After years of staring up at the ridgeline extended south from the Mount Timpanogos summit and curving southeast up Provo Canyon, I finally traversed it. It was significantly rougher going than the ridgeline that extends north from the summit. The day was beautiful but I moved slow and the hours took their toll. In the end it was about 17 miles with over 6,000 ft. of climbing. Map and route details on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15642067179
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.
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.
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.
This was my wife’s true first “summit” hike. It was longer than she thought, steep, hard.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Panorama from the Big Baldy Summit
I have never gone all the way UP Battle Creek (I’m always coming down) and I have never summited Big Baldy from the saddle. I did it once from the SW ridge for the vertical kilometer challenge. Plans to loop the North Timp ridgeline fell through, so I slept in until 9 and did this instead – Battle Creek to the Big Baldy Summit and back. It was warm and I felt sluggish. I have only done the Great Western trail south of the Battle Creek turn off once, when going the full 20 miles along the front side of the Timpanogos massif, and I forgot how beautiful it is. Along with the meadows north up to Chris Flat, it is just beautiful. Meadows, grass, aspens, etc.
The ridgeline from the Big Baldy saddle to the summit was longer than I thought – deceptive. On the way down I hooked up with a hiker who had just come down the Everest Ridge (ack!) and we ran down together chatting. Nice bloke. I love how (most) random people you meet way up on the trails turn out to be very friendly, down to earth, good people. I like good peoples.
I decided to treat myself to a Mt. Timpanogos summit for my birthday this morning. I have done the summit twice from the Timpooneke trailhead but never from Aspen Grove. I decided to make a loop of it. Up Aspen Grove, down Timpooneke, then loop back to AG on the Salamander Flats, Snow Gauging, and Lame Horse trails. A 19.5 mile loop.
I put out the call and two fellow Wasatch Mountain Wranglers joined – Keith and Tim. We started at 5:00 and caught an amazing sunrise as we climbed the trail out of Aspen Grove.
This side is steeper than Timpooneke, less runnable, but features some beautiful waterfalls, a few lakes and meadows, an old Forest Service ranger cabin, and views for days.
We spent a lot of time stopping and taking pictures, so I apologize to Tim and Keith for destroying their splits. But it was hard not to stop and gawk.
Once we climbed over to the saddle, it a wind picked up and it got a bit chilly. In the sun it was alright, but my hands got numb. At the summit, two other wranglers, Josh and Jade, caught up to us. They had started from the other trailhead and were pushing for a fast round trip. We sat around for a bit up top. It’s hard to just turn around and bomb back down when the views as so good.
Hat tip to Tim, as well, for picking up a ton of trash along the trail and on the summit. Littering makes me so mad.
Once we got off the saddle the temps picked up fast. Lots of hikers were moving up their trail a high fiving us as we ran down, thinking we were more hardcore that we are. When we explained the loop we were doing, we did get some raised eyebrows. Maybe we are hardcore.
About halfway down I rolled my right ankle hard. I heard an audible crunch. It ran of OK, though tender, until right at the bottom when I rolled it again. Sharp stab of pain. Oh boy…
At the trailhead I used the bathroom, drenched myself in water, refilled, and headed off for the return trails. Those were a tough 5 miles for me. Very runnable, but not for me. It was also fun to see a few new places.
The heat, returned GI distress, and the ankle. But, we made it and it was gorgeous. I will definitely make this loop again, but hopefully in better physical conditions. Happy birthday to me!
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.
Sam, a peak-bagging trail junkie friend, has been bugging me for a while to come join him up in SLC and the stars finally aligned for me to do so – to celebrate his birthday with a bunch of Orange Trail Monkeys up on Mt. Olympus. This was one of the peaks on my bucket list last year, but I failed to bag it.
I knew these guys were fast and although Sam claimed he would be going slow, I still opted to start 20 minutes earlier than him. It was hot and steep.
People coming down were warning of lots of rattlesnakes, but I didn’t see any.
The trail just climbs and climbs. You climb about 3500 ft over the first 3 miles of trail.
Towards the top, a straight up section affectionately dubbed “Stairway of the Gods” was swarming with flies and gnats. I must have swalled 4-5. A few made me gag and almost throw up as I tried to spit them out.
From the saddle at mile 3, you hang a left and climb another 500 ft. over only .2 miles to the summit.
I was thinking they would catch me, and had seen them down below once, but they didn’t. I scrambled up to the summit and had it to myself for a good 10 minutes before the crew showed up. Sparklers, watermelon, and a loud happy birthday sung. It was a lot of fun.
We switched our headlamps on and made the descent, ending with some cake at the cars.
Steep but gorgeous. Worth it.
I like maps and I like drawing routes on maps that I can only dream of ever running. I draw them and then challenge others to run them. See all of them at The Professor’s Trail and Ultra Courses.
The Big Baldy Vertical Kilometer Challenge is in my backyard and I tackled it this morning before work. Yowzers.
The SW Ridge of Big Baldy (above Lindon, UT – in-between Dry Canyon and Battle Creek Canyons) is crazy steep. From the Dry Canyon trailhead, it is just over a kilometer of vertical gain over just 2.2 miles of trail. The 2nd mile alone climbs almost 2,300 feet. In all, the climb is 3,330 ft.
I’m not a strong climber but knew I could make it to the top. If feeling strong, I was planning to double it from the meadow at the Dry Canyon / Curly Springs trail intersection in order to also check off the Big Baldy Double (Vertical Mile+) Challenge. (That didn’t happen). But I did do the vertical KM – in 1:36:53.
The Dry Canyon Trail climbs fairly steep for the first .7 miles to the meadow where the Curly Spring trail intersects. I dropped an extra bottle behind a trail there and continued about .3 miles to the turnoff up the SW ridge trail. That first mile climbed 869 feet. Not bad, I was feeling ok. And, that is when the real fun began. The next mile of tiny switchbacks and steep pitches climbed almost 2,300 ft. While climbing I got some great views of Timpanogos and Little Baldy and the valley. About 3/4 of the way up, some clouds rolled in and started to wrap around the ridge below and above me. Then, right around ME. I could see the wisps of cloud moving just a couple feet away. Very cool.
After climbing 1 mile up the ridge, I got to the very prominent false summit (there’s an old flagpole, now laying on the ground). Continuing north, you drop down a tiny little col and then climb NE up a saddle to the actual Big Baldy summit where there is a large stone cairn.
That adds another .2 miles or so. I took some pictures, turned around, navigated down the little bit of snow on the saddle, and then back down the SW ridge. Close to the bottom, I landed fairly hard on a hyperextended left knee. At the meadow, where I had hoped to grab my extra bottle and turn around for the double, I took a moment to feel out the knee. It wasn’t happy and felt like it might be swelling. So, I called it a day and headed back to the car.
It was a short but grueling morning. Very fun. I’ll be back for the double!
Mt. Timpanogos is one of the more famous hikes/summits here in the Wasatch, especially in Utah County. Somehow, I never did it back in the early-2000s when an undergrad. This morning I resolved to correct this grievous oversight with an early morning summit before work.
I hit the Timpooneke trail at about 5:45 solo. Some trails a “ok,” but worth it because they get you to a beautiful destination. This trail was gorgeous every step of the way. I jogged and power-hiked up, slowed only by the need to snap pictures, and groan from some early-AM stomach issues.
s I made the climb up to the saddle I saw 3 people waiting at the ridge. As I approached, they waved and called my name. It was Mel, Lori, and Zac on their double-summit attempt (up Aspen Grove to the Summit, down to the Timpooneke trailhead and then turning around to do it all in reverse. They almost did it, but had to bail on the 2nd summit as a t-storm and lightning rolled in as they approach the saddle later in the day to scramble up for the 2nd summit. Bummer). In any case it was awesome to see some friendly and familiar faces. We summited together, took some pictures, complained about how windy and cold it was up top, and then scrambled back down to the saddle.
I saw another friend, Phil, on his way up for the upteenth time this week (this time with his kids in tow). A couple other Wasatch Mountain Wranglers also passed as we headed down and they headed up. I moved ahead of the trio as they too pictures and chatted – figuring they would catch up. They didn’t. But, WMW Jack did and we ran the last 2-3 miles together chatting.
Including some messing around up top, it took me about 4:20. Not bad. I hope to shave some time off next time I tackle it.
It was a gorgeous day. Just perfect. I’m already plotting to attach it again next week.
Exactly 1 year ago today (coincidence, not planned) I explored the Box Elder Trail with a friend and have been dying to get back. I put the peak on my list of summit goals for the year, and this morning I finally bagged it. I posted on some FB groups and an impressive roster of local runners joined. 15 in total (which is the group size limit) + 2 others who came a bit later and did the loop in the opposite direction (and happened to hit the summit right when we did. It was gorgeous. It was steep. The bottom of my right foot and top of my left foot have still been a bit tender from the Bryce 50k and subsequent week of hiking around Zion National Park…so I’m going to be really sore. We did it in just under 5 hours. I was pulling up the rear with a couple other for the climb up and the main group could have gone much faster. On the descent, I kept up with the main group. We went up the Box Elder Trail Nr. 044, wrapped it around the west side of the saddle between Box Elder Peak and South Box Elder Peak, climbed up said saddle, and then summitted via the south ridge. Yowzers. Miles 1-2 climb about 2,000 ft, then miles 3-4 “only” climb another 1,000 ft. By mile 6, as you get on the south shoulder and stare up the climb to the peak (see pictures below) you have climbed about 3,300 ft. Then, the 1/2 mile climb to the summit pops on another ~1,000 ft. Yowzers, that was tough. That 1/2 mile segment of “trail” averages a 36% grade. The peak, is at about 11,100 ft. I really struggled on the last climb. My legs felt ok, but my lungs and heart were struggling with the altitude. This was the highest I have ever been. I was a bit dizzy, heart pounding out of my chest, gasping for air. But, I made it. We took the north saddle down to the Deer Creek-Dry Creek Trail and followed that back down to the Granite Flats campground. I had some blisters forming on the descent and by the end my legs felt like jello. Small little climbs on the north saddle killed me. By the last mile, I was running sloppy – catching my toe, rolling my ankles, etc… Its a miracle I didn’t fall.
I had a lot of goals for running this season, and among them was to summit the 3 highest peaks in Davis County from the valley floor. I did Thurston and Francis Peaks back in July, so that left Bountiful Peak. I decided to bag it using the Old North Trail in Davis Creek Canyon. It is about 4.5 miles of, and 4,500 ft. elevation gain. Upness.
The first 2.5 miles up were great. But, about 1/2 between the Old North overlook and Midway Peak, the trail faded and the markings did too. Thus, the bushwhack began. I knew that the trail would fade out around there, but I was hoping that I could find a clear route to the top.
From there, there are 2-3 connected ridgelines that lead up to Bountiful Peak. Unfortunately, the ridges themselves are heavily covered with oak, scrub oak, aspen, and lots of scratchy thick underbrush. I followed the ridges, hugging the north side of them, but down the hill a bit. There were a surprising number of game trails that were easy to follow. When one faded, there was usually another close by to follow. They were still scratchy, and the route did still require a few short, but hefty, bushwhacks. I made it though.
To descend I ran down Skyline Drive to the Parrish Creek Trail and went down there. I was planning to take the Bonneville Shoreline trail the 3-4 miles back north to the Davis Creek TH where my car was, but I had a few hot spots that were about to go full-on blister. I had called a friend to meet me at the bottom (my phone was about to die and I failed to bring a cable to hook it to my little charger pod). He kindly gave me a ride to my car.
Last year on Pioneer Day, a friend and I tackled Baer Canyon. It was only my 2nd trail run, and we were unprepared and it was rough. I thought I would continue that and make an annual tradition of pushing myself to do unwise things on Pioneer Day. On the top of my trailrun to-do list has been to bag Thurston and Francis Peaks. I have been to both, but only after driving up to Francis and then running the Great Western Trail. I wanted to do it proper, climbing up from the valley floor. I put out the word and was joined by a few nice gents – Bryan, Jeremy, and Steve. Bryan had to turn back (work, or something) after the first hour of climbing, but Jeremy and Steve stuck it out to the end.
We started at 5:00 AM with headlamps, and I immediately fell behind the group on the climb out of the Fernwood Recreation Site in Layton. I don’t know what it was, but I just felt horrible. My stomach felt uneasy, and the climb really beat me up. When Brian turned back, I caught up to the other two and we stayed together for most of the remainder of the climb. We made it up the primary ascent, hit the delicious springs to refill our water along the traverse over to Chinscraper and then tackle that final climb up to the ridgeline.
As we neared Thurston Peak, we cut up a stream drainage where there was exposed rock and dirt to make an easier bushwhack up to the the peak. Its a bummer that someone hasn’t blazed a proper trail up to the top. Someone get on that. We enjoyed taking a rest, chugged some soda, ate, and then continued on south, back to the Great Western Trail.
Along here, I hit my stride on the GW, but after about an 1/2 mile got stopped in my tracks by simultaneous cramps in my right calf and thigh. Ouch. I had been careful to keep hydrated and intake calories, but I had completely forgotten to pop a salt capsule. I took two with water, rubbed them a bit, and then runned them out until they loosened while trying to catch up to Jeremy and Steve. They didn’t cause any more problems as I kept my electrolytes in balance.
I love this stretch of the Great Western – amazing views on both sides.
We took the steep road/trail up to the FAA towers on Francis Peak and stopped to refuel, take pictures, and plan our descent. Originally, I had planned on coming down the Francis Peak Trail, but had been convinced to take the Farmington Canyon Road down. This would put the mileage higher than I had planned, but I was excited about the prospect of hitting 20 miles – which would make it my longest run ever.
We started to scramble down the rocks just south of the peak marker to get back on the road when both Jeremy and Steve let out a sudden scream and help. Apparently, I had stepped right over (almost on) a large rattlesnake. As they followed me, they saw it slithering away, whereas I hadn’t even noticed it at all. After we got our nerves back, we got on the road and started down.
At this point, my left IT Band was starting to hurt, so I told them to go ahead while I stretched. I had about 8-9 miles of gravel road downhill ahead of me and I figured that with stretching the IT band might hurt, but would be manageable.
I caught up to them a mile or so down the road and continued my faster pace, moving ahead of them for another couple miles. Then, the blisters started. On the heal and arch of my right foot, two large blisters developed. This slowed me down and as we approached Skyline Dr. / Farmington Canyon Rd., they caught up to me. I was quickly realizing that this was going to be a much slower descent than I had planned so I wished them good luck and sent them on their way. So much for 8 minute miles the whole way down. Instead, I hobbled / limped / kind-of-ran / sometimes walked down to Sunset Campground and then took the Farmington Creek Trail down to its trailhead where my wife picked me up. It was really painful. Excruciating.
Jeremy and Steve took the road the whole way down, and my shortcut actually put me at the bottom ahead of them, even though my pace was slow.
In the end, I was exhausted and in a lot of pain but happy to have down 20 miles and to have bagged both Thurston and Francis Peaks. Though on speed PRs, a PR for distance and that was fun.