Wellsville Traverse – June 2009
check
the photos here
map
of the route here
Defining the western skyline of Cache
Valley, the Wellsville Range perpetually dominated my walk home from drudgery
at Old Main Hill in Logan. Later at night, during my all darkness milkman
job I’d wait and wait for the first strings of morning light to strike their
upper slopes signaling the end of a long shift. In the three years I
spent in Logan I’d perpetually wonder why I wasn’t spending more time in that
fabulous range. While working at The Trailhead, my old employer, the
legendary Scott Datwyler often mentioned a race that
used to traverse the range. With only occasional inklings towards trail
running, I filed the idea away with countless other Logan ideas. Six
years after leaving Logan, it was time to dig into my archives. My good
friend Hunter, who is now surviving his time in Logan, gave me a jingle and a
couple of days later we were snaking our way up Deep Canyon amid a near rain
forest of spring greenery.
I’m sure there are countless ways to do
the “traverse”, but the way we did it seemed the most logical for our limited
time frame. We caught the trail up Deep Canyon, followed the ridgeline
south the best we could, tagged the high spots, and then caught the trail out
Rattlesnake. You could probably add a ten more miles by catching the
ridge near Beaver Dam and following to its terminus near Mantua. Next time perhaps.
Deep Canyon was far different from my
faded college memories- easier, yet longer (and lacking college trauma).
Hunter powered up this section and I struggled to keep up. Some snow on
the last 500 vert helped speed things up. As in
years past, upon reaching the saddle and ridgeline I was again amazed by the
view. Heavy rain and clouds threatened the horizon above Honeyville, and the Wellsville Cone looked an arresting
long ways off. But as Hunter mentioned later, miles on ridgelines seem to
go fast. There are few more beautiful places than a high ridgeline, and
surely the Wellsvilles spine, with its incredible
relief, is one of the best. The stretch between Deep Canyon and the Cone
was my kind of terrain- rolling sage slopes with either side dropping to
unknown canyons. The Wellsville Cone passed easily enough, followed by a
glissade over to Box Elder and a quick climb upward. With the high points
pocketed our work turned to the downhill.
Dropping south into Sardine Canyon we
were temporarily shrouded by clouds as we worked out way down the steep trail
that was strangely flagged in a tedious fashion. On a whim we hopped onto
a narrow snowfield that began winding its way down the slope. 1500 feet
lower we were still riding the pallid alpine slide. Eventually the
snaking deteriorated into trap door snow bridges and piles of organic avalanche
debris. A short stint in the brush led us out to a welcome meadow and
subsequent run down an unexpected trail. I was happy to find the car
uninjured at the trailhead and soon we were shuttling our way back north,
fighting a sudden violent hailstorm- perfect timing. And overall, a
perfect time.
© All Content 2009 Arie
Leeflang Collection