I met MattV at the U this morning at 5:00 am to drop my car off at the trailhead for Mt. Van Cott and then we drove in his car to the trailhead for the Avenues Twin Peaks, which is part of the BST. It was cold at the start, but we heated up fast. We ran to the summit of the first twin in 30 minutes where we stopped to take in the incredible views take a quick break. I bombed it fast down the face to the saddle and I was up on the West twin in just a few minutes and Matt wasn't far behind. After another stop to take in the views we headed down a faint trail that goes down the face of the mountain. The trail didn't last long and we just worked our way down to the BST below.
Once back on the BST we ran to Dry Canyon where we really picked up the pace and ran fast on the downhill, but eventually the small creek that runs next to the trail was totally covering the trail and the next half mile we were trying to avoid the water as it rushed down right on top of the trail. We had to jump back and forth several times and at one point on a long jump Matt twisted his ankle on a wet rock, so we stopped again for a few minutes. Then we passed two ladies that were walking their dogs and one of them nipped at my leg as I ran by. Ha.
Eventually the trail starts heading south again and we ran at the base of Van Cott to the ridge where we would be climbing up. We were running short on time, but decided to go up anyway. We really pushed it hard and ran at least half of the way up the steep ridge topping out in 25 minutes. I made it up first and waited a few minutes for Matt and then we had a nice run back to my car. Total time was 2:08 including all breaks.
Climbing Van Cott this morning reminded me of taking my kids up there a few years ago. Here is a trip report from my daughter Amelia | 