Saturday, January 17, 2015

Lunch Run up Mt. Wire, January 16, 2015

View from just above the saddle at the head of Georges Hollow, about half mile from Mt. Wire. This is looking WSW, overlooking Red Butte Peak and ridge line. SLC is drowned in the smog below, and those are the Oquirh Mountains on the horizon.
I try to run Mt. Wire a couple of times each week. If short on time Mt. Van Cott is my second choice (1,000 feet lower, one mile shorter). In my 26 years with the Williams Cos., I've tagged both summits over a thousand times. That is not a brag, those mountains are not huge by any stretch, the real pride comes from not consuming 26 years worth of burgers and fries. I dream big. That said, my career has likely suffered for not lunching with the boss each day, but, frankly, I'm a bit OCD for fresh air, and avoiding hot air. Plus, I've never graduated from the recess mentality of third grade. I just feel better when I get outside and up on a mountain, if only for an hour. It's good for body, mind and soul. After a long career with pretty damn average performance reviews (i.e. few promotions) and still working in the trenches, I'm happy with my choice. I've had a blessed career of beautiful lunch runs. And I'm extremely lucky to work at the edge of the Wasatch Mountains. All those lunch runs are a formula for health success like no other: doTerra, vitamins, shot of whiskey - they're snake oil and don't even begin to compare. If you get the heart pounding for just an hour a day it'll blow out the cobwebs, re-set your attitude and energizing you for hours and hours behind a desk. It works, and it's free.


This is the first false summit (of two ) of Mt. Wire above Georges Hollow. 

Hoar frost on weeds.


Mt. Wire summit at 7,140 feet. Mt. Wire is the peak on the north side above Emigration Canyon, above (east) of the University of Utah's Research Park, and NE of Hogle Zoo. This tower is an old flight beacon for planes flying east over the Wasatch Mountains at night. I have no idea when it was disabled. In my 52 years I've never seen it in use, but my Mom said she could see it flash on and off all night from their apartment at the old Stadium Village (where the Fine Arts Building now stands) when my Dad was attending medical school at the University. Before my time.   

The hoar frost formed on the fence swung away like a drapery, but was stout enough not to fall apart. 


Central Wasatch from Mt. Wire Summit. Emigration Canyon at my toes, filling with smog overflowing from the Slat Lake Valley. I feel so good when above this crap! 

Only 12 inches of snow at 7,000. Fourth year in a row of a thin snow pack.


View SW toward the Oquirh Mountains.

Lone Peak is the high point. 

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