Trails Before Dawn

It was a beautiful run up Rock Canyon before work this morning. The snow is melting, and the creek is very full. Toward the top, the trail was partially covered with snow and we missed an important left turn while following a smaller trail along the creek.  After a short jaunt along this more narrow trail, we recognized our mistake but decided to bushwack our way back onto the main trail.  That proved to be more of a task than we anticipated, but it was a fun adventure nonetheless.  Here, the water was running under the snow as we followed a creek back to the main trail.  Brian fell through, soaking his foot.   I made Brian stop for a picture with this fantastic backdrop as we approached the campground The trail down below was heavily traveled, but not many people made it this high. We made it to the campground just in time to turn around and race back to work.  Both of us had early meetings - a shame on a Friday morning! From the

I met up with Eric and his crew for a run from Rock Canyon to the Y and back. This was the first time I have started at Rock Canyon to run the Y.  The 1.5 miles along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail was a good warm-up before hitting the steep uphill to the top of the Y.  At the top, we met some visitors from Philadelphia who were in town for an Imagine Learning conference.  I enjoyed hearing then talk about the scenery and was reminded of how fortunate I am to have fifty or more amazing trails within fifteen miles. The BST on the way back was no stroll in the park, with several decent-sized rollers. Mentally, I felt like I was done when I made it to the Y parking lot.  The jaunt back to Rock Canyon at the break of dawn was enjoyable nonetheless. Overall, we gained 1,740 feet in elevation over the 5.6 miles - a great way to start the day! Sean, Monte, Eric Sean ran a trail half marathon last weekend, so he decided to take it a little slower this morning.  Here's a