early hny

 This isn't a real post but we spent the long Christmas weekend in Moab and are getting a fix on that to share here.  In the meantime, with year's end / the new year fast approaching, we wish everyone good things for the year to come.  Cheers!

best to get above it

 As I mentioned in my last post, there hasn't been any snow in weeks - a stark difference from 2022/2023 when it began snowing mid-October and then, on average, snowed every 3-4 days for six months.  On the plus side, my fifteen mile (one-way) commute has not been particularly stressful.  On the other hand, we are getting inversions in the Salt Lake valley and the air is gross.  Last winter, the storms came in so often that I don't think we had a single bad air quality day.  Good times.

From the Instagram of a local trailrunner

To combat the smog that blows in from California, is exacerbated by the increased SLC traffic and gets caught between the Oquirrh and Wasatch mountain ranges, you gotta get high.  By which I mean get up into the mountains to go skiing / ice-climbing / hiking / snowshoeing.  Or you could go to Park City, but they're gearing up for Sundance and aint nobody wants to get caught up in that.  H went skiing again on Sunday, reporting no lift lines, sunnier skies (although not particularly warm) and two porcupine sightings The snow conditions are the same, the base is slightly less due to evaporation, and it is going to be a RUDE awakening the week between Christmas and New Year's when the entire world (stupid IKON pass) shows up at Alta.

The rest of the family (me, Milton) did our thing in the valley, wincing at the building haze.  We walked Dimple Dell again, contributed to the emissions by doing an IKEA run, then did laundry, vacuumed, meal-prepped for the week ahead and made a multi-bean soup for dinner and the freezer.  The multi-beans were black beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, split green peas and black-eyed peas, for those wondering - sort of a clean-out-the-pantry soup.

glass half full

 If you don't mind skiing eastern conditions, right now is a good time to ski Utah.  (Forget I said that - don't ski Utah.  Ski Colorado instead.)  We haven't had any snow since December 8 and conditions are firm.  Coverage is okay, but the base is disappearing with no new precipitation to bolster it.  So why is it a good time to ski?  Because there aren't many people out right now: it's only the hardcore folks, the ones who have been impatiently waiting for the lifts to start turning since they closed down in April.  There aren't any tourists yet and the more casual skier is waiting until after the holidays.  

It's mostly just people like H.  On Saturday, he got up to the Goldminer's Daughter lodge around 7:50.  Since it isn't crowded, he managed to stake out a corner by the coffee shop, to read and wait for the lifts to open.  Once they opened, it didn't take long for the crowd to disperse.  He pretty much skied right onto the lifts with no waiting from then until after 1 p.m.  More terrain is open - Backside, Supreme Bowl - but he didn't venture into there.  Alta has a lot of rocks and there's just no quite enough coverage yet.

Looking down the Collins chair

Meanwhile, as the day's less-dedicated non-skiers, Milton and I did our Dimple Dell walk, made vegan "parmesan," chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin muffins, vacuumed a little, de-clogged a bathtub drain without upchucking and walked to the liquor store.  Dinner was a red lentil and almond curry made in the InstantPot - it was a terrible, muddy color but was quite tasty.

rockin' the locker

 We have totally scored at Alta this season: the sister of one of our neighbor's is subletting her Goldminer's Daughter ski locker to us.  There are a fair number of ski lockers up at Alta, both in the GMD basement and in the skier services building, but the waitlist for them is over ten years long, and we've heard that they don't even bother adding new names to the list anymore - people just don't give them up.  So when this locker was offered to us, we were all YES YES WE WANT IT OF COURSE THANK YOU!

As I mentioned, it's in the GMD basement, a slightly damp space completely lined with sticker-encrusted lockers, with wooden benches and tables and a pervasive sense of you're local now.  The lockers are long and narrow, with enough room for our two pairs of skis and poles but not wide enough to stuff our boot bags into.  It has, therefore, turned into a bit of planes-trains-and-automobiles to go skiing: we drive from our house to the bus (7 a.m.); ride the bus to Alta's Wildcat base (arrive 7:50); go to the locker, change into our boots and grab our skis and poles; ride the rope tow with our boot bags (because the next inter-resort shuttle is about a half hour away) up to the Albion day lodge where there's room for us to sit and free cubbies for our boot bags; and wait for the lifts to open at 9:15.  Is it kind of ridiculous?  Yes.  But we don't have to wrangle our skis and poles on the crowded ski bus for the whole season and that is just excellent.

Lo and behold

It was warmer but less sunny on Sunday.  I went skiing too.  It wasn't that crowded and the snow was really quite good for early season, but I struggled mightily.  I was way overdressed because it wasn't as cloudy or as windy as the forecast had said.  And I think I was a little dehydrated.  And my legs are not at all in shape after the dearth of hiking this year (note to self: don't sprain your ankle again) - I had to go in and rest!  The most amusing part of the whole thing was that because I was wearing my big, super-warm parka, H kept not recognizing me: two separate times I followed right behind him in the singles line, but he didn't realize it was me and didn't wait at the top like he usually does.  When I finally got his attention, I suggested that we ski separately for the last two hours (so I could go at my own, very slow pace) and just meet up at the GMD a little after 2 p.m.  So that's what we did, and we rode the bus back down, ski- and pole-free and it was glorious.

skiing and doing

 And we're back into our winter routine!  After some very warm days, we got a nice little storm Thursday through Friday which brought over a foot of snow in places in the Wasatch mountains.  Alta now has had 146" of snowfall with a 66" base, although this coming week is going to be warm and dry, which will eat away at that.  The storm was also nice in that the Salt Lake valley got less than an inch, making driving much less anxious for those of us who get anxious about such things.

It did get cold on Saturday, though, so H went up to Alta without me, wearing his warmest parka: it was single digits when he got there and even with bluebird skies, only warmed up ("warmed up") to about 20F.  Alta did have all the lifts open, so after the initial surge, with people stoked about the new snow, the skiers were spread out across the mountain, keeping lift lines reasonable.  H said that the snow was quite good and he skied hard until just after 2 p.m.

It was chilly down in the valley too - I don't think it got about 30F all day.  Milton and I waited until 9 for our four mile walk - the sunshine still felt good, even in the 20s - and then I got busy.  I made spiced candied almonds, peanut butter and pumpkin dog biscuits, a kale/lentil/vegan sausage soup to have Sunday after skiing, and a tasty curry with chickpea and zucchini koftas for Saturday dinner.  I also did a big load of laundry and finished up Christmas presents.  Now that I've written it all out, it doesn't look like that much, but I was actually on my feet all day, only sitting down for fifteen minutes for breakfast and for lunch.  Staying home can be a lot of work - it's not all sitting around eating bonbons!

and the 2023/2024 ski season begins

 Alta was supposed to open for the 2023/2024 season on November 17th.  They didn't, because there wasn't any snow.  When they did actually open, over Thanksgiving weekend, we were in Moab so H wasn't able to be there as he tries to do.  After a full five days of inversion-induced smog in the Salt Lake valley,  a nice storm rolled in Thursday night, blowing out the crap in the air and bringing in snow.

I bought a ten-pack this year so I will be judicious about my ski days (but not quite so picky about temperatures now that I have my lovely heated socks).  So it should come as no surprise that I did not ski this weekend.  H, on the other hand, has basically been waiting for this since mid-April.  He left the house at 7 a.m. Saturday morning for the bus (the UTA is running the ski buses at half schedule again this year).

At 7:14 a.m. he was on the bus, standing room only.  They got to Alta's Goldminer's Daughter lodge at 7:52.  Since non-guests are no longer welcome at the GMD, he had to wait for the rope tow to start running so he could get up to Albion day lodge (the in-resort shuttles between the lodges are not yet running) to leave his gear bag (as GMD lockers are about $15/day).  At 8:05, an hour and ten minutes before lifts opened, the line had already formed at Collins chair.  He got to Albion at 8:30 and settled in for a while:opening was delayed until 10 a.m. so ski patrol could do avalanche mitigation.  

Lift lines at Collins

As you can see, the lift lines were insane, as people stacked up waiting to get on the lift.  The Sunnyside lift is not yet open (whether due to staffing or maintenance is unclear) so that wasn't available to help spread people out.  But by the time H got up the mountain (25 minutes in the singles line, so I guess it could have been worse), however, it didn't end up being too bad - he skied right onto Sugarloaf, and continued to ride that chairlift with scarcely any lines.

As far as the skiing went, well, it's early season for sure.  Not much open terrain, lots of rocks, you know the drill.  And while it wasn't nuking snow all day, the light was very, very flat and visibility was bad.  When he got home (before 3) and started laying out his gear for Sunday, he suggested that I not go - that I wouldn't enjoy the conditions.

Another angle.  Ski Colorado, please

Funny that: he didn't enjoy the conditions much on Sunday either: he got up and on the bus, arriving at GMD at 7:52, and then proceeded to sit in the Albion lodge until about 11:30 before getting back on a bus to come home without having skied at all.  "I'm cutting my losses," he said.  This storm has produced very high avalanche conditions and Alta didn't end up opening until nearly 1 p.m.  Just down the hill, Snowbird didn't open anything but their little baby Chickadee lift all day - too dangerous.

Even further down the hill, Milton and I had a productive weekend.  On Saturday, we did a three mile walk, and Milton got to chase/be chased by a friendly wheaten terrier.  We made three meals' worth of red lentil soup for the freezer, inventoried/organized said freezer, put up the window candles, set up the mudroom for ski season, did a bunch of laundry, put flannel sheets on the guest bed, got started with holiday cards and caught up on blog posts.  Dinner was a new tomato/peanut/chickpea Instantpot stew recipe.  On Sunday, we did our walk, and Milton got to chase/be chased by our neighbor's black lab mix, Packer.  We made chocolate chip cookies, a cinnamon apple galette, vacuumed, finished the laundry, continued to work on holiday cards and even did a Home Depot run where I got hand warmers for skiing and Milton got treats from an employee and pets from a little girl.  Success all the way around!

catching up still: tgiving weekend

Friday was a complete washout as a storm system moved in.  It was cold and rainy off and on all day, pausing long enough for us to visit our favorite bartender to deliver homemade peanut butter and pumpkin dog cookies for her Great Pyrenees mix, Hilde.  (We also stayed for a beer or two).

It snowed a little overnight, leaving a rapidly-melting inch or two on the valley floor Saturday morning.  We connected with some friends from Salt Lake who were in town for a couple of days, taking them out for a late morning hike to Jeep Arch.  They are jeepers themselves and come down to Moab for that, but they haven't done a ton of hiking.  The trail to Jeep Arch was busier than H and I have ever experienced it - including a couple with three Underdog rescues (that Milton was thrilled to meet) and two sweet Underdog foster puppies (that H and I gladly held for a bit to help socialize).  When we dropped into the wash for the walk out, however, we had that to ourselves.  There was more water in the wash than we often see due to the recent precipitation but not so much that we were in danger of soaking our feet.  That would have been unpleasant!

They are SO tall!

Hike stats: 4.00 miles; 1:42 / 2.3 m.p.h. moving average; 1:53 / 2.1 overall

And that was about it.  H, Milton and I did a town walk Sunday morning and then we packed up and headed north.  There was snow on the lawns but none to shovel - score one for the good guys.

catching up: thanksgiving

 It's December 2, 2023, and THANK GOODNESS shoulder season is over and we can finally get some content around here!  H is up at Alta for his first ski day this season - but more on that later.  First we have to go all the way back to last month and our nice Thanksgiving in Moab.

Commemorating the day with a selfie

H took the day before off, and I just packed up a little work to do at home, so we were on the road heading back down to the desert by 6 a.m. morning.  Traffic was fine, the roads were fine and because of our early start, Milton and I were hiking the Slickrock Trail practice loop at Sand Flats Recreation Area by 11 a.m.  Exercise thus accomplished, we set up some lamps (non-overhead lighting - woohoo!) and caught up with some friends at Woody's over a beer.

Our attempt at a group shot

Thanksgiving morning was chilly (low 30s) but sunny-ish.  We had reached out to our neighbors who were sticking around for the holiday weekend and by 10 a.m. we five people and two dogs were at the Amasa Back trailhead.  Along with lots of other vehicles.  Natalie and Lauren had never hiked over here before so we were happy to introduce them to one of our favorite loops: up the Hymasa MTB trail, to the river overlook, and then down the jeep trail.

And then a MTBer helped us out

It was a great day to hike - dry and nice, cool temperatures - and, despite the busy parking lot, we didn't see all that many people.  Enough MTBers to take a group photo for us, however.  Milton and Moscow (Amelia's Underdog rescue) had a great day, chasing each other, snuffling under trees, launching themselves off rocks for dog parkour.

What a crew

Amelia supports the "beers back at the trucks" situation as we do, and we all toasted a nice hike while we watched a number of BASE jumpers get organized and head towards the cliffs.  We didn't wait long enough to see them jump, however, because there was cooking to do!

Heading down

We had invited the girls over for our non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Natalie and Lauren had plans with friends but Amelia and Moscow joined us for an excellent, low-key, no stress meal.  She made a delicious kale soup, spiced with chile peppers she had grown herself, which was a great lead-in to our lentil shepherd's pie, extra mashed potatoes (because you always need more mashed potatoes) and roasted acorn squash.  It was a really good day.

Hike stats: 6.22 miles; 2 hours 10 minutes/2.9 m.p.h. moving average; 2:25/2.6 overall

living in a GnR song

 Back in Maine, February used to be my least favorite month but out here in the west, I think it's November.  We've actually been very, very lucky for the first half of the month, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s.  But the weather seems to have turned a corner this week and it is, all of a sudden, very November-y.  Shoulder season, cold, dark and wet: today, for example, it is 40s and raining all day.  (H's and my second least favorite kind of weather - only 30s and raining is worse.)  We have been trapped in the house all weekend - cleaning, cooking and reading - and Milton doesn't understand why we won't turn off the sky water so we can go DO something.

Amazingly, some of the Utah ski resorts have opened, albeit with like ten inch bases, bless their hearts:

No word on Alta yet but if this storm brings the 2+ feet the forecasters are boasting, that may help them with their decision.

opening days (anticipated)

On Saturday (11/11/23), H and I went up to Alta to pick up our 2023/2024 ski passes: full-on season pass for H, ten-pack for me.  It was a pretty day for the end-of-early November: partly cloudy, pretty clear air, temperatures ranging from high 30s to low 50s across northern Utah.  We drove up the canyon a little after 11:30 a.m.; the various climbing and hiking trailheads were busy with folks taking advantage of the mild winter.  As we went past Snowbird, we shook our heads - the snow is thin at best.  But when we turned into Wildcat base at Alta, we were surprised to see 100+ cars in the lot and all sorts of folks milling around, layering up and putting skins on their skis.  We went into Skier Services to pick up our passes, noting the ropes across the Collins lift area and the CLOSED signs.  Ten minutes later, as we walked out, the ropes and the sign were gone and backcountry skiers were skinning up Corkscrew.  

Twenty minutes later, as we were sitting at the bar at the Hog Wallow, toasting the impending start of the ski season, three 20-somethings wearing ski pants came in.  They'd been up at Solitude, which was open (!!), standing in line for 30 minutes to do one bunny-slope run.  "We ripped up that seven inches!" one girl laughed.  And so it begins.

Here are the purported opening dates per Ski Utah (subject to change, of course):

harvest

 The ski areas are not so thrilled but boy oh boy has the late autumn weather been nice in northern Utah!  It was chilly at the start of the week: 24 F in the morning, warming to mid 40s F.  But it was sunny and warmed slightly through the week.  It would have been great weather for hiking - we had some home chores stacking up, however, and once again did not get out on the trails.  Note that this will lead to a sparseness of content around here in the short term.

Autumnal colors

Saturday was quite nice, mostly to partly sunny with a high of 67 F.  Milton and I did our 4ish mile walk, then cleaned up the front yard, finally taking down all the sunflowers.  H mowed and then set to work digging out the shut-off valve for the sprinkler system (having sprinklers is such a hassle).  While he did that - and Milton supervised, and got treats delivered to him by our neighbor - I puttered around in the kitchen.

At least we like winter squash 

better than summer squash

I'm trying to be better about food waste and so rescued a small unwanted pie pumpkin from a Halloween display at work.  We also had a butternut squash from our CSA so I whole-roasted them both, then scooped out the guts (and made roasted pumpkin seeds, which we immediately devoured). Those two squashes yielded nine cups of puree (mash, really)!  I froze most of it but also made a batch of pumpkin muffins (and may have snuck some squash into a mulligatawny soup as well.

brief desert interlude

 The first real storm of the season came in Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.  The mountains (Alta, et als.) got 8-12" and it even snowed a bit in the valley, but - thankfully, because I am not ready for winter yet - did not stick.  The storm moved out of the area by midday on Thursday and when we got underway to head down to Moab, the road was clear and dry and you wouldn't have know that it had snowed, except for the mountains' frosty tops.

"Holy moly is that a squirrel?" - Milton, probably

It was definitely cooler in Moab than it has been, but we really lucked out on the weather.  Friday was gorgeous, mostly sunny with highs in the mid- to upper 60s F.  Milton and I did a short hike up on the Slickrock Trail.  This was his first time back out on the slickrock since he injured his paw and I cautioned him to take it easy.  He did not take it easy.  But he also didn't reinjure anything, so it all worked out.  We did the Practice Loop ("just as hard") and went out just a little way on the main trail for the views.  It was medium busy, mostly MTBs.  Milt also met a very nice New Mexico rez dog named Cholla in the parking lot; she was a sweetie.

"Are you coming?" - Milton, definitely

From the weather forecast, both H and I were sure that Saturday was going to be a washout; he did hear the rain in the early hours of the morning and had to scurry around closing windows.  But the rest of the weather held off, allowing us to do a hike at Moab Brands in the late morning where I spotted what was either a coyote or a coyote-looking dog up on the ridge, so Milton had to be leashed for a portion of the hike for his own safety.  That afternoon, H and I walked to Josie Wyatt's for a beer.  I thought about bringing my raincoat ... but didn't, and later regretted it somewhat when we got lightly rained on walking back home.

Sunday morning was nice and clear.  We'd planned to head back to SLC midday so we three only did a town walk.  There weren't too many folks on the bike path through town but Main Street was bustling, especially the breakfast places.  I suspect the local businesses appreciated the mild weather as much as we did, hoping to make bank before things slow down for the off-season.

dang it

 Once again, this week got away from me.  More posts very soon - check back again later!

UPDATED: We did get away for a long weekend in Moab.  Didn't do anything extraordinary but man oh man do we like being there.

Here's a photo from the car ride down.  Milton still doesn't love car rides - although he rarely gets carsick now - and he prefers the truck where we are all together.  In the Subaru, he has to sit in the back.  He doesn't like that, even though we set him up with blankets and plenty of room.

all good things

 Sunday was our last full day.  As I mentioned earlier, we'd talked about going up to Dead Horse Point State Park to MTB since it's been forever since we've been up there.  We talked ourselves out of it, however, given that it's a 45 minute drive each way (with gas prices the way they are), plus we don't have a Utah state parks pass this year.  We still wanted to MTB, though, so we just went to the MOAB Brand Trails which is only a 10-15 minute drive and free.

Not a cloud to be seen

It was a great ride with the same terrific weather we'd been having all week.  We went across the cow pasture (no cows yet) to Rusty Spur, then turned right at the kiosk on the bike path to the 4x4 road, out along the Bar M loop to Bar B, out the road to the Arches National Park boundary (love that climb on the slickrock ramp), back to Bar M with a cut across to pick up the upper half of Lazy EZ, then around the lower half of Lazy EZ, then back across that cut to Bar M again, to the parking lot cutoff.  I haven't MTBed all summer but that ride felt really good.  And even though the parking lot was as busy as we've seen it in a while, we encountered very few people on the trails.  Just the way we like it.

Since it was our last day, after we got cleaned up we walked with Milton over to Josie Wyatt's.  Their patio is dog-friendly (have one person wait at the back gate with the dog while the other person goes to ask the bartender to be let in) - the whole hotel is, actually.  Milton enjoyed himself a lot, from making lots of new friends to having two separate servers bring him bacon.  He didn't want to leave.  (We didn't either and were sad Monday morning when we had to drive back to SLC.)

life in the bike lane

 On the days we didn't hike or MTB, we did road rides.  Yes, we.  At the start of the summer, I found a little old Cannondale at a local Play It Again Sports for $120.  I tried riding it but it felt small, so I figured it was a child's bike and left it.  Towards the end of September, I saw that the bike was still there so I had H come with me to check it out.  He watched me ride it around the parking lot and said that it wasn't too small, I just wasn't used to road bikes.  So I bought it; H cleaned it up (for a mid- to late 1990s bike it was in good shape, just needing a wash and lube); and we brought it to Moab for me to ride on the bike path.  If you ride from our house to the end of the bike path at Route 313, then back down and then out and back along the river, you can put together a scenic thirty mile ride.  There's also a really long hill between Arches National Park and the MOAB Brand MTB trails.  My goal for the week was to climb that hill.

It's so tiny and light!

Saturday was my very first ride.  It has been since I was a kid that I've been on anything resembling a road bike and it felt so weird!  It felt narrow and twitchy and I felt like I was way out in front over the handlebars.  With both my MTB and my town bike, I sit up more and my stance (?) is broader with the wider handlebars - I was very nervous on that first ride.  We went from the house, past Arches to the Killer B trail marker, then back down for the out and back along the river.  My average speed was the same as on my super-heavy, one-speed town bike (embarrassing!) but that was because I was so nervous.  Ride stats: 20.19 miles; 11.6 m.p.h. average speed; 22.6 max speed; 1:43:52 time.

For reference, H did the exact same ride Sunday when Milton and I went hiking.  His ride stats were 20.20 miles; 20.1 average speed; 30.8 max; 1:00:14.

We do have new handlebar tape to put on

We got back on the road bikes on Monday, giving my back and wrists some time to shake out.  We did the same route as Saturday except going up just a little further past Killer B, to where that hill starts.  Although it wasn't much further, it was faster and I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike, pedaling more and coasting less.  It was windy along the river and I still hate a headwind, but riding a really light bike like this Cannondale makes me hate it less than when I'm on my MTB.  Ride stats: 21.02 miles; 13.1 average; 34.1 max (H's max, not mine); 1:35:42.

Wednesday we had talked about maybe going cowboy camping up at Sand Flats but with Milton having that foot injury, we decided it would be best to save camping for another time.  Instead, H and I got back on the road bikes.  And this time I accomplished my goal of riding up that big hill!  That hill is a 1.5 mile stretch with a 7% grade, ending up where the Rusty Spur trail comes out onto the bike path.  There are also two cattle guard crossing, just to keep things interesting.  I was very nervous on the descent (I much prefer climbing to descending) but proud of myself regardless.  Ride stats: 24.05 miles; 12.4 average; 32.6 max (H's); 1:56:03.  In non-biking news, we took Milton up to the Slickrock trail parking lot at Sand Flats Recreation Area for lunch and he got to make friends with a bunch of MTBers.

After my ten mile solo hike on Thursday, my legs still had some fatigue when Friday rolled around.  We had talked about MTBing up at Dead Horse Point State Park but decided to postpone the MTBing until I could enjoy it more.  To shake the cobwebs off, however, we did an easy twenty-miler, not attempting the hill again.  Ride stats: 20.26 miles; 13.2 average; 39.3 (H's) max; 1:31:57 time.  We also went back to the Slickrock parking lot for lunch with the dog.  It was really busy and there were so many dirt bikers - way more of them than MTBers, which seemed odd.

We did have to do a half-lap around the

neighborhood to get 30 exactly

Our final road ride was Saturday, after Milton's vet appointment.  And this time we did the whole dang thing, all thirty miles.  It was a gorgeous day, clear, not too warm, not too breezy.  With four rides under my belt, I felt much more comfortable on the bike (except for that long downhill).  I was more confident on the climb to, having done it once already.  On the river portion, there were lots of people out on the bike path - mostly on e-bikes but that's okay, at least they're out there.  And me too - I'm out there now too, now that I'm apparently a road cyclist.  Ride stats: 30.00 miles; 13.2 average; 40.9 max (not me, obvs); 2:15:43; and A had 134.68 road miles on the week.

solo

On Thursday, Milton was a little better but in no shape for hiking.  I wanted to do a longer hike, however, so while H did a MTB ride at Moab Brand Trails (16.27 miles, average speed 10.5, top speed 23.6, 1:32 hours), I got my gear together and hit the trail.  We've done this almost-loop a couple times before but it would be the first time I did it solo and would be the longest solo hike I've done.

Nearing the top of the climb up to Hidden Valley

Starting from our place, I walked to Jackson Street and hopped on the Pipedream Trail heading south.  It was another gorgeous morning, still cool although it would end up being slightly warmer than the last couple of days, completely clear and with very little wind.  I met five hikers, three dogs and one MTBer on this leg, most of them as I was descending into the Hidden Valley trailhead parking lot.  From there, I did the quick climb up and then cruised the length of Hidden Valley.  I saw five hikers and one dog in this stretch.  The tumbleweeds are unfortunately making invasive inroads into the valley but I did see some signs of weed mitigation, so hopefully they won't completely take over.

Looking over the pass

From the pass, I dropped over onto the trail and then 4x4 road leading to the Moab Rim.  There was literally no one out there at all and other than a plane or two, it was super quiet.  I stumbled down Sand Hill and made my way through the dry wash (it is slightly shorter going this way as opposed to over the sandstone domes).  Then, my least favorite part, on the 4x4 trail up to the Moab valley overlook: this section is all up, although not steeply, and isn't particuarly pretty because the 4x4s have chewed it up.  

From whence I came

Before I started my descent, I texted H: the plan had been for him to meet me at the Moab Rim parking lot so I wouldn't have to do the road walk home - but there's no cell reception in the lot itself so I had to remember to text before heading down.  I met two hikers, 1 tenacious MTBer and three Jeeps going up as I went down the Rim trail.  My guys were waiting for me in the parking lot: H had beer, Gatorade and salty snacks for me; Milton had improved enough to gingerly put a little weight on his right foot but mostly just wanted to snooze in the sun.

The Colorado River

My legs were a little fatigued that afternoon (10 miles; 3:50 overall time) but I managed to rally enough for us to ride our town bikes to beers (another 2.5 miles to add to the count).

rocky tops and juicy ipas

 Tuesday (10/3) was our official move-iversary and so the whole family did a hike together.  I suggested going to the Navajo Rock trail system and doing the Rocky Tops loop; that what we did but afterward H said, and I agreed, that that trail is not quite as enjoyable as I always think it is. It is side-hilly on the sandstone domes and rocky underfoot otherwise.  Still, it seems like a good idea at the time, we all made it without lasting damage and it was a beautiful day.

Heading out

We parked at the upper Navajo Rocks lot and then hiked down to the lower lot.  This is my favorite part of the loop (also the shortest): it's all downhill, most of it is on the rock and it's very pretty.  It starts off with the huge red cliffs off to the left.  The washes you cross have trees and are interesting.  And a stretch goes along the rim of a fork of Seven Mile Cayon, with the Monitor and Merrimac buttes off in the distance.  Scenic!

Monitor and Merrimac

Once you cross 313 at the lower lot, you pick up the Rocky Tops trail.  This trail is mixed footing - sand, sandstone domes, loose rock and gravel - as it goes up and over a number of buttes.  And there is always one more up-and-over than I remember.  It does get a little long.  We encountered several small groups of MTBers along this section and I stopped to help a couple of them interpret the trail maps.  One great thing about the Navajo Rocks trails is that they are well-blazed with maps at most of the intersections.

Napping on the Spitfire patio

When we finished up back at the truck - I think that's partly why I think I like this trail: it's a loop and there are not that many hikable loops in the area - we paused for beers and peanut butter pretzels (Milton thought those were quite tasty).  We went home, got cleaned up and then, to celebrate move-iversary, all three of us walked over to Spitfire for beers on their dog-friendly patio.  It was a pleasant couple of hours, chatting with people in the sun, but that place is expensive and, on that day at least, inconsistent.  We got charged $7, $6.50 and $6 variously for pints, depending on the bartender.

Hike stats: 8.62 miles (Milton must have done 10+); 2:34 moving time / 3.4 m.p.h. average moving speed; 2:42 overall time/3.2 overall speed; only 930' elevation

We put the bootie on his sore paw to

try to keep him from licking it - that

was more traumatizing than the injury

That night we were all moving a little stiffly from the distance.  In the morning, however, Milton was not only stiff and sore but the large pad on his right front paw was very swollen and he would put no weight on it whatsoever.  H carried him to grassy spots for calls of nature but otherwise he stayed in bed all Wednesday.  Both H and I checked his paw but found nothing stuck in it; it didn't seem to be cut and there was no blood or oozing.  (Spoiler alert: he'll be fine.)

fall break

We three took some time off at the beginning of October and spent the week in Moab.  There was hiking, MTBing, road riding and beer drinking involved, plus we cooked dinner every night and read a bunch of books.  Photo-taking was intermittant, however, so to maximize visual content, I'm going to post each hike and the MTB separately, but group the road rides into one post.  We tried to alternate activities too: road ride, hike, road ride, hike, road ride, hike, road ride, road ride and finally, MTB ride.  The weather was stunning the whole time, probably the best vacation weather we've had in the past twenty years.  It did rain once, Sunday night overnight into Monday morning, but after that it was clear and dry, with daytime temperatures maxxing out in the high 70s and overnight lows in the 40s.  Perfect!

This dog loves his slickrock

We drove down Friday afternoon, stopped in at Woody's for a drink, and then headed home.  Saturday was my first ever road ride on the new bike (more on that later).  Sunday, Milton and I went for a hike (while H recreated the previous day's ride, only much, much, much faster).  We went up to Sand Flats Recreation Area for a Slickrock Practice loop/Abyss viewpoint hike.  Being a pleasant Sunday in early October meant that it was busier than I've seen it in a while.  The campgrounds were full, there were lots of MTBers and plenty of jeeps/4x4s out on Hell's Revenge and Fins 'N Things, so we sat for a while at the Abyss overlook to watch the off-road shenanigans.

Kind of moody out over the La Sal mountains

Milton charmed a group of riders out on the Practice loop with us, strolling right through them when they stopped for a break.  The lone woman in the group was last and struggling a bit.  When she apologized for being so slow - "I'm a little freaked out here," she admitted - I just told her that I was so impressed that she was doing it at all.  That trail is so far outside my MTB skill level and comfort zone - she was a bad ass for just trying it.

I don't like PBR but I do for $2

That afternoon, we left Milton at home and took our road bikes to Josie Wyatt's to see our favorite bartender and drink some $2 PBRs.  That's another 2.5 bike miles to add to the running total.

csa summer 2023: final week

We were down in Moab (more on that later) and had to miss our week 14 CSA pickup.  This meant that we got a make-up box of apples when we picked up our final box this past week.  I can't say how much I'm enjoying getting these CSA boxes.  The produce is fantastic and local, and it makes us sometimes stretch a little out of our regular meals when we have to accommodate a new veggie.  I will admit that this year was rather squash-heavy, with so much zucchini and summer squash early on, and all the winter squashes now.  We would rather have gotten one whole box of potatoes in place of all the squash all season.  But that's not how CSAs work: you get what you get.  And now that I've found a great cornbread recipe, I can use up the zucchini in that - the winter squashes will keep longer so we've got time to work that out.

In addition to at least five varieties of apples, we got a couple of onions, five or six potatoes, some peaches, more apples, a mini pumpkin, apple cider, a delicata squash, two acorn squashes and a spaghetti squash.  The potatoes and onions will go in a soup I'm making with plant-based chorizo; I cooked down about half the apples into apple pie filling (or apple crisp filling or oatmeal topping) to freeze; I'm thinking I can find some sort of autumnal cocktail for the cider; and I do confess I gave away the acorn squashes to folks who will appreciate them.

csa summer 2023: week 13

 Oh my gosh, squash!  (At least it's winter varieties so that gives us a little time to figure how to use it all).  We got red Hubbard squash - that's the enormous one - acorn squash and butternut squash, plus potatoes, peaches, two varieties of apples, plums, jalapeno peppers, green beans (!) and corn(!!).  

As always, we ate the green beans and corn immediately and they were really good, which is super surprising for the end of September.  The fruit got eaten fresh, while the peppers went in/on pizza and stir-fry, and the potatoes got eaten as potatoes do.  The squashes ... I'm going to need a minute.  It has been very squash-heavy this year - would totally have rather gotten lots of peppers, onions and potatoes instead.  But that's the twist with CSAs: the food is super fresh but you get what you get.

in which we only got our feet wet the one day

It is finally cooling off enough in Moab to take the dog for hikes in places that don't have year-round running water, if you don't go during the heat of the day.  Which is not to say that we didn't do an early morning Mill Creek hike, because we did, Saturday morning.

Not a cloud in the sky on Saturday

We got there 7:30ish, with a handful of other cars in the lot.  Because we like to make a loop when we can (Milton doesn't really care but I like loops), we went out along the rim trail, then dropped down and continued upstream to the spot I think of as the "beaver floodplains" because it got flooded by a beaver dam that one time.  We crossed the creek there - the water is definitely cooler than it has been in recent visits - and went downstream on the other side, crossing back over at the cowboy hot tubs.  Since it was Saturday, we came across a bunch of other folks heading in as we were heading out.

Surveying the slickrock

I'll just add here that each day - Saturday, Sunday and Monday, because we took that day off - H and I got on our elderly town bikes and rode 16+ miles along the paved bike path: from our house, across the Colorado River on the bike/foot bridge, up to the entrance to Arches National Park, reverse course there but turn left after the bridge to go out and back to the end of the bike path along the river, and then home.

Shadowlands

On both Sunday and Monday, Milton and I mixed things up slightly by going up to Sand Flats Recreation Area to hike.  SFRA is fantastic and although it has certainly been discovered, I appreciate the fact that it has not gotten quite as discovered as Arches, Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point State Park (all of which are also fantastic, by the way).  

Little rocky ridge

Both days we parked in the Slickrock trailhead parking lot.  This trail is for MTBers, dirt bikers and hikers; four-wheeled motorized vehicles are not allowed, although the Slickrock trail does share some terrain with the Hell's Revenge 4x4 trail.  Milton and I did the Slickrock Practice Loop ("Just as hard" but only 3+ miles instead of 9+) and then walked out on the actual Slickrock trail to the Abyss Overlook to see what we could see.  On Sunday, we saw some MTBers successfully riding some gnarly ascents; on Monday, we saw very dark clouds approaching and limited our time out there before the storm moved in.

Why?????

This last photo makes me laugh.  When we got there, there were three other vehicles in the lot so I parked smack dab in the middle, away from everyone.  When we finished our hike, there were about ten vehicles in the whole entire lot ... and three of them had parked right next to me.  Literally the whole lot was available and they parked right there.

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fourteen years

 Happy moveiversary to us!  We moved to SLC from Maine FOURTEEN years ago.  Holy frickin' moly.  It's so interesting (to me) to write these year-end posts - we count our year, at least for blog purposes, starting in October and ending in September - to see how our activities ebb and flow.  This blog was started so as to keep the folks back east up to date on our adventures (hi, Perry!).  And when we first moved out here we never stopped doing things.  Everything was new, we were fourteen years younger, and the trails weren't so crowded.  This year has seemed a little diminished to me.  Skiing was a challenge due to crowding and also the fact that it snowed over 900 inches (and my wish came true, apparently) and you just couldn't get up the dang canyon.  Then, in the spring, when hiking was supposed to start, I went and sprained my ankle and it has surprised me how long it has taken to recover from that (see above re: fourteen years older).  Still, we've tried to get out after it as best we can.  Here's a summary of what our year looked like:

October - Our week's vacation in Moab; crazy thunderstorms; wrapping up our terrific CSA season; hiking at Grandstaff Canyon, Hidden Valley, Moab Rim, Murphy's Hogback, Pritchett Canyon.

November - It gets cool enough to bake (chai-spiced breakfast cookies, adventure bread, cornbread-pumpkin muffins); hiking at Poison Spider Mesa; ski season begins at Alta, with the new Sunnyside 6-seater chairlift still being installed, and H getting on his telemark set-up on day 3; Thanksgiving in Moab with a hike to Tusher Tunnel, the Slickrock trail and watching World Cup soccer.

December - Ski season begins in earnest with a couple of big storms early in the month, a 71+ inch storm mid-month and reduced ski bus service; more home cooking (mapo tofu, soups, chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cake, peanut butter dog biscuits); an entire long weekend in Moab spent watching World Cup soccer with our neighbors, but also a fun spontaneous party; and Christmas in Moab with hikes to Jeep Arch, Slickrock Practice loop and our new traditional bloody Mary recipe.

January - H skis the week between Christmas and New Year's, but with storms and traffic doesn't actualy get to ski that much (the snow is fabulous, though); a quick visit from my cousin Bess; interlodges at Alta with big storms (433" on the season at Alta by mid-month, which is nuts); MTBing and hiking at MOAB Brand Trails and Amasa Back; Devil's Castle opens at month end for the first time all season.

February - A gets heated socks which are a GAME CHANGER for skiing; the Sunnyside 6-pack chair finally opens and no one can figure out how to load it; snow snow snow (including one storm that dropped 20" at our house (unnecessary!); home cooking (chickpea flour bread, Hatch green chile stew, plum sauce, muffins, cookies); A goes to Maine for a week and it is -20 F; President's Day long weekend in Moab.

March - In like a lion with snow snow snow (multiple canyon closures and one 2.5 hour one-way ski bus ride up the canyon), amazing conditions and people still can't load the Sunnyside lift correctly, plus it officially becomes the snowiest season on record for Utah with one month to go; home cooking (chili, muffins, cookies, maple oat bars, lentil "sausage patties" and "egg" squares for breakfast sandwiches, Cajun spiced beans, lentil tamale pie); hiking in Moab (Middle Earth, Moab Rim).

April - End of an amazing ski season, with Alta continuing to get huge storms throughout the month (80" in a week), crazy avalanches in Little Cottonwood Canyon and 903 inches snowfall total at Alta for the 2022/2023 season; Moab hiking and it's just nice to see some sunshine.

May - Week's vacation in Moab with wildflowers, hiking (Pipe Dream, Falcon Flow, Jackson's/Amasa Back, Day Canyon), MTBing and cruising on town bikes, plus the Colorado River is super high with the snowmelt; Memorial Day weekend with H's folks, a Moab Jett tour and a great hike with the locals wherein A sprains her ankle quite badly with one mile to go; H commences bike commuting.

June - A's ankle is still a mess so short Moab hikes (it's still far too snowy to hike on the Wasatch Front anyway) and town cruiser bike rides; H puts lots of miles in on his road bike.

July - CSA season starts with terrific local produce (but too many beets and squashes, if I'm honest); A's ankle improving slowly; Moab hikes in Mill Creek Canyon with very high water, town cruiser bike rides and July 4th dinner at the Trailhead with neighbors; lots of road rides for H and Dimple Dell walks for A and M; Noho gets a new roof (shout-out to Big Horn Roofing) and M gets to go to work with H; wildflower hike at Alta but the flowers are way behind due to all the snow.

August - Northern Utah hikes at Alta, Snowbird and Millcreek Canyon; southern Utah hikes at Mill Creek Canyon and Mary Jane Canyon; frozen watermelon margaritas; doorstep zucchini and continuing excellent CSA boxes; lots of road rides for H and town cruiser rides for both of us; our 22nd anniversary; A's ankle better but still not great.

September - Southern Utah hikes, town cruiser bike rides, Dimple Dell walks for A and M, road rides for H; sunflower season along the Wasatch Front; A's ankle feels pretty good (but still not 100%); A finds a used road bike (stay tuned for that ...).

And another year begins!  Here's hoping for fewer canyon closures and ankle injuries (and more watermelon margaritas)!

csa summer 2023: week 12

Jeesum crow.  This blog used to be full of hiking and MTBing, didn't it?  And now it's all food (and not in an actual professional food blog way).  I tell you, though, spraining my ankle on Memorial Day weekend really screwed up our hiking plans this summer.  My ankle is much better but I can still tell that it is weak and not nearly as strong as it used to be; it gets sore and I am terrified (not really, but you know what I mean) of rolling it.  As far as the MTBing goes, with gas prices so high, we just really haven't been inclined to drive all the way over to Park City for a couple hours at Round Valley, and the Wasatch Front side MTBing is way out of my skill level.  Hopefully we'll get over there this fall, for old time's sake.  I'd really like to have a go at Happy Gilmor.

In any event, we got another CSA box.  Once unpacked, it didn't look like all that much ... but carrying it was heavy because SQUASH is heavy.  We got pears, nectaries, apples, plums, peaches, snack peppers, a poblano pepper (wish we'd gotten more of those), onions, a zucchini (oh no), a summer squash (OH NO), a delicata squash, two kabocha squashes and some tomatoes.  So many squashes.  They grow so well - I wish we liked them more.  I also got more tomatoes, peaches and green beans from work friends because apparently the word is out that we only eat plants.

Look at the size of these! Even Milton is impressed.

Onions, peppers and tomatoes went on a homemade pizza; I made marinara (tomatoes, summer squash and backyard oregano) and ;more ginger peach jam; fresh peaches went in oatmeal; the zucchini got shredded and baked into cornbread to go with chili.

csa summer 2023: week 11

 Big variety this week!  We got a huge spaghetti squash (still squash, but miles better than summer squash and zucchini, plus it will keep for longer), a mini-watermelon, nectarines, peaches, pears, apples, plums, a green pepper, cutie snack peppers, jalapeno peppers and two kinds of tomatoes.

We did peppers (all the kinds) and onions (from last week) two ways: in fajitas and in a tofu scramble.  I froze the watermelon as it was not the best we've had; it'll be good for smoothies this winter when we need a hit of summertime.  The spaghetti squash will have to wait but we've been eating as much stone fruit as we can stomach because it's just outstanding right now.  Stone fruits are my favorites, especially peaches and plums.

sunny

 This isn't a real post but the wild sunflowers are going OFF right now in northern Utah.  I don't know if they're invasive ... I just find them super-cheerful.

non-mill creek moments

It wasn't all Mill Creek and town bikes over Labor Day weekend, however.  On Saturday, H, Milton and I hiked the Jackson's Trail/Amasa Back loop that we like so well.  Upon parking at the Amasa Back trailhead, we apparently just missed some BASE jumpers but at least were able to admire the new BASE jumping sign that has been erected there to explain to all the tourists why people keep flinging themselves off the cliffs above.  On purpose, for fun and with parachutes, I should add.

Colorado River view

There was some cloud cover and it was SO HUMID.  So humid.  Not that hot, temperature-wise, but so humid, for the desert.  As we made our way up to the mesa, sweat was dripping off our chins, elbows and fingertips and pouring into our eyes despite the best efforts of our hats.  It has to be in the running for the most sweaty I've been on a Utah hike.  

Cliffhanger portion

The humidi didn't affect the views, however, which were of course phenomenal.  We didn't see anybody on the way up, which isn't unusual, but only saw one trail runner along Cliffhanger, and then only five MTBers and two jeeps on the way down, which was.  And when we got back to the parking lot, it was quiet there too - far less traffic and fewer people than we expected for the holiday weekend.

Tenacious tree

Hike stats:  6.23 miles; moving 2:15 hrs/2.8 m.p.h; overall 2:27/2.5; 940' elevation

Flowers along the bike path

On Sunday, we three got our exercise by a town walk, touring Main Street and several parks until we'd gotten our miles in.  We also stopped in at Back of Beyond bookstore because it is also important to support local businesses that aren't bars. 

Graffiti along the bike path