Little Black Mountain I have been eyeing this one for a while. Several years ago one of my first hikes in the Wasatch was to Little Black Mountain. I brought too much stuff, I wore poor shoes, and probably weighed 15 pounds heavier. When I reached the summit a dude in tight clothing ran past me. Then not long after, a young woman came running up to the summit and disappeared over the other side. Trail runners. Strange creatures. They must have super powers, I thought. Since then I have gone back to Little Black a handful of times, one of the most memorable was with Scott W. on Valentines Day. Snow and fog. We came very close to the summit through a full-on blowing snowstorm. We snowshoed back down and nearly got lost in the fog on the long ridge that connects to Avenues Twins. This year I entered my first race, the Wahsatch Steeplechase. However because of late heavy snow, the June race had to be re-routed to trails across canyon. I ran it, but I had obvious need of serious training if I am to make a good showing next year. So I intend to go back up Little Black several times this year,and because the route is snow free now and will be for at least another week, I will focus my attention to this area. Also, with the Buffalo 100 coming fast in March, the trails above SLC will be good preparation. This evening I let out of work at precisely 3:30 PM and drove to the Utah State Capital. At 3:30 I was moving, and I dropped into Memory Grove and ran the Canyon bottom path up to meet the Canyon road, then I followed the route up to the Twins. I topped out on both Twins, then turned East toward Little Black. As I was at the foot of Black Mountain the sun did a brilliant visual swan song which lit up the entire mountainside. all other mountains tho the left and right remained in dark cloud shadow. At the summit I went as far as the register, sitting under someone's lost baseball cap. The true summit is further and beyond the crags, but with nothing except a ribbon of gold spanning the Western horizon, all natural light was gone, and soon that golden ribbon was gone as well. I descended in darkness, guided by my headlamp. Lower down it was warm. This is December? | 