This was held last weekend,
September 6th. I drug Spencer along, for my 5th year and his 7th year. This race is for real
100 miles though the Wasatch Mountains. These people are so crazy. Spencer and I volunteer on mile 67, which is at Desolation Lake. It is 1 of 2 stations where all the food and water has to be backpacked in. So we met on Saturday morning, filled our backpacks heavy to the brim and backpacked the 3.5 miles uphill the whole way. The weather was perfect this year. Nice with a little breeze all afternoon. The night cooled down to a low of 35, but there was no wind and we had a roaring hot fire. The first runner came through at 6:07 p.m., and the last runner came through around 6:00 a.m. We stayed up all night long to fill the runners water bottles, feed them ramen noodes, potato chips, fig newtons, grapes,bannas, pb&j sandwiches, flat coke and more. Sounds fun huh?! It was a good time, and is always a neat/different experience.
Ready to make the hike.
The fire: this is our stations secret weapon! The best in the race we hear! Some of the runners are so exhausted they take a small nap by the fire. Most of them come in delirious, not knowing what they want or where to go. After 67 miles, who'd a thought.
This is our makeshift shelter and kitchen where we cook ramen noodles for 12 hours straight...mmm. They actually weren't so bad at 5:00 in the morning for breakfast.
It is now 6:00 a.m., we have maybe had 10 minutes of dozing in the last 36 hours, and are now ready to hike for another 1 1/2 hours down the mountain, then drive home...only to skip church and go to sleep for 6 hours...then do it all again next year. Yeah!
and decided to go for a little hike up the canyon to celebrate, since we were off work early. We found this great new hike, called Willow Heights Trail, which leads you to Willow Heights Lake. It is a small 1.5 mile roundtrip hike, with a 600 elevation gain. Since it is 3/4 mile up, it is definately a stair stepping, thigh burning little 
trail. But it evens off for the last 10 minutes. It only took us 30 minutes to get up. The fall is the best time to hike this trail...it is Beautiful! The trail goes through Quaking Aspens the whole way, and they are all turning bright yellows and reds. Really a gorgeous sight. We were there at the perfect time, with the sun shining brightening the fall colors. Take a look at the awe inspiring picts we shot and Enjoy! (directions to the hike at the bottom)
We got jumps...it took 5 tries to capture, but was definately worth it! Our faces and ambition are totally funny.
Hey MOOSE "Nice Rack"!! This guy was large and in charge of this lake once he showed up. It was really neat to see him so close.
Directions: There is no obvious marker from the street for this trail. Drive up 12 miles from the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. There will be 35 mph sign (backwards to you going up) and a rock on the left side. Park on the right side small shoulder.
We drove down a little, pulled off to a nice view, turned the music on, and relaxed while eating our lunches.
Isn't Spencer such a stud, he did all this!! We worked together and got 10 quarts of peaches canned after our bike ride. Because we couldn't get to the top of the mountain we went on a 5 mile bike ride on the Draper Parkway trail. Spencer wanted a day off...I showed him my kind of a day off! Busy busy we got a lot accomplished, and enjoyed our time together. You are so wonderful sugar.
So this is now our "home" (at the in-laws house) until the 2nd week in October, when we finally get to move into our new home...a full 3 1/2 months after this whole thing started. It is nice and comfortable, but is just not the same. We got right into our home when we got married, and are just missing the "comfort of our own home." However, the free time has been nice to have. I should be skinny and have lots of scrapbooking done by the end of the month!
