If you like actually running, this is the longest of the Wasatch watershed traverses. Normally I'm not a fan of naming runs but this one is shaped like a uterus and I couldn't resist.
I tried this in 2024 starting up Grandeur and hurt my IT band around halfway. The 2nd half would have been all on trail and I wasn't really interested in walking on trail for 25 miles so I did some PT and did it the next year.
This time I started up the north side following an obvious single track up toward Perkins Hill. After you top out, there is a short section that Is schwacky, but it's been beat out over the years and is pretty fast. Just south of Perkins Hill proper, you pick up a single track. There is an easy resupply at Little Mountain Pass. once refueled, take the obvious trail toward Lookout. You could tag lookout if you wanted, but there is an obvious single track that goes just underneath it as you wrap around heading toward Bit Mountain Pass and I opted to take that. I had stashed water and food at Big Mountain Pass, but didn't use much of it as I was ahead of schedule.
From there you follow the Great Western Trail up and over Bald mountain, dropping down toward the interstate. I really wanted to cross on the wildlife bridge, and 20 year old Matt might have done that, however I decided to head under the overpass and timed it so I could resupply at the gas station on the other side.
After resupplying, grab the trail and follow it up to summit park peak. From here the schwack starts and it's not great. Follow ridge down past Eagle Rock and grab the trail up toward Murdoch. The schwacking from Murdoch over to Millvue isn't bad as it's mostly small sagebrush, and not crab oak. There is a trail from Millvue Peak down to the saddle, which is where some friends stashed my last resupply. This is kind of where the fun ends as it's mostly schwacking in oak brush til you hit Mt. Aire. But if you are a masochist and like punishing yourself, then you'll have a good time. From Mt. Aire, you can grab a newly trimmed trail all the way over to Church Fork Peak. it's not really runnable, but someone has put a lot of effort into being able to move efficiently along the ridge. After Church Fork Peak, it's schwacking until you hit the saddle east of Grandeur. I followed the trail up to the top and then dropped down the main trail to the parking lot.
This one turned out to be a lot of fun, mostly because the north end has spectacular trail and great views. The last half is definitely substantially slower, but if you've done all the other watershed traverses, I'm sure you can summon the motivation to finish this one. I ended up finishing this one in just over 17 hours and 45 minutes, which was abut 3 hours faster than I had planned for and a pleasant surprise.
