closing day (observed)

Sunday, April 18, 2021, was Alta's official closing day: the day when daily operations cease for the season, the day that usually - in non-pandemic situations - brings the Frank Classic craziness, mondo tailgating and general celebratory behavior.  COVID-19 cancelled the Frank and folks were asked to keep wearing their masks in line and on the chairs, even if they'd been fully vaccinated, but H reported that there was plenty of partying and lots and lots of costumes.  It was a gorgeous day, bright and sunny, but on the cooler side which kept the girls from going full-bikini (although it apparently didn't dissuade the two speedo-wearing dudes).

Before he left (Milton and I stayed behind to do our walk, bake tofu and tempeh, dehydrate a batch of tofu jerky and do some weeding), I asked H to take some pictures.  He took that assignment to heart and did a complete tour of the ski area, skiing some runs that he hadn't gotten to all season.  Although the conditions were better for skiing groomers - the sun-baked Saturday afternoon snow had frozen up overnight and wasn't thawing all that quickly with Sunday's temperatures in the low 30s, despite the sun - he skied off-piste all day.  His legs would be complaining about their mistreatment by the time he got home to have beers with me and Milton on the sunny driveway, but in the meantime, this is was Alta looked like on closing day:

The trees off 3 Bears

Challenger, looking rugged

Yellow Bear

Supreme Bowl

My beloved Catherine's Area

Near the Elephant Butt (beneath Supreme chair)

Underneath the Apron

Devil's Castle

Cecret Saddle

The Backside was off-limits

No-go on the Keyhole too

Razorback lookin' good

The Ballroom

Spring Valley

In the Blackjack vicinity (off Wildcat chair)

West Rustler-ish

And recalling our past: Sunday River, Maine

hot stuff

When we got back to SLC after that nice, warm Moab weekend, we all but went into shock as a cold front moved in, dropped the northern Utah temperatures precipitously and deposited over two feet of new snow in the Cottonwood Canyons during a three day storm.  It isn't often that it rains for three days straight in Salt Lake City but it did this time and by the time the clouds moved out, the Wasatch mountains had a lovely new coating of white.

View from Fred's Trees

On Saturday, H went up to Alta for their official closing weekend (they will open for one more three-day weekend but will have ceased daily operations on April 18).  It was chilly, never getting out of the low 30s, which did wonders for preserving the snow, and he reported that the conditions were quite good.  Both the Supreme and Sugarloaf lifts got busy enough that he didn't care to do more than a couple of runs apiece over there, but the Collins lift wasn't too bad once the initial crowds moved out and he was able to get some good, soft runs in and around Fred's Trees.

Risk

After some slight maneuvering to get out of his parking space (the Wildcat base lot was crammed with tailgaters), he got home around 1 p.m.  Milton and I had spent our morning with a four mile walk, where we saw lots of birds and got to meet a couple of nice dogs, then doing some meal prep and tackling the mountain of laundry.  When H got home, he hadn't had lunch so I suggested that we go up to Grid City Beer Works.  We hadn't been in a while and they were having a "Dirty South" hot seitan wing challenge.

Reward

Their roofdeck still isn't open, so Milton had to stay in the car while we went in.  There were a decent number of folks there, and they've been able to put a few more tables in so they can be at 75% capacity.  We sat at the bar, well-distanced from everyone, and ordered our beers (pale ales) and food.  If H could finish the seitan hot wings in fifteen minutes, he'd win two Grid City beer cozies.  He did so handily, with six minutes to spare, and said that while he didn't think they were all that hot - he didn't even break a sweat although he did drink a decent amount of water - the toughest part was having to eat so quickly.  I don't have the affinity for spicy foods that he does so I had an order of jackfruit burnt ends, served with sweet pickles, spicy pickled green tomatoes on a bed of lightly dressed arugula.  It was delicious! So good, in fact, that I didn't manage to get a photo of it before snarfing it down.  The staff did say that permitting for the roofdeck has come through, it's been painted and they're just doing finishing touches now; the most difficult part is hiring - they don't have enough folks to staff it.  But it should be open soon and, since it is dog-friendly, Milton will soon be able to make even more new friends.

 

beginning to bloom

As we have in our other Moab weekends this winter when we've driven the car down, we went out to the Moab Brand Trails so H could MTB while Milton and I walked.  There was again a slight uptick in the number of vehicles at the trailhead lot - including a couple of tour vans - the influx of visitors increasing as the temperatures rise.  Still, it didn't seem quite as busy as when we'd been down at the confluence of Jeep Safari and April vacation.

Ever-vigilant

The trails were not that busy either.  H had to get around just two or three groups on Lazy-EZ before he was able to get ahead of everyone; Milton and I saw just a couple people on the Bar M loop and only seven riders out on Circle O.   It was definitely drier than the last time we were there but Milt still found a full pothole to drink out of and wade into, even plunging his nose under and blowing bubbles.

Blossom smaller than my pinkie nail

H met up with Milt and me on the parking lot cut off and I let the dog off the leash, allowing him to chase H back to the car  As we changed shoes, ate our sandwiches and quaffed some beers, Milton made friends with the folks who pulled in next to us.  Almost before she was out of the car, the woman had asked if he was friendly and then proceded to give him such good ear scritches that he was leaning into her, only whining once when she accidentally stepped on his tail and not even pulling away at that.  Her husband rolled his eyes and told her that he'd go ahead and unload her MTB so she could keep petting Milt.

Even though we're mid-April, I haven't seen all that many desert wildflowers yet.  The cacti should be blooming soon but all I found were some tiny, tiny pink blooms poking their hopeful faces out of cracks in the slickrock.  They weren't showy but resilient and ready for spring.  May we all be the same.

revisiting day canyon

 Last weekend it really did feel like spring in Moab.  Although they'd had a little bit of rain during the week, Saturday morning was crystal clear with temperatures into the mid-60s.  With the sun it felt glorious but never too hot - just right for hiking.  The "silly season" (i.e., lots and lots of recreationers surging into town) has begun which means we start looking for places to go that are more off the radar.  We decided to revisit Day Canyon, first/last attempted in July 2020.  It had gotten too hot for Milton that day and we had turned around before getting to the head of the canyon.  We wanted to see if we could get all the way there this time.

Junipers and blue sky

While the Gold Bar campground (single sites and group sites) was chockablock full, the trailhead parking lots for both Corona Arch and Jeep Arch were only lightly attended as we drove by.  After that, we didn't see anyone - other than a couple of dudes sitting on the train tracks, drinking coffee and watching the Colorado flow past; we waved at each other - as we pulled off the road across from the mouth of Day Canyon.

The boys in matching shirts

There was a little more water in the wash than there had been in July, although there wasn't enough that we got our feet wet on the creek crossings.  It seems as though most of this water comes from springs, seeping through the rocky walls.

Layers

The trail weaves back and forth, following the wash through the cottonwood trees and other green growth at the mouth of the canyon, and then following an old ranch or mining road on the right side of the canyon as you're heading up.  After the narrowest part of the canyon, near where the old watering trough sits by a spring, the canyon widens and the trail starts to climb.  It's never truly steep but it climbed enough to put a sweat on us.  We had Milton wear his white t-shirt as the sun climbed above the canyon walls, helping to reflect some of the strong sun his black fur absorbs.

No climbers this far in

At some point, a ways past where we had turned around in July, the old road disappears.  We followed a clear foot trail, then a faint foot trail dotted with very occasional cairns, and then it all just faded away into a jumble of rocks.  We searched for an obvious way forward for a while; not finding one, we decided to again turn around before getting to the head of Day Canyon.  We people could have gone on but we didn't want to risk the dog potentially getting injured in the loose jumble.  

Heading down the canyon

It does look like maybe we could get up even further by staying down in the wash instead of being on the old road.  The only catch would be if there's an impassible pour-off somewhere that we couldn't get past.  I think it's worth exploring on another day.  There's also one decent side canyon further down that has exploration potential as well.

The river is thataway

We'd had the whole hike completely to ourselves until we got within a half mile of the mouth of the canyon.  At first we heard just voices, and then we saw a couple of clusters of climbers, clinging to the high sandstone walls.  We met another couple of climbers on the final walk out and when we re-emerged onto the road, the incidental use parking area was completely full - at least ten other vehicles, most with climbers organizing their gear to head in.  And that was nothing compared to the crowds at Wall Street where we stopped on our way out for sandwiches and surreptitious beers.  Silly season, indeed.  At least it makes for good people-watching.

Hike stats: 8.58 miles; moving time 2:56 / avg. speed 2/9 m.p.h.; overall 3:36 / 2.4; 1,400' elevation

sunny sunday

Sunday was just as nice, and even warmer, than Saturday, with temperatures in the valley pushing 80 F.  Milton and I did our 4-ish mile walk, then we vacuumed and swiffered, and even went serious-vegan by attempting homemade seitan (a meat substitute made from vital wheat gluten flour) which we had with broccoli and homemade BBQ sauce for dinner.  In the afternoon, we did yardwork, including cleaning up the backyard and doing some major pruning on the out of control lavender, oregano and sage in the little herb garden.  It remains to be seen whether I did more harm than good.

Looks like big ol' chunks of beef

H went skiing, enjoying the soft, spring conditions and the sunshine.  It is definitely spring season at Alta because the bikini tops, animal print and gold lamé pants were in full force.  The Wiggle was also installed in the Ballroom again.  H actually skied out to it but when he got there, there was a big crowd of hotdog kids there, chugging beers and getting ready to dive in.  His sense of self preservation kicked in, not wanting to get run over mid-Wiggle by hard-charging ski bums decades younger than himself.  Still, it sure looks like fun if you can do it without a crowd.

Baldy under the blue

When he was done, he texted me that tailgating was in full swing in the Wildcat parking lot; I said that if he hurried home, we could do that ourselves in our driveway.  After he mowed the lawn for the first time this year, we got out the patio furniture (perhaps prematurely as it would snow a bit on Tuesday) and enjoyed a beer in the very pleasant temperatures.  It may be a bit too soon to take the flannel sheets off the beds, but we'll not look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to gorgeous spring days.

The lineup for the Wiggle

 

springing into saturday

This past weekend really felt like spring, even in northern Utah.  Without a ski pass, I busied myself on Saturday with four-mile walks with Milton, baking a pan of brownies and a double batch of pumpkin-raisin-walnut muffins and doing a whole bunch of laundry.   Dinner was another couple of new recipes: baked tofu with peanut butter and lime sauce, accompanied by turmeric-garlic fried rice with broccoli and jalapenos.  The rice, in particular, was delicious!

Dinner is served

H skied for the morning, reporting that things got sticky quickly in the bright sun.  It was noticeably less crowded than it's been - with folks either giving up on skiing for the year or perhaps waiting until the afternoon to get their spring season on.  An additional change this year: with having to wear a mask, you don't have to worry so much about putting on sunscreen.

Still under 500" on the year

When H got home and cleaned up, we were in the mood for an outside beer - it was so nice, with temperatures in the 70s - so we tossed Milton in the car and headed in town.  We knew that Hopkins Brewing Co. had an open, dog-friendly patio but on our way there we passed the Campfire Lounge - which was open after having been closed (and abandoned looking, to be honest) for about six months.  We quickly turned in there and snagged a prime corner table on their patio. 

Springtime selfie

 The windows, walls and patio surface need a bit of a wash but the glasses were clean and the beer was tasty and we enjoyed doing some city stuff, around - but in a safe distance from - other people.  It was a good mix of folks: us, some goth kids, two guys who'd just gotten done paragliding, two guys still in ski pants and a grandfather and grandson having shots and beers.  Milton enjoyed it too: the bartender delivered his own water bowl AND he had three 20-something girls petting him all at once.  That's an excellent way to spend a spring afternoon right there.

making the rounds

If Saturday had been a beautiful day, Sunday was gorgeous with blue sky, sunshine and no breeze to speak of.  It started off a bit chilly, though, as we left the house around 9 and - amazingly - encountered no traffic in order to get to the Moab Brand Trails parking lot by 9:15 a.m.  While there was already a line to get into Arches National Park, there were fewer than twenty vehicles at the trail head.  Since we had the Subaru, there was only room for one MTB, so H biked while Milton and I hiked, all parties sticking with our regular routes.

First desert bloom spotted

For the number of vehicles in the lot (and continuing to steadily roll in throughout the morning), we were surprised not to see more folks out on the trails.  H only had to deal with three or four small groups as he pounded through Copper Ridge Road, Lazy-EZ, Rusty Spur and the Bar M loop; Milt and I saw two MTBers on Bar M and five out on Circle O.

With the temperatures in the 60s, and seeming warmer because of the sun, it was perfect conditions and Milt even found plenty of water in the potholes on the Circle O slickrock to drink from.  H came out onto the Circle O trail from the far end to find us - when Milton saw him, he sprinted across the rock to meet him.  After that, I had to keep him leashed as H rode off to finish his loop; Milt notices that H went right at the Circle O/Bar M intersection and was very concerned when I turned left instead.  But then H came out on the parking lot cutoff to meet us again, and I unleashed M to chase him all the way back to the car.  

M's preferred way to "swim"

After that, Milton was definitely tired, what with the overdoing it and all, but not too tired to work the crowds in the parking lot.  After a snack and some water, he introduced himself to the folks in the cars on either side of us, and when the mother/daughter from Colorado drove away, he introduced himself to the new folks who took that parking spot.  (Here was our third Maine connection of the weekend: a young couple who live in St. George now but the woman grew up in Bangor.)

In-town blossoms

We ended up spending Sunday night in Moab as well, to avoid the potentially heavy traffic.  This turned out to be a great idea as we were on the road by 7 Monday morning, cruised through the drive with no hold-ups, and arrived back in SLC around 10:30, late enough to have missed the morning commute rush but early enough for a half day at work.

jackson/cliffhanger loop

Spring is finally springing in southern Utah: the skies are blue, the flowers are starting to appear and the jeepers have descended on Moab.  After being entirely canceled last year, the 2021 Easter Jeep Safari kicked off its modified week last weekend.  In addition to those shenanigans, it is spring break for a lot of schools, plus southern Utah is known to be open for camping.  All those things added up to full motels, full campgrounds and busy trailheads.  Again, I'm conflicted: I know the local businesses need the money but, gosh, it's been nice not having to share the trails.

Climbing on Jackson

The first weekend of the Jeep Safari is low-key, with only a couple scheduled routes.  One of those was Cliffhanger, which was closed to all motorized vehicles except those on the Safari drive.  We thought that might make it good to hike: we'd only be contending with hikers, MTBers and one group of jeeps, instead of also inundated with side-by-sides and dirt bikes.  We decided to do a loop: up Jackson's Trail and across and down the Cliffhanger jeep road.

Colorado River

We parked at the Amasa Back trail head and were walking back along the Kane Creek Road a little before 9 to the Jackson trail head.  Milton got his crazy on as soon as we crossed Kane Creek, running and splashing and leaping off rocks.  It was cool in the shade as we followed the Colorado River but the sun was out and we were de-layering as soon as we started to climb.  It was here that we saw a trailrunner wearing a race bib: he was the first of many we'd see for the Mad Moose Behind the Rocks 50-miler.  Later, we looked up the course and it was awesome: starting at Behind the Rocks, coming through Pritchett and Hunter Canyons, up Hymasa, down/around/and back up Jackson Hole, down Jackson Trail and back out the Kane Creek Road to the finish.

On Safari

There was an aid station at the race's turnoff for Jackson's Ladder and we saw lots of trail runners there and on the cliffy portion of Cliffhanger.  We started seeing MTBers out on Hymasa as we came over the top and started descending the jeep road, and then stopped for about an hour to wait for and watch the Safari jeepers navigate one of the biggest obstacles on the route.  While we were spectating, we talked with Jennifer, a BLM employee who'd been assigned to the Safari group for the day.  She was super-nice, an Eastern transplant like us (grew up in Massachusetts, spent a couple years at UMaine Orono before deciding it was too cold), and gave us lots of information about some archeoastronomy sites we've been trying to find/hadn't heard about before.  She liked Milton too.

Trail goes that way

Back at the car, the parking lot had filled up with hikers, MTBers, vans, Subarus and trucks.  We hung out for about an hour, talking with our neighbors - Oregon, in a sprinter van with hound mix Tucker (second Maine connection of the day as the girl had gone to Bates); and New Mexico, who'd driven up for the day - while Milton made friends with everyone, human and dog alike.  The guys from New Mexico just loved him.  I'm not sure what he likes better, the hiking or the parking lot visiting, but one thing is for sure: Milt is glad that people have come back to Moab.

Love me a blue sky

Hike stats: 6.96 miles; 2:36 hours/2.8 m.p.h. moving average; 4;17/2.4 overall; 1,080' elevation