S.T.S. 3.2 - Sampling the Great Western Trail over Thurston

Thurston Peak Map, Initial Miles of Wasatch 100 map

Summit Monkey on Thurston Peak

After excusing myself from the run up Sessions, I needed to go get some miles.  I usually try to avoid doing any long runs on Saturdays because it usually leaves me too tired and grumpy the rest of the day to get anything done around the house.

Kid:  "Daddy, can you get me another popsicle and sucker and maybe a chocolate milk after you lay down again?"

Me (yelling):  "Why don't you go get ME a juicebox kid!"

However, because I spent all week with family and friends for the 4th of July, I headed out for a 5 hour adventure, promising the wife i'd be home by noon, and also promising to have a smiley face the rest of the day.

I had planned a route starting from the Fernwood trailhead and followed what was labeled as the Bonneville Shoreline Trail all the way straight up the mountain.  I'm not sure what this trail is, but it follows the ridge to the North of the South Fork Kays Creek.  I had a suspicion that this was the start of the Wasatch 100 ultra-marathon, but didn't bother to actually find out for sure.  I found out later the Wasatch 100 follows the much less steep Great Western Trail one canyon to the North.

From just below Thurston Peak looking South along the
ridgeline.  I also tagged the closest two subpeaks.

Great Western Trail.  How's that for a run-able trail at 9,000'?

The climb up this trail was very steep.  And at the final 600 feet up the mountain, the trail dissappeared.  I wasn't smart enough to follow the yellow ribbons used to mark some sort of faint trail through the shrubs to the ridgeline.  That was where I met up with the Great Western Trail at the ridgeline and the running stopped being hard, and became choice. It was smooth sailing along the trail at 9,000' which winds back and forth across the rolling peaks and saddles and stays at a fairly even elevation through the cool mountain air.

Knowing beforehand that the trail doesn't hit the Thurston summit, I picked out a fairly defined wash, and went straight up it to the summit.  Very steep, but it was the perfect route. After resting,  I decided to see how many sub-peaks I could tag on my way towards Francis Peak.  I tagged the first two, spending about 3 minutes on each of them, hurdled a rattlesnake coming down from the 2nd, and then went for a third.  Knowing I was short on time, I decided to skip that third summit and see the longer saddle which is roughly the halfway point between Thurston and Francis.  I was just a hair past 3 hours into my run and knew I had to make it down in 2 in order to get home by noon, so I turned back.

Staying on the trail the whole way back, I made much better time than I had expected.  I got back to the trailhead in 1 hour 40 minutes.  Just as I was pulling out my keys and stopping my GPS, I got a message from Sam, who had been following my run online, that I still had 15 minutes and had to keep going.  So, I strapped my pack back on and ran another 1.5 miles on the shoreline trail.   Sam is destined to be a track coach