Big Mountains. Heavy Weights.: moose

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Millcreek Canyon

I keep reading what a great run the pipeline trail is and have wanted to get out to run it for a while now. I've hiked Millcreek lots of times, although not in years, but had never run it. I met up with Lindsay, and a gal named Dona who is a friend of Katherine's. Unfortunately, Katherine was unable to join us. We met up in the valley and carpooled up to the Birch Hollow trailhead. None of us really knew where we were going, so we kind of winged it and ended up going east on the trail instead of the intended west. We ended up at Elbow Fork and took the Lambs Canyon pass trail from there.

It was slow going and at a certain point Dona ran ahead. When we caught up to her she said she felt scared and a strange feeling that she shouldn't continue on alone. Fair enough. We were nearing the ridge and it was very beautiful. Then, all of a sudden there was a giant moose on the trail ahead of us. We turned immediately around and got a safe distance before I took photos. We were all glad Dona hadn't gone on alone because she was in front and hadn't even noticed the moose!

The rest of the run was very uneventful. The pipeline is a great trail! We had a very lovely time chatting and enjoying the cooler high altitude temps. I am really itching to get up there and do the entire pipeline trail now!

Hey ladies!

This was a really odd plant. It looked like hair.

Now a safe distance from Mr. Moose, I stopped to take a couple pictures.

Bacon on the run is good!

9 miles
2:33
17:00

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Pie-n-Beer day Marathon

Today was the Pie-n-Beer day marathon. It's an unofficial race put on by some local ultrarunners. It's more like a group fun run, but where some folks are trying to be first to the finish. Lindsay invited me to come along with her for our own unofficial Pie-n-Beer day adventure. If you don't live in Utah you have probably never heard of Pie-n-Beer day. It's actually really called Pioneer Day (a Mormon holiday celebrating the arrival of Mormon pioneers in Utah), which I still forget about despite having lived in Utah for nearly fourteen years.

I drove up Parley's Canyon to Jeremy Ranch and met Lindsay before sunrise. We headed out alone ahead of the actual racers, cutting about three miles out of the run by parking much closer to the Mormon Pioneer trailhead. It was very chilly, in fact I had to borrow a jacket from Lindsay because it was so cold. It was a pleasant surprise after the staggering heat of my Sunday run. The trail started as winding single track with lots of rocks and roots. It was an absolutely beautiful climb to the top of Big Mountain.

We saw a deer right away and two porcupines. Then we saw it. What exactly it was, we weren't sure. But we both saw it up above us on the hill at the same time. It was very big and very scary. As I spotted it Lindsay grabbed my arm and whispered "Run!" (of course we were already running, but I think this was just instinct) Then she said she thought perhaps she was imagining things, but I told her I saw it too. So we ran like two women in stilettos in a B movie murder scene. As I looked back over my shoulder I fell into a hole and screamed, which then set Lindsay to screaming. Of course it didn't follow us and we determined it must have been a moose. I thought it was a bear and she thought it was a horse (or a ghost) and some other runners said they had seen a moose, so we agreed on moose.

Now that our hearts were really pumping we kept up the pace for a bit. We ran into the first aide station and chatted with some of the folks there and took a few pictures. We also ran into some other runners and Lindsay's husband, Ryan, who joined us for the rest of our run to the top of Big Mountain. I was really just floored by the beauty at the summit. We were at nearly 8,300' and could see all the mountain ranges around us. Stunning beauty that cannot truly be captured on camera. I really would love to do this run again soon!

On the way back, Ryan hung back and waited for another friend while Lindsay and I headed on back to the finish area. We decided to see if our moose friend was still hanging around. When we got to the same spot there she was! We were scared again, for a moment. It dawned on both of us pretty quickly that it would be odd for the same animal to stay in the exact same spot for all that time, especially after so many runners had passed by. Well, as it turned out, it was a tree. Yes, a tree. We screamed and ran (horrible idea by the way. I don't recommend running from bears, or moose for that matter) from a tree.

Moving on... The run was fantastic. The weather was perfect. The scenery was magnificent. The company was outstanding. We sat at the finish, which was fully stocked with pie and beer, and cheered on the first finishers for a bit before I headed back home. It was a wonderful day in the mountains! And like I said, I must get back there again soon!

Full moon at the start