Millcreek Yurt

Winter has a beauty all its own that summer cannot match. I love the stillness of a snow covered mountain, summitting snow capped peaks and I love the fresh brisk air. However, winter also brings different challenges. Traction and cold are the two biggest factors but also the dark, a lack of enthusiasm, the occasional illness and the nasty inversion. In the summer I enjoyed early starts to a long solo run. I tried to continue this throughout the winter but running along in the dark on a mountain trail when you can see the fresh cougar tracks messes with the mind. Not that it stops me completely, but it has a handful of times.

Francesco, Mama Jennilyn, Mama Jen, Nate from Tron, Me, yet another Matt

I have found that one of the best ways to get over the winter blues is to get out on more group runs. Motivation comes much more quickly when other people are involved. The past two weeks I've ran up Millcreek Canyon a few nights with some Wranglers. We park at the winter gate and from there run up the well packed road to the yurt and turn around. It's about 4.5 miles up a mostly gradual incline and very runnable, even without traction. Francesco has been the main organizer of these runs and it's been a different group of people of varying speeds each time I've gone. As always, all the people I meet in my sport have been great to share a trail with.

Map and Stats of Millcreek winter gate to yurt.