Butler Fork Trailhead

So this was the same trail head I used a couple of days ago. I went right up to the top of Circle All Peak again only a little faster. It was 29:30 to the top of it. I passed a few people on the way up too. The trail is much busier on a Saturday morning than any other day of the week. There were probably ten cars at the trail head. The other day there was only two. Today I also slept in a little bit and didn't get up to the trail head until about 7:30.

After reaching the top of Circle All peak, I came back down to the main trail and headed up about a third of a mile to where the trail splits. If I had gone left, I would have headed over to Mill A Basin. I took the trail to the right though and headed over towards Dog Lake. This was a three mile section of trail that was relatively flat. Overall I probably lost two to three hundred feet of elevation, if even that. The only part that was annoying was that the sun was right in my face and it was pretty hard to see the trail. I really should have had my running hat today, it would have made the run much easier.

Along this stretch of trail I found a pretty feather sitting on a bush. It was about two inches long and a really pretty orange color. I picked it up and brought it back with me because I figured the kids would like seeing the pretty feather.

I met up with the main trail just about a third of a mile before Dog Lake. If I had known that it was so close, I probably would have made the little jog over just to see the lake. I didn't know it was so close though, so I just turned right and headed back down the trail. This section was pretty good to run on, there were no bushes growing over the trail and no stinging neddle. I don't know how much elevation I lost but it was quite a bit. The trail was not too steep for the most part. This section was 1.7 miles. Then I met up the trail again that I was on earlier. It was just a half mile from the trail head. Overall it took me an hour and thirty minutes. Not bad, but not great. That three mile section I expected to be faster, but since the sun was in my face and a lot of the trail was grown over with shrubs, it made it pretty hard to keep a good pace going.

So for times we have

.5 miles 8:00

1.0 miles 18:26

.2 Miles 3:02

.2 miles 2:07

.3 miles 3:13

3.0 miles 33:58

1.7 miles 16:43

.5 miles 4:31

total 7.4 miles 1:30:00

Sorry no pictures this time. I didn't take the camera.

Running Again, Circle All Peak

I've been going up into the mountains quite a bit lately and I figured maybe I could keep track of where I've been and stuff. So here on this first post of this series, I'll tell you about Circle All Peak. I guess it is not really a true peak because it does not stick up far enough from the surounding land. It is more of just a prominence. There is a ridge that comes down and it goes up to a small peak. The elevation according to my map is 8707 feet and the trail head elevation is 7210. So that is about a 1500 foot elevation gain.

I've been getting up and leaving the house by six in order to do these short little runs up the trails before heading off to work. this one was the shortest I've done so far. I got to the trailhead about 6:15. The trailhead I think is called Butler Fork. It is located about 8 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trail starts out following a small creek. After about a half a mile the trail splits. If I went to the right (northeast) I would have gone up to Dog Lake, which I've done before, but not this time. I took the trail to the left (west) that goes up to Mill A Basin. There were a lot of plants that were wet from the morning dew that hung over the trail. I got a little bit wet from that. There was even quite a bit of stinging neddle, which I managed to avoid most of. I got stung a couple of times, but I'm sure the sweat helped keep it from stinging too much.

After another mile from the split in the trail I reached a ridge. The main trail goes of the the right (northwest) and heads over to Mill A Basin. Maybe I'll go up that way next time. I took the little trail to the left that went up to the top of Circle All Peak. It was only about another quarter of a mile from the main trail, so in all I figure it was about 1.7 miles up. It was a really nice view from the top. It was definately not the tallest in the area, but it was still a nice little run. Coming down was slower than I wanted because of all the plants over the trail that made it hard to see any rocks or anything. After I passed the Dog Lake split the trail was more open and easier to run down. Overall it took me 33:22 to go up and 18:50 to come down, 52:12 total time. Not great running times but I was taking it pretty easy. Normally I see wildlife up the trails. The animals like the mornings before people get up there. But this morning I didn't see anything. I don't think I even say any squirls. Oh well.

Maybe soon I'll write about Doughnut falls, or desolation lake, or running Pfeifferhorn, that was a fun one and I actually took pictures going up and down that one.