Nutty Putty 50 Adventure Run – UT

May 11-12, 2007

“Dude, why are you running in the middle of nowhere?”

— A question a guy asked me during the night 

As the snows were melting rapidly in the mountains, I decided to do another valley training run.  Soon I would be hitting the mountains in earnest as the summer season approaches.   For this training run, I again journeyed to a cave/mine region about 30 miles to the southwest of my home.  

This region used to get a lot of human traffic because of Nutty Putty Cave, a naturally formed thermal cave located on Blowhole Hill.  This cave was very popular by locals and considered a good cave for beginners.   However because of the need for several rescues, in 2006, Utah State Trust lands granted the Timpanogos Grotto the right to manage access to the cave.  They put a gate on the entrance and set up access rules. 

Long Point Loop 5.5 miles

Blowhole Hill Loop 7.04 miles

Nutty Putty Loop 2.93 miles

Prospect Loop 5.27 miles

Rattlesnake Pass Loop 4.57 miles

Wanlass Hill Loop 6.9 miles

Target Practice Loop 4.69 miles

Fenceline Loop 4.25 miles 

I designed a course full of loops that allowed me to return to my car every hour or so to refuel.   In March I tested a four-loop course with a fun 50-mile run.   This time I modified the course to include eight loops and added several routes to summit the high hills.  I wanted the course to be tougher for some hill training.  The loops including the summit climbs consisted of about 5,200 feet elevation climb.

This region basically consists of the valleys/basins running west to east, separated by some hills about 500-600 feet high.  My loops went around these hills using some low passes.  The southern valley gets plenty of human traffic on the weekends.  Camping, shooting, and ATVing are popular in this pretty valley.   The two valleys to the north are more barren and very quiet, giving you a remote feeling.  My car was positioned in the middle valley.

I had hoped to run a Grand Canyon double-crossing this weekend, but the weather forecast turned hot and I knew an afternoon in the canyon would be oppressive.  Also with Mother’s Day, it was best to stay close to home.   My goal for this run was to travel 50-62 miles, but to keep the pace slow enough to permit rapid recovery, allowing me to resume training within a couple days.  A 11:30 50-mile pace seemed to be about right to shoot for.  I also wanted to get in some warm-weather training.  My recent Zane Grey 50 experience, a struggle in the heat, indicated that I needed to start coming out of the cold and into the heat during my training runs.

My aid station at the center of the course

Blowhole Hill Loop (0-7.04)

After work, I arrived at my course and started the run around 6 p.m.   After a very warm evening, I planned to run through the entire night.  As I started, the temperature was in the mid-80s with a nice breeze.   I first attacked the longest loop, the Blowhole Hill Loop that included a summit of Greeley Hill.  I took with me two bottles full of Gatorade and one bottle with water to squirt myself with. 

As I ran through the northern valley, on the north end of the loop, I noticed many sheep watching me, guarding their spring lambs.   I “baaaaed” at them and they cocked their heads toward me to try to understand what was going on.  The valley was peaceful and quiet as I pushed on toward Greeley Hill

View of large ranch,Utah Lake, West Mountain, and Wasatch Range	View of Mount Nebo, highest mountain in Wasatch Range
Mount Timpanogos	Blowhole Hill and the Tintic Mountains

I had a great time running up the road to the summit of Greeley Hill.   The view at the top was wonderful.   I could see mountain ranges in all directions and below had a great view of the valleys and hills that I would be running through and on top of during the night ahead.

View of the pass I ran through to get to the middle valley

I had a blast running down from Greeley Hill.  I was pleased that I added these climbs to the course.  The road down was full of rocks making it a nice technical run.   Once again down on the valley floor, I headed south through a pass to the east of Blowhole Hill into the middle valley.   I returned to my car after a 1:17 loop.   I turned on the radio to check the Utah Jazz-Golden State score.  The Jazz were trailing by a point near the end of the first quarter.

Nutty Putty Loop (7.04-9.97) 

Looking down to my van (in red circle)

Tintic Mountains in the background

Next up was a new loop for me.   As I started out, I spotted two antelope watching me to the west.  They had no desire to greet me, and quickly ran further away before stopping to watch me again.  I ran up through the pass that separates Long Point and Blowhole Hill, and then climbed to the summit of Blowhole Hill.  The views from the summit were great.  This hill was scarred up from the damage done by years of vehicles coming up to visit Nutty Putty Cave.   I’ve never been to the cave and couldn’t detect quickly where the entrance was.   I didn’t pause to explore, I continued my run quickly down the hill.   The road was much steeper coming down on the south side of the hill.   I had a good view of my van down in the valley.  Further to the south I could see Allen Ranch.  I would see a light glowing from the Ranch all night.   I returned to the van and was disappointed to hear that the Utah Jazz were down by more than 20 points at halftime.  There would be no more need to check the score.

Fenceline Loop (9.97-14.22) 

Next up was another new loop for me.   I started running west along a familiar fenceline road, but then turned south on a faint road that winded near the foot of Wanlass Hill.   This loop was great, my favorite, because it was basically a single-track trail that first climbed up to the top of a ridge and then rolled and winded through some drainages.  In front of me were wonderful views of Utah Lake and the Wasatch Mountain Range to the west.   The sun was setting as I made the turn to run along the fenceline road back to my van.  As I passed the ridge, I noticed a lone Antelope watching me from the ridge line.   It ran away as I approached.   My stops at my van were getting longer.  I enjoyed sitting for a couple minutes, drinking ice-cold coke from my cooler.   I also ate a Turkey Hot-Pocket that seemed to hit the spot nicely.   My muscles and joints were feeling great so far.

Target Practice Loop (14.22-18.91) 

This was another new loop for me.  I named it Target Practice Loop because it went through an area frequented by shooters.  I first ran a familiar fenceline road up to Rattlesnake Pass and then climbed a new route (for me) up to the west summit of Wanlass Hill.   The climb was steep but not very long.   I really enjoyed every climb because it used difference muscles and seemed like a rest.  From the top, I had a good dusk view of the southern valley that was populated with many campers.  I could see two huge bonfires burning brightly.  I turned on my bright green light to give the campers something to see high up on the hill.   The run down was fantastic along a winding road with a nice decline that allowed me to really push the pace hard.   Down in the valley I ran near a noisy encampment of boy scouts.  They watched me quickly run by, but didn’t say anything to me.  

Near Rattlesnake

Pass, I ran by another group setting up camp.  They watched me run up a very steep hill.  Over the top, I enjoyed the long straight run down a fenceline road back to my van.  When I returned, my phone was ringing.  It was my wife.  She let me know that they were going to watch a late movie, Spiderman III.   I’m glad they found something fun to do.  That movie would have put me to sleep in 15 minutes.Prospect Loop (18.91-24.18) 

Now totally dark, I began the Prospect Loop by running along the road that runs below Nutty Putty Cave.  I was surprised to see the lights of a truck heading toward me in this isolated valley.   The truck tried to turn on a road but then changed its mind and again drove toward me.    As I ran up to it, the guy driving the truck said, “Hey, what are you doing?”  “Running,” I replied.  “Hey, do you know where Nutty Putty is?”   I let them know that they wouldn’t be able to go in it, but tried to give them correct directions.  The guy said, “Dude, why are you running in the middle of nowhere?”   I just laughed and said, “It’s great,” and went on my way.   For the rest of the loop, I worried that they might use my van as a source of late-night entertainment.  As I was finishing the loop, I saw another vehicle coming down from Rattlesnake Pass.  It continued on to my van, turned around, and then headed back up to the pass.  When I returned to my van, I was relieved to see that it was not vandalized.

Wanlass Hill Loop (24.18-31:08) 

I looked forward to running this loop because it would take me through the southern valley, populated with many campers.  I knew they would see my green light and track my progress across the valley, wondering what I was.   As I began this loop by running up to Rattlesnake Pass, I said into my mini-recorder, “It is quiet out here.  I heard the hooting of some bird, but besides that, there is just a stillness.  There was some sort of field mouse that I startled.  It ran ahead of me on the trail for about 25 yards.  I can look out to the east and see the reflections of the lights of the city onto the clouds.  To the west I can see the setting planet of Venus, bright in the sky.  It is a beautiful night.  The temperature feels like it is in the upper 50s.  The breeze has calmed down.”  Right after that, I noticed a bright light up on the hill to the south flashing at me.  I flashed my light in return.  Later I was surprised to discover that it was the headlights of a vehicle.  It started to drive down a very steep road.   I soon left it behind, running up and over the pass.   It was about 11:00 p.m. and the campers settling down for the night quickly spotted me.   As I ran by one group who had seen me a couple hours earlier, they called out, “Are you lost?”   I called, back, “No,” and went on.  I should have shocked them by saying, “no, I’m running all night.”   That would have made some good campfire discussion.

As I continued across the valley, I could hear gunshot up in the hills to the south.  It sounded like some sort of automatic weapon.   Why were they shooting in the dark?   I would continue to hear this gunshot from miles away for the next several hours.  I bet the campers were not very pleased to hear that noise for much of the night.   While running on the west side of this loop, a bird suddenly took flight and brushed its wing across my face and neck.  That scared the crap out of me!  That wouldn’t be the last bird that I would startle during the night.

Long Point Loop (31:08-36.58) 

This next loop was a new loop for me.   The road around to the west was pretty faint.  It was an old double-track road, but one of the tracks experienced sheep and cattle traffic, so it seemed like a single-track trail.  There were plenty of brush and tumble-weed obstacles to avoid.   My pace was slower as the trail was somewhat difficult to follow during the night.   I used my GPS to make sure I stayed on track and to locate the road that would take me to the top of the hill.  When I reached this point, I couldn’t find the road.   I continued on, knowing that I missed it.  I looked up toward the hill and quickly decided to go ahead and bushwhack it to the top, heading toward my summit waypoint in my GPS.  The slope was not extreme, easy to keep a fast pace.  I had to carefully run through a patch of little cactus.  I had no desire to kick one of those.   I made my way through the dark and finally arrived at the summit.  I looked for the road that I had seen using Google Earth.  It wasn’t there.  I believe what I saw was instead a stream bed.   

I ran back down to the single-track road and picked up the pace.  I noticed a very curious sight.   On the path, over and over again, ants chose it to make huge ant hills.   The ants would scrape away every bit of vegetation around their hill for about five feet.   I ran by dozens of these hills.   My trail soon really became faint.  I checked my GPS and noticed that I failed to input the point that I needed to turn east.   I thought it was at a fenceline, but I came to a very faint road marked on my GPS map.  I decided to follow it.  It was a very old wagon road.  I had to use my GPS to keep me on it.  My pace was pretty slow hacking my way through the grass and bush.   I realized that I was on the wrong route.   I came across a broken down sheep corral.  But I still wasn’t on the right road.   I knew that the fenceline road that I had seen many times before was to the east, so I finally just headed straight east.  I eventually hit the fence, climbed through the barbed wire, and was back on track.   I ran up and over the pass and back to my van.  That loop wore me out and wasted a bunch of time.

Rattlesnake Pass Loop (36.58-41.15) 

This loop was pretty much an uneventful, lonely loop.   As I headed south, I could see the light of Allen Ranch across the valley.   I was getting tired but just pushed ahead and grinded out the loop.   I looked forward to sitting for a few minutes, resting in the van.   I turned out the light for a couple minutes to rest.

Fenceline Loop  (41.15-45.4) 

I looked forward to running this loop again.  The single-track feel of the road brought back new life into me.  I was able to run fast on several portions of this loop.   The mice were out in great numbers!   With the double-track road, at times they raced me in the other track.  I usually came out the winner.  At times I had to catch my steps in an attempt to not step on a racing mouse that veered onto my track.

Target Practice Loop (45.4-50.09) 

My final loop would be a tough one to finish with, but I looked forward to the climbing challenge.   Also, I knew that campers would be stirring in the early morning and would likely see my light moving quickly high on Wanlass Hill.    As I was climbing the steep road up the hill, I heard a sound and was surprised to shine it on a guy coming down the hill.  He wasn’t on the road for some reason.   He didn’t say anything.  I think he was part of that group that asked if I was lost.  I’m sure he told them that he again saw the green-light guy.   I really loved the climb.  I was full of energy and moved quickly.  The run down the others side was a blast.  The scouts weren’t stirring yet.  They probably kept their leaders up late into the night.  

The sunrise view after I finished

I crested the saddle and ran quickly down along the fenceline road back to my van.   I was able to turn off my flashlight for the last quarter mile as I was greeted by the dawns’ early light.

I could have continued on, but I was ready to stop at 50 miles and go get some sleep.  It had been a great night-training run.   I came out of it without any soreness of injury.   After a couple hours of sleep at home, I got up and had a productive Saturday (with a few more cat-naps.)