A Quick Run Up Timp I left work in Bountiful and drove to AF Canyon, arriving at the Timpooneke TH at about 6:30PM. It was raining. I stood under the eve of the restroom, looking up at the peak, reading the sky for any clues to how the weather would progress in the next 3 hours. To the East was blue sky, but that large cloud over Timp gave me pause. Was I really goig to do this? It would have been easy to just get in the car and go home. However, I had driven all that way, paid six bucks for the canyon, so I was not going to just turn around and go home for nothing. I ran the trail at an easy pace. I wanted to be comfortable but consistent. No stopping, no breaks unless there was an unavoidable need. Only five people-- descending hikers-- passed me as I ran up. I saw no other persons until I was in upper elevations. The cloud passed sometime in the next hour and the rain stopped. I had made the right call. In fifteen minutes I stepped on the first wood boardwalk. At 19 minutes I was at Scout Falls. I had a goal to reach the rim of the upper basin in 1:10 or less. I crested the rim at 1:12, so I was behind schedule. It was already dusk in the upper basin, so the light was flat. No contrast. Not much to see. I kept going. On the switchback that accesses the upper terrace I saw two hikers moving slowly uphill. When they saw me below they stopped and watched me run every step of the moderately steep shortcut under them. When I caught up they were on the part of the rock trail that makes a long stretch Northeast and I, believing that section to be utterly un-necessary, cut short and re-connected with the trail higher up. I never got close enough to the hikers to say hello. My goal to arrive at the saddle was 1:30. Nope. Then 1:35. Nope. I rolled in at 1:37. Too dam slow. Oh well, my legs were sore from a run the day before, and I was not fresh, having spent the day at work at a desk, staring at a computer monitor. One dude and his dog were at the saddle. It was full sundown. I continued on the trail of jagged rocks to the summit, noticeably slower than the week before. I arrived at Timpanogos summit in 1:57:10. That was a close one, almost didn't get sub-2 hours. I stayed for a minute then started down. Slow. I remember Craig making short work of the summit trail the week before. He had bombed down so fast that I did not even see him when I had a long line of sight back to the saddle. I don't know how he can move so fast downhill, but I am going to find out. The dark descent from Timp was going to be slow. I would not be setting any personal bests on this night. In the forest section I stepped carefully over wet rocks. No need to break an ankle--or worse-- for the sake of time. Back at the trailhead in 3:44, and there weren't even any crowds of BYU students to slow me. | 