It’s been quite some time since I run in Salt Lake City. We were here over Thanksgiving visiting friends so I used this opportunity to run.
During the last ice age, Lake Bonneville (a pluvial lake), was covering large part of what is today Utah. The Great Salt Lake is all that is left today. Bonneville Shoreline Trail is running along the Wasatch Mountain range along the edge of the ancient lake. While I did run along this trail before, it was further South, so this qualifies as new running route. Snow fell couple of days before and the morning temperatures were in the low 20s. Naturally, this did not stop me. I got my Garmin GPS and went running.
From my hotel, I went straight up to the trail, then turned left, heading North. I followed the trail few miles, then came back more-less the same way. Snow was covering part of the trail and it was quite slippery at few places. I timed this run perfectly, so I was able to capture spectacular views of the Salt Lake valley and the lake in the sunrise colors.
Tag Archives: Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, UT – April 22, 2007
Our house in Salt Lake City was above the Foothill Drive, few blocks from the edge of the town. Most days, Maggie and I would run up to the Wasatch Drive and from there either go south, to the I-80 and back, or north, to the Bonneville golf course and back. Both of those routes were about 3 miles. For longer runs, we went the southern route first, and then instead of turning left to go home from Wasatch Drive, continue north to the golf course. Maggie loved the golf course. Wide open green and the lot of wild life (foxes, bunnies, seagulls and deer). Since we always ran very early, we never saw any people the golf course (we did see a lot of animals though). Every time when we went the southern route first, Maggie would start pulling to the right as we are getting closer to our street on the way back (we would turn left there if going back home). She really wanted to go to that golf course each time.
One morning, the gate for our back yard was open and Maggie ran to the golf course and back into the house all by herself. We would have never known that happened, had it not been for our neighbors who followed her back to the house and told us what happened.
Even though most of the running was on the streets, these were very nice routes. The neighborhoods these routes go through are very nice, views are absolutely incredible and there is very little traffic, especially early in the morning. There were a number of trails near our house, but they were all quite steep and rocky. Running up would be hard, but running down would be very dangerous.
Salt Lake City, UT – April 17, 2007 (hike)
Maggie and I did not have to go far from our house in Salt Lake City to be in the wilderness. There were a lot of great trails just few blocks from our house. One of our favorite hiking routes was “antenna hike” shown on the image below. This route went from our house to an antenna which was on one of the smaller peaks (I never figured out what that thing was) and then back to the house. For me, the antenna represented a goal to achieve, something to aim for, to make sure I do not quit half way up. Maggie probably did not care about the antenna, but she was always happy to go anyway.
Getting there was quite a challenge. Round trip distance was only 4.1 miles, but it was very steep. We would usually go up to the letter “H”, and then continue up the ridge all the way to the antenna. From there, we would come down the other side of the mountain, circle around and take Wasatch Drive back to our street. This was a nice hike albeit a very strenuous one. The hills outside the city are very rocky with very few small trees (Utah is a desert after all). If you try it, take your time, and be very careful, especially going down. It is very easy to roll your ankle on one of the loose rocks.