Mt Herman Run

"Herminated" - (noun) - to run around in the fog on Mt Herman. 
"Herminating" - (verb) - to run around in the fog on Mt Herman, with a few "technical" spots.
"Hermination" - (adjective) - to run around in the fog on Mt Herman with Steve for 13 1/2 miles over a bunch of technical terrain, going past an active shooting range, climbing well over 2000 feet - and finishing feeling like a good run was achieved.

I'm not that skilled with grammer - so I'm not sure if the Herman___ words are nouns, verbs, adjectives or even words - but they aptly described our Saturday morning run. 

Was the second weekend in a row to run with Steve, second weekend also to run in fog / mist - which is a bit rare in Colorado.

Mt Herman - under a blanket of fog

Temps were in the mid 40's, the sun broke through the fog and low clouds several times, but there was much more clouds and fog than sun, with a bit of an occasional breeze from the North - ideal running conditions.  Steve lead the way as I had not run these trails before.

Being unfamiliar with the trails and how much climbing to expect - I wasn't pushing as hard as Steve as we meandered our way up and to the South.  One thing became fairly evident - a lot of rocks, good size step ups and around, so really had to concentrate on where to place the feet.

As the sun peeked through at times we could look across to the East and make out the town of Monument and Black Forest to the East of that.  Because we were mostly headed SW we could see the Air Force Academy also - catching a glimpse of the Chapel on one occasion.

After about 5 3/4 miles - the last mile of which was a good bit of climbing in which I resorted to my "barely call it a run but if I was to walk then I would be even slower" running style - we made it to Mt Herman road.  Briefly stopping for a fuel break - we saw a couple of signs.....

"No Shooting" sign - with approx 20 bullet holes in it

I had carried my Camelbak - was prepared for the weather with an extra jacket, knit hat, gloves - but Steve had not told me I needed to bring a bullet proof vest and helmet.   He assured me that the range where we were hearing gunfire was "another ridge over", so off we went with another 1/2 mile of noticeable climbing and a few turns that I'm sure took us closer to the gunfire.  I was running and ducking at the same time.

As we began our descent into Limbaugh Canyon, thankfully being able to pick up our pace, a wonderful ricochet from the gun range spurred us on even quicker.  As the gunfire noises became more distant we were behind Mt herman and cruising along the single track in the meadows, involving some nice creek crossings, much smoother trails.  Was really pretty and unfortunately I didn't get any photos of that stretch.

About 9 1/2 miles in we came to what Steve informed me was called "Inspiration Point" - this was when the fog had just started rolling back in from the North.  Another quick break to eat and take some photos before we moved on.

Palmer Lake in the fog in the distance (about 11 o'clock)

By this time we had been going almost 2 hours, after a little more climbing we did the gradual descent back to the trailhead.  I was glad Steve had been on these trails before - I could have only guessed the way back and with my luck - found the shooting range again.  

Nice little pond / rock outcrop about a mile from the end of the run

But we made it, going nowhere near the gunfire, on much smoother trails and almost all downhill, in a slightly misting rain as we were finishing - certainly a run I would do again - would definitely be nice to avoid gunfire next time and now that I know what to expect as far as the rock hopping terrain especially for the first half - would be able to enjoy it even more.  It was definitely a good run.