PURL: 35ish Miles and 18,000ft of Joy, Pain and Nettle

Some things get stuck in your head, like Tina Turners What's Love Got to Do With It. The PURL was one of those things. I heard about it from Aaron and then two months later set out to do it. I couldn't help myself. I live in Utah Valley and that skyline called out to me everyday. I was actually having a really good time until I had to descend into Provo canyon. That descent became my own thunder dome of pain and itchiness.
/ strava

[@thefactualconservative9922]

The rare sighting of Mrs. Amateur!

[@CampfireTalk]

Dude! I don't know if you'll see this, but I found your channel this week and pretty much binge watched it all in 3 days.This channel is hilarious, inspirational and freaking gorgeous. You guys get it! Subscribed and can't wait for more. "Little Debbie is doing good things"

[@jccharly2000]

CampfireTalk same here, this dude is an animal!

[@fritzd2116]

Same here. Tons of 'inspirational material' here, for certain.

[@robmills7611]

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY! WORD FOR WORD!

[@yungthunder2681]

I recently did a Wasatch Ridgeline for the first time (only a couple miles) and I can finally confirm, it isn't as steep as it looks in these videos... It's steeper

[@markwhitton8230]

Congrats on the descent from Cascade Mt. I attempted it 30 years going down the north and west side. Gave up during a storm, buried myself to keep from freezing to death and hiked out at 4 in the morning back down Rock Canyon. Signed my name in a bottle in a pile of rocks on the summit. Can't believe you came down into Provo Cyn!

[@scottmiller6232]

No problem. From the 1870’s through the 1920’s sheep and cattle were summer grazed on those slopes. That is the major reason you see the erosion control ditches from the south end of Cascade through Provo Peak and down to Corral mountain to control the erosion from hard rain and overgrazed slopes. The ditches were a CCC project. Sure enjoy your videos

[@williamcraig2050]

I've been hiking and running in this area for a few years... and it just blows me away that you did this. Absolutely legendary. Thank you so much for posting this.

[@jeremyquiros5483]

4:55 calm, beautiful nature shot 4:56 “This descent is BULLSHIT”

[@YingJwo]

Kudos to having that great wife that supports you and your hobby. Great videos and great experiences!

[@bobgriffin5429]

You're a stud love your humor and your filming, thank your wife too I know she is the glue.

[@TheAAZSD]

This has inspired me to look at the dumb things I can do in my backyard. Cheers Danny!

[@Ryanhelpmeunderstand]

The Mountains Teach you so many important life lessons.

[@teamjwess]

Thank you for sharing these videos of your adventures with the world. I can’t stop (won’t stop) watching them!

[@robmills7611]

Your videos for me are simply the best at every level! SO HAPPY that I found this channel! 😀

[@jasonthomas16]

That Bushwhacking looked brutal. Only experience I’ve had like that was the willows around Mt Bierstadt on the sawtooth Traverse. It still doesn’t come close to that though. Amazing videos

[@buddyrupp6235]

Thanks for all your hard work to bring us this!

[@ozzyman75]

Absolutely love this channel

[@thezebulonwilliams]

I love your videos man! Well-edited, good pace, interesting, beautiful and great content. You're a stud! Keep it up.

[@victor.randolph]

Right on! That looked exhausting.

[@evilwhitey98]

Absolutely brutal. Great video!

[@ADVJames]

Love your music!

[@shankgolfer7951]

Unreal. Awesome!!

[@gilligansisle6914]

What a crazy course! Beast mode for sure!!

[@tomswadley5431]

My favorite KZbin channel. Great stuff. This one was brutal. Fantastic video and views of the landscape.

[@Ryanhelpmeunderstand]

I’m from Utah as well, I love the beautiful mountain ranges here! Mt. Naomi over in Logan Canyon is a pretty fun run, go from there down the other side to cache valley. Great videos!

[@TrevorLindgren]

Awesome!!! I have been on top of most of those mountains but not all at once like that! Nice work. Cascade is a fortress! One of my favorites!

[@brandonhall182]

You're a machine dude. Unreal.

[@ivycadle4117]

Absolutely fing amazing

[@jimmyzee2011]

bushwacking at its finest! i feel your pain, been there, all cut up from thick vegetation

[@gideonboth8284]

U guys are my favorite channel. Hiking is one of my favorite things and I love watching your hikes. And u guys should hike my Nebo for a video it’s a awesome hike

[@sk-wx1cf]

Absolutely spectacular scenery! Too bad you miss the last part, being in the dark. I would like to have seen that. Mountain goats were a bonus. Bushwhacking was brutal -- I hate it too :( You have awesome strength and stamina! Thanks for sharing another great adventure!

[@JONBOYLEMON]

Some of the prettiest country along the Wasatch right there. I had no idea you could come down Cascade that way. And after watching it appears there kind of isn't. Brutal and incredibly awesome, thanks for letting us tag along.

[@douglasauruss]

It's looks like that was quite the punishment. Now I'm wondering if there is a decent way off the north side of Cascade but maybe going a little more out of the way. Or maybe you just wear thistle-proof clothes for that part.

[@MediocreAmateur]

I've come off a ridge that led me down to south fork that was marginally better. On google earth you can see that ridge it decends down to the south fork park.

[@darkmonson2309]

Being that I moved, I am really happy to see my childhood home :)

[@jonathanwinnett6619]

Wow your insane and so awesome!!! Love your vids so much!!! Love how you are able to to push yourself and make an adventure almost an extreme sport, well honestly it actually is extreme. Mind over matter!!

[@pampatterson1003]

Awesome job, and beautiful mountains! Tip for future stashing of food: choose a rodent/animal proof container to stash food in or hang it in a tree away from animal reach. It's not healthy for wildlife to consume our food. We should treat stashing food the same way we treat storing our food while backpacking in the wilderness.

[@phin422]

I was just thinking that...

[@drewbaum]

Timp was my first “big” summit being from flat Indiana. In fact it’s still my profile picture

[@expatadventureturkey9324]

Great as always, you and your buds have to be trail running Ultra guys.....we do the same type of stuff in Hawaii for time on our feet and elevation “mountain training” great job although yours is more intense X100

[@pichuliux2]

I live in Orem (just North Provo) I am familiar with the area, This guy is a super human!

[@MediocreAmateur]

Thanks!

[@MrWalkerds]

Straight up gnarly

[@SwiftAnthony]

"It's all gravy from here" - a great little moment

[@scottmiller6232]

Corral Mountain is pronounced like the cattle enclosure it was named after

[@MediocreAmateur]

Just the other day I was with someone and they pronounced it correctly and it was as if a lightbulb turned. I immediately thought of this video and how I constantly mispronounce the mountains name. If only I hadn't been so lazy when I was reading the map. Ha!

[@akusantafe]

This one is really painful to watch. Amazing motivation.

[@beeclimbing9954]

Hope you're carrying a PLB (personal locator beacon, ie. In Reach) between being in the back country and what I'm learning is your propensity to have issues that leave you vomiting and thus dehydrated. Love the adventures, just hope you have something with you, particularly on the solo missions, in case.

[@samashby8203]

That's an awesome 24 hours there, looked fantastic. I'm marvelling at the quality of your filming, especially on your own. Having got back from a trip this weekend with garbage shaky footage, I'm very impressed at the breadth, range and quality of your shots.

[@MediocreAmateur]

Thanks! I'm glad someone appreciates it. I always like to think all the running back in forth adds at least another mile.

[@michaelfitzgerald434]

Even the goats were looking at you in this one like you were nuts! Unbelievable!

[@Mahiskanna]

The hamburger part was awesome 😄

[@alaskan_bergwanderer]

Now THAT is bushwhacking! I hate it! A necessary evil on a rare occasion though. LOL This looks like an awesome traverse!

[@ViaFerrataCH]

Worst thing in the world to be poked in the eye with a branch, I was lucky it broke for me but still hurt like hell

[@andrewstiff494]

Hi, thanks so much for the awesome videos. I was wondering if you could tell me which hike that you did near the end of the video? You mentioned being by bridal veil falls, and I think you said Lost Canyon. However, I was not able to find it online. Keep making rad videos with excellent content. Also, thanks in advance for answering my question.

[@MediocreAmateur]

There's a little dirt parking spot (not the actual parking lot at the bottom of slide canyon) on the north side of the canyon just after to turn for the bridal veil falls parking lot. If you park there you can head up an old road/trail to the mouth of Lost canyon. From here you head straight up taking the left fork a quarter of the way up. The canyon his some mild scrambling on loose rock. It's best to hike it in the middle of summer so the rocks up the left fork can dry. Those are my confused instructions. You can also check out my strava file at the end of the episode description. Let me know how it goes.

[@dirkdiggler1242]

That's one jacked up mouse!

[@jaysonlarsen6721]

I think you guys have traversed the whole wasatch besides like mtn nebo and santaquin peak

[@douglasauruss]

Whaaat? 18,000 in one day? Now that's a major challenge. The entire Tour du Mont Blanc I did a week in the summer was around 35,000 total elevation gain. Granted I had a decent pack on then but I can't imagine doing half that in ONE day. Man I gotta go with you sometime just to see you go at something like this. I love the idea of stashing goodies ahead of time so that you don't have to pack it (especially water)!

[@MediocreAmateur]

Blake and I have talked about doing the tour. Do you think it could be done in one day? Maybe two?

[@douglasauruss]

Well, you know what 100 miles in one go feels like, and it's almost exactly 100, with 30,000 gain. The elite can do it in a little over 20 hours apparently. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Trail_du_Mont-Blanc 30-45 hours is more common so I guess it's doable in under 2 days if you're up for it. That sounds VERY tough to me but I'm no ultra-runner and I like my knees. You ascend half way up most of the surrounding mountains and come right back down every time. Relentless up and down. Wear your best descending shoes because that's where you'll feel the pain. I went with my wife and packed for minimal camping plus a drone and 5 batteries so I'm not sure I can judge how fast I could have run it! We also took a detour up to the highest cabin (Refuge Robert Blanc) which added the extra 5,000 feet so that throws off my perspective too. But if you're feeling great, pack very light, and just live on purchased bread along the way I think you could do it in under 48 hours and maybe 30. There is almost always a place to refill a medium-size water bottle as soon as you need it.

[@MediocreAmateur]

Thanks for the info! It's definitely on my list. Also, I ran about two miles up the first right fork of rock canyon the other day. It was in good shape and most of the overgrown brush had died off.

[@johnmishler7190]

Do you have a gear suggestion including trail shoes, hydration pack? Thank you for the enjoyment

[@AMorgan57]

Now I can imagine a little better what it must have been like for the Mormon pioneers to come down through that stuff, bushwhacking the whole way.

[@jt0308]

no wonder you did 35 miles - the B roll!!!!

[@ColdPlungeCam]

So when you get to the ridgeline you basically sometimes have to bush wack through heavy debree almost impossible at times on extremely steep grade almost unclimbable to the spine of the mountain ? No specific trail you just make it up and make up some of your routes that you assume or hope takes you to a ridge of a mountain or spine. Asking for a friend

[@IdRatherBeHiking]

This is outrageous... my biggest day ever was 18.5 miles with 9000 feet of climbing... Big Interior Mountain its on my channel if you care but what Danny did here is DOUBLE that....

[@jasoneddie3921]

This is awesome anyone think the Timo looks like a turtle the North peak is the head the south peak is the shell

[@johnsullivan676]

Screw snickers, you gotta get on the Reese's outrageous train. more calories, more protein.

[@shinhochulp]

I am planning to do a loop from Grove Creek, run down to Bridal Veil, and up Lost Creek to Timp summit, traverse, then back down to GC. Is there anything technical from Lost Creek Falls to the summit? Any sketchy parts? Doesn’t look like it but things look so much easier on google.

[@MediocreAmateur]

That actually sounds like a great loop. I'm going to guess that by Lost Creek you mean Lost Canyon? I have no idea what the real name is so I'm only asking just so we are on the same page. There are one or two places where you want to make sure your handholds are connected firmly to the mountain. 6:58 shows me at one of those sections. It's a section of dark rock that I wouldn't want to climb if the rocks were wet. Over my shoulder on the same shot is the other section. It's the first scramble you have to do and it starts at the first big fork in the canyon. You can consult my strava file in the description if you need more input on how to navigate lost. The lines are a bit crazy in lost but they show the way I went. Good luck!

[@keararanck176]

The Purl? Geez I have only heard of the Wurl. Have you done that one?

[@dspear]

I remember a similar shack on a previous episode when it was very windy, or is that THE shack!

[@MediocreAmateur]

It's the same shack. The timp traverse (which is where you saw the shack before) is part of the purl. I actually didn't even consider the purl until I had completed the timp traverse and a friend pointed out that it was part of a larger one day traverse.

[@jaxon.n9137]

How u have a no sleeve t-shirt on the top of a 18000 ft mountain

[@jonathanmosher72]

2 marathons on mountains. You're crazy.

[@TayLybb]

Timp alone is hard enough as it is.

[@kentuckyproud4575]

COM MENT!!

[@CaliKid87]

Can you quickly tell me what camera mount you use on your shoulder strap for the gopro? Thanks, man.

[@MediocreAmateur]

I don't necessarily have a mount. I keep the selfie stick attached to the camera and then jam the stick in between pockets and straps on my running bag.

[@CaliKid87]

Mediocre Amateur sounds good. Thanks man.

[@naia432]

Hi there , which is your profile account in Strava?? Thanks

[@kenaanderson7512]

So is the PURL or the WURL harder?

[@tkmjees]

No PURL-hurl?

[@UngracefulPolrbear]

My buddy and I wanna do this hike this summer. Any tips?

[@MediocreAmateur]

In my opinion the Purl was easier than the Wurl. If it hadn't been for that bushwack down from cascade summit to provo canyon and the night time descent off the North Summit of Timp I would almost call it pleasant. My first tip is to try to do as many segments as possible before doing the whole thing. I would recommend completing the Timp traverse (if you haven't already) in preparation. My other tip is to put a water and food drop at cascade saddle and definitely have someone bring you some food or have another stash at the bridal veil parking lot. I would also get familiar with descending down bridal veil or my descent (which is the chute just east of bridal veil) prior to attempting the purl. If you end up doing it I'd love to hear how it goes.

[@UngracefulPolrbear]

Awesome. Thank you so much,

[@JJ-cj3nt]

Crown Burger. Right?

[@tonyc.1121]

Hey how many miles is it from Provo Peak to Freedom Peak?

[@MediocreAmateur]

I just measured it on CalTopo and it says 1.5 miles. Are you thinking of getting up there in the spring or summer?

[@tonyc.1121]

Mediocre Amateur I’m thinking of going in the summer, going up via Provo Peak and descending just before Cascade Saddle.

[@MediocreAmateur]

It's an awesome traverse! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. You probably already know but just a heads up. There is no water along that ridge (except that weird water catch container at the cascade saddle) so take lots. The first time I traversed that ridge in the summer I had a total dehydration induced come apart. I stared at that gross bug infested plastic container at the saddle for a long time. In the end I chose possible death rather than drink that putrid water.

[@jamess.7261]

a Yellowstone NP ranger once told me that Snickers are like crack cocaine to animals like bears and that they will destroy a car to get to one :)

[@mikemcintosh9933]

4:55

[@3xistenc3]

4:35 hahaha

[@goldmanstacks1445]

"this decent was bullshit"

[@gideonboth8284]

Mt Nebo not my Nebo lol

[@TonyLeach-airguntech]

not a man, a machine...not sure what drives you but we could all do with around 10% of it, much more would be an OD for most mortal humans.

[@jonathanmosher72]

I backpack relatively lazily. There's always at least a couple of these guys running past you to bag a peak making you feel like an out of shape turd.

[@brianmenendez]

you're fucking nuts i love you in a purely heterosexual way

[@brianmenendez]

oh yeah, you have the coolest wife btw LOL, bringing you lunch as you just climbed down a canyon wall. How much is your life insurance policy? LOL

[@icejunki]

.......still looking for the comment amongst my own emotions after your torture fest.

[@douglasauruss]

Hey Danny (or anyone), have you ever tried this trail that follows the valley between Rock Canyon trail and Slide Canyon Trail? Seems like it would be an awesome shortcut for many routes www.google.com/maps/@40.2597279,-111.5965644,2100m/data=!3m1!1e3

[@MediocreAmateur]

It's a great trail but it tends to get overgrown. Especially the section between rock canyon and the Y turnoff. Thanks for bringing it to my attention maybe I'll run it this week and get back to you with a more current update.

[@yukoheard4585]

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