After the 2013 Red Hot Moab race, I felt cheated of a true wild Utah experience. Red Hot's a nice race but a boring one for most of it's 34 miles. To truly experience what the Colorado Plateau has to offer, one needs to get off the beaten path.
Getting myself back into wild Utah has been high on my list since then but with a wife, two kids and a career, not exactly something I could just pull off like that. Well I finally did this past weekend and was thankfully joined by WA for a few days of some amazing running.
Day 1 - Halls Creek Narrows, Capital Reef National Park. One needs to be committed to take this journey on. Not only is this route in one of the most remote Utah National Parks, it's also in the most remote part of the Park itself. Example, from the north, one has to deal with roughly 50 miles of washed out dirt roads to get to the trailhead. The last 3 miles being very slow and requiring a high clearance vehicle.
The trail itself is almost not existent and follows a sandy creek bed from North to South. I'll let the pics explain the rest of the route. My Garmin 620 lost reception a lot while in the Narrows but the stats for the day were roughly 25 miles with 3,000 feet of vert. 6hrs 40mins total time.
Day 2 - Alcove Springs, Taylor Canyon, Syncline Loop, Canyonlands National Park (Island In the Sky District). Not exactly out there but linking up these trails does put one in some remote country. Goals for the day were shorten by roughly 3 plus miles due to a Spring storm blowing through the region. What started as a comfortable, breezy, overcast day turned into crazy wind gusts reaching 40 plus mph with soaking rain that felt like pin needles drilling into the body. When the rain wasn't falling, the stinging was still felt from the sand getting whipped around the canyon bottom. With all that, the surrounding canyon walls were still an amazing site.
Yet all this weather was somewhat tolerable at just under 4,000 feet in elevation along the Green River. However the end point is around 5,800 feet in elevation and by then temps were below freezing. I was way under prepared and frozen solid by the end of the day. It took me a few hours to get my body temp back in check. Again, I'll let the pics explain how the day played out.
Stats were roughly 19.5 miles, 3,000 feet of vert in 3hrs 30mins total time.
Lastly....Lastly this will be my last post. After 4 1/2 years of randomly posting and commenting, I'm simply over it. I honestly don't mind blogging. I still enjoy posts from fellow bloggers I've had the thrill to follow (and get to know!!) over those 4 1/2 years.
But this whole social media/running combo over the past few years has honestly gotten out of control and has me sick of the sport of running in so many ways.
I've done a pretty good job on biting my tongue and NOT voicing my opinion to much on this blog, so I'll take the high road by ending here and simply not elaborate on what I'm sick of.
As one of my favorite quotes says "There are those who walk and there are those who talk. And baby I'm walking. I AM WALKING". In this case, my walking will be my continuance of loving my family, running the trails I love, exploring new amazing places, and challenging myself to be a better person every single day of my life.
On that note, I'll leave you all with some pics from this past Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th of April!
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Getting myself back into wild Utah has been high on my list since then but with a wife, two kids and a career, not exactly something I could just pull off like that. Well I finally did this past weekend and was thankfully joined by WA for a few days of some amazing running.
Day 1 - Halls Creek Narrows, Capital Reef National Park. One needs to be committed to take this journey on. Not only is this route in one of the most remote Utah National Parks, it's also in the most remote part of the Park itself. Example, from the north, one has to deal with roughly 50 miles of washed out dirt roads to get to the trailhead. The last 3 miles being very slow and requiring a high clearance vehicle.
The trail itself is almost not existent and follows a sandy creek bed from North to South. I'll let the pics explain the rest of the route. My Garmin 620 lost reception a lot while in the Narrows but the stats for the day were roughly 25 miles with 3,000 feet of vert. 6hrs 40mins total time.
Day 2 - Alcove Springs, Taylor Canyon, Syncline Loop, Canyonlands National Park (Island In the Sky District). Not exactly out there but linking up these trails does put one in some remote country. Goals for the day were shorten by roughly 3 plus miles due to a Spring storm blowing through the region. What started as a comfortable, breezy, overcast day turned into crazy wind gusts reaching 40 plus mph with soaking rain that felt like pin needles drilling into the body. When the rain wasn't falling, the stinging was still felt from the sand getting whipped around the canyon bottom. With all that, the surrounding canyon walls were still an amazing site.
Yet all this weather was somewhat tolerable at just under 4,000 feet in elevation along the Green River. However the end point is around 5,800 feet in elevation and by then temps were below freezing. I was way under prepared and frozen solid by the end of the day. It took me a few hours to get my body temp back in check. Again, I'll let the pics explain how the day played out.
Stats were roughly 19.5 miles, 3,000 feet of vert in 3hrs 30mins total time.
Lastly....Lastly this will be my last post. After 4 1/2 years of randomly posting and commenting, I'm simply over it. I honestly don't mind blogging. I still enjoy posts from fellow bloggers I've had the thrill to follow (and get to know!!) over those 4 1/2 years.
But this whole social media/running combo over the past few years has honestly gotten out of control and has me sick of the sport of running in so many ways.
I've done a pretty good job on biting my tongue and NOT voicing my opinion to much on this blog, so I'll take the high road by ending here and simply not elaborate on what I'm sick of.
As one of my favorite quotes says "There are those who walk and there are those who talk. And baby I'm walking. I AM WALKING". In this case, my walking will be my continuance of loving my family, running the trails I love, exploring new amazing places, and challenging myself to be a better person every single day of my life.
On that note, I'll leave you all with some pics from this past Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th of April!
(Day 1: Henry Mountains - Last surveyed mountain range in the lower 48)
(Hall Creek - Typical Running Conditions)
(The "trail" is literally right in front of the pic. The views of the Waterpocket Fold were amazing)
(Now looking South along the creek)
(The first major bend in the Narrows. I did nothing to alter this shot. Still not sure if I'm standing in an Alcove or what)
(Left: Water, Center: Quick Sand, Right: Sand)
(No way to avoid the water here)
(Or here)
(Water was cold here! WA is something like 6'4" so the water gets deep here)
(The Narrows just kept on giving huge views)
(By this point, the sun was warming things up making the last few water crossings extremely enjoyable)
(Not many pics of the desert wildflowers but there were thousands of them out there. Of every color too. I took a pic of this one mainly for the prickly pear. I accidentally kicked these needles on 3 different occasions. One toe got it twice and is still in pain)
(One last shot from the starting point of the run looking down Halls Creek. The narrows were roughly 9 miles south of this point)
(Day 2: Start of the Alcove Springs trail. The Alcove was huge)
(The technical trail zig zagged somewhere below the Alcove)
(Zeus and Moses. The weather turned quickly here preventing us from climbing the saddle of these pinnacles)
(Approaching the Upheaval Dome. It was only raining at this point. The finish was behind the dome up on along the high point in the background. Winds kicked in shortly after and prevented us from enjoying the longer route back to the car)
