Short Jaunt Up Hendry's Creek, White Pine County

A great trail in Snake Valley is the Hendry's Creek trail. You'll need high clearance to get to the trailhead ( 39° 12.615'N, 114° 4.773'W), or just park a little farther down the two-track and walk up. The trail starts through sagebrush steppe and later enters the forest.

The unassuming Hendry's Creek trailhead is pictured above. The trail ultimately leads 11 miles up to the Table, a broad plateau under Mt. Moriah. The upper parts are usually snow covered until early June.

   

After the third stream crossing (there are many on this trail, so watch out during high water!), if you pause you can find four tree species. Do you see them in the photo?     

On the left is ponderosa pine, with its long needles. Behind it and darker green is Utah juniper. In the center back is pinyon pine. And on the right with the bristly branches is the big surprise, a bristlecone pine! Sometimes higher elevation trees will grow at lower elevations near creeks. Most bristlecone pines grow above 9,000 feet, so this one is about 3,000 feet lower than that!

The trail has some magnificent views of the quartzite cliffs that surround it.

  At 1.5 miles from the trailhead, you enter Mt. Moriah Wilderness Area.

Farther up, you see more and more ponderosa pines. I was on a trail run and turned around about 2 miles up. I wanted to keep going, but had people to meet. So I will go back again!

Added bonus, before we even got to the canyon, we saw seven bighorn sheep ewes by the rocky outcropping. I just had my phone camera, so the photo isn't too great. I was so excited to see them! They will head to higher elevations as the snow melts and more food becomes available.

More Fun in Moab 2019

We enjoy visiting Moab, Utah periodically. One of the big attractions for us is the Moab Trail Marathon/Half-Marathon/Adventure 5K, which is held the first weekend of November. By that time life has usually slowed down a bit and we can escape for a weekend. We had a great time at the 2017 Adventure 5K and also did some fun activities afterwards (with links to previous Moab area adventures).

We left home in the morning and arrived in Moab late afternoon on Friday (many people had left by then, so it wasn't crowded). That was time to go into Arches National Park for a hike. We headed to Landscape Arch.

The kids thought hiking to Landscape Arch (which is only about a mile) was long enough, but I told them they had to experience the true Arches. We needed to continue on the primitive trail.

They grumbled, but we continued, and they found I was right (as usual, lol!). The primitive trail was super fun, with scrambling and steep drop offs. We walked right on top of a big fin. On the way back we explored a little, and had a great time. It was starting to get dark, so we made the most of our daylight!

After dinner, we headed to the motel (hotel points are fantastic for free nights!) and motel pool. Fun!

The next morning we were up early to go to the race. When I had signed us up, I was feeling energetic, and signed myself up for the half-marathon. However, due to travel and sickness, I had only managed a total of eight miles of training in the weeks leading up to the race. I figured I would go ahead and do it, although it might take me 3-4 hours to complete.

I had never been on the half-marathon route before. It had a variety of terrain, from rocky to sandy, from two-track to barely single track (we were sort of just running on ledges at one point), from ups to downs, but throughout the entire course, we had awesome scenery. It was hard because I hadn't trained well, and after the half-way point my body didn't really want to run, but it was so, so much easier than the Tushars Trail Marathon. And I ended up finishing right at 3 hours! I was a bit discouraged when I finished because so many people had passed me, but it turned out I finished 332nd out of 748 finishers. That made me feel a lot better.

My husband and Desert Girl were near the finish line when I came across, but Desert Boy was nowhere to be seen. It turned out he had taken a wrong turn on the 5k and run an extra 3 miles--in jeans. Yikes! He would have been a fast finisher otherwise. We enjoyed the yummy post-race food, then headed back to the hotel for more swimming (a wonderful way to work out some sore muscles!).

We all agreed no hiking for the day, but Desert Girl just had to go to the sand dunes across from the Arches NP entrance. We had never been, so we agreed. I figured I would just stay near the vehicle at the bottom.

 

But eventually she enticed me to go up to the top.

Our next stop was the Bar M Ranch bike trails. The kids couldn't wait to ride at the OK Corral, a free for-all bike part with little dirt hills. But after awhile, they had ridden all the obstacles successfully. It was time for a little challenge. So we went on one of the easiest bike trails. I had a big, fancy mountain bike, but Desert Girl had a street bike with no suspension. She did better than me! It's so great to see them enjoy being outside so much.

I wanted to try the paved bike trail from there back to Arches. It was super, with lots of mountain bike trails connecting to it. How nice to have paved trails so bicyclists don't have to ride on the highway! (We are trying to get one near where we live, but have run into a big stumbling block. Sigh.) I admired the camera post by the Arches National Park sign. People had left a couple rocks there to support cell phones.

Speaking of bike amenities, this fix-it station was in Moab.

We squeezed in church service on Saturday evening. It's always interesting going to churches in different places.

Sunday was our day to drive home, and although we had a long drive, we wanted to make a couple stops. The first was to see some dinosaur tracks at Copper Ridge, north of Moab. We turned off Highway 191 at the Klondike Bluffs sign (between mile markers 148 and 149), and followed the signs for 2 miles to this kiosk. We saw about a hundred people camping, most with bikes, scattered around the area.

The trail is very short to get to the tracks, although it is uphill. Then we were there and could see the giant impressions. It's so cool to imagine dinosaurs walking here.

We also saw smaller, turkey-like tracks.

We had one more place I wanted to stop that was sort of on the way home: Little Wildhorse Canyon near Goblin Valley State Park. We went there several years ago, but the kids didn't remember it.

It's a slot canyon in the San Rafael Swell, and it doesn't take long to hike to the narrow section. It's so much fun.

There are a few minor obstacles to go over. We eventually ran out of time and had to turn back. But we got a lot further than last time, the kids are so much better at hiking, and if it's not a typical hiking trail, they really enjoy it.

We had the canyon almost to ourselves on the way up, even though this is a very popular canyon. On the way back, we saw lots of people.

Nearby is the Temple Uranium Mine, so we took a quick look there. So much more to explore! Then we took a back way back to the Interstate, getting a flat tire on the way. It made for an interesting drive home, as it's really hard to get a flat tire fixed on a Sunday in rural Utah during hunting season! Fortunately we eventually made it home.

I'm sure we'll be back to Moab at some point, there's just so much to do there, and I feel like we've just barely scratched the surface.

Late Fall Jaunt on the Serviceberry Trail, Great Basin National Park

I've run most of the trails in Great Basin National Park this summer to prepare for the Tushars Marathon, but I didn't make it to the Serviceberry Trail up Snake Creek. I decided to remedy that before I headed over for the Moab Trail Half-Marathon. (This has been a year of a lot of running for me!).

I wasn't surprised to find myself alone at the trailhead. The loop trail is approximately 3.2 miles, and you can see many of the eponymous shrubs right at the trailhead. This time of year they aren't too showy, with no green leaves, white blossoms, or dark berries.

I headed west (left) first, following along the creek for awhile, then climbing up towards the saddle. 

I love this big granite rock with the rock balancing on it. 

Fall colors happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to get up Snake Creek to enjoy the aspens this year. Upper Snake Creek has one of the best aspen groves in the park.


As I went over the saddle, I enjoyed the views.

 These aspens didn't have any leaves left on them, and the ones on the ground weren't particularly colorful.

I did find one small aspen on the backside with leaves! It felt like I won a treasure hunt.

This part of the trail is especially nice, with gentle ups and downs.

Sagebrush covers most of the lower hillside, transitioning to pinyon pine and Utah juniper up higher. In wetter drainages, we see aspen and white fir.

And over the trail is an arch of mountain mahogany.

Then it's time for lots of switchbacks down to the trailhead. The serviceberry is really abundant here. This is one of the easier trails in the park, but it does have a fair bit of elevation change. It's open anytime you can get up the road--eventually the road will be snow-covered in the winter. You usually have it to yourself, and it's quite peaceful and beautiful.

Here's a blog post about hiking the Serviceberry Trail with fall colors.

Running the Tushars Marathon 2019

 Early morning on July 27, 2019 was the time to start the Tushars Marathon. This mountain marathon would cover 26.2 miles with over 7,300 feet elevation gain (and loss, since we were doing a loop). And most of it would be over 10,000 feet elevation.

To prepare, I had followed a 16-week training plan. www.brutalevents.co.uk/MMM_16wk_plan.pdf
 This worked well with my schedule, as with work and family, I could only reasonably run four days a week. I did the whole schedule with only a couple minor modifications.

My other big preparation was listening to the Podcast Trail Talk, which helped me a lot with nutrition, preparing myself mentally, and also being a big inspiration. One of the tips was to prepare myself for the route. I looked at the race website and downloaded the trail map. I tried to figure out where I would be going up and where down, and mentally broke the run into segments based on the aid stations and high and low points.

I also looked a lot at the profile. Being mentally prepared for the major ups was very helpful. I was surprised by the runners I met during the race who had no idea what was coming next.

 Our family had camped out near the start at Eagle Point Ski Resort the night before. It had not been a great night's sleep, with a big thunderstorm into the late night and a rambunctious dog. But the family managed to get up to send me off.

I had my running vest packed ahead of time, my GPS watch fully charged, so all I had to do race morning was get dressed and eat some breakfast. And try to get more charge into my phone, it hadn't charged during the night like I had planned. There were more runners than I was expecting. And this was just one of four races--the 100km and 70 km had already started, and the half marathon would start 30 minutes later. 

Then we were off. We had a muddy downhill first, then lots of uphill. 

It was a cloudy morning, so sunrise wasn't amazing, but it was still beautiful.

 

And there was a lot of snow! I was glad for all my training through snow drifts, as they didn't faze me.

I had to take some quick photos, knowing I would enjoy the scenery more later than in the moment, while I was huffing and puffing. I loved the downhills, they were easier than the ones I had practiced. But the uphills seemed harder.

At mile 8, the Alunite Ridge Aid Station was a welcome sight. I drank some Gatorade and grabbed some pretzels and peanut M&Ms. I was happy to arrive at 2 hours, which had been my goal.

Next up was a steep road. Only about 3-4 miles of the race was on roads, about 20 miles on single track, and the rest just across grass and meadows. These two ladies ahead of me were doing the 70 km, and I was a bit surprised to run into some 70km racers. It was a nice morale boost.

 

At the top of the road was a pass and some more beautiful single track.

 While the first eight miles I was running with big groups of people, at this point I ran a couple miles without seeing anyone else. It was really sweet.

And the downhill kept going! I knew the big ascent to Delano Peak was coming soon, so I just enjoyed it.

The trail passed by these old cabins.

And also by this adit. This guy passed me, but then when I said we had 2,000 foot elevation gain, he stopped for a break to eat and I passed him. 

The trail was really wet and muddy. We had numerous stream crossings to clean our shoes.

Another cool mining cabin.

The trail kept going up in the trees, then we came out into the meadow. Hello, Parry's primrose!

And then we were above treeline, with a daunting mountain to climb. We went through some of the snow you see.

It was gorgeous, but I really had to keep talking myself into taking step after step. My two running mantras were "Run Your Own Race" and "One Step at a Time." The first was because I was feeling a little too competitive and then sometimes discouraged when people passed me. The second was because even though I wanted to quit many times, every step I took was one step closer to the finish line.

Can you see the distant figures? I was hoping to be up Delano Peak in about 4 hours. 

The Paintbrush was bright pink and a different species than I knew. I saw some other flowers I didn't know, but resisted taking photos of them all!

Looking behind me at some of the people coming up the slope.

And then, finally, I was there! There was a big group of people on the lee side of Delano Peak, and I wondered why the runners were hanging out so long. It turned out they were hikers, getting an extra spectacle on their climb! I was at the top at 4:02 and sent a quick text to my husband.

The downhill was fantastic. I just wanted to drink in the views, but instead took a couple photos and then ran.

At the bottom of the downhill was a mile or so up a road. It was not fun. I ran out of water and really wanted to be at the aid station.

The Mud Lake Aid station was tucked behind a hill, so I didn't see it until I was right there. I had to take a few minutes to recuperate here. I drank a cup of gatorade and another of water, filled my water bladder with a liter of water. I ate some turkey and cheese, tortilla and avocado and hummus, and some more peanut M&Ms. Despite how crappy I was feeling, I had made it here in 5 hours, which was my goal. The few minutes there made me feel much better. Then I started out along Mud Lake. Here's a view looking back towards the Aid Station:

Some 100 km stragglers were still coming in the opposite direction. They weren't looking so great, and I wondered how they were going to finish. This aid station was busy, with runners from the three longer races all there. But about a half mile away, the Marathoners took a different trail. 

In fact, here's the junction. The trails were marked quite well. And this is when my phone quit working right. The next section, a long downhill, was quite nice, although I could tell my legs were getting tired. It took a little longer than I had planned. And then there was a big uphill through Big John Flat on a road, with too many ATVs. That part was not good. I couldn't wait to get to the aid station at mile 22. But it seemed like I kept going and going. And two people passed me, which pissed me off. 

Finally I got to the aid station, and the ladies were so nice. I had some more Gatorade and sweet watermelon. Yum! Only about 4 miles to go. One blog post I had read about the race said this was the flattest part of the race. Liar. There was more uphill than I expected. I was not happy about that. At all. And even though I was grumpy and sore, I knew there wasn't too much to go. And then I caught up with some half-marathon stragglers, and that made me feel a little better. I got to the final downhill, which I did without much grace, and then the final uphill. My husband was waiting for me part way, which was so nice! I managed to run the last 20 yards!

I had had three big goals for the race: 1. Finish, 2. Finish in less than 9 hours, 3. Finish in less than 8 hours. When I had looked at 2018 results, I saw that the median time to finish the marathon was 8:35. I really wanted to beat that. Well, my final time was 8:13, so I accomplished goals 1 and 2, but not quite 3. I finished 41 of 73, plus 12 that did not finish. I felt a little bad about my placing at first, but then I realized that only two people older than me had finished. And I was third for females in my age group. Plus I was still walking!

One racer asked me at the aid station at the end if I was going to do it next year. I told him it depended on how I recovered. I'm still sore, but I'm still moving. Pre- and post-race massages by Jenny Hamilton Therapeutic Massage have made a huge difference. And I'm thinking of how to improve. So we'll see...

Tushars Mountain Runs