Morning Mountain to Rover Creek Traverse

It's been two years now since I started trail running. I've slowly worked my way up with some mileage, so I can start dreaming of venturing out into some incredible terrain that just beckons my call...The 61km Earl Grey Pass is definitely my next big objective for the summer, so I figured I better start cranking up the km's to make sure I feel confident. Not wanting to bother my usual running partners with a big run that I wasn't really sure how far I was going to get, I set out with my faithful companion Neo (I do have to write a future Blog about the privilege of being with your dog in the backcountry)
I started up the Silverking trail to Giveout FSR on another gloomy day that seams to be the norm this season :( - that said; it was a perfect running temperature.
The first hour and a half climb felt so easy and relaxing I just wanted it to go on forever. Only my breathing and Neo's panting broke the wonderful silence.
No fresh steam, but still warm, this bear scat was only 10 minutes old i figured...I'm actually getting good at guessing...Neo is my early warning system though, so I wasn't too concerned.
Up Up and away I could see the highest point on the run in the distance. I knew I'd get to the snow line eventually, but it amazes me how low it still is being June 18th!
I only had to run through the snow for 30 minutes or so, but it felt extra dreary as it started raining on this section.
I was pretty excited to feel the short lived sunshine as i started my big descent toward the 49 creek drainage.


Hit 49 Creek and started my next ascent up the May & Jenny road to and old trail that crosses the valley and connects into Midslope FSR. Lots of wind fall, mud, snow and spring run-off creeks to run through, but loved every minute of it...
I was hoping this was the last valley to cross ( you can see the road where i was heading in the top middle of the picture below)
First view of the valley bottom below. The air was now warmer and it was sunny once again. I knew this last 1'800 foot decent was going to hurt as i was now getting pretty tired.

I think we both feel the same here at the end of the run- pretty damn happy!!...
All told it was just over 5 hours of running the 44km route with 4'000 feet of climbing and 4'800 feet of descending. I think I'd prefer to run it the other way next time. This route would make a great mountain marathon race or just to train for a 50km ultra. It's relatively close to town and even has cell coverage for a lot of it.