buckle up

Problem: The big tree in our front yard is dropping its leaves like crazy and I hate raking leaves.  Solution: Go to Moab for the weekend.

After driving down after work on Friday, we decided to let it warm up a little Saturday morning before heading out, getting to the trailhead just before 10:30 a.m.  Call it a brunch hike.  We were doing one of the hikes in Fran and Terby Barnes's Forty One-Day Hikes in the Moab Vicinity, hoping that the obscurity and lack of actual trail would get us away from other people.  The trailhead where we parked was actually pretty busy by the time we got there, but once we got around the cliff wall and into Gold Bar Canyon, we didn't see anybody else the whole time.

Colorado River and Potash Road

I'm being a little vague in my description here but we were not following any established trail, instead picking our way along the slickrock ledges and sandy washes.  It is important to protect the soil in the desert - not just the cryptobiotic soil, although that is crucial - and leave no footprints.  We stayed on slickrock and rubble for most of the time; where we didn't have rock to walk on, we stuck to the dry washes where runoff heads down into the canyon, knowing we weren't disturbing anything there, plus our tracks would be washed away in the next storm.

#hikingdog

We made our way up the wide, gorgeous canyon for a couple of hours.  As we moved back from the rim, we let Milton off his leash.  It's pretty evident that he loves being out in the desert.  He could explore but always keep us in sight since there aren't any trees; he was really good about coming back when we called him.

Pausing at a pour-off

We managed to find Beltbuckle Arch, as described in our book.  There are substantial-seeming cracks on either side of the center piece and we wondered how long it would stay up there.

Beltbuckle Arch

We made our way up to where we could see jeeps on the Gold Bar Rim trail.  At this point, there was some discussion about trying to find Jeep Arch (not far from our current position, according to both the map and the book) and doing a loop by returning through Culvert Canyon.  In the end, however, the lure of having a canyon all to ourselves was irresistible and we went back the way we came.  With the sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s, the views and all that peace and quiet, it was just glorious.

Looking across at the Gold Bar Rim

Hike stats:  5:52 miles; moving: 2:32, 2.2 m.p.h; overall: 3:11, 1.7 m.p.h.

racing the weather

It sure doesn't seem fair when it's beautiful all week, while we're stuck at work, and then there's wet weather on the weekends.  A sizable, winter-weather storm was due to roll into northern Utah Saturday afternoon and continue into Sunday, which looked to curtain our outdoor activities.  To make the best of it, then, we got up at a reasonable time and drove over to Round Valley.  It was too cold for me to MTB (my hands and feet get painfully cold when it's in the 40s) so Milton and I walked while H rode; we all got on the trails around 10 a.m. and planned to meet back at the truck around 11:15-1130.

Milton approves of the Round Valley trails

While H did a speedy 14.99 mile tour, Milt and I walked up Ability Way to PorcUClimb, up PorcUClimb, across the top and then down Somewhere Elks.  Although the clouds were gathering, we did enough uphill that I broke a sweat; as the wind started to pick up at 11 a.m., it got a little chilly.  Milton did a good job coming back to me when called and checking in to see which way to go at all the intersections.  We only saw five or six MTBers and I noticed them in time to call the dog back and get him off the trail.  We did see quite a few other dogs with their walkers: if it was just a solo dog, Milt would go right up to say hi but if it was three or more, he would stop and wait for me to go with him.  We even met two rescue dogs, originally from a New Mexico reservation, who looked just like Milton, only taller and heftier - they had the same spotty paws he does.

Snow-capped peaks in the distance, about to get snowier

We met H back at the truck right on time.  It was getting colder and windier but we were undeterred from our beers, even as we were getting chilled.  The storm brought four inches to the Park City valley floor and over a foot to the peaks of the Wasatch Front - this may have been the last northern Utah MTB ride of 2019.

final desert days

With the sun not getting above the La Sals until well after 7:00 a.m., coupled with that cold front that moved through, we were not getting early starts on our days at the latter end of our stay in Moab.  This included Saturday, when we rolled into the visitors' center parking lot at Dead Horse Point State Park after 10 a.m.  It was sunny and in the high 40s, which is verging on my minimum required temperature for MTBing - my hands and feet just get too cold otherwise.  There were a fair number of cars, and a few riders out there, but the trails weren't crowded, despite the time of day.  It had warmed all the up into the 50s by the time we finished ... which was still cool enough to get chilled while beering in the parking lot.  Ride stats:  16.62 miles; 8.6 m.p.h. avg./17.6 max; 1:55 hours.

 Looking towards Behind the Rocks

 Later, we did vary our in-town routine slightly: we strolled through the Red Rock Arts Festival street fair, perusing the artworks, listening to the bands and getting tasty tacos and curry at the Moab Kitchen food truck (100% plant-based).  We then picked up a book at Back of Beyond (H is reading Cadillac Desert).  And only then did we go to Woody's, where we talked to a couple of kids who work at Snowbird and bid happy trails to Mark and Morgan (the Wyoming Trillium-dwellers) whom we'd also run into at the arts fest.

Sky and rocks

Sunday morning, clear and cold.  We wanted Milton to get some exercise in before we had to pile into the truck to go back to SLC, so we did the Moab Rim trail (trailhead on Kane Creek Boulevard).  We weren't the first people there but it wasn't crowded like it sometimes is.  On our way up - and man, does this trail go UP! - we watched for a while as a RZR attempted the Devil's Crack obstacle.  They didn't seem like experienced drivers and they were by themselves, leading me to assume that they were tourists in a rental vehicle.  After some agonizing cliff-edged minutes, they backed out and we saw them down on the paved street not long after.  There are easier jeep roads in Moab.  I hoped they'd try one of those.

Loved this jeep

Up on top, we kept going out along the jeep trail that skirts the Behind the Rocks wilderness study area.  We largely had it to ourselves, aside from a few trail runners and a group of four rock climbers who were following a map, looking for a specific pitch.  We hiked up to the high point, took in the 360-degrees views and then retraced our steps.

This was a true Frankenstein's truck

The trail was a lot busier on our way down.  We met hikers, dogs, three MTBers who were riding (!!) right up the steep slab, dirt bikers, jeepers. RZRs and a group of guys with very cool, very old vehicles.  Down in the parking lot, we talked for a while with a trail runner from Crested Butte, who had come to town for a wedding but also managed to fit a Whole Enchilada ride in too.  Hike stats:  4.99 miles; 1:55 moving time/2:27 total time; 1,460' of elevation.

And with that, our latest desert trip had come to an end.  We loaded the truck (so much laundry!), and drove back north.

any trail will do

Wednesday night a cold front moved through the area, dropping the intermountain west's temperatures 30-50 degrees (!).  We had intended to ride at Dead Horse Point State Park on Thursday but with their forecasted high of 43 F, we opted for a couple of laps around the MOAB Brand trails instead, which are at a lower elevation and thus warmer.  There were more folks there than we'd seen for about five months and yet we still didn't see many riders on the trails. 

Riding the line

We did Rusty Spur to Bar M to Circle O (which was new to both of us: out on the slickrock, easier than Rockin' A and quite a lot of fun), and then finished our regular loop; then we did the Bar M loop again to the parking lot cut-off.  (Ride stats:  15.4 miles; 8.0 avg./19.9 top speed; 1:55 hours)

Multiple tracks in this slab

It's a Pushmi-pullyu!

Toes

Friday was even colder than Thursday.  We were hiking, though, so we didn't need it to warm up as much to get going.  We took Milton to the Poison Spider trailhead, out along the Potash Road.  This is a very popular jeep road and the parking lot was packed with OHV trailers.  We had thought we would just make our way up the jeep road, avoiding the motorheads as best we could but the trailhead kiosk indicated dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs along the start of the Longbow Arch trail.  We started there.

Never get tired of that sky

My boys, up ahead

The dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs are on a marked trail/scramble up above the Potash Road.  The first set of tracks is on a boulder and the second tracksite is up along the base of the cliffs, after the rock art panels.  These tracks were so cool: there are multiple animal types and you could see the individual toe prints!

Colorado River behind me

From there, we picked up the green-blazed trail to Longbow Arch.  Wonderfully, once out of the busy trailhead, we didn't see anyone on this out-and-back trail.  It starts out with a bit of a scramble up some slickrock, augmented with some rebar ladder steps; Milton, off-leash at this point, needed a bit of encouragement before scrabbling his way up this bit.  The trail then continued up a pretty drainage before getting onto a level of slickrock and opening up.

All of us in one shot

The trail alternately crossed slickrock domes and sandy washes.  Milton ranged around, chasing the few lizards that had warmed up enough to scurry.  He had to have us pull some cactus spines out of his paws a couple of times but did that diminish his enthusiasm?  No, it did not!

Longbow Arch 

Boys below the arch

The trail turned east and climbed up to the arch in the cold shade of the slickrock cliffs.  When we were coming back down from the arch, we saw a couple of jeeps and some people on foot high above us, so we figured that the Poison Spider jeep road must climb up there.  We retraced our steps a ways and then jumped on the jeep road where it came close to the hiking trail.

This is nothin'

We followed the jeep road to above the Waterfall feature.  Where we got on, it was dirt and sand with some rock ledge sections; at the Waterfall, it was all rock, climbing the slickrock domes over step-ups that I couldn't imagine anyone driving over.  Even when we watched vehicles come through, it was still difficult to believe.  We saw jeeps, dirt bikes, a couple of RZRs (not a huge RZR fan: they're way noisier than the jeeps) and - incredibly - a Ram 2500 pickup truck that looked WAY too big but which seemed to be making it through.

Views everywhere 

Amazing view of the Behind the Rocks area

We hiked up to where we had spotted people above Longbow Arch, had a snack, and then walked all the way out along the jeep road.  Down towards the river, the road is deteriorating, loose and rubbly from all the OHV traffic.  The trailhead was still full so we drove back up the Potash Road a little ways to where we could find some parking, across from the rock art and climbers.  As we changed out of our boots, had a snack and snuck some beers, we chatted with a number of folks, including a nice older couple from California who wanted to meet Milton and three people from Florida who asked if they could pet our dog before they had even closed the doors on their rental jeep.  Milton makes friends wherever he goes.

Poison Spider switchbacks

After cleaning up at home, we went to Woody's.  This time we made friends without our dog: Katie the dirt biker, who lived in a Sprinter van; and Mark and Morgan from Pinedale, Wyoming, who lived in a 65 sq. ft. Trillium trailer.

Looking for his next new friend

Hike stats:  6.79 miles; 2:28 moving time/3:33 total time; 1,090' elevation

Another shot of Behind the Rocks

across state lines

Our crew got back on the road on Tuesday, driving a couple hours and crossing the Utah/Colorado border.  H's folks were flying out of Grand Junction Wednesday morning and we thought that it might be more fun to go a day early, explore the area and stay overnight, rather than rushing through the two hour drive the morning of their flight.  Plus, Milton's first hotel stay!

 Lunch bunch

We drove to Fruita and stocked our cooler with sandwiches and beer, then continued on to the Grand Junction entrance of the Colorado National Monument.  Since dogs are not allowed on any of the monument's trails, we couldn't do any hiking.  But we could do the scenic drive under blue skies and the views did not disappoint.  

All smiles

After coming through the monument, we found ourselves once again in Fruita.  H's folks are down to drink beer so we went to the excellent Copper Club on Main Street.  We were going to sit on the patio to let Milton out of the truck for a bit but the bartender told us that he was actually allowed inside the bar (no kitchen).  As always, he was very calm and quiet and he stared at the bartender until she stopped by to give him a pat.

Fruita: where MTBing is king

Our hotel (Springhill Suites = dog-friendly) was right in the middle of downtown Grand Junction, which meant that we were able to walk to dinner.  We went to the Fiesty Pint, which has pretty good bar food and twenty-six beers on tap - including twelve self-serve handles, which I had never seen before.  We had veggie burgers, cauliflower tacos and really good hand-cut fries and our waitress was terrific.  On our way back to our room, Milton made friends with several people just by walking through the hotel lobby; a little while later, when we went back down to the lobby bar, he made more friends there.

We said our farewells at the sleepy Grand Junction airport the next morning and then, as H's folks winged their way east, we three went back to the Devil's Canyon trailhead in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area.  We did the exact same hike we did in May but this time, we did it under cloudless skies and sunshine.  It was really pretty and a very nice hike (Hike stats:  6.98 miles; 2:32 moving time/2:53 total time; 1,100' elevation) and we did not take any pictures.  We also, amazingly, had it to ourselves again, despite the pleasant conditions, and only saw two people out there (and Milton made friends with them).  I imagine it's pretty busy on the weekends though.  Hike finished, we hustled back to Moab just in time for H to get on a conference call for work before ducking over to Woody's for a pitcher of Full Suspension.

moab visitors

As I mentioned, we just got back for another Moab trip.  This time H's parents came out and joined us.  They timed it just right too, coming in for the warm sunny days and getting out just as the cold front moved in.  They flew in to SLC and we all drove down in the truck together Friday afternoon.  Once back down in the desert, Milton wasted no time finding a comfy place to nap.

 He does actually have a bed

On Saturday, the whole gang piled back into the truck for a drive around the La Sal Loop Road, where bald eagles, range cows and MTBers were on display.  We drove past the road to Gateway, Colorado, that H had MTBed back in 1993 and also passed the upper terminus of the Sandflats Road, something to explore at a later date.  We tried to have lunch out at Fisher Towers but the small parking lot was packed with plein air painters, so instead we went to the Rocky Rapids boat ramp where we chatted with a river guide while we downed our sandwiches and beers.

Milton sees a squirrel

Later, H did a quick ride out and back on the Sandflats Road, reporting that the road conditions had deteriorated since he and I had ridden it; it was loose, sandy and very rutted from all the OHV traffic this summer and fall.  (Ride stats: 13.14 miles; 1;09 hours; 11.3 avg. m.p.h / 28.4 top speed.) We then retired to the Alley sports bar to watch some baseball.  We were impressed when the bartender remembered H's dad from his winning pick at the Kentucky Derby in May.

Pretty scenic boat launch

Sunday, H and I did a ride out at MOAB Brand Trails (Ride stats:  13.12 miles; 9.8 avg./19.9 top speed; 1:20 hrs.) while H's folks checked out downtown Moab.

Out on the Slickrock

Monday was pretty chill too as H, his dad, Milton and I did a short hike (Hike stats: 1.61 miles; 350' elevation) on the Slickrock Trail's practice loop.  The morning air was cool in the shade but very nice out in the sun.  We were ahead of the crowd as we only really needed to watch for MTBers when we were heading back to the parking lot.  

What's with all the clouds?

common refrain

I seem to be confessing to this a lot lately: just got back from a Moab sojourn and the mountain of dirty laundry is ... mountainous.  While we work on that, please enjoy this photo and dream of being back in the desert.  Real posting to resume soon.

highlight reel, part 4

And here's the last couple of years:

October 2016 through September 2017.  Houseguests in October and April.  Trips to Moab in November and May.  The Summer of Cycling with H doing the Porcupine Hill Climb (podium!), the Crusher in the Tushar and the Tour of Utah's Ultimate Challenge.  A quick tour of Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks with H's folks.

October 2017 through September 2018.  Fruita (Colorado) and Moab trip in October.  H racked up 1.1 million vertical feet skiing.  Another trip to Moab in May, this time with a jeep rental.  The Year of Hiking, leading up to the big hike at Bryce Canyon NP.  Volunteering at the Crusher.  A trip to Great Basin National Park, including a hike up Wheeler Peak (13,063 feet above sea level). Our friend P has an extended Utah stay in August and September.

highlight reel, part 3

And more memories from the past ten years:

October 2014 through September 2015.  A's parents come for a visit in October.  H's parents came for a Thanksgiving visit.  We said goodbye to our Becky.  There was, you know, skiing.  We tried Moab in the spring for the first time.  Our friend R visited in the summer.

October 2015 through September 2016.  We went to both Bryce Canyon National Park and Moab in October.  H went full-time telemark and also skied Baldy's Main Chute.  We went to Moab in May, including camping in the Needles district.  We did a 54+ mile MTB on an old rail trail.  H's parents visited in August.  We took an anniversary trip to New Mexico, including the amazing Chaco Canyon.

highlight reel, part 2

More highlights from the first ten years

October 2011 through September 2012.  We went camping in the Uintas in June.  We had family visit.  We climbed Timpanogos for the second time, via Aspen Grove.  We went camping in the Uintas again in the fall, this time with Becky.  We went to Moab in September for the second year in a row.

October 2012 through September 2013.  We had ski guests.  We went to Capitol Reef National Park and camped.  We went to Lake Powell with A's family.  We went to Jackson, Wyoming, for our eleventh anniversary.  Hey, we went to Moab in September.

October 2013 through September 2014.  H's folks visited in the fall.  H got first chair at Alta on opening day.  We had ski guests in February and March.  We went to Sun Valley, Idaho, for our twelfth wedding anniversary.  We - surprise - went to Moab (and met a wild kit fox!).

highlight reel, part 1

Since I'm getting all nostalgic with our tenth move-iversary, I thought I'd do some quick looks back on those first nine years.

October 2009 through September 2010.  We spent the year exploring, checking out canyons and skiing around (before deciding on what would be our mountain).  We hiked Timpanogos for the first time, via the Timpanooeke trail.  We saw our first Utah mountain goats on Ben Lomond.

October 2010 through September 2011.  We got a record 723.5 inches of snow and put our first Alta season passes to good use.  We went to St. George and Zion National Park with H's folks.  We got MTBs.  We had lots of summer visitors.  We went to Trout Creek Guard Station for our tenth wedding anniversary.  We had our first fall trip to Moab.

ten years

On October 3, 2009, at 2:43 p.m. (when we had dropped off our U-Haul trailer), we had arrived in Utah.  We can't believe that ten years has flown by so quickly.  TEN YEARS IN UTAH!  It was a really good move for us and we have really loved it out here.  We may not be exploring the SLC area as much as we did ten years ago (although we did just discover a new brew pub, Hopkins Brewing in Sugarhouse, who does an excellent NAIPA ("not an IPA") and has a dog-friendly patio) but we are still spending as much time as we can outdoors in this gorgeous, adventure-worthy state.

Because of when we moved, our year starts in October and ends in September, so here's a recap of what we've done this last year.  We didn't go as far afield as prior years, mostly because we wanted to do Milton-friendly stuff, but we did get down to Moab a lot.  Which is always awesome.

October 2018:  MTBing; hiking; rainy trip to Moab; visit from H's folks; drier trip to Moab; MILTON!!!!

November 2018:  Culmination of the Year of Hiking, including the annual Sol-Bright hike; Thanksgiving turkey trot; opening day at Alta

December 2018:  Skiing; hitting 100" of snow at Alta; celebrating twenty years of being together; Christmas in Moab

January 2019:  Skiing (including some cold temperatures); quick trip to Moab; some good storms up north; houseguests here to ski (my brother and niece)

February 2019:  Skiing; the wettest winter Moab has had in years

March 2019:  Skiing (H got new ski gloves!); really good snowpack throughout the state; quick trip to Moab where it was almost warm (not really)

April 2019:  A couple of Moab weekends, where it was actually dry enough to hike; skiing; fantastic snowpack; another visit from my brother; closing day at Alta

May 2019:  A week's vacation in Moab, with a visit from H's folks; hiking and MTBing (in Moab because still too much snow up north); Memorial Day weekend in Moab

June 2019:  Some hiking and MTBing along the Wasatch as the snow melts (Park City and Snowbasin); weekend getaway to Moab

July 2019: Hiking (Alta, the LaSals); MTBing (Park City, Moab); Fourth of July weekend in Moab

August 2019:  Week's vacation in Moab (hiking and MTBing); first ever sighting of Utah's state flower, the Sego lily; MTBing in Park City; hiking in the Uintas

September 2019:  Hiking (LaSals, Moab canyons, Millcreek Canyons north and south); MTBing (Park City, Dead Horse Point State Park, Moab Brand trails)

Happy tenth move-iversary and happy new year!