Striding
Along - Trail tales & other stuff
25
Dec -> Black Ice and the
Miserable Trail Runner. Merry Christmas
everyone. I spent the week quite sick with a head cold,
headache, and
just plain feeling miserable. I barely recovered in time to sing
healthy voiced again with
my local choir and enable the tenor section to sound "manly" (pay no
attention to the testosterone excessive basses who would have you
believe tenors walk around with tight trousers all the time).
Feed them a little raw beef and they usually quiet down. Feeling
better today, I went down to the Jordan River Trail and ran from 7500
South 700 West trailhead to Gardner Village and back. It is
mostly bare pavement (a narrow lane) but various places have 2 to
3 inches of packed snow and ice and most trecherous of all, black ice
alternating with wet pools of water. Very tricky running. I
enjoyed a group of White Crowned Sparrows beating up on the Russian
Olive trees looking for seeds and insects. A Kingfisher was
looking for a meal in the Jordan River running cold and clear.
The ponds at the trailhead are frozen over and the Canada geese have
flown south long ago. Magpies were hanging out near the trail in
hopes of dropped treasures. A small package of peanuts got opened
and placed on one of the stone benches. I looked back a few
minutes later and they were ganging up on the food going nuts over the
nuts. It has been another interesting year for
ultrarunning. I now count 51 trail 100 milers in 8
countries (about 40 in the United States -> only 21 states
with California now having 5). Some foreign countries will list
them as a 160
kilometer trail race, but that is still 100 miles by any other
name. There are dozens of bigger runs, adventure multiday runs,
as well. Trail running is swelling its ranks adding thousands of
newcomers a year now. Locally, we are seening Wasatch and Squaw
Peak struggle with turning down applicants and even the Buffalo 50 M,
50 K, 25 K in only its secnd year filled up so fast it left
some without any opportunity to get into the run. It pained
me to cancel the Turfens 30K but my work has forced me to use my time
to help them in a staffing crunch. I am looking at rescheduling
but am dependent on the scheduling gods to endow me with some
appropriate weekend off. Sigh..... While I was sick, I had a
strange dream. I was running in Capitol Reef with John
Moellmer, Paul Hart, and Dana Miller. The four us stopped
on a slickrock ledge for a little light lunch before continuing our
run. John and Paul took out their MRE's and had some sort of
"hot" lasagna. Dana had a hi-tec meal in a bag with precooked and
ready to eat noodles that looked more like nylon straps. I
at two cheese sticks dipped in electrolyte powder (yukkk). Then I
ate two reindeer salami sticks from my dear friends, the Garneys ,
stationed with the Air Force in Alaska. Now the strange
part of this dream was the names we went by which were names from our
various "clans". As with the Navajo tribes, they go by their
Maternal Clans and Paternal Clans. I would be known by the
Nielsen clan of my father and the Huntington clan by my
mother. A Navajo might be the Many Goats clan by their
maternal line and the Salt clan for their paternal line. Other
names I remember would be Mud clan, Standing Rock clan, Towering House
clan, Folded Arm clan, etc. Anyway, John, Paul, Dana and I were
all of the maternal Trail Dance clan but Moellmer was of the paternal
Many Dots clan, Miller was from the Mud&Guts clan, Hart was
from the Tree shaped like a cello clan, and that left me tagged with
Picks ticks with fingers clan. Yeah, wierd, I know. We were
eating our lunch and looking a the great red rock across from us and
enjoying the day and taunting each other mightily as men are wont to
do. Suddenly we heard this huge animal roar below us and looked
down on Trail Dance clan (Grizz Randall) and also of the Bear Slaps
Lightning Bolts clan. Grizz asked if we were going to lounge
around up on our ledge all day or finish the run. After that, the
dream dissolved into hacking and coughing and woke me up with flem and
saliva to expectorate. Normally, I don't rememeber many dreams
but this one seemed important. Maybe it was just to let me know
that over the years, I have been fortunate to belong to the Trail
Dancing clan and know many of the characters in the trail running,
Ultrarunning world. Thank you all for being part of my
dreams. I just have one question, one person who finished with us
was a member of the Licks Salt clan. Any takers? Never did
quite identify or at least remember who that was.
25
Nov->Jays &
Juncos. Another keyhole
loop run in Corner Canyon area, Draper: Starting at Orson Smith
Traihead and the green gate, I went straight south on Upper Corner
Canyon road to the Bonneville Shoreline trail at 1.10 miles. Then
I followed the BST down to the first wooden bridge (2 miles)just north
of the Silica Pit. Then I went up the west arm of Corner Canyon
and turned left at the second wooden bridge (2.5 miles). This new
extension of the BST connects to the Uppper Corner Canyon road I
started on (3.92 miles). I turned left there staying on
Upper Corner Canyon road and came all the way back to the BST access
trail I had left on previously and continued north down the road until
I arrived back at the green gate where I started (7.35
miles). I saw lots of Blue Jays, Magpies and Oregon Juncos.
Ran into a dozen hikers and a half dozen bikers. Stangest sight
of the day was a group of paintball enthusiast in camoflage who drove
across a field of Sage Brush and parked right across the trail I was
measuring. I have no idea why they did that. At least they
weren't gutting a deer on the trail (there, I found something nice to
say about them). Weather was pretty chilly today.
Nice when the sun was out, though. I haven't spotted any Cougars
yet this year but two hikers reported seeing some tracks
between mile 3 and 4 on this loop. I tend to look behind me a lot
more after thinking about big cats.
18 Nov-> East
Draper trails - Ook, Ook!
Took my Garmin GPS watch and my Rollatape wheel and measured the route
north from the Orson Smith trailhead access at 12600 South 2000 East.
Starting at the Green Gate, I went south up the Upper Corner Canyon
Road, turned left when I came to the Aquaduct Road, followed it north
past the big water tank on the right and just past the rushing water
reservoir on the left, I left the Aquaduct road following a small trail
up through the oak and maple trees until it cuts back south
finallly reaching the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (1.62 miles). I then
headed south and followed the BST climbing up past the Trail of the
Eagle Junction (2.34 miles), past Bear Creek wooden bridge (2.44 miles)
and south until it crossed the Upper Corner Canyon Road (4.02 miles)
and down the BST to the Aquaduct Road (4.55 miles) and turned right
heading back north finishing at the Green Gate (6.03 miles). My
GPS watch in this open trail area was quite close to the more accurate
wheel measurements (5.95 miles). When I started, I had parked
right behind Grizz Randalls vehicle. We exchanged little
greetings (mine, of course was Ook, Ook, that is ape talk for "How the
blazes are ya?") I met David Blaylock at the Phillips 66 station
(while we both were getting some calories to munch) on my way to the
trailhead and saw him again when I first came up on the BST. He
ran to Hidden Valley Park in a different direction and then passed me
on his way back south on the BST. I met Colleen Ford at the Trail
of the Eagle Junction. We chatted for a minute or so and went on
our way. Grizz said he saw Milada Copeland. I saw about 4
other unknown trail runners from a distance on my run and two
mountain bickers. Now if you took the route I did but followed
the BST from the Aquaduct Road (4.55 miles) south to the
Hang Glider park (just past the last house on the park's edge), that
would be 11.24 miles. Then if you came back to the Aquaduct Road
Junction with the connection trail (17.38 miles) and continued north on
the Aquaduct Road back to the Green Gate, the total would be 18.86
miles. These trails are superb right now: very little mud,
they are soft from frequent rain, and there is very little
dust. Additional news: The Canadian Geese are
traveling south on their migration. I saw about 150 of them on my
last run on the Jordan River Trail south of Gardner Village.
Also, enjoyed watching the White Crowned sparrows diving in and out of
the brush.
Last I heard Phil Lowry has hit 360 Timpanogas ascents (accumulative
total) and holds the record for most ascents of Timp. The
only thing I have done that many times is Mount Vancott behind the
University of Utah (about 1500 feet ascent over 1 1/2 miles). I
think I have been up Mount Timpanogas a dozen times. Hard to
imagine 360 trips. Wow. Way to go Phil. Also
kudos to a few dudes who did the St George Marathon back in early
October. A few times I noticed: James McGregor
3:50:52, Tom McFarland 4:01:49, Grizz Randall
4:46:30, Duane Schmutz 4:26:32, Lee Johnson 4:54:12.
Nice job gentlemen.
3
Oct -> Gnats
and flat tires: After a
trip to the dentist for my biannual experience in pain, I got on my
bike and rode down to 8500 South and 700 West. With my GPS on
wrist, I measured how far it was south to the new trail starting along
the east side of the Jordan River just south of 9000 South. It is
0.75 miles from that opening in the fence where the Jordan River trail
ends until it picks up again through River Oaks golf
course. Sadly, it only continues for less than half a mile
to the River Oaks club house where there is a small little parking lot
/ trail head north of the regular clubouse. You can
continue for a total of 1.39 miles by crossing the bridge southwest of
the clubhouse and continuing on a ground asphalt trail to the holding
canal dam where the Jordan River pours out underneath it. Yet
another bridge needs to built there and connected to the underpass at
shields lane about 9800 South but that will be awhile.
Still, progress is slowly being made in connecting the dots and putting
in more trail. I rode back to the Jordan River Trail north of
8500 South and 700 West and noticed a new bug hatch was in force
(gnats). Don't smile while you are riding.
Rabbit Brush in now in blossom all
along that stretch to Gardner Village at 7800 South. By this time
I had 2 flat tires on my ride. This is a
problem that will just get worse since the flats were due to
"Puncture Vine" which is the common name for Tribulis terrestris.
I have had fun with a new little
toy, a pedometer actually which I hook up to my belt above my hip and
see how many steps I can get in a day without actually going
running.
The most I have had is about
14,000 steps one day at work when I got to go walking around the
University Hospital complex for lunch and on breaks. Maybe about
5 miles. All that walking just seems to make me hungrier, so
sadly, haven't lost any weight but my walking muscles are a bit more
beefed up.
25
Sep -> The Bear 100 Mile Endurance
Run -> Phil Lowry reporting:
"The danged polar high set up camp almost
two weeks ago and knocked the
jet stream down 500 miles, so Utah and Idaho get in this wicked
storm track, and BAM! the Bear 100 course gets nuked with almost a foot
of snow
at its high points the day before the race. So we move the whole
course—I mean, chunks stay the same, but we literally move it all over,
and this is wickedly complex, but because the Idaho emergency radio people and volunteers
are like space aliens they just do it in 6 hours. They just used
my
digital maps and GPS waypoints, and most of them knew the whole place
like the
back of their hand anyway. So off we go, in a freakin snow
storm—REALLY snowing, not this drizzly orographic crap you sometimes
get
after a front passes, it was PRE-CIP-I-TAT-ING—and 44 people take
off. And, are you guys for real, can you do this? Snows for
six
(6!) stinking hours, everyone is wet and muddy and Errol Jones, my
other
assistant race director, wonders if we should just call the whole thing
off,
but then the sun comes out and we get giddy and I tease him for being a
California guy running in the snow in Idaho and that I’m a stupid Utah
Mormon for running in it, too, and now we’re feeling good and
happy. So we climb up to 8000 feet and there is 8 inches of snow,
but
it’s melting, right? So now it’s slush. Whoa. But then
SNOW SHADOW—the mountains blocked the snow from getting to the east
side
of the range, and so we get 30 miles of NO SNOW, but it’s mud,
but
I have ski poles, and then the mud freezes, so who cares? So lots
of Red
Bull in the night, great dutch oven potatoes at MillCanyon, and an eery walk through the 6
inches of snow at Green Pass, where it really is
getting COLD. Orion rises and the temp is in the toilet.
Whoa! 17 degrees at Paris Ice Caves
(what a name!), and now the whole world is frozen and
can-you-believe-this-is-where-we-run-every-year-dang-it’s-cold!
Over the pass, everything hurts now except my nose and right pinky
finger, and
now I get another round
of red maples, to the
finish. 36 out of the 44
make it. Amazing. Just amazing. Ultrarunners never
cease to
amaze me. Next year it’ll be 90 freakin’
degrees. Toodles."
Hyperphil
Soundtrack (objective: how it really was):
Imperial March from The
Empire Strikes Back
Soundtrack (recommended to turn the
ridiculous into the sublime): Music
for a Found Harmonium; Beethoven Eroica Mvt 1; Tonight (Phil Collins)
Funnest nonrunning activity: making
snow angels
Toughest customer: Tim Seminoff
(ran the whole race in shorts, 8th
Bear in a row)
Highest temperature: 55 at Cub
River
Lowest Temperature: 16 at Green
Basin (0400 hours)
Second funnest nonrunning activity:
asking the guys from Georgia how they liked Idaho
Best line: “We’re gonna regret this in
the morning.”
Best food: Dutch oven at Mill
Canyon
Worst food: frozen soup at Copenhagen
Road (no
wonder they name everything up there
after Denmark)
Funniest sight: the wrecked camper
Best advice: NEVER eat unwrapped candy
from a bowl at a 100-miler;
it’s not that we don’t know where those hands have been—we know very
well where they’ve been (The Balmex Effect).
Most Longevity: Hans Dieter
Weisshaar (96th career
100-miler, age 66)
Best wildlife: Morgan Ridge Prize Bull
Best Movie: Dancing the Bear.
Thanks, Soul Focus Productions!
Most Respect: All 36
finishers. Wow!
23
Sep-> Now that snow has hit the high country, it will not be
long before the trails down in the valley become more attractive.
When you get a chance to check out Corner Canyon, you will find a few
new wooden bridges on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail which has now been
connected all the way from Upper Canyon road down to Corner Canyon and
now via a new trail up high south of the big new homes west of the main
Corner Canyon area to the Hang Glider Park . The trail also
splits above those homes and an additional trail heads east climbing
all the way to the Upper Corner Canyon road crossing a pass between
Draper and Alpine. Great view of Utah Valley from the
south. That is the good news. The bad news is, as usual,
more and more construction is slowly eating away at all the former open
country. New homes are being built at an incredible rate
and now hover over trails making them feel like running in the
suburbs. Outrageous. People have to live somewhere, I
suppose. I did enjoy the colorful Big Tooth Mountain Maple leaves
that have changed color. The Poison Ivy was also very colorful
but are somehow not as pleasant looking. As I hiked up the
long trails, questions filled my mind. I wonder if they will connect the Bonneville Shoreline
Trail from the Hang Glider Park to the Jordan River Parkway
trail? Will they continue the Bonneville Shoreline Trail further
north connecting to Little Cottonwood Canyon, Big Cottonwood Canynon,
Millcreek, and to Parleys Canyon? I certainly hope to travel
those trails some day. The BST is very exciting south of
Draper. They are brand new and so far, not much foot traffic but
the mountain bikes sure like them but I only ran into 5 bikers in
several hours on the traiL. Maybe the bikers don't like the cool
weather.
13 Sep-> Took a day off today
from running and spent the day at the Utah State Fair. I still
got in 3 miles of walking according to my pedometer.
The past week was all Wasatch buisness and I did a lot of trail
work, ribbon marking, glow sticks, and removal of ribbons and
glowsticks, and trash from the trails and the trail heads. The
fall colors are quite lovely right now despite the colors being muted
somewhat from the dry summer. I oddly had quite a few
sightings of wildlife including coyotes, mule deer, moose,
marmots, foxes, badgers, water snakes, tarantulas, Forest Grouse, Blue
Grouse, Kingfisher, Dipper, Turkey Vultures, and a
Coopers Hawk. Quite a treat.
The next few weeks will really
be the best time of the year for me when it comes to local mountain
trails. The weather will get cooler, the Aspens
will turn a golden yellow and the oranges and reds will appear in full
glory soon. Put on your dancing shoes folks, cause the "leaf
hopper polka" will soon begin. Plus, you know those stale old
pretzels will finally become tasty after a few hours of trail
dancing. A few GU's, a package of M&M's,
and a Ultimate Direction water bag with ice water. Yumm......
30 Aug
-> Sneaky storm slipping over the valley tonight with thunder and
lightning but no rain. Drat. Hope it rains soon. The
trails are really dry right now and getting unpleasant. FYI -> According to Phil Lowry and
his techno expertise and a very expensiveGPS, the Timpanokee Trail to
the summit is 7.399 miles and the Aspen Grove trail is 7.313 miles to
the summit. Anybody object to rounding that off to 7.4 and 7.3
respectively? Thought not.
19 Aug->The Grizz wrote to me recently and he made a very good
point about updating our old fashioned way of doing things in a
humorous letter. As I am reading his email again, the batteries
run down in my AM/FM radio with ear phones. I feel like such a
fossil. Sigh.......
WHY didn't somebody TELL
me?!?!?
" In recent years I've watched the younger generation of trail
runners (runners, in general)
with music makers strapped to their waists or arms and wires in their ears. Not for me.
When I'm out there in the
mountains I want to hear the babbling brooks and the birds singing in the mountain ash and the breeze rustling
through the aspens. Then here comes Karl, wired for sound, and
winning all the big ones, even
Hardrock. ( What do you suppose he listens to?)
At Squaw Peak this year I noticed with dismay that venerable elders, even Rick Gates and Bob Henderson, had
succumbed to the siren song. Bob was singing along with Sade
(pronounced "Shaw-day", I believe) and Rick told me he was holding back on the
Grateful Dead until the last ten
miles. (Come to think of it, it was at about mile 40 that he left
me,not to be seen again until I
spotted him with a watermelon as I came through the finish.) For my birthday last month, Bev gave
me an Ipod Nano. Slightly larger than a credit card and holds 1000 songs.
I loaded it with about six
hours of music off my favorite CDs and headed for Lake Blanche. I thought I would give it a fair shot, but I
was skeptical. Man, I
couldn't take it off! It's magic! Come to find out, it isn't birds and
tinkling brooks you hear out
there, it's the huhhh ... huhhh...huhhh.. of your labored breathing and the annoying slapping of your Montrails on
the rocks and roots. Add
music to motion and both are enhanced! Now, I can't get enough!
I've worked my way up
Stairs Gulch with Talking Heads talking in my head. I've scaled the cliffs on the South
side of Mt. Superior to Bruce
Springsteen's New Jersey angst. I've topped out triumphant on
Dromedary with a Bach
harpsichord concerto applauding my victory. I've gently jogged down off Lone Peak with the new
Paul Simon album easing out all
the bumps. Does it enhance preformance?
Indeed, it does. After all, you CAN'T stop till the music stops. And you
find yourself dancing to whatever
rhythm is pounding in your ears, usually reaching a little to keep up. Trail DANCING?
Ahhh, yes. New meaning to the term."
Grizz Randall
31 Jul-> Phil
Lowry has the Timp record. Email from Phil today,
"Got
350 today. Turns out Woolsey has not been getting to the
summit--just
doing
halfsies, getting into shape. So, I am the sole record
holder." Congratulations!
30 Jul->Ongoing struggle! Battle of the
Titans! The quest for Timpanogas ascents. Check out this note
from Phil Lowry Thursday July 27: "In 1988 I climbed Mt. Timpanogos for the first
time. Prince Many Dots and Hartsky dragged me up in the few years
after that to
work search and rescue, and then they introduced me to ultras.
Timp
became my favorite place to train. About 1996 I started keeping
track of
my summits (trailhead to top, no cheating!), and in 2001 bumped into a
retired
postal worker named Ben Woolsey who put new registers in the summit
hut. I
thought I must have climbed the mountain the most, but he had done it
over 200
times! I resolved to capture the “summit crown,” and finally
did in November, 2001, on a double summit in the snow right before
Thanksgiving. I thought the crown was mine until Woolsey came
raging back
in 2005 and spotted a 40-summit lead on me. (For two summers I
had been
measuring the courses for Wasatch and other races and let the Timp runs
slide.)
Last fall I resolved to get the title back, probably in 2007.
But this
summer, as I noticed Ben was not coming up yet and that I was really
enjoying
the season on the mountain, I slogged up 27 times (350 miles, 119,200
feet of
climb) in a month and finally caught up with him today, July 27, 2006.
It
was a hot day, and I did the summit twice for the tie. Saturday I
go for
the win (# 349). Then Katcina Mosa and maybe two summits a week while I
rev down
from my 100-mile weeks in prep for Wasatch. We
are all freaks, and I am
king!"
Addendum note from Phil 30 July: "Woolsey went up on Friday.
Still tied."
29
Jul-> It has been disturbing week
in the roasting valley of Salt Lake. July 24th, the Deseret News
Marathon came along for another year of pain and suffering. Davy
Crockett ran a 3:44:57 coming in 108th for his first
marathon. It
always took 2 months for me to recover from a road marathon, so I hope
Davy gets fully recovered quicker than I did. It made me wince in pain
reading names in the paper who had ran the marathon. I saw that
the Remke family made their annual pilgrimage to the race. Tom
ran a 3:45:50, Ron ran 4:12:12, and Jamie a 4:29:13. John Diroll
ran 4:17:17. Ellen Ives ran 4:42:22. My favorite Sports Medicine
doc, Russ Toronto, ran a 5:05:16. My nephew Gavin Barrowes, ran
his first marathon in 5:13:09. Well, my hats off to you
folks and thanks for grinding it out in the heat. I'm thanking my
lucky stars that I wasn't involved. Earlier this week, I watched my
second fire from Flat Iron Mesa Park, this one was an apartment at 7180
South 1300 East. The first fire was in Crestwood Park a few weeks
ago and came roaring though the grass threatening some homes.
Then there was the sad affair of a dead 5 year old girl found
murdered. Awful, awful. Just makes me sick someone could do
this. It was much like the time Elizabeth Smart
disappeared: feelings of great dismay and a lingering
sorrow. Yes, a disturbing week and Floyd Landis got tagged with a
high testosterone level. Disturbing news everywhere. I did
make it out on the Desolaton Trail this weekend and got my flower
fix. The yellow pollen plastered all over my white shirt was
cool, sort of like tye-dyed. The brush was thick! I did
bring home some edible mushrooms (for all you amateur mycologists,
Leccinum
aurantiacum). Not my
favorite tasting
bolete, but it will
do in a pinch. The mushroom expert article I linked to recommends
avoiding this mushroom due to a look alike one that causes unpleasant
symptoms if ingested. I personally haven't had any problems with
the ones I find in the Wasatch and Uintah mountains but I rarely eat
this one anyway, so giving it up wouldn't be a problem. Eating
wild mushrooms is risky. Imagine that, living on the edge, such a wild thing! The
temperatures were hot up on the trails and the dust is bad at times
over west of Dog Lake on the trail down to Mill D. The flies were
a little less persistent this week than last but I still recommend bug
repellent as a must. Also, take Salted Nut Logs, they take a
beating and taste pretty good for trail food. Of course, I change
my mind every week on the preferred food to take. Fickle ,
fickle. Addendum: My late lunch: " Leccinum saute' and scrambled eggs",
yummm. (Yes, I still put ketchup on it, even though it had wild
mushrooms.) Hey,
that could be my motto for 2006, "Ya
just can't go wrong with ketchup".
22 Jul -> A hot
time in
town: So, what
do you do when a child gets sick and ruins your plans for a trail
run. Well, duh, you improvise and do the best you can in
the situation. With temperatures around 105 F in Salt Lake Valley
and my morning window lost and driving to trails up in the mountains
cutting into my time, I opted to drag the old bike out and ride the
Jordan River trails. Starting 3 miles away, I rode from home to
8500 South and 700 West then headed north riding all the way to the
Jordan International Peace Park about 800 South and 900 West (about 17
miles) and then turned around and rode home adding a few side trips for
a total of 35 miles. By strange coincidence, this is about the
same distance of the Tour de France time trial on the same day that
Floyd
Landis rode to regain his yellow jersey as overall leader. There
was a slight difference in time and I am astonished to see he was
moving about 2 1/3 times faster than me (1 hour 8 minutes to my 2 hours
40 minutes). Wow. There are other differences but
I shall abstain from calling to mind any other comparisons. I was
pleased to put in a hard effort in this heat on the bike (two stops at
the Maverick station half way to comsume drinks and ice cream). I
am pleased to report that the bridge under 2100 South and the I-80
freeway nearby is completely finished and that they are nearly done
paving the trail between 3500 and 2900 South, only a couple hundred
yards left in asphalt laid this week. So, about 14 miles from
8500 South to 800 South by my GPS Garmin watch. Now if Sandy,
Draper, and Bluffdale will finish their sections to Point of the
Mountain, the Narrowes and the Utah Valley section of the Jordan River
Parkway, we could have a great long, long run down the middle of
the valley on paved trails and literally from the shores of Great Salt
Lake northwest of Salt Lake City to the pump station at Utah Lake and nearby Saratoga
Springs. Water consumption for the day: 84 ounces and I'm not
finished. The salt was heavily crusted on my skin when I got done
so I may have to eat a few salty things. Salted watermelon,
here I come, ymmmmmmmmm..........
16 Jul
-> Stan, Stan, the Pancake Man has been cutting logs off the Days
Fork trail and while doing this had some free time to compose a poem (a
little "ditty", as he puts it, to the tune of, "Ye Elders of Israel",
page 319, in a hymn book published by a local religion (the one with
lots of Pioneer Heritage on display coming up every year on July
24th). For those who may not know, Forget-me-not is the local name of a pretty blue
flower that is in the Borage family. The blossoms turn into
viscous "stick-ems" and cling better than velcro to your clothes when
you walk through them. They can really hurt if stuck to the wrong
places.
**********************************************************
Forget-me-not , you're lovely when
you bloom in the spring,
But then when you dry up, you
stick and you sting.
I'll whack you, I'll hack you, and
stomp with my boots.
I'll spray you with Round-up, and
yank out your roots.
Forget-me-not, Forget-me-not, I bid you farewell.
You're going to weed heaven, but
likely weed Hell!
**********************************************************
So, in addition to
taking
out logs, Stan took out some Forget-me-nots and some Stinging
Nettle. Kudos to you Stan! We can't thank you enough. I
hope you readers get a chuckle out of this "Crane'ism"; and yes,
you can sing it to the particular tune of the song mentioned quite
well.
12 Jul -> Got this note from Phil Lowry
dated 9 July: "Been
quite a week on Timpanogos. Got back from Michigan in late June and climbed the mountain 12 times in
11 days, including a double
and a triple. Dave Crockett did a quad on July 1; took him like 20 hours. We are all freaks."
Grizz reported seeing "Timp" Crockett up on the Nogas on that day he
did the 4 by 4 and was astonished like I am. What do you think,
folks, are we all freaks? It is hard to explain to anyone else
but long distance trail runners why we would find multiple ascents up
Timp an exciting challenge and a possible sublime experience. Put
me down as a freak, too, my ten straight Grand Canyon Double Crossings
in 10 years qualify me if nothing else did.... well, biking the
Lotaja 204 miler was pretty freaky and the Uintah Traverse from East to
West was radical.....hmmm, probably more stuff,too.
I spent some time up on the ridge between Days Fork and Grizzly Gulch
yesterday and thought about how lovely the flowers were. This
probably makes me a flower freak. Speaking of freaking out, the
deerflies, or as Stan, Stan, the Pancake Man, calls them, "Delta
Wingers!" are terrible right now. Thank goodness for
repellents. Some of the horseflies were bad, too, and big enough
to carry off a finger or two. There is only a patch of snow left
on the descent from Twin Lakes Pass off the trail and onto the ski
access road that drops to Solitude Lake juncton.
4 Jul -> Went back to Big Cottonwood
Canyon and parked across from theMill D trail head. Then I sat
out on foot with axe and saw heading south through Reynolds Flat and up
Days Fork. Slaughtered 9 logs across the trail and left a few
clumps of Stinging Nettle screaming and begging for mercy.
Heh, heh. I didn't quite get up to snow level but I suspect
things will be fine for the run coming up that is NOT July
8th. Should be quite a flower show since the Bluebells,
Penstemon, Columbine and Geraniums are parading around the trails in
glorious colors. Got a great icy cold drink from the major spring
half mile up Days Fork. Ymmmmm.
24
Jun -> Brighton is very pleasant right now. Snow level
is about 9000 feet, about half way to Lake Mary from Brighton.
Looks like we are a week or two ahead of last year as far as snow melt
goes. I went from Lake Mary to Twin Lakes and there were smaller
snow
packs compared to last year a week into July and it was much easier to
negotiate my way through the snow
fields. There are some new trees down in places but not too hard
to slip around them above Brighton. Stan Crane reports he
has taken an axe to the Days Fork area to help travelers get over the
numerous fallen trees. I cut out some aspen tree overgrowth on
the way
over to Spruces Campground from Reynolds Flat and the Mill D trailhead.
Couldn't get one log out yet but you can go
around it. There were four trees across the trail to navigate
from Reservation campsite 16 (just across from the 2nd bathroom)
through the cut-off trail to Days Fork. Nice and wet right
now up above Brighton. The streams are very cold and delicious to
soak feet
in. Whooeee! The water is very loud as you cross some of
the granite rockslide areas, like a freight train. A bit
eerie.
8 Jun -> The "Motherboard"
in my home computer busted. Dead as a door nail. Finally
got a new one and then faced some awful problems trying to publish on
the web site. After 6 1/2 hours on the phone and going through a
lot of technicians, I finally got some problems resolved with
information I was using and the information in the server that kept my
web site files. Agggghhhhhhh! Well, I did get a
nice 4 mile road run today from 10600 South and 700 East where I
dropped off my vehicle for repair of the air conditioning. More
like a walk since I had to be on a cement sidewalk 2/3rds of the
way. Anyway, sorry to be gone so long but that is how life
goes. It will take awaile to catch up on things.
22
Apr -> Sunshine, mid 70 degree F temperatures, dry trails. A
perfect Bonneville Shoreline Marathon weekend. Unfortunate that
the race was 2 weeks ago after a collossal snowstorm buried the
foothills but they did have a successful run anyway. Today I ran
out in Draper, Corner Canyon. The new section of the Bonneville
Shoreline Trail is being used much more often now. I hope they
finish the connection over to the Hang Glider Park and beyond
soon. It seems like every time I go out there I find more homes
and less open space and more digging to build more homes. Sigh!
Well, progress is wonderful, isn't it? Anyone?
Anyone? I actually ran out of water today and felt quite hot for
the first time in a long winter. Pass the fluids and stick my
head in a freezer door. Ah, that's the ticket. The Jordan
River is still running very high in the central part of the valley with
the threat of going even higher when the big run-off hits in May.
The streams in Corner Canyon were good in the morning but look like
they flood over a bit by the evening and man, that water is cold.
I saw a mountain biker try to cross one of the streams and he took a
spill. I was going to help out (as soon as I could stop laughing)
but he got up and rode on with the wind whispering many a curse through
the trees between us. There is a home right above that crossing
and I wonder if they have to keep their windows shut on weekends.
6 Apr -> How to Win
Ultrarunner of Year.
A huge snowstorm hit the hills above Salt Lake City today. I
heard some of the peaks got 32 inches and they had 6 more hours of
snowfall to go. I was too chicken to go out in the slush and
cold. Walked a bit in the University Hospital to keep my legs
active. Biking indoors sounds like a great idea
tonight. The following letter from Phil Lowry is a real
hoot. If you don't take Ultrarunning, you may not realize how
slanted the pick was this year. Here is Phil's
tongue-in-cheek thoughts:
I have analyzed the
results for Ultrarunner of the Year, and
have scientifically deduced certain weight factors that will give
insight and
perspective to the elite runners that pursue this award. The
weight
factors appropriately handicap those indicia that bear the most on how
this
award is determined.
Each victory in a race exceeding 26.2 miles gets one point.
The following weight factors should be added to each victory:
Every ten miles of race
distance:
+0.1;
or
Every
day of one-day or multi-day
races:
+1
For every ten participants:
+0.1
Every 1,000 feet elev. gain:
+0.1
Every 1,000 feet average elev. above 5,000’
MSL: +0.1
Every degree average course temp. exceeds
72F: +0.1
If event is in California:
+10
If event is Western
States:
+100
Good luck, ultrarunners!
Phillip
Lowry
****************************************************
Many of
the mountain states runners lean towards Karl Meltzer and Matt
Capenter this year. Thanks for a good laugh Phil!
31
Mar-> Water under the
bridge. March came in
like lion and went out like a lion, a wet one. The Jordan
River has swollen greatly the last few days as Utah Lake attempts to
get rid of the excess water. It will eventually end up in the
Great Salt Lake. I have seen several underpass trail routes
flooded out this week. Gardner Village at 7800 South is
under 3 feet of water. The trail underpass at 10600 South at
times has had a few inches. The new trail that goes under
Bangerter Highway about 13800 South has over a foot. By the way,
the Jordan River Parkway is now extended from 13800 to 14600 South
where a new trailhead at 1196 West has been built. There are
several nice bridges and connecting trails to this new mile of
trail. New homes built close to the trail in South Jordan are
complaining of flooding. Well, excuse me, but that is what
happens when you build in a flood plain. Duh! I'm
ready for spring, how about you?
11 Mar -> Looking back.
The storm that
hit last Thursday was very interesting. Gale force winds during a
blizzard with a cold front smashed into Utah and continued from north
to south down the state causing hundreds of accidents, slide-offs,
jack-knifed semi's, and another "character building" run around my
neighborhood. I thought I was running uphill the whole time and
got more of a workout in 2 miles than I usually get in 6 miles.
After an easy day walking yesterday, I went back up to Flat Iron Mesa
and did 15 loops on the 1/3 mile part of the park with the big hill in
it. Twice I ran up the grassy hill (steep) and did some real
suffering. The Draper Corner Canyon area has been nice to get
some good trail work on but it has been a bit windy, making for some
real tough slogs. Do you think
my character is built up enough yet so I can go back to some easier
running? In February I blasted through the 60 year old
barrier. Good Grief! Senior citizen discounts and a new age
group to set records in for myself (slow as they may be). As I
look behind me to see if anyone is catching up, I can only conclude
everyone is catching me and passing me and I just need to get used to
it. Still, there is that little old fat lady, and I might be able
to hold her off...... wish me luck.
28 Jan->Get the drift? Draper
was very blustery and
windy. The trails were sometimes windblown and sometimes I ran
into pockets of snow knee deep. I guess this is what we
call a "character building run". Looks like winter will be around
for awhile. Maybe I will have to dig out my snow shoes and skate
skis. In the way of passing on good advice, "Don't spit
into the
wind." I know you have heard this but really, turn all the
way around and do the spitting because even spitting sideways sometime
leaves wet stuff on the cheek.
24
Jan-> Running downhill. Yesterday, it was sunny but cold and
the trails were unfortunately mucky (mucky -> good mud for
ducks). So, I found a relatively dry short uphill stretch above
the Universtity Hospital south of Dry Creek. I enjoyed the
repetitions of up and down to try and get my "mountain legs" some
work. For a chunky nearly 60 guy, the downhill is both easier and
harder than the uphill. Easier, because gravity is in your
favor. Harder, because the ton of weight going through each leg
if you hit hard leaves you prone to injury. In the winter, it is hard
to get some really good quality big runs in. Life is hectic and a
wise person must balance time working out against good family time.
So, today, I have made my start on a new plan. I am going
to intensify my short work-outs by carrying hand weights.
No, no, it is not what you are thinking. These weights are
treking poles that telescope. It helps burn more calories
(so they say) and gives your upper body a work-out too. Today, I
ran in Dimple Dell (10000 S. 300 E. is the trailhead by the Dog Park in
Sandy) and took a 4 mile run there while using the treking poles to
stabilize and push me up the hills. So far so good. My arms
were tired at the end. So, as you run the trails around the
valley, if you see an aged silver haired Gorilla using sticks in each
hand, laugh if you want to, but it might add some fun to the usual
trail dance scene. I'll let you know if I can get used to
them. Maybe hand water bottles would be better.
ps....sticking the pole in gopher
holes is dangerous. Try not to do that.
\9 Jan -> Todays trail run for me was
at Iron Mesa Flat Iron Park. Ran 2 measly miles while trying to
loosen up from the Tur Fens 30K. Got passed by some leaves
blowing along the ground and I couldn't even feel the wind
blowing. This getting passed by the "dead" bugs me! At
least they didn't attack me.