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Eagle Mountain – 14 miles

February 8, 2003

The weather turned very cold during the week, so early morning runs just didn’t make sense.  Saturday turned out to be a beautiful, cold, sunny day.  In the afternoon, during the BYU-Wyoming basketball game, I decided to do a run through the foothills that separate Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  The temperature was great, upper 20’s near 30.  I was surprised how good the legs felt.  I was able to keep a run going almost the whole three hours I was out there.

My run started from home, and took me along the base of Lake Mountain, heading west.  I found a road that headed took me half-way up the western ridge, and then I bushwhacked to the top.  Much of the ridge scrub cedar had been thinned out and taken for firewood.  When I reached the top, I took in a nice view to the east of Utah County.  I next headed over the ridge and dipped down into a valley that I didn’t know existed.  It was a nice open valley with plowed farmland.  The road took me north for a mile or so and then headed me toward a canyon leading out toward Cedar Valley.  When I existed the canyon, I could see the Eagle Mountain city center off to the south-west.  I was amazed how much it has grown in the past couple years, even a chapel.  I headed north on the dirt road that connects Eagle Mountain to the Ranches, but I quickly found that to be dull as a car passed me by.  So I headed up a 4WD road taking up to the top a high knoll, giving me a nice view of Cedar Valley and the Ranches to the north.  

From there I headed north-east going up and down foot-hills, crossing a recently buried massive natural gas pipe line that extends clear into Salt Lake County.  It went up and down the foothills and required raping the ground for about 200 feet across.  They did attempt to help the environment by laying down straw and using burlap to help erosion areas.  Quite a project. 

Feeling great still, I decided to take a longer route and headed down a canyon, leading me to the edge of the Ranches…quite a community, with two chapels and a school.  With no desire to run roads, I ran a trail along the powerlines and then looped around heading southwest to spill out on a dirt road running south along the base of the ridge, giving me a view of Saratoga Springs, the huge Church farmland, and Utah Lake.  I completed the loop and then finished by running 2.5 east, back to home.  There were several groups along that road who were shooting guns which made me nervous going by.  One group was actually shooting toward the road, although a small hill was their backdrop.  I wish they would go further away from the communities.  It was a great run!

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