Trails Before Dawn

This morning we learned that there is a lot of country to explore in the Hobble Creek area.  We passed several trails on our way to this one. Wardsworth Creek is a great run.  The first 1.5 is a well groomed trail.  At that point, the trail splits. The trail that follows the creek narrows and crosses the creek about 10 or 12 times.  Between the two of us, we ended up with three wet shoes.  But it was well worth it!  This is a very gradual incline - not difficult compared to the steeper trails we've done. We made it 5 miles up Wardsworth Creek before deciding to head back.  It's always hard to turn around without seeing where a trail leads.  We will come back to this one. Here are a couple short clips  Beaver Dam

Map Here's a 59 second video clip of the run. We hit the trail before sunrise and climbed over 1,400 feet in the first two miles. Look close. Deer on the skyline. Timp in the background. Stretching the IT band A different view after sunrise.

Having lived in Utah all but two years of my life, and after having coached cross country in Utah County for seven years, I thought I knew most of the great running trails in this area.  It wasn't until a couple of years after I had left my coaching career and took a job at Brigham Young University that I realized I had only scratched the very surface. Ironically, my increased exposure to some great running trails came about through a finance professor who had moved to Utah and was interested in exploring the area.  Brian Boyer was a converted trail runner, and was just getting into his running career when he approached me and asked if I would show him some trails.  I was thrilled at the opportunity to have a running partner and to get to run some of the trails I missed after being away from coaching.  Little did I know, this relationship would lead us to finding and exploring many new trails together. One of the challenges Brian and I faced was time.  We bo...