I moved to Utah and thought "Great, I'll just climb
every mountain here." Sounds like a logical plan, but in practice has a
few flaws. The big one of course being what if I don't want to climb a particular
mountain? Sounds like crazy talk, right? But I've explained before how my
attraction to a particular mountain is something that I just feel deep inside
drawing me to it. So there's a big stretch of the Wasatch that does almost
nothing for me. My original plan was explore around my home in North Ogden and
move my way south. I got down to Mt. Ogden last summer, but then there is the
rest of the northern Wasatch area before you get to the central Wasatch that
frankly made me go 'meh.' But the catch is because I was not really compelled
to climb these mountains it made me think of them even more as I tried to
process within myself why I climb mountains (or perhaps because I work right at
the foot of these hills and see them almost every day). In the end we must face
our realities, even if there are uncomfortable. Like the girl at the church dance
you don't really want to dance with but you do so anyway because you feel like
it is the right thing to do I thought I would have a go at Thurston Peak, the
tallest point for Davis and Morgan counties.
While the peaks themselves did not attract my interest I can
always get excited about a nice ridge traverse. Going all the way back to the
almost successful Devil's Backbone, the doomed before it started Mt Sneffels
traverse of the San Juans, the disastrous Hilgard to Imp Peak of the Madisons,
the life shattering Mountain Marathon, the ill-conceived Beartooth traverse,
and finally the failed Northern Bear River Mountains 50-miler. All good times.
Ideally I would have done a car drop on one side of this
chain and traversed the whole thing, but that requires logistics, possibly
another person, and time. I'm not really into any of that right now, so I opt
to drive to the top of Francis Peak and do a trail run along the ridge to
Thurston and back. And this time I am really committed to a trail run. Not
really crazy like wearing shorts, but I go with no poles and only a camelback
to carry water. My research showed it was fairly straightforward and about
three miles one way. So easy, I figure I'll just get up early and knock that
one out before work. So that was the plan.
Driving up Farmington Canyon took a good bit longer than
expected, but I'm still on my way by 0630. After clearing Francis Peak I was
almost immediately met with large snow fields. This was to be the norm.
Actually pretty good running conditions if flat, but traversing steeper slopes
was difficult as this early in the day the snow was still pretty icy. This
forced me to go up and over some peaks that the trail might have traversed. One
peak where the trail did do a nice traverse around was Thurston. I guess I was
supposed to leave the trail and follow the ridge (always follow the ridge!
Unless you should follow the trail!). Once I got to the other side and the
trail took a sharp descent I knew it was time to go solo. I worked tight
traverses up the side ridge to a rocky outcropping. Nice rock work got me back
up the main ridge (but the trail running shoes do not have the grip I would
hope for, I'll need to remember that for future hikes where I expect to be on
the rocks). From there a peak to the north and a peak to the south look pretty
similar in height. I need to head back south so I pick that one and got lucky.
The view from the top was swell, but the journey was more noteworthy.
The return trip went much smoother. The snow was softer and
I had a better feel of where I could use it to my advantage. I ran down the
ridge from Thurston on the leeward cornice in less than a third the time it
would have taken me otherwise. Sensing that I may have underestimated the trip
(it was a ridge traverse after all) I made a greater effort to run the whole
way and shoe skied good portions keeping pace at around 5 mph. As I came down
the final stretch to my car there was several 4 seat ATV's parked with a large group
taking in the view and the snow. They asked if I had come from Francis Peak
(1/4 mile away), and I told them I went to Thurston Peak a bit further on. I
looked at my watch and saw that it was just over 9.3 miles, which marked the
second time that week I accidently ran over 9 miles.
I drive back down the canyon and head to work, and on the
way I contemplate how I felt tackling something that I wasn't particularly
drawn to. It was a ridge traverse which is always fun, but strangely I think I
could count this as successful. Even though it was much further and harder than
planned (over 5000' elevation covered) by all accounts I did it, and that never
happens. Did I enjoy myself? Yes. Was it a worthy adventure? Yes. So just like
that girl at the dance, you often have a lot more fun than you thought you
would.
