Pipeline Trail & Elbow Fork

I slept in a little late today because my nephew moved in last night (until he gets married in two months) and I stayed up late talking to him.

I left the townhouse about 9:00 and decided to head up Millcreek Canyon. I thought there might be a chance I would run into Leslie Peterson on the trail. Sure enough, when I reached the Burch Hollow parking lot, I saw her car with the bike rack attached, which meant Harold had also gone biking with her.

About 2 miles in on the trail, I ran into Leslie coming around a corner. I think she was pretty surprised and happy to see me. She turned around and we ran another mile out and then headed back to the trailhead so her mileage wouldn't get too high. She has decided to stick to trails for her running except for the St. George Marathon. We talked about it a bit. She thinks this will be easier on her joints than the road running. We did a total of about 4 miles together and then she headed home and I turned around to go up the trail a bit and get on the Elbow Fork Trail. A sign a quarter mile back said it was 2 miles from there to the trailhead.

Elbow Fork was a pretty trail heading east up the mountain. And I do mean UP the mountain. A lot of the first ¾ mile was switchbacks where I couldn't get above 25-30 minutes per mile pace walking and my heart was pounding pretty hard. After that it settled down and I could run most of the gentle flats and uphills with no problem. I did find that starting late was putting me in the heat of the day and I did not have enough fluids and started feeling the heat. When I hit the road a little after mile 9, I took time to go down to the river and splash myself with water and pour several hats of water over my head. I was disconnecting (losing focus) on the return trip, which was a little worrisome because it doesn't take much on a trail to get injured if you don't pay attention. However, I persevered and finished up.

Remember how the sign said the trailhead was 2 miles up the road. It lied. It was almost 3 miles. A pretty section of trail – but a lot of work on the uphills – it makes you earn your downhills.