July 17
After suffering through a week of near record high temperatures, today was forecast to be a little cooler with highs in the low nineties. A friend, wants me to pace him on a section of the Wasatch 100 mile foot race. Being masochistic I agreed. We did a shakeout on the section, Brighton to the Homestead, the last 26 miles, today.
Sunset peak still holding snow.
We kinda got off route heading outta Brighton but it didn't matter cuz it's hard to get lost on the way to Catherine pass. From the pass the route goes to Point Supreme and drops from there into Dry Fork, continuing down to the infamous Trail 157 junction, then to the ridge separating Snake Creek and Dry Fork.
The ridge is followed around the Ant Knolls descending to Pole line pass in American Fork Canyon. We had the first look at Timp along the ridge.
Timpanogus remains in view for most of the traverse along 157 till dropping to the pass and north fork road. From there on, traversing Mill Canyon peak, the view is of the south facing Dry Creek, with views of Mary Ellen , the back of the Twins Mineral Basin and Silver Creek.
Continuing on trail 157, we traverse around the south side of Mill Canyon peak, familiar terrain to me since I've done bike rides from Alta to Tibble Fork for many years.We eventually exit 157 for another trail which wraps around the north and east face of the peak, new and unfamiliar terrain to me. Here we encounter remains of the slide cycles in December and January, with this debris likely the result of massive natural slides in the southern Wasatch.
The trail is lost and progress slows for quite some time. What's interesting to me is under the cover of the downed timber, a substantial pile of snow debris remains and may not melt out this summer. How the trail will be unearthed poses an interesting question.
A view of the east and northeast face of Mill Canyon peak showing the starting zones and new clearings from the slides.
The picture was taken as we head up the jeep road hopefully the last push before the home stretch descent to Wasatch State Park and the Homestead finish line. We've done good route finding to this point, but luck runs out and a little off route road run in the wrong direction for several miles causes me to hit the wall.
Cascade ridge and Provo peak are still holding a little snow and I'm liking the view till we realize we're headed in the wrong direction. A coupla miles up the jeep road get us back on track for the six or so mile descent.
I'm wasted with some sore legs in places I was unaware could be sore and the descent will cause my toes to go black and blue even though my shoes are a half size big.
My introduction to the sport of ultra or trail running pleasant for the first twenty miles, shows I'm not as rough and tough as I think in the last ten with my ass handed to me on a platter. Being a true masochist I think I'll try this again.