Third times the charm. After 2 failed attempts at the so-called Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup or (WURL) I finally completed the journey. For pictures from the second 1/2 of the successfull WURL click here. My camera didn’t work for the first 1/2.
I estimate it to be ~34 miles with ~21,000 ft of vertical gain and ~21,000 ft of vertical loss, on everything from good trail up to 5.7 with most of the terrain being roughly class 3 boulder hopping. On August 7th, 2004, I started at 2:00 AM and finished that night at 11:30 PM for a total time of ~21.5 hrs. Despite the relatively large amount of time I’ve spent in Bells Canyon, I still got lost trying to short cut across the upper Bells Canyon Valley and ended up doing about 1.5 hrs of the most heinous bush-whacking/stream-hiking of my life. Note that my course in the map below (easier to see in the large version) shows that I was just barely off-course. If you are going to attempt the WURL, make sure you have the last part dialed. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me for other info.