Today I attempted to run to the top of Bountiful Peak. I was originally planning on running the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon today, but because of some other commitments later in the day I wasn't able to. At 5 a.m. I got out of my car in the parking area near the Bountiful 'B'. I was doing some stretching when I noticed something reflect off of my headlamp. I looked over and saw a pair of eyes starring at me. It was dark and all I could see were the eyes. I had a sudden moment of panic, but then the eyes moved and I realized that it was just a deer. I headed up Skyline Drive. The first three miles were hard packed dirt. The next fives miles were packed snow that had been traveled by snowmobiles and 4 wheel drive vehicles. All of these miles were gradual uphill. At 8 miles the snowmobile tracks turned off of the road that I was heading on. There had been no track on that section of road since the last storm. I trudged through the snow for about another mile. I was getting short on time and the snow was making things difficult, so I turned around early. I think it was another 2.5 miles to the peak. The downhill took me a few miles to get into a good groove. Towards the end I was doing a good pace. I will have to attempt Bountiful Peak again in a month or so when there isn't as much snow. | 