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Nice run up Grove Canyon
So Brian and I decided we were going to run up Grove, possibly over to to Timpooneke campground and back. We started up, it was far hotter than expected and I only brought 20oz of water and forgot my gels, chews, etc. (ie calories) but we plunged on anyway. We steadily climbed up to the waterfall and then up to the springs.Let's bag the overlook!
Before we get to the springs, Mahogany overlook comes in to view---at this point it looks higher than the actual peak. I say to Brian, "we should just go bag Mahogany, we've never done it before and it's something we need to scratch off our list." We keep running and thinking about it. At the springs we make the decision to go for it despite our limited timeline. My thought was the easiest route would be to attack the ridge from the American Fork Canyon side but that seemed so far away and Brian wanted to take a bee line from the road through the bottom portion of what I believe is Sagebrush flats and bushwack it the whole way up the ridge and then ride the ridge to the summit. Given our limited timeline and how far away the American Fork Canyon side ridge looked from where we were, and the fact that we didn't know if there was a trail,we decided to bushwack.We flew due Southeast through the flats and looked up on the American Fork side ridge (to the North) and saw a Jeep up there and knew two things instantly: 1) It wasn't as far as it had looked and there was a trail at least that far and 2) The guys looking at us from way up there had to think we were crazy or being chased by something to be flying through that kind of gnarly terrain at that speed.
Next thing we know we're bushwacking up the side of the mountain (east face) and that stuff is nasty! Our shins were hamburger by the time we made it to the overlook. We climbed up and up until we attained the ridge. Then we rode the ridge to the overlook. The ridge was no cake walk though, there is NO trail and it is laden with mahogany bushes and other scrub and was just plain nasty in parts---but not as nasty as the bushwack up the east face had been.
The views were great and we stopped and enjoyed for a while. We cleaned out our shoes and socks (pissed at myself for forgetting my gaiters and trail running half gloves) which had stuff just pour out of them. Then was the challenge of getting down in time as we both had classes to teach. We decided to take the scree fields straight down (East Southeast) to the waterfall (which was a tiny speck below)as our shins were hamburger and we didn't want to bushwack anymore---there was enough blood already. In hindsight, it wasn't the safest move (Brian got caught for a while sliding down with the rocks while chasing his waterbottle that tumbled a hundred feet plus down the rockfield) but it sure was an adrenaline rush. There was unfortunately some bushwacking in between scree fields but we did eventually and mostly safely (just a few scrapes and small gashes) make it down. We popped out literally 50 feet above the waterfall---it was pretty cool.
We gathered ourselves, cleaned our shoes and socks out again on the bench just below the waterfall. Then we booked it down---13 and a half minutes from bench to parking lot---I had no idea that could be done that fast. We soaked in the stream to bring down the itching and inflammation on our legs as well as cool all the cuts and scrapes. Good times!