Alexander Ridge to Lambs Canyon

Yesterday was an adventure! The short version goes as follows: Elk-1 Me- a big gash on the leg.

Long version is as follows:

I have a tag for a late season cow elk hunt that ironically encompasses the first 50 miles of the Wasatch 100 Course, the south-eastern boundary being I-80(Parleys Canyon) and a mile above the Lambs Canyon exit. So... to spend some off season time on the Course, and because that's where the elk are commonly found during the winter, Rich and I headed over to Alexander Springs to see what we could find.The elk were in abundance, but unfortunately, so were the hunters and all the elk we saw were running and miles away. That was no deterrent and we kept following the elk up canyon along the Wasatch course from Alexander to Lambs. As fit as we think we are, two legs with a 20 lb pack and a rifle in 18 inches of snow is no match for 4 legs and we didn't get remotely close. Regardless, it was a beautiful morning and just good to be outside.

Admitting defeat, Rich and I started our way back to the truck. There is a spot on the Course where the Lambs aid station is in sight and looks oh so close. You can see the volunteers bustling around, hear the occasional shout and cowbell as you come into sight and the adrenaline kicks in. A newcomer to the Course may think it's only 1/2 mile, but in reality the trail takes a hairpin turn back up canyon and takes you another 3/4 of a mile up canyon before turning back down to the aid station.

Rich and I were feeling a bit pooped, so at the hairpin turn, we just walked off the berm with the intent of cutting cross country through the snow and scrub oak, and avoiding the extra 1 1/2 miles of trail. Bad Decision. 5 feet down the hillside, my right leg started sliding on the 40 degree slope, my left leg bent so I could squat back and not pitch head first into the scrub, and I felt my left knee scrape over some snow covered rocks. Just a scratch and maybe a bruise I thought...until I looked down at the surgical style slice in my pant leg. Oh oh, probably more than just a scrape. I scrambled back up to the trail to assess the damage and this is what I found:

Oddly enough, it didn't hurt, and since we still had an hours walk to the truck, I rummaged through my first aid kit, pulled out my leatherman and 3/0 gut suture and went to work. Rich was offering all sorts of encouraging advice like "What the Hell? Oohhhh, I think I'm going to puke. You can't do that to yourself! I gotta call Lisa (his wife) to come pick us up cuz there's no way you're walking out on that", etc.Well, we made it out in fine form, I was only 1/2 hour late for family pictures (the last family pictures we had I crashed snowboarding 2 hours before and smashed my nose. At least this one wasn't visible) and I even managed to get a short run in today and the sutures held.

I hope that come Sept 10, 2010, things go a little smoother from Alexander to Lambs.

And It Begins...

After spending all winter and spring running in the foothills between City Creek and Millcreek we were finally able to put in the first miles of year on the Wasatch 100 course. Around 5:30am I met up with Greg and Peter to drop a car at the Lamb’s canyon exit before heading up to the top of Emigration (Little Mountain). The plan was to link up the Emigration ridgeline to the Killyon’s trail junction, drop down into Affleck park campground, then take the Pioneer trail to the Big Mountain parking lot. This extended route would add ~6 miles and a little extra vertical on to the Big Mountain – Lambs Canyon section of Wasatch and hopefully allow me to exorcise some demons…

We were more than happy to leave the headlamps behind as dawn was quickly approaching. A couple miles in we spotted a few elk running over the ridge in front of us, and then as we rounded a bend we saw the whole herd they were joining up with. We stopped in our tracks as we watched the herd of 20 or 30 run off over the next ridge. I really wanted to get the camera out but it was still a little too dark to get a decent picture. The trail was in great shape all the way over to the Killyon junction and even down in to the campground. We finally hit some snow on one of the switchbacks heading up the Pioneer trail.

Upon leaving the Big Mountain parking lot we encountered some serious snow. Lucky for us it frozen solid, unlucky for us we were slowed down a bit by “navigation issues”.

The snow line along the ridge appears to be around ~7300’. In some spots it looked as though it was at least 10’ deep. It was still a bit early for the mule ears to be out, but they’re only a few weeks away from blooming.

Even though the temperature was reasonable, the pipeline section still felt like an oven. We managed to get cooled off on the last stream crossing near the end since there were no logs for the crossing.

~20 miles, 4840’ ascent, 5000’ descent. As far as exorcising demons goes, I would have to say they have been banished, thanks for the indoctrination Leo.