The second hike we did that was a repeat was going up the less-popular fork of Mill Creek Canyon. We only saw two people right off the bat on the way in - each with dogs: one Liza, a five month old Underdog; and one pack of three Australian shepherd-types - and then didn't see anyone else until getting back to the cowboy jacuzzis on the way out.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
creekside (again)
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
desert heat
It's been awfully hot here - but about the same temperature in Moab as in SLC, so we ran away to Moab for a long weekend. We didn't even escape the blown-in smoke from the California wildfires that has been choking the Salt Lake Valley: the Moab valley was so full of blown-in smoke from the Colorado wildfires that we couldn't even see the LaSal Mountains. (Utah hasn't had the scale of the wildfires in Colorado and California but we've had a disappointingly active wildfire season.)
Because it was so hot, our hiking was all repeats - trails we've done many times before. I wanted to get out and give Milton some exercise before it got too hot each day, but I didn't want to breathe too much smoke either. I had hoped to get up into the LaSals where it is always cooler but the poor air quality didn't make that attractive.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
familiar ground
Sunday marked the beginning of Salt Lake City's latest heat wave, with triple digits that would stay in place into Wednesday. H thought he'd rather do an early road ride and get out on the empty, quiet, relatively cool streets before the sun came too much over the mountains. Me, I decided I'd go up to Alta and do a little hike there. It's been ages since I've just gone up to do my "regular" Alta loop - I can't even remember when the last time was. I managed to get up to the Albion parking lot around 7:40 a.m. and was surprised at how many cars were already there ahead of me. It's past-peak season for the wildflowers so I guess it's just a sign of how greater Salt Lake's population has grown. The cars lining the canyon road on either side of the White Pine trailhead were proof of that.
I started passing uphill hikers almost immediately on the steep slog out of Albion and up the Sunnyside area. In all, I would pass seventeen up-hikers and only get passed by one trail runner when I was on my way down. I didn't count the downhill hikers but there were a lot of them; I imagined that Sunset Peak is a good place to watch the sun rise. I also passed two good-sized moose about halfway up the Sunnyside chair. They were too far from the trail for me to get a good photo but one had a decent rack of antlers and they were both enjoying their breakfast of greenery.
There's been a lot of trail work done at Alta since I was there last, including some nice, smooth switchbacks leading up to the Catherine's Pass trailhead. The pass was my next stop and the flowers were less sun-scorched the higher I went. When I got to the pass, there were about five MTBers, badass dudes who'd ridden up the steep trail I'd just hiked. I gave them their duly-earned props and kept on hiking up.
When I got to the Sunset/Dry Fork intersection, I turned right and walked across the ridge of Catherine's Area to the top of the Supreme chair. From there on out I didn't see anyone until I got back down to the campground. They've been doing a lot of work up there too: nearly doubling the width of the cat track leading down from Supreme. I was sorry to see the construction, because I liked it the way it was, but with the increase in skiers to the new Supreme chair - and particularly the increase in newbie skiers - widening it should help with the crowding.
The campground was full, with campers packing their things to head home, and the trail back to Albion base was pretty full of hikers too - I couldn't imagine how busy it must have been up at Cecret Lake and was glad I hadn't added that spur to my hike. Instead I got back to the car, changed out of my boots and sat for a while with my late morning/post-hike beer, watching the mountains and the people flooding in to experience them. It's so beautiful up there - even though I hate to have to share it, I can understand the draw.
Friday, August 21, 2020
trails with friends
Our friend Ted texted H to say that he'd gotten a new MTB - he'd been riding his gravel bike but realized that Park City has lots of different kinds of trails; plus he likes gear - and that he'd love to ride with us if we were going to be in the area. We told him we'd meet him at the Quinn's Trailhead at Round Valley at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Despite northern Utah going through a heat event right now, it was super pleasant in Park City, cool even. We were a little surprised to see so few cars in the parking lot - we scarcely saw anyone all morning - but weren't about to complain about it. After duly admiring Ted's new wheels, we hit the trails.
I think Ted was a little apprehensive about riding with us after our longer than planned hike last time, so H kept that in mind. We rode up to PorcUClimb (which I was pleased to only be climbing once) to do the P-Dog loop, then I suggested Matt's Flat to Round Valley Express so we could climb Rambler. Amazingly, we didn't see a single other person the whole way up; even more amazingly, I stayed calm and rode this one short, steep, loose section that often gives me fits. Fist pump! From the top of the ride, we descended on Rusty Shovel, then climbed the three steep steps on Rambler. To finish things out, we swooped through the sagebrush of the practice loop by the National Ability Center, some fun corners that make you feel like a MTB hero.
Ted invited us back to his place for a post-ride coffee/water/Gatorade and, to be honest, it was nice to be in some A/C for a change, instead of standing on hot asphalt. Unfortunately, we had finished a little too early for beer - but H and I remedied that by stopping by Fishers Cyclery to get H's brakes worked on when we got back to the Salt Lake City side. It was after noon by then, so we stopped by Grid City Beer Works to put some cash into the local economy. Buy local/drink local!
We didn't take any pictures this time so here's one from H's ride on Falcon Flow: his bike is right on the edge of a cliff, so that's exciting for riding!
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
redemption
The last time we rode the Circle O trail at the MOAB Brand Trails, I bailed out. I needed to redeem myself so that's where we rode on Sunday. We were surprised to see so many cars in the parking lot ("so many" being relative these days: there were around nine, including a couple of guided tours) but out on the trails, we only saw a few people. We started with the front side of Lazy EZ, then segued to Rusty Spur. From there we got on Bar M for the long climb to the top of the ridge, then continued around until we got to the Circle O intersection. After Circle O, we turned left back onto Bar M, took the parking lot cutoff and then jumped back on the front of Lazy EZ. My legs were starting to tire, so when H peeled off to do Rusty Spur again, I stayed on Lazy EZ, finishing the loop with that nice climb and the wonderful, swooping descent. That's really a fun little trail, and very rideable.
I rode pretty well - maybe not quite as calmly as I had up at Dead Horse Point State Park - and I did finish Circle O. The first part of that trail is more challenging and I tend to be on and off my MTB a lot, walking the more technical bits. In the second half, the slickrock flattens out even though it's an uphill climb (we go counter-clockwise) and I can ride most of it. That's a good feeling.
There was also a little bit of cloud cover for the morning which made the temperatures feel pretty good too. Things did heat back up, however: it was blazing hot when we walked to Woody's around 2 p.m. to put some cash into the local economy.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
good ride
Two days before the Juniper Mesa day (which would have been Saturday), we did a morning MTB ride up at Dead Horse Point State Park. We got up there early-ish - because it's the dog days of summer in southern Utah and DANG it's hot - but with the added elevation, temperatures weren't forecast to get above the high 80s, which was a treat. There were a fair number of cars in the main parking lot: only a handful of MTBers but it looked like there were more folks hiking.
We did our usual Dead Horse route of the Big Chief loop, to Crossroads (which crosses the park road, get it?), to Whiptail and Twisted Tree, then doubling back to Crossroads and taking Raven Roll back to the truck. For some reason, this day turned out to be my best MTB ride of the year (so far). My legs felt strong, no doubt in part due to the pleasanting we did the weekend prior; I got my nutrition right; I was thirsty but not dehydrated; and, best of all, I was riding calmly. The mindset helped, even when I got to sections on which I was less confident.
There were parking lot beers and then back to town, where it was much, much hotter. We had lunch, then hunkered down indoors (there may have been napping) until the patio was shaded enough to bring our books and our beers outside.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
juniper mesa
We took a long weekend down in Moab this last weekend but instead of taking the Friday off, we took Monday instead ... and as a result I don't know what day it is and am frantically playing catch-up on everything. That is all to say that I've still not gotten the photos in order. So we'll go in reverse and here's what we did on Monday.
Milton had not gotten to go Saturday or Sunday because we went MTBing and it's just too far and too hot for him right now. He was very sad about it, refusing to eat his breakfast, but then promptly forgot all about it when we came home (and then he ate). When Monday rolled around, H and I tried to come up with a place where Milt and I could hike while H MTBed. We landed on the outer reaches of the Sand Flats Road, where the Juniper Trail (for hiking) is not too far from the new Falcon Flow Trail (for MTBing).
I had had high hopes for Falcon Flow but H was less than enthusiastic about it. Even taking away how hot he was from the two mile uphill return via the Sand Flats Road, he said that it was very sandy, with lots of sharp corners on cliffs. Plus his rear brakes weren't at 100%, all of which added up to a less-than-stellar ride.
To wrap up on a high note, then, we drove back down to the Slickrock Trailhead parking lot, nabbed a covered picnic table and drank our post-activity beers in the shade. Milton kept himself entertained by periodically sprinting the length of the parking lot to chase some ground squirrels. He never caught any: Squirrels 1 Milton 0.
Sunday, August 9, 2020
cruiser
Thursday, August 6, 2020
pleasanting
Monday, August 3, 2020
wrapping it up
Since the dog was in no shape to go hiking, and since H had a couple of hot spots on his feet as well, we decided to just go up to the Sand Flats Recreation Area Sunday morning so that I could take a short hike. While the boys camped out in the parking lot, I did a quick Practice Loop circuit. It didn't take me that long so I also added on an out-and-back on part of the Slickrock Trail.