I went to the gym last night and then stayed up and watched the Jazz game and I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 with the alarm set for 5:00. I woke up at 4:59 just in time to turn off my alarm. I was tired. The plan was to meet Jun at 6:00 at the Pipeline trailhead up Millcreek. I left my house a little later than planned, and when I arrived at the first Pipeline trailhead I parked and waited for 5 minutes, but figured they must be higher up. By time I got to the second Pipeline TH I saw a white car there (not Jun's) and I thought it could be them, but nobody was there. I waited for 5 minutes and then decided that the car was probably belonged to Jun's friend, so I headed up. (I only missed them by a minute or two).
After a short run up the trail it forks. I had never been on this portion of the trail before and left said to Grandeur Pk trailhead and the right went to Elbow Fork. I guessed that they had gone up, so I turned right and started heading up the canyon (They went the other way).
The temps were perfect and I had some great music on my iPod and I just enjoyed the morning. It was a fun run with only a few snow patches to cross and a lot of nice elevation gain. When I reached Elbow Fork (2.2 miles) I thought that I would run into Jun and his friend soon, but I wasn't sure if they had continued up the Pipeline, which goes up to Mt Aire or if they had gone up the canyon. I stopped and ate a Powerbar Tangerine gel, had some water and then continued up the Pipeline for about 5 more minutes. I thought that the guys had probably gone the other way, so I decided to just go back down.
The run back to the car was really fun. I had some Bob Marley in the iPod and I kept thinking that Jun was going to come running up behind me, so I looked back several times, but never saw them. The last mile my ITB got a little tight, so I stopped and stretched and it felt a little better. The total time was 1:30 and it was an incredible morning. I will definitely be back again to run more of the Pipeline. | 