Summit junkie!

Temple Quarry trail in Little Cottonwood with Craig and Brent:

We originally planned to run up View Benchmark, but we couldn't get out until later in the day and with the temp in SLC hitting 103 we decided to do the Quarry trail because a good portion of it is in the shade and runs next to the river, so it would be much cooler. It was still hot at times, but we definitely made the right choice. We had an excellent run chatting and laughing most of the way.

PM: Weights at the gym for an hour. Once again lots of sweat in there.

Me on the way down:

Mt. Timpanogos with Craig, MattW, Bdase, Dan Varga, Bill Hiatt, JimmySG, Travis, Nate, Mike Place, Jeremy H., Jsh, Ashley, Zac M, Kelli and Scott and a few others I am forgetting. 18 total showed up.

We had a really good group for this night run of Timp. Craig posted our intentions on the Wasatch Wranglers facebook page and we had 18 people show, which is pretty crazy. It was already dark when we started and Bdase, Bill and DanV lead out and pushed a pretty good pace. MattW and I followed Craig for a little over a mile and then he took off. For the next 2-3 miles I was leading the rest of the pack up. A couple miles in we passed Crockett coming down (he was doing a double) and Dan stopped to turn back around. Just before the upper basin Zac and MikeP passed me. By time we reached the switchbacks in the upper basin there were 4 of us hanging together and we would stay together the rest of the way to the summit. Hit the top in 2:12. Not fast, but decent. Craig and Bdase made it up there first and were waiting for the rest of us to show up.

We waited in the shack for what seemed like 30 minutes. It was getting cold and I saw some lighting flashes way in the distance, so I decided to head down and just about everyone followed. Craig stayed on top to wait for the rest of the group to get up there. The run down was fun, but slower than normal because it was dark. I ran most of the way down with MattW and we had fun chatting away and we pushed the pace a bit the last few miles and had some separation with the rest of the group.

Bdase and Craig finished first and then Travis with me and Matt coming in 4th and 5th. Then we waited for about an hour for the rest of the group to get back down. We just missed a pretty big storm as there were more lightning strikes and the wind picked up. It started raining hard about 30 minutes after we left. It was fun getting to know some of the new guys and we had a great time. It was a great way to start the 4th of July.

View Benchmark peak from Canyon Hollow with Craig:

I had an excellent run up VB with Craig. It was very hot and humid out there, but good heat training. We just chatted most of the day and enjoyed the run. On the way down we noticed that there was a new trail at the Maple Hollow trailhead that takes you back to Ann's trail avoiding the steep rocky connector trail, so we took it and it was awesome. I think that will be our new route up there for sure and it is about .6 miles longer. We ran back down Ann's going the other way toward Vintage View and ran it back to the road where we picked up the BST and took that back to Canyon Hollow. The last few miles were tough with the heat, but we got it done.

I won't be running much until next week. Craig and I have been planning an adventure run/hike/climb/scramble in the Uintas for the last 10 years and we are finally going to attempt in next Tuesday. It will be about 60 miles, 20K+ vert and hit the highest 21 peaks in Utah. We are pretty stoked about it, but also a bit nervous. I'm sure after we finish it I won't want to see another boulder again the rest of the year.

5 very easy miles with my wife.

Weights at the gym for an hour. This afternoon I will be going to the Uinta mountains with Craig and MattVH. We will be attempting to be the first ever to climb all of the 13,000 ft. peaks (21) in the Uintas in one single push. We will go unsupported. We will be carrying a sat phone and a spot tracker and you can track us here if you're interested.

Uintas spot tracker

Tokewanna-NW Wasatch and Wasatch Peaks + Highline trail, Uintas with Craig and MattVH:

Craig wrote up an excellent report of our adventure run/hike/climb in the Uintas here so I won't go into too many details, but it turned out to be pretty brutal for me. I had one of my worst days ever in the mountains and nothing seemed to go right. We got a very late start and had to start about 1.5 miles from the trailhead due to a 4X4 road that got a bit sketchy.

The first 9 miles were actually a lot of fun and we were running through some incredible country, going in and out of lush meadows with 13,000 ft. Tokewanna Peak waiting at the end of the basin. We had to do several stream crossings on this adventure and about 5 miles in I slipped on a rock while crossing a stream and went down into the river. My head landed on a rock and I was pretty shocked there for a few minutes. It was just the start of bad luck for me.

We ran into a large elk herd at the end of the basin and it was pretty amazing watching them take off up the mountain. I got behind on my energy and never felt great the entire day. About 12,500 ft. I started feeling sick from the altitude and it slowed me down a lot. By time I reached our first peak (Tokewanna) my energy was depleted and the altitude had sucked my will to move forward. I took a break and ate a burrito, changed into some warm gear and watched one of the most incredible sunsets I have ever seen from over 13,000 ft in one of the most remote places in the lower 48. I'm sure not many others in history have been dumb enough to watch the sun go down from that spot. :)

The ridge over to NW Wasatch was loose, exposed and long. About half way across I slid on a loose boulder and slammed my left knee into a large rock. I let out a barrage of cuss words and thought I might have broken my kneecap. It took about 5 minutes to get composed and start moving again and then within 15 minutes one of my water bottles spilled almost half of the water I had. We knew we would be up on the ridges for several hours without access to water, so now I could be even more screwed. What a slog! By time we reached the next summit I was slowed to almost a crawl. Matt and Craig had been waiting for me and both of them decided to pull the plug on the 13ers project. I was not happy and asked them to go on without me, but they wouldn't leave me alone up there, especially in those conditions.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was checking out the night sky. I can't even fully describe what we saw up there, but it was out of this world amazing. The Milky Way looked like a thick cloud and I have never in my life seen the stars so bright. Every time I looked up I could see a few satellites moving over the earth and we saw a few dozen shooting stars as well. Unreal.

We slowly made our way over to Wasatch Peak. It was the middle of the night and we were navigating through some sketchy terrain by headlamp and I was feeling so so sick. I felt bad because the other guys had to wait so much for me. Eventually I made it to the next summit and Craig told me they were going to get me down ASAP. We then made an exit into the unknown down the south side of the mountain. We had a vague idea of what we were getting into based on the topo map, but the next several hours were pretty gnarly, making our way down a loose boulder pile into some really loose cliffs where we had to do some sketchy down climbing. Finally we made it down to a pass where we would pick up the Highline Trail and I actually started feeling a bit better.

We had all been out of water for well over an hour and we ran down the Highline trail and eventually came into a meadow with some springs where we filled up our water. Before sunrise we took about a 90 minute break. I was trashed. We climbed into our emergency bivy sacks and when we woke up the sun had come up and we were in one of the most incredible places I have ever seen. Wow!

We then had to climb up and over two major passes and travel about 20 more miles to get out. The trail has tons and tons of boulders, deadfall and we had to do several stream crossings. It wasn't ideal for running, but we ran what we could. I was so incredibly wrecked by time we finished our journey almost 24 hours after we started. I know for sure now that I will never attempt this project again. I just don't respond well to high altitude and this route just has too much terrain above 12,000 ft. so next time I'll leave it up to Craig and Matt. I still want to finish climbing all of the 13K peaks in the Uintas, but I'll never ever try it in one single push.

5 easy miles with my wife. My legs feel great except my left knee is still sore from banging a rock during our adventure run in the Uintas last week.

View Benchmark Peak with Craig from Vintage View:

We had a really fun run up VB. It was pretty hot and muggy out, but I didn't mind it. Good conversation all the way up and we took the new route on the new connector trail. We both really like it and it adds about 1/4 mile each way. My legs feel great, but my left knee is still a bit sore.

PM: Weights at the gym for an hour working upper body/core. I had a really good session and I was totally worked.

Boot camp at the gym with my wife for an hour. We did 6 circuits with weights working our core and upper body. Did 15 minutes of insanity and then some sprints. Good sweat.

Mt Wire X2 and Little Beacon with Craig, Je10, MVH, Rad, Andrea, Brian, Adrianna, Ashley, Pete, JimmySG:

Rad posted that she wanted to bag Wire and Je10 and I wanted to get a double and Craig thought that was a great idea too, so I met Craig and Je10 at 4:15 am at the trailhead. The others would join us on our second lap at 5:30. The temps were perfect and we had a good time chatting and making our way up. We hit the summit in 43 minutes and change and then Je10 wanted to go down the long way. Both of those guys bomb the down hills and they dusted me pretty quick. I made it down to the trailhead just as the others were starting up.

We had a really good group and we all pretty much just chatted all the way up. We kept about the same pace going up. JimmySG led the way and I was behind him. Nobody wanted to pass, so I pushed it up to the summit with a group of 5-6 others following right behind. I hit the top in exactly 43 minutes, so faster than the first round. I really didn't want to go down the long way and Adrianna didn't either and she didn't know the way down, so I told her I would go back down the way we came with her. We had a pretty good run all the way down. At the saddle we passed MVH going up for round one and I gave him a butt slap and sent him on his way.

At the trailhead I waited a few minutes for the others to show up. MVH was first and I asked if he wanted to go up again. He didn't have time and when Craig and Je10 came down they didn't have time either, but we all wanted to keep going, so we (MVH, Je10 and Craig) went back up and tagged Little Beacon, which is a small knob south of Wire.

I had an excellent time out there today and got in over 5K ft. of climbing and a coupla summits before work.

The group on the summit:

View Benchmark Peak solo:

I had this brilliant idea to go run VB in the afternoon when the temps in SLC were 102. I had a very busy day and that was about the only time I could fit in a run, plus I could count it as heat training.

I didn't see another soul on the trails. It was just me and Def Leppard and the miserable heat. I was slow and it was a slog, but I ran it all up to the summit where I took a break to check out the view. It never gets old. On the way down the heat really took it out of me and it was a struggle to hit anything resembling a fast pace. I still had a great time and enjoyed some time to clear my head and think even if it was a sweat-fest.

3 easy with my wife.

View Benchmark Peak with Craig:

We did a norning run up VB and it was so much nicer than the heat run I did up there on Sat. It was still warm and sweaty, but it felt really good out. We had a great time just chatting all the way up. My kneecap started hurting about two miles in and got worse as the run went on. It is from my run in with a large boulder on our Uintas run from a few weeks ago. I'll be running the Speedgoat 50K this Saturday and I am hoping it doesn't bother me too much.

On the way down Craig really picked up the pace. I hung with him for a while, but had to stop to tie my shoe and pee and he dusted me pretty quick. Overall it was a really fun run out there and only 93 when we finished.

PM: I'll be at the gym for at least an hour pumping iron with the meatheads.

VB solo:

My knee really hurt and I'm worried about Speedgoat. I'm pretty sure it is just a bruise, but it is a little concerning.

Speedgoat 50K:

Here is my full report for Speedgoat.

Speedgoat50K

3 easy with my wife around the hood. Legs were sore, but not bad. Knee is sore.

Weights at the gym for an hour. My legs were just a bit sore after Speedgoat, but my knee is still bothering me a bit.