AM- Well, today was my last run in Utah. It's been a great week, one with lots of (slow) trail running. I ran 5 times this week for 65 miles in just under 13 hours (that much time would be 100+ road miles), which means I averaged 12 min miles. Add in last Saturday's race, and my last 6 runs total 95 miles with just a hair under 27,000 feet climbing and 27,000 feet descending! And it's been a fabulous month of being a full-time trail runner with over 300 miles of trails and 127,000 ft elevation change. Heck, my last run on pavement was Jul 23! Today's run ran from Green Canyon up the Beirdneau trail to Beirdneau Peak, then across to Mt. Elmer and Mt. Jardine, then down Green Canyon. I had done the first 5 and last 5 miles, but the middle part was awesome. The first 2 miles and last 5 miles were on nice trail, and the rest was a combination of rough trail, deer trails, and no trail. Joe, Cody, and myself started well before sunrise and were greeted with almost 2000 ft climbing in the first few miles. The sun rose as we were on the ridge headed towards Beirdneau- pretty sight. We enjoyed the views of Logan and Green Canyon. The ridge took us to the top of Green, where we ran towards Mt. Elmer. The final miles towards Elmer are slow and rocky, with lots of steep cliffs and scree. The views were fantastic from on top, though, with big valleys, steep cliffs, and nearby mountains. We backtracked a bit, then went off-trail to try to reach Mt. Jardine. It was slow going with some ridgetop scrambling, but this is where we saw 2 backpackers. We finally turned around and went completely off-trail for the next mile, dropping down into upper Green Canyon with 1000 ft drop in less than a mile. Cody was leading us from cow path to cow path, claiming each one was an official trail. Then it was down the familiar singletrack. The last 4 miles are very runnable, and we pushed rather hard and averaged 6:30's for that section, which was a big change after all the 12 to 20 min miles. Lovely. 19 miles total in 4:20 with 5500 ft climbing and 5500 ft descending, just under 14 min miles average. Beautiful views, glad we did this adventure- thanks, Joe and Cody. Between the Wellsvilles on Thursday and today's run, we did 32 miles in about 8 hours with 11,000 ft climbing. Slow and steep, but lots of vistas. Dawn approaches 
Sunrise over the Bear River Mountains, looking towards Right Hand Fork 
Ridge running 
Mt. Elmer forest fire- lots of burnt stuff, and the fire is still burning right by the trail 
Cody and Joe seem miniscule next to some steep cliffs 
Final approach to Mt. Elmer 
Looking towards Beirdneau Peak and Mt. Logan from Elmer 
The Three Amigos. Or is it the Three Stooges? 
Rock scrambling towards Mt. Jardine 
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