City Creek Canyon

---

Here are some photos during a recent training run on my favorite route from my house to the top of City Creek Canyon and back for a total of 14.5 miles.

This run begins at the base of Capital Hill (where I live) and climbs about half a mile to the Utah State Capital with another quarter mile of gentle climb up to Bonneville Blvd.

Running down Bonneville Blvd. toward the mouth of City Creek Canyon is fairly flat until the base of the canyon where the 5.75 mile climb begins. The 5.75 mile section is a rolling uphill climb through a narrow paved road along City Creek. In the spring this creek can be dangerous as the current is strong with water runoff from the melting snow. Even in July the Wasatch mountains still have snow.

In the meadows up the Canyon wild turkeys, rabbits and deer feed the cougar who like to people watch during the summer. With plenty of food around there really isn't much danger with a cougar hanging around in the trees. One day I hope to get a photo of him.

This is an out and back route for me so once at the top of the designated trail aka Rotary park, I just turn around and run back down. (There is a bush-whacked trail cyclists and hard-core runners have made that eventually ends somewhere near East Canyon, about 13 miles away, but I would never go into the back-country alone and not without plenty of back-country gear with me.)

The run back down City Creek is awesome and as it's all downhill I can shave quite a bit of time off. I almost always take the Memory Grove route home. The park near the pond is a favorite place to watch the people playing with their dogs and stretch before running the final mile home.

Hope you enjoy the photos! It was a beautiful day to run. :)

---