Do you believe in destiny?

This last weekend Luke and I decided to do a long run that would take us from Big Mountain in East Canyon to Mill D in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The route would encompass 4 major canyons in the Wasatch range. East Canyon, Lambs Canyon, Millcreek Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon. In all we would travel 28 miles 22 of which would be on the course of the Wasatch.

On Saturday morning we dropped a car in Big Cottonwood and traveled to East Canyon. As we started down the canyon road Luke had remembered that he forgot his iPod. This was worth a turn around and posed the question from Luke to myself, "do you believe in destiny?" For example, what might happen the rest of the day due to the time delay of the turn around. For some reason I thought about this a lot and have determined that I do believe and will explain why. For now we'll get back to the trail.

The weather called for a chilly, rainy, windy day. Luke and I are both believers of the "there is no bad weather just bad gear" mindset. It was actually fairly warm when we started on the Great Western trail out of the Big Mountain parking lot. In fact after the first mile we were both shedding clothes.

We were to follow the Wasatch course description to Lambs canyon. This stretch spans 13 miles or 14 if you go the wrong way. Things were going great through mile 5. Physically we both felt strong and the newness of running this area was euphoric. We came to a split in the trail and actually started down the correct trail and determined that perhaps the other way was the correct route. It looked like it may be used more and we even talked ourselves into landscapes matching the printed description that we had. Shortly after we ran into some other trail runners that we had met a time or two before. For some reason this solitified that we were on the right course.

Me on the at mile 2 of our run. The scenery was amazing.

Luke closing in on Bald Mountain. A peak which gives a 360 panoramic second to none.

After stopping several times to read the map Luke had determined that we were off course. I refused to believe. We both kept talking ourselves into making the description make sense. We found ourselves on a pipeline that rolled UP and DOWN. We followed this pipeline for several miles which in hind sight is really quite comical. The pipeline was steep and deep with really no trail to be followed.

Steep

Deep. I really wish that this picture did the length and pitch of the hill in the background justice.

We did find this poached Elk carcass. Makes for a cool picture.

Shortly after we realized that we were off course the weather turned. It turned quick. Rain and wind pelted us and it got flat out cold! We ended up coming off the trail at Mtn. Dell golf course. We debated back and forth and determined that we would call it a day and try again another time. We called Luke's wife April and she came to our rescue. Not after we took a few hacks.



Sunday night Luke called and after a quick chat we decided that we try again. Luke studied the map and saw where we had gone wrong. The weather was to be much better. We decided to take one car and we would go until we felt like we were done and would call Sarah for a ride. We started again at Big Mountain and again felt great. I was curious to see how my legs and body would hold up after going 14 just two days before. I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

As we approached the wrong turn I saw a huge smile on Luke's face. Someone had actually put rocks across the wrong trail and drew an arrow on the right trail. We both had a good laugh about how nice it would have been to have that there on Saturday.

Right is right straight is wrong.

The course sweeps the East Canyon and Little Dell area and offers some very cool scenery. I snapped the shot below of Luke in the Alexander Springs area. This section was hot even at 9:00 AM. We have both been told that this is a rough stretch on race day as it is wide open and gets very hot. It spans mile 38 to 51 ish on the course.

Once we reached Lambs we both determined that we were going all the way! Luke made short work of the climb from Lambs into Millcreek. I was slower but felt much better than I had anticipated. We made good time to Upper Big Water and into Dog Lake. From Dog it was all down hill into Mill D. It was Memorial Day so the trail was scattered with hikers. It was such a cool vibe and people seemed to look at us as though we had come from another planet. When I saw the Mill D parking lot, which was PACKED, I let out a big YYYAAAAHHHHHOOOOO. I was excited to see the end. I was excited that I had just gone further than I had ever been. I was excited that I felt like I could keep going.

Luke was great and hung with me all day. He has the ability to bury this course but stayed with me and ended up saving my day. At mile 20 my guts started to churn. Luke suggested that I eat some snow to cool my stomach thus making digestion easier. I packed both of my handheld and chewed the snow as we went. Placebo or not my guts felt better shortly thereafter and I finished strong.

So, do I believe in destiny? Yes! Would I have done 42 weekend miles otherwise? No! Would the right way arrow have been there? No! Would we have run into the other trail runners that had the pack on that we decided that we both want on race day? No!Would there have been stomach cooling snow? No! In short, thanks for forgetting your iPod Luke.