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Month: January 2003

Oquirrh Moutains

January 25, 2003

Saturday morning a group of us participated in a strenuous ten-mile hike in Ophir Canyon, in the Oquirrh Mountains.  This was a repeat of my Monday trip, with a goal to go all the way to the top.  Victims included myself, Ed Johnson, Pablo Riboldi, and David Hansen.  We hit the trail at 7:30 a.m. with snow flurries for the first hour.  I was concerned about slick trails and my worry was confirmed as David Hansen fell down right after getting out of the car.  The starting temperature was about 30 degrees. Two inches of additional snow had fallen since Monday.

We started out tentatively, going up the South Fork 4WD road.  David hiked in boots, and never broke into a run during the hike, but traveled fast.  Ed and I got the pace going, but would stop to wait for the others.  I had bought another pair of “feet snow chains” for Ed to use and he offered them to Pablo, which greatly helped.  Pablo was then able to join in the runs.  We cruised through aspen groves and desert landscapes, waiting a couple times for David to catch up.  The road became steeper so I hung back with David. Ed and Pablo kept the pace up.  We covered the three miles to Halls Basin in about one hour and fifteen minutes, climbing 2000 vertical feet.

We then discussed how to reach a nearby summit. David Hansen, of course, helped us understand that the only correct strategy was to head straight up. David pulled us to the top, a 9830-foot unnamed summit on the Tooele/Utah counties border, about a mile northwest of Flat Top Mountain, and south of Dead Ox Pass.  This climb was tough.  I felt the elevation and became fatigued.  We had to dodge scrub brush, and find footing in snow.
 
The clouds blew out and we had beautiful sunshine, with views into Salt Lake County to the northeast (Herriman), Utah County to the east (top of Timp poking through the clouds), and Tooele County to the west.  We decided to take another route down from the summit and ended up plowing through some challenging stretches of knee-deep and waist-deep snow to Halls Basin.  We found another cabin, a bigger one which was unlocked and very nice.  We recovered from the snow hike, changed socks and prepared for the run down.

The rest of the way was a quick three-mile run.  We finishing at 11 a.m, David arriving about 15 minutes later.  The vertical feet up for this event was 3,100.  We all survived well, stayed warm, and had a great time.

Broad Canyon – Tintic Mountains – UT

January 18, 2003

On Saturday I did a solo 13-mile out-and-back hike/run through Broad Canyon in the Tintic Mountains.  This mountain range is 22 miles to the southeast from my home. The run in was via a full moon, pretty cool.  I reached the pass at 7,000 feet near sunrise (very nice) with a great view of Timp off in the distance.  I hit packed snow and ice on the way up, but I stopped to put on “foot snow chains” (cool cables from REI that wrap onto the bottoms of your shows).  I was amazed at the excellent footing, even on slick ice.  Near the top I took a mile side trip to Hot Stuff Mine, trudging through unpacked foot-deep snow.  It was sometimes packed down by lots of game (deer, elk, etc).  The mine was blasted closed, just a hole.  The run down was quick, and I reached the car at 9:30 a.m.  Luckily, it wasn’t stolen.  Not a human to be seen the whole time.  Temperatures were nippy, in the mid-20s.

Lake Mountain – 12 miles

January 4, 2003

This hike was costly.  While scouting out this hike earlier in the week, I punctured my oil filter, lost all my oil and seized the engine on the Stratus…a total loss.  Luckily the car insurance covered the loss, minus $1,000 deductible.

Paul Hansen, Ed Johnson, and I participated on this run.  We did a 12-mile route up and over Lake Mountain, which is the mountain on the west side of Utah Lake near my home.  The elevation climb was about 2500 feet over a seven-mile stretch.  The trail was a 4WD road, about 8 miles of which was packed, dry snow.  Footing was excellent, the packed snow felt great to run on.  Temperatures were 25-30…still pretty pleasant. We all stayed very warm.  We completed the run in 2.5 hours.  We had to shuttle a car, but arrived home by 10:30 a.m.  It was a good work out.  Afterwards we hit the pool.