run rabbit run

Not to be outdone by the poor, devastated Gulf, Salt Lake City decided to have its own little oil spill: 33,000 gallons of Chevron oil pouring out of a broken pipe and into Red Butte Creek, and thence into the pond at Liberty Park and the Jordan River.  Clean-up is on like Donkey Kong and they think they caught it before it reached the Great Salt Lake, which is host to like a gajillion migratory birds right now.  But because of all the clean-up work at Liberty Park, my normal post-work running route is all muddled: there are trucks and tanks and booms and porto-potties and men in hard hats strewn all along the running paths, plus the air smells pretty strongly of oil.

So I opted for a new run tonight, entering the Bonneville Shoreline Trail behind the U by the trailhead to the Living Room.  There, the BST is pretty much a superhighway, wide and well-packed and heavily traveled.  It's also a LOT hillier than the Liberty Park loop (which is totally flat) and I had to walk up some of the steeper, longer pitches, in part because I haven't exercised in a week.  The evening was gorgeous, though: clear, sunny and 70.  There were quite a few other folks out taking advantage as well, mostly mountain bikers - and I smugly noted that I, on foot, was pretty much keeping up with one guy, on a bike, on the uphills.

When I got to my turn-around, I saw a small rabbit (cottontail, I think) dash across the path and then stop, sit up and look at me.  He was joined by another one, and then two more bounded up the hill to check me out.  They were all fairly fearless - especially for wild rabbits - allowing me to get within five or so feet of them before scampering into the sagebrush.  Super-cute and an unexpected bonus to a lovely evening.