Old Stompin' Grounds

It's always nice to go back to a place you haven't run for a long time.  This past weekend I had a chance to go home and (among other things) run on some of the trails I would run when I was in high school.  Aside from rediscovering the discomfort associated with running through dry foxtails and cheat grass, it was nice to run on those old trails on the hill east of town.  Now there's a whole network of trails (JEM Trail, Hurricane Canal Trail, Rim Trail, Gould's Rim, and others) to run on, many of which I haven't yet run.  There's even the Hurricane JEM Trail Marathon which will be in its second year running this October and is entirely on this network of trails.  My run last Friday was a loop of the Hurricane Canal Trail and the Rim Trail.  I must be in really good shape, because I remember the Rim Trail being a lot harder than that.  These trails are a lot different from anything you encounter around Logan, but have their own beauty.  Here are some pictures from that run:

Chinatown Wash as it enters the Virgin River Gorge to the east of Hurricane.  You can see the Hurricane Canal approach from the right and cross over a wood and metal "flume" in the center.

The old flume on the canal which used to carry water from a diversion dam upriver out to the southern part of the Hurricane Valley.  Very interesting history.  It took 12 years to hack this 8 mile canal out of the cliff sides with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows back at the turn of the century.

Looking eastward towards Zion National Park from the Rim Trail.  This is right on the edge of the Colorado Plateau.

Looking southwest over my hometown of Hurricane.  My starting point for this run was near the foot of the big volcano near the center of this photo.  You can also see the sand dunes on the left.

Looking west over northern Hurricane and part of LaVerkin.  You can see the bridge over the gorge in the lower center.  The big blue mountain is Pine Valley Mountain (10,365'), one of the largest laccolithic formations in the world.