Elk Meadow Park: 5 to 12 miles; Easy to difficult; 1750 elevation change

Outstanding run for summer. It's cooler during the day (sunscreen) and relatively vacant. In summer it's hard to find trails that aren't packed with hiking and MTB. This trail, for whatever reason, is rarely packed with people and if you do see them, it's across a gorgeous meadow that slopes north. Northern sloping trails have a tendency to hold on to their snow, so prepare if it's closer to colder months by bringing your lightweight ice pick, avy beacon, and short wave radios. Okay, maybe just high collar trail shoes.

The trail works around the upper slope of the meadow, then branches off into Bergen Peak trail (or Too Long trail) and a few others that climb the various mountains around you. Take one of the latter trails and have yourself a lung-breaker. A couple on this trail informed me they've seen mountain lions, but thats about as possible as running across a monk from Uzbekistan.

This trail made a Saturday afternoon nap, a damn good one. It's not convenient to Denver, really, so make this a later/earlier/weekend run. Or, just snooze in your chair at work around 3.