The next best thing to singletrack

Henderson Canyon

Runnable snowmobile track six feet above dirt

I ended up running this section of trail twice to get enough time and mileage in. I remember riding this trail last October. It probably won't open to biking til June at this point.

These snowbanks were so far over my head. It was like running in a giant frozen hallway.

45 minutes to home

20+ miles in 3 1/2 hours on mostly snow-covered dirt roads with short sections of frozen mud in 20 degree temps on March 29th? Seriously? Yup. This is the best "trailrunning" I can do at this point, which seems really out of place, because by this time in any of the past seven years I have lived in this area, I've been able to get out on at least a part of at least one of the local DIRT trails. And this year? Not so, Bucko! Hah! Let's see how you like 1 degree temps at 7am! And 40mph winds that blow and move loose snow around like sand dunes! How about six foot, road-closing snowdrifts! And then there's the near unimaginable conditions up at the ski areas: 36" in the past five days at Jackson Hole Mtn Resort with 591" so far this year and more on the way. 25" in the past five days at Grand Targhee with 546" so far this year and still counting. And it's March 29th! Oh, and did I mention that we still have only had one (maybe two, barely) day(s) where the high temp in the valley reached 40 degrees or higher? Yeah, global warming what? Is this the beginning of another ice age? (Ever see The Day After Tomorrow?) Actually, this is what the longtime locals are calling "normal".



So, today, after spending my morning at the office, I came home to 25 degree temps, partly sunny skies, off and on snow showers, and an icy wind that was less than half of what it had been earlier in the day. Perfect conditions for a run! I tried running on a snowmobile trail last weekend, and it was still too soft to run on due to all the fresh uncompressed snow so for today, since I figured the snomobile tracks were again going to be too soft, I decided to do my ol staple long run across the valley on the dirt county roads and end up in the mouth of Henderson Canyon. My goal? At least three hours. After my two hour run last weekend running along the shoulder of Hwy 31 on Pine Creek Pass, I figured three hours would be doable.



Not only was it doable, it was spectacular. Felt great. I was a bit concerned about the knees, and although they gave me a slight scare of brief pain as I began the run, it quickly went away and I ran comfortably for pretty much the entire time. The weather was cold and windy, but I dressed well enough with extra layers packed away as a precaution. Food and drink went smoothly: A handheld bottle of grape Cytomax, another bottle of Riptide Rush Gatorade, 2 powergels, and two strawberry Pop-Tarts. Yum! I love those things! With a full 2 liters in my hydration pack, I was confident I wouldn't run out of fluids. And my body held up well considering the last time I ran for three hours was... was... Capitol Peak? In mid-January? Yikes. Am I really gonna be ready for a 60k in two weeks?!