Rain on Me

 Memorial Day was relaxing and low-key. I ran up North Canyon because it's my favorite, and it was good as usual.

This is what happens when you try to expectorate out the window on your way home.

We went to my sister's house for an afternoon cookout. It's nice to have a day off to relax. But I can't help but feel guilty we don't do more to remember what Memorial Day is really about. Last December I watched the series The Santa Clauses on Disney+, and the teenage son said he loved Memorial Day, even though he didn't know what it was about. His dad said it was to honor fallen soldiers, and he was shocked: "Why are we having a party?!"

Tuesday and Wednesday were runs on the Woodbriar Trail and the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which were lovely ways to end the lovely month of May.

All the yellow is dyer's woad, which is invasive. And I think the white is whitetop, which is also invasive.

I was surprised to see an iris growing in the field.

Mulesears make the Woodbriar Trail the prettiest spot in all of North Salt Lake.

Mulesears (yellow) and Utah sweetpea (purple)

But on Thursday and Friday, I took it easy because I knew what I wanted to do on Saturday. And also, I had a lot of other things to do those evenings.

Saturday, I wanted to return to North Canyon and Mueller Park to go on the new portion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that was completed last year. These canyons are now a loop, and I'm excited to spend more time on it.

I started up Mueller Park, and when I got to Elephant Rock (3.5 miles), I felt great. I wasn't tired or sore at all, and it was a wonderful day.

The water was still going over this bridge, but it wasn't as bad as last time I was there.

I kept going up to Rudy's Flat (the six-mile point). This is the portion of the trail I don't go on as often, because it's between the optimal stopping points for each canyon. 

As I got to Rudy's Flat, I could see storm clouds. I heard some women asking if anyone had a weather app, and I shared with them that there was a severe storm warning for West Valley and West Jordan. I headed down North Canyon, and I debated whether I should call my parents to have them pick me up at the base of North Canyon, rather than going back to Mueller Park. If they picked me up, it would shave four miles off my run. But even with the prospect of storms, I still wanted to go the whole loop. I had long been looking forward to it, and I felt great.

Heartleaf arnica

Glacier lilies. These are one of the first wildflowers of the season, so it is surprising to see them in June.

As I got to the new trail, I decided to continue the loop, and I'm so glad I did. It was absolutely glorious! This part of the trail is easier, and though it has less shade, it was cloudy at this point, so it was cool. And there were so many kinds of wildflowers. It was spectacular! And I also heard turkeys gobbling, though I didn't see them.

chokecherry

Wasatch penstemon with mulesears

Here there's three similar but different yellow flowers in bloom at the same time: arrowleaf balsamroot, cutleaf balsamroot, and mulesears

Utah sweetpea

Smallflower woodlandstar

This is the most spectacular field of arrowleaf balsamroot I have ever seen!

This is the beginning of the new trail, but Blogger makes it unreasonably difficult to change the order.

The last few miles, it was raining. I haven't historically like running in the rain, in part because my glasses fog up. But guess what? This time, when my sunglasses were fogging up, I could just take them off! Now that I don't have to wear glasses, I'm more inclined to run in the rain. 

It was a total of 13.6 miles, and yet I didn't even feel exhausted at the end. I still had energy left. And this was one of the best runs I have ever been on. So amazing. I'm so glad there's the new trail now. And I'm glad that this thing I absolutely love is good for me.