Just a heads up – from about 2020 onward the posts on this blog are much less frequent. Keeping it up to date is just too time consuming. Big adventure runs still get posts…sometimes. But the “places” tags aren’t as comprehensive as they once were.
Robert’s Horn looms over the Mt. Timpanogos Trail from Aspen Grove and I’ve passed by it many times on my way to the main summit. Today, I decided to forego the Timp summit and to do this subpeak. It was great to get away from the crowds. Once I broke off from the main trail just past Emerald Lake I had the mountain to myself and didn’t see another person until I got to the Primrose Overlook. How did I get there? After summiting Robert’s Horn I followed the ridgeline north for a little over a mile and then turn east to follow a diverging ridgeline down to the overlook. A bit schwhacky at places, but gorgeous. My plan had been to then take the Hartsky’s Cutoff back down to the Timpanogos Trail and then follow that back down to Aspen Grove. However, I was low on water, it was getting warm, and the cutoff “trail” looked very overgrown. I’ll get that another day, perhaps. I instead took the Horseflat and Lame Horse Trails back down to the Aspen Grove trailhead.
Another birthday outing present to myself. This time I eschewed the main Timpanogos Summit and shwhacked my way up to East Peak – a seldom-visited spot on the east flank of the Timpanogos massif. Accessing it from the Aspen Grove trail was easy. Instead of going back the way I came, I descended southeast off the saddle below East Peak into the Stewart Falls drainage below Big Provo Hole and Cascade Cirque. If the descent down from the saddle hadn’t taken so long I would have gone up into one of those two. The “trail” down from there connects with the Stewart Falls trail but it is really overgrown. Maybe that’s good though. It deters people from heading up that way and keeps it remote and quiet for the few adventurers that do. Gotta get back up there soon.
A good portion of my teenage years in Bellingham were spent mountain biking on Galbraith Mountain. Back then it was a bit sketchy. You had to climb over some fences, ignore some “no trespassing” signs that others had assured you were put up by curmudgeons and weren’t valid, and regularly get lost in the labyrinth of trails up there. Now it is public land and VERY well-developed with signage and such. It’s nice to see it being managed and accessible, but I kind of miss the rough days of the 1990s. This was my first time riding up there in about a decade. I’ve run there a few times in recent years, but hadn’t ridden. I borrowed a cousin’s full-suspension. Ken, a childhood friend who shared most of those teenage adventures, joined in. Fantastic day.
When it stays light until 10:30 PM up in my hometown, you’d better take advantage and do some evening hikes. This was a new one for me. I never explored this area on the east side of Lake Whatcom when I was a kid. Just gorgeous.
Was going for the summit but by the time I hit the meadows below the traverse to the saddle, I was just feeling hot and crabby and tired. SO…I called an audible to check out the B-25 crash site, which I hadn’t done before. Very cool. The mountain was a beautiful as ever. You can read a bit more about the crash on the Intermountain Histories project that I manage and edit.
The southwest ridge approach to Big Baldy is a beast. I love hitting it before it gets too snakey. Took Matt up for his first summit. Found a horned lizard on the ridge.
What to do when the only time to squeeze in a run on some nostalgic desert trails mid-day in a million degree heat…
Frosty hike with the Mrs. up to Pine and Cedar Lakes in my hometown Chuckanut Mountains. Absolutely gorgeous.
I have been eyeballing the Timpanogos ridgeline for years, but have only ever done the main summit. After years of plans falling through, I finally did some of the north ridgeline today.
Starting at the Timpooneke Trailhead, I went up the Timpooneke-Chris Flat trail until just before the Julie Andrews Meadow, then veering off the trail and up towards the NE ridge of North Timp. There was a “trail” that was fairly easy to follow, but wildly steep. Moving through some scrub oak and aspen for a while, the ridge eventually opens up to wide open terrain, with just rocks and grass to navigate. A couple miles up the route enters some jumbled rocks and approaches cliff bands to the right of the Grunge Couloir. There is a nice rock ledge-easy to attain- that backtracks to the right and safely wraps you around the other side of a little ridge. From there, it is a mostly straight-shot up the NE ridge. There are various scree shoots, ridgeline trees to get around, and small rock sections that require hands but don’t really count as “climbing,” but it is otherwise pretty simple. Standing on the North Timp summit felt great. There is a summit registry in a mailbox, but it is hard to find an open page to sign! I wonder if someone should take it down, replace it with a new one, and digitize the entire old one and put it online.
From North Timp, I bounded on down the ridgeline to Bomber Peak and then on to the main trail saddle. Up to that point, I only saw 2 hikers who were making their last push up to North Timp from the opposite direction. I saw a few people between the saddle and main summit, but had the peak to myself. The descent was fairly uneventful. I didn’t bomb has hard as previous trips. Next, I need to do the rest of the ridgeline to the south!
I did this loop a few years ago and was excited to try it again. I did it solo this time and chopped about an hour off my elapsed time.
I began at first light at the Aspen Grove trailhead and headed up. I didn’t see another person until just before Emerald Lake-about 90 minutes and 5 miles into the route. It was a beautiful morning. Perfect weather. Cool with a little breeze. There was still some snow on the traverse across the rockslide field between Emerald Lake and the saddle. To be honest, it is probably easier to cross on the snow than bare jumbled rocks.
A few sprinkles swirled around as I moved across the snow field, but nothing too bad. Winds picked up once I hit the saddle and I wrapped buffs around my hands as I worked my way to the summit. Brrr! I saw a handful of people on the way to the top, but there was only a father/son duo at the summit. I’ve been lucky to have the summit mostly to myself most trips. Only once have I experienced a crowded summit.
I didn’t stay long and bombed on down the Timpooneke trail. There were some more people on the trail for the remainder of the descent, but it still wasn’t too many. Temperatures rose and I descended, but I felt good and planned to refill my water at the Timpooneke trailhead. Unfortunately, when I arrived I found the water spigot capped (due to COVID-19, I presume). Uh oh. I still had some water, but not a ton.
As I started the 5 miles up and over some backside trails to complete the loop back to Aspen Grove, my feet started to hurt and throb. My shoes were too tight, but just wanting to finish I pressed on. I probably should have paused for a minute to loosen them a bit. I knew I had some sodas on ice in the car too, and with water running out I was anxious for a cold drink.
In all, it was an amazing day. Gorgeous. Not a bad way to celebrate my 40th.
Two recent trips up my favorite loop – once in each direction. Water infrastructure work at the top of Battle has turned some of the trail into a dirt road. Bummer.
Masks on and armed with gallons of hand sanitizer, we met some old family friends and their kids to explore a bit of Rocky Mountain National Park.
This was my wife’s true first “summit” hike. It was longer than she thought, steep, hard.
Work took me down to the Swell, so I kidnapped the kids and brought them along for an afternoon at Goblin Valley State Park.
Up the SW ridge, down Dry Canyon. Big Baldy is still as steep and gorgeous as ever. I think the downhill hurts more than the climb though.
Some book talks took me to Texas, so I took myself to Palo Duro Canyon. Wonderful chilly morning out to the Lighthouse and back.
The Provo River Parkway Trail is exactly 25k long – Utah Lake to Vivian Park. That seemed predestined to be run as an out-and-back 50k. This is the longest pavement run I’ve ever done. Ouch.
Work conference in Vegas, finally hit Valley of Fire State Park on my drive down.
Driving home from St. George, made an unplanned pitstop in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park. Ran the Taylor Creek Trail up to Double Arch Alcove. Had the alcove to myself. Quiet. Beautiful.
I was giving a talk in St. George this evening, so I came down with enough time to go for a run. Matt was kind enough to give me a little guided tour of some trails south of Hurricane – JEM, Dead Ringer, and the infamous More Cowbell Trail. Great fun, great conversation, a bit sweaty.
I tried to push speed Up and Down the Shooter trail on Friday and I realized I was close to a Course Record for the downhill. Went back today and tried my best. The downhill is a 1.76 mile trail with lots of sharp turns and appx 600 ft descent – an average 6% grade. I averaged a 6:51 min/mile pace and just about killed myself. Unfortunately, it was 20 seconds too slow. I need to get it below a 6:39 min/mile pace. I don’t know how I could safely do the steep parts any faster. Maybe I could shave some time by sprinting the straight sections and flatter sections more. In any case – a fun challenge, but my legs will hurt tomorrow.
Driving back from a work trip in Arizona, pitstopped at the Paria Toadstools.
First Timp of the season – August 21 – and still some stretches of snow to cross on the way up to the main saddle. I was feeling good today and decided to try to push for a sub-4:00 roundtrip. I sprinted the first 1/4 mile after getting spooked by a moose. There were others on the trail that other hikers saw but I didn’t see any others. I did see a fox up in the meadow basin! That was a first. I had the summit all to myself. It was beautiful. I looked at my watch and saw that a sub-4:00 might be possible if I really bombed. I shouldn’t have sat at the summit for so long because it required a painful pace. It wasn’t the most pleasant descent. A dead sprint for the last 1/2 mile down. BUT – I came in just under the wire. A moving time of 3:59:52!
The Mrs. is a school teacher, but not in the district where I kids are students. Her school year starts earlier than the kids’ so I have them for a couple of weeks each August. Two years ago we did our first Uintas hike and we went back up again. The kids did great. They did swim team all summer and I can tell their lungs and muscles built up some endurance. We went up the Lofty Lake Loop – counterclockwise. Gorgeous. They had fun scrambling around on the rocks near the pass that drops down to Lofty Lake – spotting and chasing Pikas.
I looked at my watch and we were just shy of 11,000 feet. I convinced them to scramble up the ridge to hit 11k for their first time. We made it to a large cairn, only to find it was a sub-peak and the actual Lofty Peak was a bit further off. No matter, they were champs and excited to have gone so high. They also got a kick out of all the spiders and big spider webs between the boulders and rocks as we picked our way up and down the ridge.
At Lofty Lake I dove in for a quick dip. So cold!
The way back was fine, despite a little tired whining towards the end. All in all, a great adventure.
I need to wake up in the morning and run more often. I hate it. I feel sluggish and my stomach is off if I eat anything (a jelly donut today). But, getting back home at 9 in the morning having already banged out a great run does feel pretty amazing.
I requested a family hike for my birthday and the wife and kiddos obliged. Stewart Falls. Beautiful as always and we had the place to ourselves for most of it.
So nice, I did it twice. Battle Grove Loop. Always amazing. The Battle trail is in rough shape – high water and lots of erosion. Long stretches of the trail were literally underwater.
Visited my childhood mountain bike trails with my childhood mountain friend – Ken! So great. It unbelievable how much the place has changed. Signage, first aid stations, etc. To be honest…I kind of miss how it used to be. Less-developed, possibly illegal, and more isolated. Much more crowded now.
Switzerland is every bit as charming and picturesque as everything you’ve seen in the movies – only more-so. They seem to be trying to out-Swiss themselves to the level of self-parody. It is absolutely stunning. I was only able to run in the Appenzell Alps. Breathtaking. Climbed up to Hoher Kasten summit, followed ridge line SW past Furgglenfirst to Saxer Lücke and down to Bollenwees and Fälensee Lake, then down the (often painfully steep) road past Lake Sämtisersee.
When you’re driving and a freeway exit says “Lichtenstein,” you exit. Burg Gutenberg and the royal castle.
Wait, what? Yes. Castles along the Rhein Gorge in Germany. Sometimes work brings me to unbelievable places.
An enormous set of avalanches built up quite the slide on the Aspen Grove trail. Speaking with some old-timers, they hadn’t seen anything like this in decades.
In the 90s as a teenage mountain biking was my primary hobby. I still have the same old ’95 Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail (no front suspension even!) and I finally took it out for a spin. First proper trail ride in over a decade. It was a lot of fun…except for the slipping and sliding due to the commuter non-trail tires I put on it a few years ago…and the bad brakes. Went over my handlebars once.
Over the past few months I have been pushing speeds on pavement and it has actually been a lot of fun. Today, I went a bit nuts and threw down just over 16 miles. That made for some PRs.
Over the past few months I have been pushing speeds on pavement and it has actually been a lot of fun. Today, I went a bit nuts and threw down a 25k PR.
Excited to see trails drying out and feeling up for some speed, I tried to PR on the long squiggly trails on the south side of the the mouth of Provo Canyon. PRs! Felt so good.
I get stuck on trails, doing them repeated times in a row. This set – exploring the VERY GREEN foothills between Shooter and the Rock Pile / Betty trails. Gorgeous in the Spring.
Nice jaunt up to the Taj trail. I have only done it once and was surprised by how much snow there still was at the top of the loop – lost the trail for a while and post-holed around. Still great fun.
Fun times trying to go fast around Johnson’s Hole.On Monday I did a double loop of the Johnson’s Hole and Great Western (Dragon’s Back) trails, once each direction. Afterwards I noticed that I wasn’t too far off from getting a course record, so I went back on Wednesday and redlined the clockwise loop, poaching the CR. We’ll see how long it lasts.
Work brought me to Santa Barbara and I took advantage of the warmer weather to get out for an early morning run. I headed up Mission Canyon to Inspiration Point. The town was socked in with low clouds and fog, so it was gorgeous to get above it. Short and sweet. Back to my hotel and showered before 9 AM.
I had bigger plans to do a big loop in the Santa Ynez Mountains, clockwise hitting Arlington and Cathedral and La Cumbre Peaks, then the Camino Cielo road to Angostura Pass, and then the Tunnel Trail back to Mission Canyon. Once I hit the trail I realized I wasn’t feeling it. My left heel is still feeling bruised and I didn’t want to push it.
Brought snowshoes, only needed spikes.
When you find yourself in Arizona in January, you go for some hikes and runs. Hit the Bursera Trail with the Mrs. this morning. I love the smell of creosote and wet desert in the morning!
I have lost a good amount of weight this year and on the trails I have noticed myself feeling stronger, getting faster, and breaking PRs. Here’s a few recent ones.
A few weeks ago I went out for a street run in the evening and accidentally got a 10k PR of 53:32.
This accidental PR made me curious, so the next week I went back out and tried to go faster. I did, clocking a 51:01 10k PR. I am really NOT a road runner – my fitness is so much more tuned to trails – so putting down mid 8:00 min/mile pace for miles on end is a real challenge. Or, it used to be. Again, with the weight dropped, I didn’t feel like maintaining this pace was as hard as it should be. I felt great!
A couple of days later I tried to crank out a flat 5k PR. My previous was 24:00 (last year’s Pima Turkey Trot) and I beat it by 30 seconds, coming in at 23:30 for a flat 5k. This one hurt a bit.
At this year’s Turkey Trot in Orem, I pushed again and shaved of 3 more seconds! Ha! 23:27 is my new flat 5k PR.
Curious about how this newfound strength would translate to trails, I have also recently picked a few old favorite routes and tried to bang them out faster than I have before.
I dropped about 7 minutes of my previous PR on the 10 mile out and back from the Indian Road Trailhead to Bridal Veil Falls.
I also redid a 6.6ish mile up the Lindon Squiggles / Crop Circles trails that I have done a few times. It felt so good. I cut 3 minutes off my previous PR. It felt great to clock 12-13 minute miles w/ ~300ft climbing per mile on the way up and then bomb the descent.
So . . . where should I go next? I have lots more old trail routes to revisit . . .
Family trip to Moab. We had a lot of fun and exploring Fisher Towers, the Kane Creek Area, and the Fiery Furnace in Arches. We found lots of petroglyphs (all well-known panels) and took a wrong turn in the Fiery Furnace and wandered around, lost but having a blast!
Every time I loop Battle Creek and Grove Creek Canyons I say, “why has it been so long?!” This time I took one of our plant and wildlife science professors with me. He studies aspen trees, among other things, and it was fascinating to see how he viewed the landscape and environment. His scientist eyes saw so much that I glanced right over. so much fun. I’m disappointed that I missed the autumn leaves, but it was still beautiful.
I have bagged Big Baldy via the SW ridge (steepest route), and via Battle Creek Canyon and the Baldy Saddle. Today I tried the final main option, up Dry Canyon to the Baldy Saddle. Dang oh dang. It is steep. 3.5 miles to the top with 3,500 climbing – not evenly distributed. Then, bombing back down. It was a gorgeous day but I was pretty beat up by the time I got back to my car.
I go through phases where I hit a trail system a bunch of times in a row, then don’t go back for a year. Well, this September was aparently my time to mess around some more on the (mtn bike) trails on the south side of the Provo Canyon, off FS 027 Sq. Peak Road. It was hot and these trails offer more shade than most. I had some fun, then went back and tried to do it all faster, then hiked there with my kids and wife, then went back again and pushed for PRs. I have been feeling stronger lately and it was fun to push so hard and today on the 20th I broke all my PRs for the trails.
Here’s 3 of the more noteworthy outtings.
With the family still out of town I took advantage of the open Saturday to try to summit Mount Nebo. After waiting out some hail in the car at the parking lot, I took off. Perfect temps, but the clouds looked ominous. Sure enough, right as I got to ridge overlooking Utah Valley to the West thunder started banging and a really strong cold wind picked up. Looking west towards the approaching storm I was right on the edge of it. There was a chance it would swing south of me, but there was a chance it would hit me on the exposed ridge to the summit. I don’t mess with lighting, especially on ridges. Some people coming off the ridge said they could feel electricity crackling around them and in their fingertips – so I think I made a smart choice to bail. Looking back up as I ran back to the car and drove off…I think I would have been ok. I think the storm swung pretty far south – but it was better to play it safe. Nebo’s not going anywhere. I’ll be back.
It was my birthday today and although I don’t usually go out on Sundays my family was out of town and I was all by myself. So, I gave myself a peak for my bday. My plan was to tag Cascade Mountain. But dang, the climb up from Big Springs to the Cascade Saddle just killed me. I was so hot, so low on energy. When I got to the saddle and looked at how far away the peak was, I knew I didn’t have it in me. Bummer. After resting for a few minutes at the saddle I looked south and thought that Freedom or Shingle Mill Peaks looked doable. I headed off, missed the trail turn off and ended up following some terraces and then shwhacking up to the saddle between the two peaks. The ridge going up Freedom looked too sketchy for a solo outting. Class 3 climbing. So, I worked my way up to Shingle Mill, finding some cairns to follow along the way. A fun little peak. On the way down I took the north ridge – much better route than what I took up. I bombed down to Big Springs a bit too fast, beat my quads up good.
I spied a waterfall down-canyon from Bridal Veil and realized it was probably accessible from one of the side trails I have seen popping off of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Sure enough, one did. After the waterfall I went along a pipeline trail that got pretty shwhacky. It wouldn’t have been bad except for BEES swarming around breaks in the line and the fact that it all looked terribly snakey. No snakes though.
My neighbor Cody and I tackled the loop up Slide and down Slate Canyons. We saw a small rattlesnake just above the Y. It was hot going up Slide. Up top is gorgeous though. Wow. The drop down into the Slate Canyon drainage (coming from Slide to the north) is just stunning. Lots of rutted out rocky trail though. Not nice on the ankles.
I have been scheming for a long time to get up on the south end of the Timpanogos Massif ridgeline via Provo Canyon. The most common route is via Slide Canyon. This was my first time up there. A shwhack for a lot of it, but gorgeous. I hit a headwall, was running out of time, and didn’t see an obvious way around. After looking at the map when I got home I figured out the way around (to the right) I should have taken. Just after that headwall/waterfall there is a scree slope up to the right that gets you on the ridge that takes you to the top of Sundance. I’ll be back…
Work brought me to Europe, something that has never happened before. Paris France, Krakow Poland, and Saarbrucken Germany.
It hurt. But I did it. South Fork Rd, down Provo Canyon. My first sub 2:00 half marathon. Lots of PRs on this one! Now if I could find a *slightly* steeper route…I could go even faster!
There are a bunch of canyons that go up the south end of the Timpanogos Massif from Provo Canyon. Some have “trails.” I’ve been wanting to go up them for a long time. I went up past a few waterfalls and up to where it turns into a long scree slope. To the left I went up a fork that cliffed out. I know other have gone up there, and I am pretty sure I spotted a route on the left side of the cliff headwall where a hidden staircase of sorts could go up and over. I’ll have to try it again when I have someone with me. Here’s a few pics from Lost Creek Canyon.
A conference placed me in Las Vegas. I do not like Las Vegas. So, to escape the strip I took a quick afternoon trip out to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which I had heard is quite nice. Wow. I tackled the 8 mile White Rock Canyon Loop – including the out-and-back up to La Madre Spring. I quickly remembered how much I dislike running in the heat.
Work placed my family and I in Moab with an afternoon free and open. We hit Arches National Park last year, but took the chance to tag a few spots we had missed last time. We were hoping to get a permit for the Fiery Furnace, but they were all gone by the time we arrived. Nevertheless, we tagged Delicate Arch and made our way up into the Devil’s Garden for Landscape and Navajo Arch. Gorgeous country.
An odd scheduling situation placed me at the mouth of Slate Canyon in Provo with an hour to kill. I haven’t explored south of Rock and Slide Canyons at all and have been wanting to. The trail was rocky and steep enough to be uncomfortable on the run down. However, it was gorgeous. I need to link it up with some trails on the backside next.
For how much I go on about how much I love the stretch of the Great Western Trail between the tops of Grove Creek and Battle Creek, I don’t get up there all that much. I recently realized how much I dislike coming down Battle Creek, and finally decided to try my usual up Grove -> down Battle loop in reverse. This also makes sense since the Battle Creek trailhead is closer to my house. My neighbor Cody was itching for some trails so we hit the loop and it was great. I think I’ll always do the loop in this direction from here on out. There was some snow along the top, but it was totally runnable and we were lucky to hit it when the mud was mostly dry. Dang. So beautiful.
Lots of short runs lately, so I decided to see if I was up for a bit more mileage. A fellow professor joined me to run the Timp Trail Half Marathon course. We’ve had so little snow, I suspected most of the route was dry. I was mostly right – a couple patches of wet dirt, some mud, but not bad.
What was bad was my body. Not only did I get killer cramps in both calves and one quad, but one of my IT bands flared up. WHAT?! What is this? 2015? IT bands? Sheesh. In any case, it was a beautiful, but frustrating outting.
I live under the shadow of Cascade Mountain and one of my goals this year was to summit it. It is a long haul though – with a 5-7 mile approach to the saddle and then 3 miles up a trail-less ridgeline to the summit. That means a minimum of 16 miles roundtrip. With little water access, I was leaving this for the fall when the temps dropped. It looks like I waited too long though – or didn’t time it right.
Another history professor joined me for our morning start at Big Springs. About a mile up the Big Spring Hollow Trail we hit snow but it wasn’t bad – 2 inches max in the shady spots. We made it up the 7 miles to the saddle and the views were great. Unfortunately, the 1-2 inches of snow on the ridgeline made it pretty slick. All of the rocks that might turn ankles were slippery. Moreover, the main ridgeline was up in the clouds. We opted to call it a day with the saddle. Instead of going back down the east side, we dropped down into Rock Canyon. Gorgeous, but such a rough crummy trail in parts. It would be fine for hiking but annoying to run on.
I have been wanting to summit the modest bump of Little Baldy (just south of Big Baldy in Utah County) for a while and have been eyeing the west ridge for the approach. Tim joined on this ill-advised adventure, but the fall leaves promised good views. Indeed, the colors were popping. We went up from Dry Canyon, the wound our way up to the bottom of the West ridge. It was mostly clear – a trail faded in and out but there wasn’t too much schwhack required…until we got to the first summit (there seem to be 2). There was a cairn on the western-most summit, but I think the true summit is just northeast of there. Unfortunately, everything between the two summits was a schwhack! After the taller NE summit, we found a trail, then lost it, and schwhacked over to the Great Western Trail, which I knew was close. From there bombed down to Trail 051, but missed an important turn in the twilight and had to do a bit of guesswork to work our way down to the BST and then back to Dry Canyon. In all, it was a great evening, even if our scratched up bloody legs stung something fierce in the shower!
I summited a certain peak above Rock Canyon again – only my second time up there. The views are spectacular, but every time I go up or down Rock Canyon I tell myself I’m not putting it in heavy rotation. So rocky – not fun running. It is gorgeous though. This trip was planned when a visiting scholar wanted me to take them out trail-running. Max (who lives in Lincoln, NE where I spent 7 years) had a great time talking history, religion, Nebraska, and life. I rarely run with others but always enjoy it when I do.
Since friends have run some races in the Tushar Mountains and raved about how blown away there were by the place I have been dying to get up there. With the Mrs. out of town I took the kids on a little trip. Though our two hikes was aborted early without reaching either intended end point, we did enjoy some dirt road driving, old mining camps exploring, etc.
Wow. I will be back.
A couple fellow professors joined up for a run after our department meeting today. We looped from the Rock Canyon trailhead over to Slide Canyon, hiked up to the Y, past it and up past Apache Falt, down First Right Fork, and then down Rock Canyon. Over and up to the Y it was blistering hot – in the mid-90s. By the end as we descended Rock Canyon, it was on and off torrential downpour. Ha! It was fun to get out with colleagues, talk history, careers, etc.
Murdock Peak sits above the top of Millcreek Canyon, to the north. Most tag it from there. An alternate approach from Lambs Canyon requires access to private property roads, which I was lucky enough to have this weekend at a friend’s family cabin. We took some old forgotten and overgrown roads and trails. It was gorgeous.
We started at Salamander Pond/Lake and took an old road up past it. It was overgrown, but there was a clear double-track. Along the way we found random signs of recent traffic off the road, but not much on the road. Before reaching Murdock Basin, the faint track of the old road crossed a big meadow in the opposite direction of the northern summit ridge. Had we studied a map beforehand, we would have seen that it does indeed continue, and hook up with a trail that reaches the peak from the east. Instead, we schwacked up a game trail west to the ridge and followed a “trail” up the ridgeline to the peak. We came down what my friend had heard was the better route from Lambs Canyon, down the ridge to the west, and then a 90 degree turn down the ridge towards Lambs Canyon. Sure enough, there was a strong trail the whole way. It was a fun loop though.
I just couldn’t get enough – Timp was so beautiful last week. This time I did in the heat of the day and suffered for it. It was hot and I had a sour stomach for a lot of it. However, once up top I had the summit to myself and I saw some nice goats at the saddle on my way down. Well worth it!
Oh hallelujah! I finally got up Timp! I got dumped on by a huge rainstorm and freezing wind on the way up, and then baked in sweltering hot humidity on the way down. In other words, amazing. I was a slow day though. I stopped under some trees a few times to wait out the rain and some huge groups of people (way more than the 15 person limit for Wilderness Areas) created some long traffic jams at the snow crossings.
Last minute decision to head up to Davis County and run the ridgeline portion of the Great Western Trail between Francis and Thurston Peaks – the highest 2 in Davis County. This is the trail where I first cut my teeth on higher altitudes and have some very fond memories of the place. MVH joined me and it was a great evening run. We went out to Thurston, then dropped down to Smith Creek Lakes on the return. There were even some snow fields to cross still hiding up there.
I seem to be playing a lot in Provo Canyon lately instead of on the Orem/Lindon foothills/bench like I did for my first couple years here. Now that I look at some of these, I was clearly looking for routes with good amounts of flat. However, today I hopped over to the south side of the canyon to explore some mountain bike trails that I knew snaked around the hills east of FS Rd 027 (Sq. Peak Road). Fun times exploring!
Work took me up to Vancouver, British Columbia for a conference and I was able to squeeze a couple runs in. I wanted to get up to Squamish or Girabaldi, but time wouldn’t allow it.
First, I ran the seawall around Stanley Park. Pavement, but gorgeous. I am really like my new Altra Escalante shoes for the pavement. It was amazing to breath in familiar smells from my PacNW upbringing – salt water, kelp, skunk cabbage, evergreens, etc. Amazing evening.
Before leaving, I even got a little dirt in – some trails with a friend in Pacific Pride Park. It felt 100% like my hometown trails around Whatcom Falls Park.
For work I did a writing retreat to a friend’s off-grid remote cabin in the Murdock Mountain region of Nevada, Elko County. Not only did I get an incredible amount of work done revising my book manuscript, but I took a few hours to tag the local peak. I approached from southwest, up a jeep road. I hit the saddle west of the false west summit and the wind was just ripping over it. It was gorgeous though. Along the ridgeline up to the west summit, then down and up to the main summit – views for days. From there, I continued east for the descent and looped some other jeep roads back down. It was possibly the most remote adventure run I have done. I was the first person to sign the summit registry since 2015! Ha! I’ll go back and do the full ridgeline someday.
I have been eyeing Mt. Mahogany for a while – from the freeway, while climbing up Grove Creek, from Timpooneke Rd., etc. I decided I needed to do a full traverse of the ridgeline – in preparation (hopefully!) for a full Timp ridgeline traverse later this year. MVH came with, and it was a great day on the mountain!
We started at the Grove Creek Trailhead. To climb this south end of Mahogany, most take the Grove Creek Trail up to the bridge, then go straight up the scree north of that. That leads to the southernmost end of the Mahogany massif. For a cleaner “ridge” approach, we went straight up the SW ridge that begins at the Grove Creek trailhead.
It was steep, but fairly straight forward. There were a number of “trails,” and game trails. At the occasional cliff-band, stay left (north) and they are easy to skirt around. Steep though. 3,000 ft. climbing in 2 miles.
Once at the top, you are met with a beautiful set of verdant meadows – amazing spots for camping, though it would be a haul with lots of gear!
The summit was great, but I’m always amazed at how ridgelines that seem to only have one main pitch, always have multiple climbs. They are always steeper and longer than they look from the valley floor.
Coming down off the summit, continuing north, there was some fun snow to glissade down.
We made our way to the northern edge of the ridge where it drops down into American Fork Canyon. I jogged up and to the right to bag the north summit. Views for days. The descent down the NW ridge was steep – my knees didn’t like that.
Above the Orem Gun Range there is a great set of squiggle trails that lead up to Trail Nr. 051. Between there and Little Baldy I have noticed a series of green meadows that lead up in between the trees and have long wanted to explore them. So, I did. I did the climb out of the gun range a couple times, and messed around in those little meadows a bit. So quiet – I didn’t once see a single person up in them.
I have been doing my best to seduce a new neighbor (kind of old family friend) to the trails. So far, pretty good. I have taken him up the Lindon Squiggles, around the BST, the Dry Canyon – Altar/Rock Pile loop, the Johnsons Hole / Taj Mahal / GW loop, etc. Good times. I still struggle to believe all of these great trails are just a 5 minute drive away.
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Above Timpanogos Park there is a great set of squiggly trails (obviously built by mountain bikers) that some call the racetrack. If you loop a specific route, it is exactly 2 miles around. Super fun. I have done it a few times now in the snow, mud, and dirt.
Go put it on your phone or watch and try to follow it! Great route.
Racetrack Clockwise
Racetrack Counterclockwise
Work took me down to Emery County for a couple days of digging in the archives. On my way out of Castledale on the last day, I realize I was only a few miles from the Wedge. I figured it was my moral duty to go for a quick run before driving home. For something new, I started at the Wedge Overlook and ran WEST along the dirt road, and then a bit along the rim, then to the overlook that is directly across (south) from Virgin Spring Canyon. It was overcast and the canyon colors were a bit washed out, but still gorgeous.
I grew up snowboarding in NW Washington and had never skied. However, lots of my trailrunning friends have been posting pictures of backcountry ski-touring. I couldn’t let them have all the fun so I hunted on the used classifieds and put together a pretty good set-up. Some Surface Sherpa skis with dynafit speed turn tech bindings, some La Sportiva sparkle tech boots, and some G3 skins.
So, before I knew it, I was skinning up Sq Peak road and then realizing I didn’t know how to ski down. Thankfully the road isn’t too steep, so my rudimentary pizza wedge worked fine. The boots KILLED though.
After getting the boots adjusted I return to the same road, went up higher and felt great. The new snow, however, made the way back down very slow – lots of pushing and having to stay in my tracks. So, not much practice getting turns on the downhill.
3rd attempt I skinned up from the Lindon equestrian parking lot up to make-out point just north of Dry Canyon. The way up was great. Downhill was a disaster. I picked a broad treeless open slope because it would give me the space to do long wide turns. There was a lot of deep snow, which made turning hard and who would have guessed that not know how to ski at all would make going down difficult. It was embarrassing.
4 attempt I went with a friend from Tibble Fork Resevoir in AF Canyon up to Silver Lake Flat via the road and trail, and then took the road down. It was great. Steep enough on the way down that I didn’t have to push a lot but not too steep. I got some turns in and started to figure out the mechanics of it.
Finally, on an afternoon after work I ponied up some dollars and got an evening lift ticket at Sundance. It was great! After a few runs I figured out how to distirbute my weight from one foot to the other, carve back and forth, slow down, dodge trees, etc. There was a good 18 inches of fresh snow, which didn’t make for the best learning conditions, but it went very well. By the end of the day I could swish down greens and blues without much trouble. Huzzah!
President’s Day Weekend trip to Moab! It was wet and a bit rainy, but great. We did the Island in the Sky and Needles Districts of Canyonlands and Arches. Pictures will go on the family blog.
Every winter I start pounding out more pavement miles because I’m too lazy to run the snowy or muddy trails and every winter I get overuse injuries. So far so good this winter! I have mixed in some treadmill with some street runs, culminating with an accidental 1/2 marathon. I have only done a 1/2 on pavement once before. This time, I was planning to run from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to Nunn’s Park and back – about 6 miles. When I got to Nunn’s I was feeling good and figured I should head another 1/2 mile up to Bridal Veil Falls to see it. It had been warm, the Provo River was surging so high, and I thought it might be fun to see. Once I got there, I figured I should probably just go all the way to Vivian Park so I could say I had done the full canyon trail up and down. When I got back to my car I was at 11.75 miles, so I figured I was ethically and morally obligated to run another 1.5 to make it a full 13.1 miles. I was a bit stiff by the end. A couple days later I did a 4 mile “recovery” run that started sore and ended great. The next morning all soreness was gone, so I am again converted to the recovery run idea for shaking out sore tight muscles.
For some reason my last few local runs have all been around the Johnson’s Hole area. There are a lot of dirt access roads for the aqueducts and water infrastructure up there – which makes for some nice easy miles, when I’m too lazy or beat up to bang out the singletrack. Here’s some recent routes.
I took the kids up to some boulders above Johnson’s Hole that have petroglyphs on them. Very cool. They are quite weathered due to their being out in the elements. My archaeologist friends date these to the pre-Fremont era, pre-1,000 AD.
Enthused by the area I went back to explore more. I did a double loop of the Johnson’s Hole / Great Western, one in each direction, then explored up-canyon on one of the lower aqueduct (Union?) roads, climbed back up to the Alta Aqueduct road. There I found the old 1857 Provo Canyon Guard Quarters, built during the Utah War and then manned for a while to monitor Native activities in the region. I also got in a good schwack and sliced my leg up on the scrub oak. It had been a while, I figured.
This run was particularly soul-invigorated. I was up in a region with TONS of access, trails, dirt roads, etc., but I didn’t see a single person. I felt so good to have the place to myself.
Today it was 75 and it is supposed to snow in a couple days, so I figured I should get one last sweaty run in.
Work found me in Nashville, Tennessee this week. I managed to squeeze in one run in the large Percy Warner Park. Fall leaves were bright and the temperatures were perfect. The trails were well-maintained but at times rocky. I was particularly surprised by how taxing the constant up-down-up-down was. Very hilly and tough to get into a good rhythm. The fact that my stomach was totally off (too much delicious fried southern food) probably didn’t help.
I found myself in St. Paul Minnesota for work and with a free afternoon. I made the most of it, taking a bus out to trail head and then linking the Battle Creek Regional Park(s) and Indian Mounds State Park trails back to my hotel. Good times.
I suspected there was still a lot of color up in the hills. I was right. From a distance, the flanks of Big and Little Baldy looked like they were covered by motley patches of multicolored lichen or something.
I have been out of commission for about 3 weeks with a cold turned sinus infection turned lingering cold. Yikes. I haven’t been this sick for this long in a while. Being sick in the summer is just cruel. Beautiful weather, but stuck inside.
I finally had to get out. I hit up Johnson’s Hole from Canyon Glen Park. I can’t believe I’d never been up there before. It’ll be gorgeous in the spring when the grass is green. I looped it up to the aqueduct roads for about 6.5 miles. It wasn’t that hot, but I felt pretty slow and low. Very quickly it became apparent that I am not as recovered from this illness as I thought I was.
I’ve said it before, but I really am pleased as punch with the easy access and quality of some of my backyard local trails. 3-5 minute drive to a trailhead and I can put in as few or as many easy miles as I want around the foothills. Add a canyon in for some elevation, or just putter around the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and countless offshoots. Here’s 3 recent ones.
I took another friend out for his first trailrun with me. Good times. I think he’ll get hooked.
I like this little 4.5 mile-ish route. Super close trailhead. A slow steady climb, a little squiggly descent, then back. Super fast and easy. For some reason, on this day, I decided to knock it out in the 102 degree hit midday, just to see if I could. I felt pretty good for the first mile, then the heat really started to sink in.
I went back and did the same route a week later, but at twilight. Faster, until it got dark and I had to pull out the flashlight.
I lived in Lincoln Nebraska for 7 years as a graduate student and one year of teaching. I didn’t run. Not once. I pulled out my mtn. bike a couple times, but only hit dirt once. We were back visiting friends and I decided to go run that dirt – along the Salt Creek in the Wilderness Park. It was about 4PM, in the 90s, and about 50-70% humidity. Oh my word. I haven’t sweat that profusely since my Rim2River2Rim at the Grand Canyon last October. Nevertheless, it was fun. The heat was oppresive and slowed me down, but it was fun to run in an environment from a past life – wondering what life would have been like if I had discovered running and trail-running back when I lived there.
This was the first time I had registered and planned on running a half marathon. I did run one a couple months ago, but that was after dropping down from a 55k at the last minute. This meant that I went into it knowing that 13.1 miles was the target. With my 50k race I have made game plans, but that is a lot of miles to plan out, and I’m still pretty inexperienced so whatever plans I make tend to fall apart as the day wears on. With 13.1 miles, however, I felt I could make a careful plan.
So, here’s what it was: Go out very conservative for the first 4 miles of climbing. Pick a comfortable but challenging pace for the middle 5 miles of downhill. Pick up the pace for the last 4 miles and finish by going out strong and fast.
It almost worked out that way.
The Capitol Reef Half Marathon course is rugged. People had told me this of all the distances there put on by Ultra Adventures, but I brushed it off. I was used to rough trails here in the Wasatch, so how bad could it be. Well, it turns out that running rough trails for fun and running them for a RACE feels very different. In the racing mindset, the rugged and schwacky miles seemed to wear on me more than they do back home when I’m out for fun – both physically and mentally.
The first 2 miles of the course climb up the Great Western Trail for a total of about 1,000 ft. elevation gain. I resisted the adrenaline-induced urge to power ahead with the faster runners, knowing I had to conserve energy for later. This strategy served me well. At 2 miles hit the Government Creek trailhead area and veered east up a “trail” that climbed for another 2 miles and 1,000 feet towards. This part was quite rough and overgrown. Not runnable – at least not for me.
With the 4 miles of climbing done, I was excited to hit the downhill. Unfortunately, miles 5-6 wound past the Bullberry Lakes and down to Coleman Reservoir through an area that had previously been gutted by a forest fire. Now, however, aspen trees and dense ground cover were aggressively taking over. Though downhill (some quite steep and technical), it wasn’t very runnable. So overgrown.
At mile 6 we hit a water drop and a nice dirt road. I topped off my water, got some coke, and charged on. Miles 7-9 followed the road (Bullberry Trail) down to where we had started. It was warming up, but I was feeling ok. I still tried to hold back my pace a little bit in order to have something left in the tank for the finish. Looking back, I definitely could have and should have pushed this a tiny bit harder. These two miles (and the mile after the aid station) took too long.
Once at the aid station where we started, I got a bit more water and coke, some salt tabs, and took off. We ran the Teasdale TV Tower Road for about a mile until the Great Western branches back off. I suddenly felt sluggish and no energy. Once the route branches off onto a double track, my energy returned, though my pace didn’t necessarily pick up. It was a fun curvy up and down trail through some pretty red rock areas, but slower going than the dirt road had been.
I should have pushed the dirt road before a LOT harder as I wasn’t going to pick up much time on the double track.
Right before the finish, the route crossed highway 24 and I glanced down at my watch to see what my time was. It looked like it was right at 3:00 even. I took off, trying to sprint to the finish to come in under 3 hours. It hurt. Then, as I approached the finish line I saw the clock read 2:57:something. HA! I could have taken it easy.
In the end, I finished in 20th place out of about 50-60 runners. Had I pushed those 3 miles (7-10) on the dirt road a bit harder and shaved 3-5 minutes off my time, I could have picked up 5-6 spots. No worries though – I wasn’t in it to win, just to finish.
My plan to run conservative and save energy for the end mostly finished. I felt strong in my last few miles than I did back at the Zion Half Marathon. In all, a gorgeous, rugged, hot day.
A few short hikes and runs.
I took my 12 year old niece out for a trail run. She is getting into cross country and it was a lot of fun to give her a taste of the Wasatch dirt. We took the Buffalo Peak Trail from the Little Rock Canyon overlook, up to the peak, and then looped down FS 27 back to the car.
Then, I took my sister-in-law (a 50k-er like myself) on the Timpooneke Trail. She has in injured quad so we just went up to the 2 mile meadow.
Then, I took the Mrs. up the same trail as well. She had been up to Scout Falls (about 1.5 miles up) with our kids before. She tested out her new Altra Lone Peaks and loved them. It was so gorgeous up there.
My local trail-running club, the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers, adopted the Timpooneke Trail Nr. 053 and Mt. Timpanogos Summit Trail Nr. 054 – two of the most heavily used trails in the entire state of Utah. Last night I joined for the first organized trail work event, clearing out the first mile of trail with loppers and shovels. It was looking gorgeous and I knew I’d need to get up farther in the near future. Then, this afternoon a friend posted that he hit the summit and the trail was in good shape. So, before I knew it, I had geared up and hit the trail.
Starting out it was in the 90s, but as I worked through the first couple miles, up past Scout Falls, and to the big meadow at mile two, it cooled significantly. Actually, it was perfect.
The first snow was a small field in the middle of the big scree field around mile 3. After that, the next section was a sketchy mote (ice bridge) at about mile 3.7. My friend had warned me not to take the well-worn path right off the trail, but to follow his footsteps about 10-15 higher up to cross. When I got there, the main path looked good, but I followed his instructions and scrambled up higher. I’m glad I did. From the approach, the mote looks solid, but looking back at it (see below) you can see that it is completely undercut and quite thin.
Once I got up to the Timp basin, the peak was bathed in light – its breathtaking.
On the trip from the basin floor up to the saddle there were a few snow fields to cross. Nothing too sketchy. If you slid, you’d go a ways down, but no cliffs to fly off. On my way up I encountered a huge group of Mountain Goats – I counted at least 20.
Once I got to the saddle and looked up at the summit, I realized just how far up it is. I have only done this once before. I tried to make good time, but at that elevation I could feel my heart pounding. Its quite a scramble. The summit is just about 7 miles from the Timpooneke trailhead.
I didn’t linger at the summit long. It had had taken me longer than I had planned to get up and I knew that I would be chasing daylight. It was now about 8:30 PM. I had a headlamp with but really wanted to get down all of the snow traverses and across that mote before having to switch it on. So, I tried to huff it down. A couple of the snow crossing felt sketchier on the way down than up. I also glissaded down one on my butt. That was fun, but a bit faster than I had thought it would be!
I did make it down and across the mote before stopping to put my headlamp on. I put some music on the loud speaker of my phone to alert any animals of my presence – terrified of running into something in the dark. It was a bit spooky coming down the last 4 miles. I picked away at it fairly slow. The trail has a lot of rocks and roots to trip on.
I made it safely to my car – about 5 hours round trip, 45 minutes longer than my first trip up last year. Next time, without the snow or dark, I’ll push for sub-4.
It was 90+ and I knew that the BST from Indian Hills to Bridal Veil Falls would have almost no shade. 10 miles round trip. Sounds great, eh?
The Bryce 50k is coming up in 9 days and it is forecast to be hot, so I wanted to see how I fared in the heat. The trip to Bridal Veil was hot, but I had plenty of water. At the falls I took off my shirt, submerged it and put it back on ice cold. Nice! As I left to make the return trip I had a genius idea. On the way there I had drank both of the bottles of ice water in my chest pockets, saving the (almost) full bladder for the return. As I thought how nice the cold wet shirt felt and how it would probably be dry and hot within 5 minutes or so I looked down at the stream, looked at my empty bottles, looked back at the stream and then the light bulb went on. I filled both bottles up – not to drink, but to intermittently dump over my head, down my back, on my arms, down my chest, etc. It was genius and it seemed to keep my core body temp down. I did the return trip faster than the way out as well, and I was feeling great. I attribute it to the bottles of water. I think I’ll do this at Bryce. Have 2 empty bottles in my drop bag at mile 14. By that point it will be warming up. Then, take them with to cool me off. Refill at the mile 22.5, etc. I think it’ll be a good way to keep a bit cooler.
Sometime, when you have a pile of midterm exams to grade and it nice outside, you throw them in a pack, run up a trail and sit down by a waterfall to mark’m up.
Barring catastrophic weather, bad falls, rolled ankles or other injuries, getting attacked by wild animals, etc., even the worst trail-run is still pretty great. The BST and squiggly wiggly trails above Orem/Lindon (especially between Dry Creek and Battle Creek) are kind of my treadmill. A little vert, a little technical single track, some flat sections to really open up and run. A bit of everything. The trails aren’t spectacular, although the sunsets, alpenglow, tall grass (in the Spring) are sometimes beautiful. Not too flashy, somewhat. Venturing up the canyons cranks up the beauty level, but when time is short I usually stick around the less-spectacular foothills.
They are especially plain this time of year, mostly dirty brown. The trails are in rough shape following the snow melts, lots of new rocks in the trail, rutted up from bikes and horses and runners going in the mud, etc.
Even so – it is still a balm for my soul. I can feel the itch if I don’t get out for a while. After 4-5 days with no dirt, I start to get really antsy. So, having these trail heads 5 minutes from my house is saving me.
Here’s to boring, but wonderful, local trails!
3 Cheers!
I thought I’d take a chance on FS 27, Sq*** Peak Road in the snow. Mostly firm, but enough soft spots to cause a few tumbles on the way back down from the overlook. I thought I’d leave a little blood for the mountain lions to taste.
Last year and this year I organized a secret Santa type gift exchange for my trail-running club, the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers. People signed up, I assigned them a person to hide for, people then hid gifts up in the mountains, and I then relayed the instructions/clues to the people they hid for. Last year it was fun and this year people enjoyed it again. Since I didn’t assign anyone to myself (that would be weird) a few very kind Wranglers hid gifts for me. Awesome people. I had fun finding them in Battle Creek Canyon, up the Church Fork in Millcreek Canyon (Grandeur Peak Trail), and Bells Canyon. Thank you Ben, Rebecca, and the mystery secret wrangler. You guys were very generous to hide some treats for me. I am seriously grateful.
SO FUN!
2015 was my 2nd full year trying to be a “runner” and it was full of a lot of “mile”stones. (see what I did there? Eh?! Eh?!) It really was big though. By the measures of some of my running friends, not so much. But for me, the guy who hates running, this has been quite a wild ride. I still can’t believe it.
Who have I become?!
I don’t even know who I am anymore!
Let’s review how I did with my goals. (here’s last year’s write-up)
Mileage:
Vert:
Summits:
Race and Adventure Runs
My 2015 Monthly Mileage
My 2015 Monthly Elevation Gain
Now, my 2016 Goals
Mileage:
Vert:
Summits:
Race and Adventure Runs
Friends! I am excited to announce that I have joined the Ultra Adventures team for 2016 as an ambassador.
This means I will help set up some races, run a few races, and try to convince all of you to come join! I don’t get kick-backs if you register off a referral, I just want as many people to come join the fun (and suffering) as possible. If you have been one of the many that comments on how beautiful the trails are in my pictures and posts, what are you waiting for?!
If I (the anti-runner) can slog through a 50k, ANYONE can train for a ½ marathon. Seriously. Get off the pavement and come join for a beautiful trail race in some of the most beautiful places in the country. You can read about my experience at Bryce last year – it was really amazing. Friends, both serious ultra-marathon athletes and casual runners, have all reported similar experiences at the UA events. If you have been toying with doing a race – at any distance – do it someplace beautiful.
In addition to hosting races in beautiful places, Ultra Adventures also promotes people getting out and seeing more through their Trifecta challenges. For each race, there are a series of additional hikes you can do in the area. If you complete them all, you can get a discount off your next race registration. I love that UA is willing to offer people discounts for going out and experiencing the places they are all passionate about. UA also promotes itself as zero-waste. Very cool stuff.
I’ll be at Monument Valley, Zion, Bryce, and Capitol Reef, but there are also events at Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Tushars, and Moab. If you have questions, message me about potential registration discounts I can offer.
Inspired by some recent calls in my church congregation to raise funds and supplies to aid the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, I decided to start a little fundraiser of my own. I have an old friend who runs a non-profit organization that provides education opportunities to Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. All funds raised will go to his Sadalsuud Foundation.
I am registered for the January 1, 2016 New Years Revolution Run at the Utah Olympic Oval. I will have 5 hours to complete as many laps as possible. 95.5 laps would be a marathon and I have set a goal to hit 100 laps. It is going to be horrible. I run, pretty much exclusively, as a way to get me up in the mountains to beautiful places. I am a trail runner, not a runner. So running in a circle for 5 hours, indoors, is going to be pure torture.
If you would like more information on how to pledge a $ amount per lap, visit this Facebook Event Page and message me.
Here is the current per-lap pledge total:
$11.60 per lap (updated 9 Dec.)
A couple weeks ago I was in Portland for a conference and found myself having the same conversation over and over again with professional colleagues and friends.
And that is how the conversation went, over and over again. It goes similarly when I am catching up with old friends or with family I haven’t seen in a while. Seriously – I’m not trying to be annoyingly self-deprecating and/or fish for compliments. I really don’t consider myself much of a runner.
Ok – get your eye rolls over with…..I’m waiting……ok. Now, let me explain.
I started “running” about 3 years ago, working my way up to a 5k and a 5 mile race back in Kearney, Nebraska in 2012. It was all pavement and it hurt. After a lifetime of hating running, however, it was exciting to actually do a race. Fast-forward to Summer 2013 when I moved to Utah and discovered there was this thing called “trail-running.” Having grown up hiking a lot, this was a revelation to me and I quickly dove in. However, I’m lazy and not very smart. Much of that first year of “running” was me getting over-use injuries from not knowing what I was doing. I kept at it though because I loved exploring trails, ridges, canyons, mountains, and beautiful places. Slowly, I also got hooked on the sense of accomplishment and physical exhilaration of doing hard things.
Along the way, however, I found myself in an uncomfortable place (and still do, to some extent). The trail-running friends and community I was interacting with seemed to be largely made up of people who ran ultra-marathons. 50k, 50 mile, 100k, 100 mile, and even 200 mile trail races! I was trying to be a “trail-runner” but unable to engage in the “So, what race is up next for you” conversation that usually accompanied interacting with them. It was awkward and I felt a bit sheepish. I freely admit that. I loved what I was doing, but wished I could do more. I really admired these people. What they did was amazing.
Slowly, as my strength grew, I felt like I actually could and wanted to try out a race myself. Not because I felt inadequate compared to my friends or out of any sense of competition. I just felt the desire to do it for myself. I did an ultra distance in December 2014 as a solo adventure run and then signed up for the Bryce 50k on June 6, 2015. It was an amazing experience. However, it didn’t fundamentally change how I felt about myself as a “runner.”
I was still slow, still under-trained, still a total noob amateur. And, I still am.
Increasingly, I am coming to the realization that I’m ok with that. I’m ok being a slowpoke, as long as I can keep on getting out there and seeing beautiful things. I love exploring. I love to be outside. I love the satisfaction and thrill of doing hard things. Official ultramarathon races are an exciting way to fulfill all of those motives for running.
This next Saturday, I will run my second 50k – the Antelope Island Fall Classic 50k. The weather is scheduled to be in the low-50s. Absolutely perfect. I don’t feel all that prepared but can’t wait to get out there. A friend said that doing 1 means you have run an ultramarathon. But doing 2 makes you an “ultramarathoner” as it means you’ve established a pattern of repeating the activity. I’m not sure about that…but I’m excited to see if I can beat my previous time. I’m excited to share the trail with others. I look forward to seeing friends, engaging in vigorous high-5s, and crossing the finish line.
Do I aspire to longer distances? Maybe some day. But I’m not in a hurry. Hopefully I have a lot of years ahead to get there.
A million thanks to new running friends that have entertained my efforts, and family that has put up with my new hobby.
Really, I have it good. There is a trail head for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail about 2 miles from my house. The trail isn’t anything over-the-top spectacular, but its great. I am so lucky to have nice easy trails so close. Also, it is perfect running weather. 50s. No overheating.
I found myself in Portland for a conference and was able to squeeze in a couple runs. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I was so fun to run on trails that look very much like “home.” Soft dirt, thick undergrowth of ferns, moss growing all over. Forest Park in Portland did not disappoint!
While still in Flagstaff, and on the drive home, I put in a few more miles.
A nice headlamp run up the Lindon Squiggles.
I made it about 30 minutes without the headlamp, but once I got up into some small stands of trees it got pitch dark. I forgot how creepy it can be up there.
Then, as I crossed the parking lot at Dry Canyon, a guy warned me about a rattler he heard near the trailhead. Sure enough, there it was in the middle of the trail. It was my first sighting this season.
The family spent a weekend at my in-laws cabin along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Island Park, Idaho (about 20 minutes southwest of West Yellowstone). It is gorgeous and this is the latest in the season we had been there. The leaves were stunning. The Mrs. and I took a little run along the river and then I doubled back when we got to the cabin and did it again solo. The place is crawling with grizzly bears, so despite the overwhelming urge to go explore the various ATV trails, I stuck to the main road.
With muscle relaxants doing their work, I was advised to try some easy slow runs. The Dr. didn’t have to ask me twice!
Thursday I hit the some Orem/Lindon BST. It was great to get out and move, but I did it in the heat of the day and the temps really got to me!
Feeling good, I tried a new place on Friday – up Provo Canyon and to Big Springs, on the backside of the Cascade Ridge. I went up the Big Springs / Shingle Mills Trail and down the Big Springs Hollow Trail.
Monday night I tried out some twisty mtn. bike trails above Lindon. It was a BLAST! Between all the twists and turns, there was a lot of flattish runnable terrain. I will definitely add this loop to my regular rotation.
I was lucky to visit my hometown in NW Washington with the family and squeezed in a few fun activities. With the back injury, I was limited in what I could do, but here’s a few run/hikes and pics.
Twice now, I have run a 7 mile loop from the Orem Gun Range > Dry Canyon > The Altar/Rockpile > Orem Gun Range.
I think it will be my regular treadmill run. It has it all. Runnable flat-ish rolling trails, a good steep climb, and some fun technical descents. The mile drop from the altar down to the fire break road is such a fun single-track. The grass is about chest high or higher so your immediate peripheral vision is just a blur as you fly down the trail – it feels like a video game.
Plus, its pretty gorgeous. I would only change the amount of loose rock on the back side when dropping down to the Altar. I may modify it, park at Dry Canyon and do the loop from there. That would leave more of the nice rolling BST for the end.
A week from right now I will be somewhere in the middle of my first ultra marathon – the Bryce 50k. Hopefully, I will be well hydrated, feeling strong, and loving the experience. Today, I should be putting in a few easy miles, but I’m not. Old stress fractures in both of my lower legs / ankles, and a possibly bruised foot are flaring up and I desperately want them to be pain free when I race next week.
So instead, I drove my new toy – a 1980 Vespa P200E up the Sq*** Peak road above Rock Canyon, sat down on a rocky outcrop overlooking Rock Canyon, and am doing some writing for a new book project. Well, I was…now I’m blogging, I guess. It is about 60 degrees, the hillsides are unseasonably green due to some record breaking rainfall, birds are chirping, etc… Heaven.
My word – how did I get lucky enough to live somewhere so beautiful. Everyday when I walk out of my house to the view of Mt. Timpanogos, or walk out of my office to the stunning views of the Wasatch Mountains beside campus, or drive 10 minutes up the canyon to idyllic mountain meadows and groves of aspen, I have to pinch myself. This place is ridiculous. The Wasatch isn’t subtle about its beauty. No modesty here. It slaps you in the face with it. And, not only is it stunning, but it is accessible. You aren’t separated by an hour-long drive through foothills to get to the Mountains. The mountains just pop up straight from the valley floor. Magnificent.
I have been lucky to live in some beautiful places. My home town – Bellingham, Washington – is nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the ocean. It’s about as close to perfection as your can get. An outdoors wonderland.
But what about Nebraska? I lived there for 9 years, and looking back, regret not having explored more. While there, my best friend from growing up would regularly post pictures of his adventures in the Cascades and I would be so jealous. Come to think of it, over the past couple years as I have posted my trail-running pics, a number of friends have messaged me saying how jealous they are. Jealous – just like I was while back in Nebraska. Did it have the kind of nature that rubs your face in how beautiful it is? No. It’s more subtle. And, I regret not having taken advantage of that. There were a lot of strikingly beautiful places and things about the Great Plains. Instead of just being jealous of my friend’s adventures, why wasn’t I out making my own?!
This is all easy to say now that I live in Utah. Do I prefer my mountains? Sure. But, I now realize that you can and must learn to love where you live. To this end I always try to find beautiful trails to run when I travel. And, I’ve found them! There are different kinds of natural beauty, but I think that the spirit-recharging power of wilderness and nature can be harnessed anywhere. I am learning that it is as much in your mind as is it in the landscape. Lots of people live here in the beauty of the Wasatch who DON’T climb up mountains to enjoy it. Pity. I guess it goes both ways.
In any case, enough rambling. Back to my writing.
Get outside people.
Find something beautiful.
Let it recharge you.
As it turns out, the last few weeks have been more mileage than usual. It felt good to hit the trails more regularly. Also a few hikes with the kiddos. Here’s the highlights:
2014 was first full year where I considered trail-running (or running at all) my primary hobby. Excited about the prospects of what I hoped to accomplish, I set the goals of running 500 miles and climbing 75,000 ft. At the time, it seemed like a lot. I still don’t like running, per se, and am primarily motivated by the excitement of exploring new places and challenge of doing hard things. Compared to my ultra-marathon friends, 500 miles is probably laughable.
So, how did I fare? I ended with 425 miles and over 81,000 ft. climbed. I was 75 miles short. Yarg! I partly blame February – where I didn’t run much at all due to a stress fracture on my left ankle. Truth be told, my mileage from January-April was less that I had hoped as the injury continued to plague me and I was worried about aggravating it and ruining my summer running plans. On the flip-side, I did beat my climbing goal.
I had also set the goal to summit the 3 highest peaks in Davis County (from the valley floor) – Thurston, Francis, and Bountiful Peaks. Which I did. I also pushed my “longest run ever” from 13.1 to 16+ to 20 to 29. I ran in the Zion Trail Ragnar and Wasatch Back Ragnar (ugh!) but look forward to some non-Ragnar trail races in the near future. I am pleased that I don’t think twice about going out for a 10-20 miler in the mountains.
Here is what I propose for 2015:
Why the repeat mileage goal? Well, running still isn’t a part of my daily routine. I don’t love simply putting in miles (on pavement), and I don’t want a mileage goal to force me to spending what precious free time I have out clocking miles on the road just to hit the goal. Moreover, I think it has been some of those road miles (attempting to keep up with my goal pace last year in January) that really aggravated my stress fracture and put me out for a while. I would rather be motivated by goals to summit peaks, explore new places, hit new distance PRs, etc…
Tomorrow morning I will attempt my first marathon-distance run. I have chosen the western ridges of the South Mountain Park/Preserve located on the southern edge of Phoenix, AZ. The longest I have run before was about 20 miles. So, this will be a jump in distance for me. I know that the strava tool I used to draw the route over estimated the elevation gain (it is more in the 6,000 than 8,700 ft, range). Conversely, I suspect that the the imprecision of the strava tool might have underestimated the distance. So – I might be attempting a 50k. We’ll see. The stress fractures in my ankles acted up the last couple weeks so I cut all training and haven’t run in about 14 days – trying to rest them. While good for my ankles, I bet that won’t be good for my conditioning. Boo. Maybe the 2,000 ft. elevation drop from home will help out.
In any case, tomorrow AM – send some positive vibes to Phoenix. I’ll need them!!!
In one of my many other lives, I run a music blog, Desert Island Mixtapes (also on facebook).
I just posted my Best Albums of 2014 list.
Some good running tunes on there.
This year, I ran a LOT to the new Spoon album, Braid album, and S. Carey album. The S. Carey album in particular got heavy rotation when up in the high mountains.
Enjoy!
I recently discovered that a fellow Western historian here in SLC trail runs and immediately set to planning a time to hit the dirt together. On a couple Tuesday mornings recently we have met at 6:00 AM and put in a few miles, talking about trails, races, and history. The company has been great and he hasn’t even seemed too perturbed by how slow I have taken some of the climbs. Seriously – I just can’t seem to muster much energy that early in the AM.
A couple weeks ago we started at City Creek, ran the BST west and north, then looped up to the 3 towers, down the backside to City Creek and back to the car. 7.7 miles @ 13:31 min/mile. Slow, but nice.
This week we started at Dry Canyon, followed it up to the very aptly named “Uncle F***er” trail climb to the ridge that leads up east to Black Mountain. We, however, turned west and followed it down, hitting the avenue Twin Peaks, then following the ridge to the BST. From there, Jed continued west to run back to his house. I turned east and followed the zig-zaggy BST back down to my car. I almost ran over a deer at one point (came around a blind corner and sent it and 2 others bounding up a hill). I have decided that I really like those stretches of the BST. 8.4 miles @ 13:32 min/mile. Slow, but nice. I also tried out a new higher capacity race vest that I plan to use for long self-supported runs. Nathan VaporWrap. So far, so good.
This week I strapped on my headlamp and put in a couple runs on the BST / Firebreak roads above Farmington. I enjoy running at night – but not on narrow hemmed-in trails with lots of obstacles under-foot. This makes the otherwise boring Firebreak road sections of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail system above Farmington the perfect option. With the temperatures cool, I don’t overheat, I feel great, and only occasionally psych myself into thinking I see glowing eyes watching me. Run!
On Monday I started at Davis Creek and ran north. It felt great, I didn’t slow down and walk at all – just kept on going (albeit slow at times) and I PRd on a bunch of segments. Great run!
On Thursday I started at the same place, but went south onto some trails and dirt roads I haven’t been on before. It was snowing and there was a THICK fog bank that my route kept on climbing into, descending out of, climbing back into, etc… When I got back to my car I couldn’t see it until I was about 10 ft. away – it was that thick. Also – I swapped out my Altras for something with more traction for the snow. Read about that here.
I ran up the Farmington Creek Trail to the Sunset Campground, planning to take it easy on the way up and then get a PR on the downhill.
In the end, I got a PR on the last climb to the campground, but didn’t get my hoped-for downhill PR. Why? Because the trail was covered in 2 inches of leaves for a lot of it. That makes it hard to run when you can’t tell what the actual terrain is. Boo.
Beautiful as ever though, if a bit drained of the prior fall colors.
Sometime in the next couple weeks I have been planning to bag Bountiful Peak (before snow hits). The best trail options are the Farmington Spine or the Parrish switchbacks. I have long wanted to go straight up Davis Creek though to the. I have heard that the trail fades – just like the Bountiful Peak trail and the Centennial Trail (up from Flag Rock). However, after doing a little research, it looked like Old North might be a good option. It is a large ridge the pops up in the middle of Davis Creek Canyon. The trail up to the first ridge is apparently pretty good and from there the ridgelines look fairly clear – not heavy bushwhacks.
Before doing a full ascent, I decided to do some recon.
Up the Davis Creek Trail I flew. I decided to push hard and see if I could reclaim some of the course records on the Strava segments going up from the trail head to the Hell Hole / Pretty Valley split. I did get some PRs, but no CRs. I really pushed hard – but lets face it, I’m just not that fast.
I took the left split to Hell Hole.
After the brutal climb, the trail levels out for the last 1/4 mile to Hell Hole and even goes down a bit. I was so excited to be able to actually get a full stride in that I started to run…and immediately tripped and full-out face-planted on the trail. It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to even try to catch myself. Scraped arms, nose, and knee. Ouch.
The Old North Trail starts after crossing Davis Creek at Hell Hole. I followed it about 3/4 mile up to the top of the first big ridge clearing. Some nice rocks. Inexplicably, a broad and ZERO bushwhack trail appears at the top of the ridge. It must be remnants of an old mining road or something.
In any case, the ridge goes northeast and then climbs to intersect a higher ridge at Midway Peak. That ridge then goes southeast to Bountiful Peak. I was hoping to make it to Midway Peak but right as I got up on the open ridge – thunder and lightning.
I made a quick retreat back down the 2 miles to my car.
It was a successful recon though – I will definitely go back up it to Bountiful Peak, probably in a couple Saturdays
.I’ll be sore though. It was 2,350 ft. in elevation gain over 2 miles of trail. Wow!
Hats off to UltraRunner Joe for providing us this very important public service – a nice list helping to differentiate between hipsters and trail runners. There are some good points here, but I wonder if it is missing some possibilities for overlap. Joe – can you re-imagine this, but include some Venn Diagrams for us?
and
Click here to Like UltraRunner Joe on Facebook
This week I found myself in Ohio (Cleveland area) for work and decided to use a couple evenings to put in some miles. I was staying in Willoughby and narrowed in on what looked like a great park about 5 miles south of there – the North Chagrin Reservation. Indeed, it was a great set of trails – lots of forest – a number of deep ravines with creeks at the bottom – a perfect mixture of trail types, lots of constant up and down rolling. In fact, if you swapped out 90% of the trees and made them evergreens, the trail itself reminded me a lot of my hometown Whatcom Falls Park. Perhaps not in vegetation, but in overall topography, trail texture (lots of exposed roots), and so forth – it felt familiar.
I ran twice.
6.0 miles in 1:08:52 @ 11:33 min/mile and with 421 ft. elevation
6.2 miles in 1:11:52 @ 11:31 min/mile and with 224 ft. elevation
The Monday night run was mostly uneventful, other thn getting constantly lost as the different trail loops intersected over and over again. Oh, and I totally fell. There was a downhill section that I decided I should take fast and about 2 steps in I caught my toe. I sped up my legs to try to get them under me, but was quickly rotating forwards. What followed, given my speed, was actually pretty impressive. I planted a hand on the trail, tucked my right shoulder, and did and full somersault roll across my back and right back onto my feet and continued down the trail without missing a step, so to speak. I was impressed, in any case.
On Wednesday night, I knew it was forecast to rain. When I got to the trail head, indeed, it was a bit drizzly. However, given the dense canopies of tree above, I figured I would stay fairly dry. And, I did. For the first couple miles I suffered with the 100% humidity but got very few cooling drops of rain on my face. The, I hit a clearing in the trees and felt some nice cool rain. “Ah,” I thought, “I wish there were more breaks like this in the trees so I could cool off more.” Be careful what you wish for. About 30 seconds later a loud noise began above, quickly crescendoing into a deafening roar. Torrential downpour. It was coming down so hard that I couldn’t see the trail in front of me clearly. I took shelter beside a tree, but still was soaked through within a minute. It continued for 5 minutes or so, and then slowed. The previously dry-slightly moist trail was now a series of large puddles, linked by moving run-off and instant gooped-up mud. Fun. I soldiered on – fully soaked but happy to be out for a run. It slowed me down quite a bit and towards the end I could sense a couple blisters forming from the wet socks.
When I got back to my lodging, the coworkers I was going out to dinner with asked, “Do you still want to drive all the way in to Cleveland to eat? You know, since there is a tornado warning and all.” WHAT?! Thanks guys! None of them bothered to call or text me on the trail to warn me to get inside. Oh well. I survived.
Last night I went to a BBQ hosted by some of the Wasatch Mtn. Wranglers on the eve of the annual Wasatch 100 trail race. Yup. 100 miles up and through the Wasatch range. Starts in Kaysville, end at Soldier Hollow. Its bonkers. A part of me wishes that I could be out there running with them. But, the rest of me knows how much time these kids put in to training. Its nuts. A lot of miles, a lot of early wake-ups, a lot of entire Saturdays eaten up running. I love my trail running, and I love the idea of challenging myself to go 100 miles, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Part scheduling, part laziness.
In any case, enough about me – good luck to everyone running. Wow! I’ll be checking your progress all day, and night and day. Hopefully I’ll see some at the finish line.
Music is a big part of my life. I did a solo singer-songwriter thing for years (250+ horrible demos recorded), I’ve had radio shows, and I run music blog (http://desertislandmixtapes.com). Fittingly, running has provided a great opportunity to put on new albums and listen to them front-to-back without much distraction. Music makes running a lot of fun. But, when things started warming up this year, and people began posting pictures of enormous rattlesnakes on the local trails, I rethought this practice. I saw 3 rattlers last year, and all three times they were right under foot. With narrow or overgrown trails, it is a bit unnerving to think that one might be at hand. Earbuds tucked in my ears mean that if one did start giving me a warning rattle, I wouldn’t hear it.
So – I tuned the music off. In fact, I haven’t listened to music while trail-running since May or so. And you know what – it hasn’t been all that horrible. I have actually really enjoyed the silence at times. I can hear the rushing water of a creek I am approaching, the clicking of cicadas, chirping of birds, rustling of wind in the trees, myself breathing heavily. The silence has also given me time to myself and my thoughts. I am a historian and writer by profession and taking regular time to think through complex historical problems I am working on during the day has led to a number of epiphanies and breakthroughs. So, maybe running sans music isn’t all that bad.
Well, until tonight. I ran up the Farmington Creek singletrack, up Farmington Canyon Road a bit, and then turned around to descend. Knowing that I would be looking at 5+ miles on a wide dirt road (no risk of not seeing a snake lurking about) I brought some tunes with. I put the ear buds in, hit play on Spoon’s new album They Want My Soul (great, by the way!) and headed down the road. It was great. And I immediately realized how much I had missed it.
(by the way – great run. 7 miles in 1:18:44 @ 11:17 min/mile and with 1,514 ft. elevation gain)
So – final verdict? I think I can have enjoyable experiences either way. I used to think that running without music would be horribly boring, and I have discovered that it isn’t. Sometimes, its preferable. However, sometimes nothing beats running with some good beats. Either way, I’m in the mountains running – right? Win win.
And, ironically, my falling and slicing my hand open happened about 50 yards into my run, supposedly when I was bombing down the road, running in the dark, too fast and distracted by the tunes!
With grey clouds in the sky, trails fresh and damp from overnight rains (no dust!) I started the day out with a quick climb up to Flag Rock. The south ascent is about 1,500 ft of climbing over 1.5 miles of trail. I was low on energy, but happy to be up there. When I got home to shower and head to work torrential downpours hit, so I got it in just in time!
Did I mention that I created a set of trail-running challenges here in Davis County?
They showcase some great local trails and are designed for serious trail and ultra runners who want to attempt something unique.
A ton of vert and chance to get your name in our hall of fame.
If you want to check them out and consider tackling one of them, go here:
I penned this for the kind folks over at Trail and Ultra Running.
They run a great site. Get to know it if you haven’t already.
Full disclosure – I am no ultra-runner. I have yet to run an ultra-marathon (or normal marathon) and don’t know if I ever will. But, trail-running in general is taking over my life. It dominates my daydreams, works its way into vacation plans, and surely drives my family nuts. Dirt is a dangerous mistress. Don’t believe me? Just talk to an ultra-runner and try to get them to talk about anything other than trail-running. It’s an unhealthy obsession – a wonderfully unhealthy obsession.
This is a cautionary tale. Words of warning, not to be taken lightly.
Don’t flirt with dirt.
You are not strong enough to resist its seductive grasp.
This tragedy has its roots in the dirt and trails of NW Washington where I grew up. I got hooked early as a teenager, mountain biking on some of the country’s best trail systems. The trails were a mere 5-10 minute bike ride from my backdoor and I spent a lot of hours on that dirt – rain or shine. Plenty of time was spent hiking and camping in the area as well. So, my predisposition to dirt-addiction goes deep. But not once did it ever occur to me to run on those trails. Ridiculous! I hated running, and to be honest, why run the trails when I was pretty good at biking them.
Fast forward about 15 years. I am now living on the Great Plains, with little to no close mountain biking opportunities, but desperate for some physical activity. I had begun swimming laps for exercise and had the thought that if I could figure out how to run, I could do triathlons. I biked, I swam. Running would be the necessary evil to compete. I started running, and for the first time ever, got past the “this is so miserably hard and painful that I never want to do this again” stage and actually started to enjoy it…So much so, that I upped my mileage too fast and got some serious IT Band troubles. Arg. Nevertheless, a possible interest in being a “runner” had developed.
Fast forward again to June 2013 when I moved Utah and next door to a venerable local runner Matt Van Horn. In an odd twist of fate, we were from the same hometown and he and my families actually knew each other (our parents had a great time catching up) but he had moved when I was still in elementary school. I found out that he was an ultra-runner and did this thing called “Trail Running.” The concept blew my mind. WHAT?! You can RUN on TRAILS?! How had I never thought of this? I love trails. Maybe running on them will help me get over the fact that I kind of hate running.
And here is where I went terribly wrong folks. I tried it. I a couple run/hikes up popular local favorites Flag Rock and Baer Canyon in Davis County, Utah. What a naïve fool I was. The moment I stepped foot on those trails and picked up my pace from casual hike to a jog or run, I was hooked. This was amazing. I could get exercise and not do it on exhaust-choked city streets. I could explore trail systems (like I have always loved) but do it at a pace fast enough to actually cover a good amount of territory in a single quick evening outing.
So here is my warning and my desperate plea with anyone reading this who is thinking about going out for a nice afternoon job on a dirt trail. DON’T DO IT! If you make the mistake that I did, and gingerly put your little running-shoe clad foot on that trail and start to job, you won’t be able to stop. I haven’t been able to. More stupidly self-inflicted knee injuries and ankle injuries aside (that’s a cautionary tale for another day), I keep on going back.
To flirt with dirt is to lose your life to it.
Some people swear that one of the best ways to recover is to run more. I haven’t tried this before. But, as I was walking around the house cursing how sore and tight my legs felt this morning, I had the thought, “You know what might loosen these tight muscles up a bit? A run.” Crazy, I know. But I gave it a shot. The plan was to just to 2 miles or so, nice and slow, but I ended up doing about 4.5. I was exhausted and I could tell I was fatigued, so it may have defeated the purpose, but at least my legs don’t feel tight anymore. Followed it with lots of stretching.
Parked at Davis Creek Canyon, and ran the Bonneville Shoreline to where the BST access trail drops down to Farmington Pond – right at the big water retention pond. And back.
Also – I was joined by MVH, at least at the beginning and end. He took a detour at the start and then caught up with me as I was returning. I think he went a bit farther down the BST too – maybe all the way to Skyline. I waited for him at the car and we drove back eating delicious waffle wafer cookies. Yum.
4.7 miles in 48:52 @ 10:27 min/mile pace and 366 ft. elevation.
(I picked the BST because there wouldn’t be elevation, but I guess all the small ups and downs add up)
Oh oh – and I also tried out a pair of Altra Lone Peak 1s for the first time. Everyone here swears by the Altra zero-drop thing, so I picked up a hand-me-down pair and am going to try them out. Apparently it takes a while for your calf muscles and Achilles tendons to get used to them, so I’ll work them in slowly, alternating with other shoes.
Very exciting news. Today I was added to a fellow Wasatch Mountain Wrangler‘s team for the April 2014 Ragnar trail relay down in Zion’s. Woot woot!
Went out with the plan to bang out a 5k PR. Unfortunately, according to the GPS, I only went 3.3 miles instead of the needed 3.5-3.6. Oops. Good pace though – got PRs on a couple segments or road/trail.
As I have mentioned, I know that trail running extends my endurance. A slower 6 mile in the hills is way easier than pounding out 6 miles at my top pace on pavement. So…I decided to test my legs out and really see if my endurance on the streets was improving. I decided to run a straight 10 miles. I had never done this before, so it was a big deal for me. It was hard, but I’m very glad I did it.
I followed it up a few days later with a evening pavement run – experienced my first ever side ache, but clocked my best 5k time ever.. 3.5 miles @ 9:11 min/mile. So, maybe my speed endurance was improving.
I was feeling good on the trails. THRILLED about going 6-9 miles. But, I was realizing that there was a bit of self-deception. My PACE on the trails was slow. That is normal for trail running. A bit slower overall – fast power hiking on big climbs, etc… You aren’t running at a full street pace the whole time. So, I was wondering if I could put in 6-9 miles on the pavement. I suspected not. I decided to shoot for a 10k. It was boring, and long, and hard, and killed me. A 10k PR in fact. Way more tiring than a slower 10k (even with elevation) on the trails. I’m glad I did it though. 6.3 miles @ 9:22 min/mile, 0 ft. elevation.
BORING!!!
High on the excitement of feeling a little bit familiar with the Davis Creek trails, and having looked at the map a lot, I decided to explore further. I went up towards Pretty Valley, but cut East up the hill on what I thought was going to be a trail. It was not. More scratches and lesson learned. If it looks like it “might” be a trail…that’s about all it is – it “might” be a trail. But it is not, with surety, a trail. I dropped back down to the main trail, went through Pretty Valley and pushed all the way to the Bountiful Peak Trail, up that to the Ford Canyon Outlook. Gorgeous. It had rained a few days before, however, and all the of the long grass alongside the trails was wet. This soaked my socks all the way through. At the outlook I took them off and had to wring them out. Well worth it though. On the way back I dropped down to the creek, across to the BST and looped that back around to my car. 6 miles @ 17:47 min/mile, 2,002 ft. elevation.
3D rendering of the trail and elevation, looking East
Pretty Valley, looking down into South Farmington
Panorama from the Ford Canyon Overlook, looking down on Centerville to the SW
I quickly decided that I needed to convert the wife and kids to the trails as well. My girl is 5.5 and son was almost 3. We went up the north side of the Davis Creek drainage on the “triumph trail” up to the overlook of the lower waterfalls. They did alright for being so little. We did see one rattlesnake, which the Mrs. was not thrilled about.
Here’s where the rubber really hits the road…or should I say, dirt.
Over 2012 and into mid-2013 I had begun to run on occasion. I enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction, and general pleasure in attempting to be healthy, etc…
But I did not enjoy running. I almost started to enjoy it in October 2012, but the IT band pain quickly put a stop to my enthusiasm.
Then my family and I moved to Utah. Our next door neighbor just happened to be from my hometown of Bellingham, WA and we bonded over that and music and other stuff. Then, I found out that he runs ultra marathons. Big 100 milers up in the mountains. And he’s good. Talking with him was a revelation. What?! I can run…on trails?!?!
Growing up I did a lot of hiking and mountain biking in NW Washington. I love trails. I don’t know why I never thought of it before – running on trails. I immediately sensed that this might be a “type” of running that I could really fall in love with. Boy, was I right.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, but my days in Nebraska were numbered. I started the month with the plan to run at least once a week, but by months end was in the throws of flying to Utah for job interviews, accepting a new job, frantically planning the move, etc… I did clock 3 runs over the course of the month. 3milers. No complaints at the time.
In all, Nebraska was good to me. Despite its reputation for being incredibly flat, our town of Kearney was all hills – especially in my neighborhood.
Here’s a composite image of my Kearney runs. Click to go through them individually.
I’d like to think it was because I was trying to be conscientious about rehabbing my knee…but I was probably just being lazy. Plus, winters in Nebraska can be cold and windy! Maybe 10 miles total over the course of 3-4 months. Oops.
By February 2012, I had moved to Kearney, NE. On a particularly cold evening in February – we’re talking single digits – I thought:
“Man, its crazy cold outside. I should totally go out and run. That would be nuts.”
So, out I went. I strapped on some old trail running shoes I had around for hiking and general outdoor use – some old Nike Alvords. I put on a beanie, cotton long-johns, sweat-shirt, gloves, and hit the road. It was cold. The frigid air hurt my lungs – made me cough. And, my long-johns had lost all elastic in the waistband (very old ones from snowboarding days) and kept on falling down, sagging in the crotch, and pulling my shorts down with them. Very embarrassing.
I think I made it 2 miles, and that included a lot of stopping to walk.
On Facebook I wrote,”I am not a runner. I abhor running. Yet, for some reason, I found myself outside in 28 degree weather running tonight. What is wrong with me?!“
I was sore for the next week. But I kind of liked it.
In 2004 I moved to Lincoln, NE. Not much mountain biking in Lincoln, if you can imagine. Not many mountains to hike either. This was problematic. In fact, this is precisely teh circumstances that may have compelled to take up running. But, they didn’t.
I hate running.
No, instead I took up lap-swimming.
And occasional biking on pavement.
I grew up in NW Washington as an active kid. Lots of hiking, camping, rock climbing, swimming, snowboarding, etc… A possibly unhealthy amount of mountain biking. Lots of mountain biking.
But no running. I hate running.
I tried to stay active in college as an undergraduate in Utah. But still no running. Well – maybe once or twice over the course of 7 semesters, but they were disastrous attempts.
Running is the worst.
