After a year and three months I finally got to return to the gorgeous North Syncline trail for a little jog. The last time (an only times) I was there was during the Logan Peak Race and today was the day to take a sightseeing tour of the syncline loop.
Trail was overgrown pretty bad in dry canyon, rocks were everywhere. My feet are sore and my legs bleeding. Successful run.
I was not to be denied this round. I may have gotten lost last time, but this time was different. And WAY better! It was glorious. This run is on my list of top 5 of all time.
I parked about 1.5 miles up the dirt road to High Creek just outside of Richmond. This left me 2 miles of dirt road to get warmed up for the trail. Once on the trail, it is 5 miles of progressively steeper climbing all the way to the lake. 3000' of climbing in 5 miles made the pace pretty slow, but very rewarding. It gave me lots of time to look around and admire the views. As I approached the pond where Joe and turned back last time, I saw a large bull moose taking a drink. Whoa! I quickly dropped my bottle and went for the camera while hiding behind a tree. I peeked around the tree and saw him watching me very closely. I quickly snapped 2 pics then moved around the tree. He got spooked and headed off in the opposite direction. Why is it cows refuse to move, but moose get spooked so easy. At least it didn't attack me.
The last 2 miles to high creek lake were the best 2 of the whole day. Alpine meadows with small creeks and ponds, gorgeous cliffs, and a few cows for my viewing pleasure. Once I arrived at High Creek lake, I admired the views and took some more pictures and headed up to the saddle. Next stop Mt. Naomi. It took a mile and half and 30 mins to climb the 1200' to the peak, but the views were so worth it. Just over 2 hours in and one peak bagged, one to go. Next stop, Cherry Peak. To get there I had to go back the way I came and go back towards the lake, but right before the last descent make a left turn follow the cherry creek trail for a mile or so. The trail doesn't go to the peak, so I had to deviate and more or less bushwhack up the mountain to tag that peak. It was slow and steep. This peak wasn't as high as Mt Naomi's 10K' elevation, but was close at 9,800'. More pics, some food and off I went.
I was now 2:40 mins into my run and it was time to start some real running. Down the mountain as fast as my whimpy legs can take me. They still do not have the turnover that they used to and the top speed is pretty sad still, but man was it fun. Who cares about the speed when you are descending technical singletrack at 9000' feet? Love it. I finally saw my first hikers at Moose Pond, quickly told them about the moose they missed by 2 hours and moved on. There were plenty of groups heading up now, but I was able to keep the pedal down and have a blast. The car quickly appeared after two 6:30 miles on the dirt road and the adventure was over.
I was thinking today about an epic run heading up this trail to Mt. Naomi then down to Tony Grove and then doing the Tony Grove to Green Canyon traverse via Mt Elmer. Oh it would be sweet. And hard. Someday..
T- 3:52:00 (12 min pace) 5600' vert
1:35 to the lake (7 mi)
2:04 to Mt Naomi (8.6 mi)
2:37 to Cherry Peak (10.75 mi)
1:15 to the car (8.25 mi)
Mr Moose -
Another grainy shot of the moose
Look, the sign got fixed (sort of)
High Creek Lake
Cherry Peak from Mt. Naomi
Mt. Naomi from Cherry Peak
High Creek Trail from Cherry Peak
I took about 20 more pictures, but you get the idea.
Today, my brother in law got married (at Tuscany) and since my family was heavily involved in the preparation, I took the day off work. The wedding wasn't until 5pm and since I am no help arranging flowers, I got a free pass to hit the trails. Sweet.
Since the Wasatch 100 started early am I decided that I would be a part of it by running sections of the course. I stayed out of the way by running miles 75-83 way before the front runners. I have always been interested in checking out the course, so today would be a good opportunity since it was marked.
I left brighton and started the hike/jog to Lake Mary. I made it less than a half mile and I saw a bull moose (again). Two moose in a week is a new record for me. I took some pics but they are dark and not very good. The run up to Sunset Pass was beautiful, but a bit steep. I was able to admire Lake Mary, Lake Martha and Lake Catherine all in under 3 miles. 1600' in 2.75 miles topping out at about 10,500'. Brutal. The kicker though is the immediate drop of the same vertical in 2.25 miles. On rockier trails. Man, that is tough. So, by mile 5 I was already toast and it was already an hour in. The other bummer, was the trail was not marked well at Ant Knolls aid and I missed a critical turn onto Ridge Trail. I realized it in a few mins and it only cost me 10 mins. Good thing I wasn't racing. This part of the mountain is the very top of American Fork Canyon and wasn't far from the end point of Speedgoat 50K. These races sure make the mountains seem smaller. You get to explore and see how it all connects. I love it. So after a brief climb up to 9400' I was on the "ridge trail" and I was in heaven. It was runnable! And very pretty. I followed it to Pole Line Pass (mile 83.39 of Wasatch) and promptly lost the trail again. No markings in all directions. I failed to prepare properly and print out an actual map of the course so I wasn't sure where to go. I tried 2 of the 3 ways and didn't find a trail marking in a half mile in any direction (including the proper way I found out). Oh well, it has been 10 miles now and I am out of time. Better head back. I was sad because I wanted to explore more of that nice trail.
The way back was brutal as the hike from Ant Knolls to Sunset pass is tough. I once again affirmed that once above 10K feet elevation, it is super tough to move at any speed (up hill or even down hill). Back past the lakes I went and I arrived back at the car thankful for the water I had waiting for me there. I got pretty dry the last 5 miles.
Doing the math, I ran the Brighton to Pole Line Pass section 7.75 miles (minus the detour) in 1:30. Luke Nelson (2nd overall) ran that section the fastest in about 1:45. I was fresh and he was not! I can't believe that they could run that so fast. And it was dark (for most of them).
T- 3:50 (12:47 per mile!) 5000' vertical
Profile -
PICS -
Moose - (I told you it was dark)
Lake Mary
Backside of Speedgoat 50K course from wasatch 100 course
I was so happy I could spend 4 hours yesterday on the trails, I celebrated by doing it again. No, not the same section of course, but the same race. This time I started at Mill D North trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon and headed up to Dog Lake. 2.5 miles in 34 mins. I remember hiking that trail as a scout with my sleeping gear and having it take forever! I continued past the lake and dropped down into Mill Creek on the Big Water trail. This trail is nearly 3 miles long buffed out singletrack. Awesome trail! Unfortunately, today is an even day so bikes were allowed on the trail. The whole day I was dodging bikers. So now I was back on course and facing the right direction. Mile 61.5 or so of the Wasatch 100 course.
~ 3 uphill miles back to Dog Lake. I haven't run this section since I was in high school and was on the cross country team. We would usually run it in about 30 mins. I was now an hour into my run and knew that I had 3 more hours to go. So no racing my ghost runner today, but I could gauge myself anyway. I ran a standard 4 hour pace keeping a consistent effort and got to the lake in 32 mins. I will take it!
Onward, past the lake and up to Desolation Lake. Once again, it was memory lane as I have camped there two times as a kid. Once in the snow. This time it was much warmer, and easier to get to. My split to the lake from Big Water was 63 mins for the 5.25 miles. It took Evan Honeyfield only 67! Seriously? Luke took 74! Karl took 78! No wonder those guys are at the top of every race result.
Once past the lake, you encounter a crappy little climb up to Red Lovers Ridge. The views of Park City area from there are amazing though. The best surprise was that the trail from then on was amazing singletrack that was very runnable and followed just below the ridgeline for miles and miles. I had never been on this section before and fell in love instantly. I can now see why there are so many bikers on that trail. Awesome! I followed it all the way to the second radio tower passing where "Scott's Pass" aid station was. I wanted to continue all the way to Guardsmans pass, but the trail turned to dirt road and I was out of time and water (nearly). For comparison again, I ran the the section from Desolation to Scott's Aid in about 45 mins. Karl ran it in 52. Luke and Evan both did it in 47! I even stopped my watch to take pictures at Red Lovers Ridge. They didn't have that luxury. Its fun to see what those guys can do.
The way back to the car was un-eventful but just as amazing as the way out. I didn't take the detour to Millcreek again, but just headed back via Desolation and Mill D trail back to the car. The gatoraid I had waiting for me there was simply amazing!
T- 3:58 (22.7 miles) (10:30) 5200' Vert
Profile -
*** Weekly summary. This week was simply amazing as I was able to get in 3 crazy big runs all in the same week. I was truly surprised that I felt so good today. I thought that after friday's big run I would be dead (like I was on Tuesday). Nope, I felt fine and was able to enjoy another big day in the mountains. I am so glad that things are well again with my leg. No issues anymore it seems. I have lost my downhill speed, but I can get that back once I run on the road again. No reason to do something lame like that though.
78.5 miles - 870 mins - 18,200' Vert - (PR for vertical feet in a week)
There was more trail work done last week on this trail and now it is 100% singletrack the whole way to the quarry. No more road sections. Plus they took a broom to the trail and swept off all the loose rocks. Buffed out trail!
Today I was so excited to run I went into work early and left early so I could have time to run ....drumroll please...The Wellsvilles!
Yep, Joe and I decided that today was the day to hit the steepest mountain range in the world (some say). I did this run with Jon last year and it took so long, it got dark before we finished. This year was better. We went the opposite direction which I think is easier and faster. This way, you go up the steepest and most overgown part first and can run down the less steep canyon by the end. So, we started at Rattlesnake Canyon and hit both Box Elder Peak then the Wellsville Cone. After that, it is ridge running north past Mendon Peak (without summiting) and then up the Hawk Watch peak and back to the saddle before descending Deep Canyon.
We were surrounded by rain and thunderstorms, but we escaped without incident. What a great run, even if my legs are still bleeding from all the overgrowth. Still worth it.
T- 3:02:30 5150' Vert
Profile-
Wellsville Cone from Box Elder Peak -
Me with a cool rainbow -
Great shot of Logan with a thunderstom that just missed us.
No Top of Utah Marathon for me today. I was sad to not participate in the local marathon, but I still have no desire to run a road marathon, so I didn't.
The weather was tricky today. It rained hard all night and was still at it at 6. I drove up to first dam and drove through a storm. Since it wasn't raining at the house, I hoped it would quickly pass. I decided to power nap for 15 mins and wait and see. To my joy, it stopped raining and I was able to dodge all the random rain showers for the whole run. Unfortunately, the trail I picked to run today was super overgrown. Overgrown + Lots of rain = Very Wet lower body.
I ran on the river trail to Wind Caves trail and took the Birdeneau Trail up the mountain. Once I turned off the popular wind caves trail, I immediately got super wet. It got colder and colder the higher I got. I found myself in a cloud and felt like I was swimming in my shoes. I seriously thought I was running in a river, I was so wet. I wasn't really enjoying it anymore and was getting seriously cold, so instead of continuing up the ridge to Birdeneau Peak, I gave in and headed down into Green Canyon. I was seriously starting to fear for my safety with how cold I got. Once I hit the Green Canyon road I felt much better. Hmm, I am warm now so I guess I can keep running. I went up to the yurt and was having fun again. Luckily, I was out of time/mileage so didn't have to run up the overgrown upper green trail and get wet again. I headed back down the canyon and made it to the car before another rain squall hit the area. That was close!
T- 3:51:30 (10:24) 4400' vert
** Weekly summary - Another big vert week for me. Not as many miles as my crazy last week, but lots of climbing. I have been having fun getting back to the trails this last month or so. No real mileage or training goals. Just having fun and running as much as possible. I am planning on running a 50K the first week of Nov (Antelope Island 50K/100K) but will likely not change my training at all for it.
This run is dedicated to Jon (the current FKT holder) on this course. I decided to run Jardine Juniper hard today to see what kind of time I could post. The catch was that I wanted more than the 9.5 miles the course is so I decided to add an extra loop on top. This adds 1.5 miles to make it 11 miles even. Basically I knew I didn't have it in me to go after the FKT so I decided to make up my own course so I could win. Ha! Take that Jon.
Anyway, I knew that I could run hard uphill, but my downhill speed is lacking. Mostly it is due to a lingering injury from thanksgiving last year. Its the inside of my right knee (different than the ITB pain I battled all spring on the opposite leg). It is pretty unstable and if I twist it just right, it really hurts for a bit. Bottom line is that the downhill speed is not so great right now. Enough excuses, how did it go?
I went out hard and within a half mile thought that my lungs were on fire. I haven't run this hard in almost a year (I think). I made it to the first ridge in 27 mins (same as Jon although I didn't know his splits until just now as I looked them up) but slowed a bit and hit the 4 mile junction in 38 mins (13 seconds behind ghost jon). I hit the intersection again for the first loop at 50 mins (12 min 1.5 mile loop) now 1:17 behind Jon. Here is where I added another loop while Jon headed back so its not really the same anymore. But I did the second loop a tad faster in 11:20.
Now all that is left is the brutal downhill. Brutal because I was wearing my MT101's and they stink with regard to rock protection. They are easy to run in uphill as you can pick your foot placements carefully, but trying to run down a rocky trail at 6 min pace is not easy in those things. I hit the ridge in 1:09 and the end of the trail at 1:27 giving me a split of 25:40 for the 4 miles of downhill (way slower than Jon's split of 23:07).
So if you count only my second lap and ignore the slower first one, my total time for the 9.5 mile course would be 1:15 under Jon's old record but way off the current record. Maybe I will give it a go again, but not until I can blast the downhills like I used to. Maybe I need some Hokas to do that....
I didn't actually run the race, but I made sure to be a part of it in every other way possible. The day started out running the Leatham Hollow Aid station with Captain Paul and Second Mate Joe (and a few others) (I suppose I am the second mate since I have done it more than Joe, but less than Paul, you get the idea). It was a morning of action packed chaos. We did manage to head up the trail for a bit to enjoy the morning before the madness began. (2.5 miles)
We finally got to leave that aid about 1pm when the last runners became un-lost and appeared (even Captain Paul was sent out as search and rescue for a while). After a lunch visit with my family, I headed up the canyon and met up with RD Bruce Copeland for my instructions. I was to run various sections of the course checking and adding flagging so that there is less confusion at the intersections. I learned that no amount of flagging/reflectors/glowsticks are sufficient for the stupidity of runners delirious with fatigue. That and lack of prep on their part really causes major irritation to me. I heard complaints from a few people off and on all night about the course flagging. One "young buck" commented, "Its a miracle we (the pacer was speaking) even are here (an aid station) at all." I asked the next two people who came into that same aid 5 mins later how the marking is. "Its fine." "No Problems." Why the discrepency? Age? Experience? Preparation? Paying attention? Common Sense? Seriously, if you find yourself back in Logan how long does it take before you realize you have made a wrong turn? So, even after my (and many other people's) extra efforts to mark the course many take wrong turns. How do you help the 10% who are directionally challenged navigate a course at night without spending a month to mark it? Give everyone voice generated GPS devices that tell you, "In 6 feet turn left on the trail that is clearly marked Leatham Hollow." Oh, dont turn right and go down the mountain. You may not find an aid station there. You will only find cows and 4 wheelers."
Anyway, I spent some wasted? time marking (actually just supplementing and verifying as the actual marking was done earlier) the course for the 90% who payed attention to it. I ran from the Gibson Basin Aid station up to the junction with Bunchgrass trail. We wanted to make sure that the junction was obvious. It was and after my additional efforts, a cow would have been smart enough to know where to go (day or night). I actually didn't hear of anyone going the wrong way there, but the sentiment applies to all further junctions I checked. I returned to the Gibson Basin. Instead of following the course for the next 8 miles, I was supposed to skip ahead to Logan River Aid station. I took the shortcut and 2 miles later, I was back marking the next 8 miles to Beaver Lodge. When the course description tells you "At 2.6 miles from the river, look right..." So you think you should pay attention and not blow past the 12 flags and 3 reflectors and a glowstick? Nah, just keep running, then blame your race failures on the RD. Ok, seriously. I am off my soapbox now. I just heard the whining all night by the same 20 somethings in their first race. I will get over it.
My pace was downright lazy through all my running, but I was in no rush. Just killing time until my pacing duties began. I was having fun chatting with different groups all night. I got the see the front runners come through Beaver Lodge (mile 76). Nick P was quite fresh and went on to win. Nikki was downright amazing (and set a new course record). I chatted with El Patron Luke, Krissy, Speedgoat Karl, Fast Evan Honeyfield, and many other celebrities. Good times.
"My runner" Bryce was looking good and on pace for about 25 to 26 hours or so. I would join him in his quest to beat his time from last year (26 hours) at Beaver Lodge. I would run 24 miles with him and get him to the finish. That began at midnight (see saturday).
Bryce worked me over pretty good on this one, although I primarily blame the course profile and conditions. Rocky and steep. Brutal way to finish a 100 mile race. That course is not for beginners. Luckily Bryce is not and things turned out really well for him. He started off slow and by the end, he had made up all the time he was behind his last year's splits and dropped an hour off his time. I know the hotter conditions during the day this year hurt most if not everyone's times. In spite of that, he still did much better. Amazing!
I picked up Bryce at mile 76 and off we went. Back up the mountain a few more times before an insane descent into Bear Lake (fish haven technically). Really, the course profile tells half the story.
Bryce was great company for the 7 hours we were together (midnight to 7am). You can cover a lot of material in that timeline and I quickly ran out. Luckily, when he got bored with me, he would slip on his headphones and jam out for a bit. I was having a blast just cruising along and enjoying a night run in some awesome mountains. The weather was pretty moody though. It was hot/cold/very cold/hot so frequent, I was getting sick of shedding and adding layers. I brought just the right amount of clothes and survived. Bryce on the "other hand" lost a glove at some point and got minor frostbite (maybe). He will live though... what a whimp.
Bryce, spent most of the time slowing getting roadkill. His uphill gear was broken, but his downhill was pretty decent and that helped him pass numerous guys. We raced the sunrise and the 25 hour barrier all morning until with just under a half mile left, the clock ticked over to 7am (25 hours). 25:05 is still pretty sweet! Nice job Bryce and thanks for the honor. I had a great time. He, on the other hand (get it?) could barely move once he sat down at the finish line. I would guess he is still stuck there with locked up legs begging for more coke or a pillow or something.
After a good 10 hours of sleep on Sat night, I was feeling pretty good. No side effects from two long days Friday/Saturday. Legs feel good. Might take it easier this week to make sure.
I tried something new today. I ran on the road. It wasn't very fun, but I covered a lot of ground compared to the trail stuff. Home to Dry canyon over Deer Fence Trail to Prov then home. So, I guess I snuck in some trails after all.
Deer Fence South Past Millville Canyon. Felt lousy so kept it really slow until things improved about midway through the run. Knee injury from thanksgiving still bugging me.
