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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….