This morning I accomplished a run I’ve wanted to do for some time, to run the spine of Lake Mountain north to south. I started at about 3 a.m. in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain. I parked my car in front of the house and was off, climbing up to the ridge. The first several miles are pretty easy, a nice ridge road on top, but above Reformation Canyon, the road ends and it turns into a bushwhack. The best and fasted route is to just stick with the ridge tops, going up and down. To the summit, the main ridge is on the Eagle mountain side. There is a lower ridge on the Utah Lake side but well out of the way.
It was great fun going up and down the ridges. Because of the fire, the ridge tops now are very runnable, no more thick scrub and spider webs. You can make good time, but I took it easy, enjoying the night and doing plenty of sight-seeing.
Once I reached the true summit about about 7,750, going further, somehow I took a wrong turn. I was puzzled that somehow I missed noticing the main road….well that is because I started running on the wrong ridge, that would have got me to the right place, but no road and much steeper down. I figured things out, came down to the main road, ran up and found the right series of roads. With all the towers up there it is pretty confusing which is the right road, but now I know. I finally connected to the ridge road to take me all the way to Soldier’s pass, about 18 miles.
Dawn arrived and the light reflecting off of Utah Lake was pretty amazing. Eventually the road descends into a short canyon on the south end. There was a shooter there that made me nervous with his handgun, but he noticed me and I ran by.
Once I hit Redwood Road, about the 20-mile mark, I turned and started running home on the pavement. I went about 8 more miles, and with just six more miles to go, I called home so I wouldn’t be late for the birthday activities. It was a wonder fun. Here is the video and photos: