Epic Trail Run with Joe - The run started out innocently enough. Although it was way too early. Up at 3:30, picked up Joe at 4, drove to Richmond and started running by 4:30. The idea was to run up High Creek trail to the Lake and then either up to Mt Naomi or Cherry Peak depending on time. Joe had to be at work by 10 so time was tight. We left the car at the start of the dirt road and ran the 3.5 miles up to the trailhead. It was dark of course, but the headlamps were working just fine. We cruised along for a few miles on the nice singletrack blissfully unaware that about a mile into the singletrack, we had missed a critical fork and were climbing up the wrong drainage. We hit a nice waterfall and suddenly the trail practically dissapeared. We continued up the deer trail that remained doubting our route. After a few more minutes, we decided to backtrack to the waterfall and look for an alternate trail to see if we missed it. Surely the trail would be more used than this. Back to the waterfall. Looked around. Nothing better. So we went back up the mountain. This time were were not to be denied. On and on we went. It was through bushes, trees, more bushes and it was impossible. Up and Up we went. Finally, about the time it was starting to get light enough to see, we decided to head right to see over the hill on our right and see if we could find where we wanted to go. We made it to the ridge to look and..... Opps, we were way off course. I could pick out the proper drainage now that I could see and we were not even close. We had wandered around for 3 miles (19 min, 40 min, and 21 mins) and wasted a lot of time. We bushwhacked back down the mountain the fastest way we could find and you could never guess where we ended up. Back at the waterfall. Seriously? It was a fast mile down the trail until we found the fork that we had blown by hours ago. It was pretty obvious in the daylight. Stupid! Now we knew we were short on time and would probably not even make it to the lake. We pushed the uphill hard, but it was not going to happen. I figure we were still over a mile away. We stopped at a gorgeous meadow with a small creek and pond. We were just getting to the good stuff. Another day. Time to get back. At this point, we had gone 11 miles and needed to get back in an hour. Luckily, the way back was shorter and Joe brought his running legs. We flew back down the mountain hitting a few mid six min splits. That is the fastest I have run since Feb. I was feeling it. Speedy Joe was cooking though. Those trails are sure fun to cruise down. Good stuff!
I will be back soon to do that run again, but this time I will make it to the Lake! T- 3:35 (11:37 pace) 4800' vert 
The first downward notch is the first trip back to the waterfall. The big peak is us trying to muscle through the brush. The Second big hill is the actual trail. Pics from the trail.... 
This is the critical junction. As you can see, the sign obviously points to the right. I am sure it did at least at one time. I am blaming the signage! 
The "waterfall". If you see this, you went the wrong way! 
We came through that mess somehow. Only minor bleeding to report. 
NOT High Creek Lake.
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