35 minutes which averages to about 13:17 per mile.

The total elevation gain for this run is 3,320 feet. Jess and I have both ran the Tioga Pass race a couple times but this was way more challenging.

I plan on running it again next summer.

4 comments running, summer

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