sundry

 H has been on a tear recently, exercising every single day for thirty weeks in a row and counting.  He's added trail running to his usual road cycling (alpine skiing/MTBing) routine and on Saturday, before it got too hot, did his longest run to date: nine miles through Dimple Dell.  He got up early (he always gets up early) and was out the door around 5, long before most other people (me) were even thinking about waking up.  Due to the early hour, he got cool temperatures and was finished with the whole thing by 7 a.m.!  He actually wasn't the only one out there, though, and encountered four deer, one rabbit, a duck, one person walking alone, five people walking dogs, six dogs, seven other runners and one biker.  Countless birds too.

Meanwhile, Milton and I were out the door at the much more reasonable hour of 6:30, again, trying to get our exercise in before the day got hot.  We did our Dimple Dell loop and then, indeed, the day got hot, maxxing out around 96 F and around 9% humidity (low enough to make my contact lenses sticky).  I got a little weeding done before the heat chased me inside and then it was reading, napping and trying a new recipe for the remainder of the day.  (The new recipe was creamy curried lentils and quinoa with kale from Power Plates.  It was delicious!)

In other news, the Salt Lake Tribune had an article this past week about how Alta already has to replace its "new" Supreme lift: chairlifts are supposed to last about thirty years and it's only been seven because it's a stupid lift design.  The previous lift - which I loved - was a slow and weird triple chair that you had to ride a conveyor belt to get on, and it was hidden away halfway up the mountain so tourists and beginners couldn't find it.  They replaced it with a high-speed quad - which I hate - that loads right outside Alf's lodge, so tourists and beginners can find it no problem, and it's engineered with an 8 degree bend, which is uncomfortable to ride and apparently shaking the chairs to pieces.  Their options are to build an angle station like the Collins lift has, to make that corner, or tear the whole thing down and put up new towers to straighten it out.  Which will be much more destructive to the landscape but cheaper for the company, so it's obvious which one they're going to pick.  

Apologies for the downer ending - I do try to keep it positive around here so we'll move on quickly to happier things.

dawn patrol

 Spraining my ankle in spring 2023 really put a damper on our hiking last year.  This year I am determined not to let the hiking season slip away - which is why even though it was forecasted to be 99F on Saturday, I was determined to get out into the mountains.  I was up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, in the car a little after 6 and at the Grandeur Peak trailhead (or at least parked along the road) at 6:35.  It was 55F and a glorious morning.  I was solo since H had other plans for the morning; I hadn't brought Milton because Saturday was an on-leash dog day in Millcreek Canyon.

Sun coming over the Wasatch

I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow trail description: we've hiked, and posted about, Grandeur Peak many times over the years.  I will say, as I always do, that Millcreek trails are always so much steeper than I think they're going to be - I was regretting leaving my hiking poles in Moab.

Scarlet gilia

On my way up, I passed six hikers and was passed by two (who were decades younger than me).  Most of the trail traffic early on was trail runners: fifteen of them went by on their way back down ... and only one was snooty, so that's a pretty good percentage.  There were a handful of people on the summit when I got there.  And also a lot of flies (yuck) so I stayed long enough to text H that I'd made it, and then started my descent a little after 8 a.m.

Summit city view

It was starting to get warm and also starting to get crowded on the trail.  Since the top half of Millcreek Canyon is still gated off due to snow, most recreationers are stuck in the lower reaches of the canyon.  That means that Grandeur Peak was even more popular than usual.  As I went down, eleven people (mostly trail runners) passed me and I passed just one person.  The uphill traffic, however, was crazy: 102 people hiking up as I descended - including the six folks I'd passed on my way up.

Best view of the hike imho

I got back to the car at 9:40 a.m.  Where I had been only the second person parked on the road, now the shoulder was lined with cars.  I pounded a quick beer as I changed out of my hiking boots and then guzzled water all the way home.  I could already feel my quads shrieking at me: having hiked all winter in Moab, I'm good for distance but I haven't done much elevation.  Time to get back into shape!

big easy

 I can't really believe it but it has been multiple years since we've been MTBing at Park City.  We got out of the habit when gas prices got so high.  It's not like they've gone down all that much but I really, really wanted to go.  Both H and I had Wednesday off and that seemed like the perfect time to go to Round Valley: even though we had to wait until noon for it to warm up (it had been in the 30s F when we woke up), it was still far less busy than it ever is on the weekends.

A crummy screenshot of my new favorite trail

We parked at Quinn's Trailhead and headed out on the doubletrack as we always used to do.  The trails were dry but in good shape and it was clear that a lot of trail maintenance had taken place since our last visit.  We dropped down the renamed Badger, which had been rerouted and de-rocked nicely, picking up Cove (what I used to call "My Nemesis") and Cammy's.  Then we connected over to do the P-Dog loop: climbing Porc-U-Climb and descending Downward Dog back to Matt's Flat.  Then it was back up to the Porc-U-Climb/Rambler intersection and down Rambler (our "Sagebrush Switchbacks") to Round Valley Express.  Here we saw that they had extended Big Easy: last time we'd ridden at Round Valley, it was a short, flowy new trail on the eastern edge of the park.  Now it has been extended as a long (5.83 mile), flowy new trail that circles most of Round Valley.  We did the new part counterclockwise, surprising some MTBers who were very much enjoying the downhill ride - it is NOT a one-way trail, however.  It was a great climb, steady but never too steep, not at all rocky, and an excellent alternative to the Rademan Ridge route which I dislike immensely.  From the top of that climb, it was a fun descent back to the Practice Loop and out.

Dusty

We rode about thirteen miles and I felt pretty good about it.  We can't wait another couple years to go back, though, as now I want to do the whole Big Easy loop and give that great climb a try in the opposite direction.

the heat is on (until it isn't)

 When we all got back to SLC - A from Maine; H and M from Moab - the heat kicked in.  Like, it hit triple digits way too early.  One night, because of the cloud cover, it didn't even cool off and was still mid-70s F when we got up the next morning.  That lasted for a couple of days and then, luckily, a cold front pushed through, bringing temperatures down to the high 70s/low 80s for the weekend.  It was glorious, frankly, and although we didn't do much (still a lot of snow up in the mountains), we got a ton of chores done inside and out and we spent the whole weekend with the doors and windows wide open - the A/C didn't come on once.

E and M

Saturday evening we got social and went up to our friends E and K's house for a backyard hangout.  They have the best backyard: shady, set up for cookouts and lounging around the firepit, and their garden is looking good.  K was on the grill and we had E's homemade veggie burgers, corn on the cob, asparagus and watermelon.  Yay summer food!  There were beers too.  

Kinda needy

Milton followed their dogs around and flirted shamelessly with E and K, who are two of his very favorite people.  K always takes the best photos of him.  And E even managed to get him to sit in her lap for a while.  It was a perfect summer evening - pleasant temperatures, good food, great company.

back east

 A recently went back to Maine for family stuff.  We don't usually post about back east doings since this blog is called We Went West.  But since we don't have any western content, and we need a post, here's some photos from early June in Maine.  (Not pictured: A's 20+ mosquito bites.)  We shall resume our regularly scheduled content as soon as possible.

Rhododendrons everywhere

Camden harbor

The bar at Lucky Betty's

 

Really $$ (but good) cocktails at Lucky Betty's

Lupines in Belfast

The view from the top of Mt. Battie

Reunion: A, A's brother and our Dutch

exchange student from high school

exeunt spring

[Saturday continued]  After my feet thawed out, H and A did a 24 mile road ride (1:44 hours; 13.8 average speed) on the bike path, which was the same route as on Friday but we went further past the Arches entrance before turning around.  After lunch at home, we cruised the Moab Arts Festival.  

Sharp little puppy teeth

Then, since we literally had to walk past it to go home, we stopped in at Josie Wyatt's.  One of the bartenders is fostering a six-week old Underdog rez puppy - "Gherkin" - and we were able to snuggle and play with her while we were there.  An absolute sweetie, she never once barked or whined, easily fell asleep in H's lap, is nearly housebroken and her leg cast doesn't slow her down at all.  An afternoon storm blew in and, once the rain let up a bit, we fast-walked home through the drizzle, glad we'd thought to close the windows before leaving (but kind of wishing we'd brought raincoats).

She nap

On Sunday, we three went up to the Slickrock trail at Sand Flats Recreation Area: H and Milton did a five mile run and A did a 4 mile hike.  That wasn't quite enough exercise for me, however, so after H graciously fixed the flat tire on my road bike, A did the 21 mile bike path road ride solo (same route as Friday) - and even managed to pass three other road cyclists whilst climbing uphill.  I did get passed by one guy, skinny and probably half my age, on a downhill section.

Morning slickrock

This was probably the best day we had, weather-wise - gorgeous skies, clear and cool.  We did go back to Josie Wyatt's in the late afternoon, where Gherkin was once again in attendance.  We were accused of just being there to hold the puppy but obviously we also like to drink beer.

End of the bike path along the river

And then it was Monday.  It started heating up - farewell spring temperatures, hello summer.  After walking Milton around the neighborhood, H and A did that 21 mile road ride (1:28 hours; 14.2 m.p.h. average speed).  We were smart enough to arrange our schedules so that we did the drive back to SLC early Tuesday morning (up at 4 a.m., on the road by 4:30); later we learned that Route 6 was back up, full stop, for ten miles going into Spanish Fork.  Grateful to have avoided that, grateful to have had a very nice last spring weekend before summer hits.

rites of spring

Ah, a long weekend (in my last job back in Maine, all my weekends were long weekends - I had Fridays off - and that was one of the biggest shocks when we moved to Utah, having to work five days a week every week).  That means Moab!  We drove the Subaru down Thursday night (Subaru means hiking and road biking only as I don't have a trailer hitch for the bike rack for the MTBs) and, after a long enough town walk to count as exercise (about an hour), we stopped in at Woody's for a beer.  One of our favorite bartenders ("Daisy") was working, so that was nice to see her.  It was also karaoke night, which can be a mixed bag at best.  Much to our surprise and delight, the best performer of the night, at least as long as we were there, was Brett, a former Josie Wyatt's bartender back in town for a visit.  He brought the house down with his renditions of Britney Spears's "Baby One More Time" and Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"  He knew 100% of the lyrics without looking.  It was awesome.

Funky little mushroom formation

On Friday, A weeded (so much weeding, always weeding) while H and Milton did a three mile Pipe Dream trail run.  It was partly cloudy and stayed nicely cool, a real treat for the end of May.  After that, H and A did a 21 mile road ride on the bike path: out to the end of the river road bike path twice, plus up to the Arches National Park entrance), pausing for a few moments to watch a BASE jumper successfully land a jump from the cliffs above.  Late afternoon found us wandering into Josie Wyatt's for a couple of beers, where we were able to catch up with a couple of local friends.

Creeks are looking healthy

Saturday stayed cool.  While H did a 5 mile trail run on Pipe Dream, A and Milton did 4+ miles in Millcreek (out along the rim trail and then back via right hand fork).  We had a 6:30 a.m. start which meant that we were the first ones in the parking lot and only saw two trail runners and a hiker when we were on the rim.  The creek was running well and was fairly cold: Milton enjoyed wading and splashing around but didn't seem inclined to swim.  And when it was knee-deep on me to wade across on the four creek crossings, my feet got numb.  We did meet another three hikers and a dog as we were just finishing up (and Milton got a trail cookie from one of them), and the cars were beginning to roll in as we left, but for the most part we had the place to ourselves.

shoulder season non-post

 This isn't a real post: we haven't done anything interesting enough to really post about.  There's been a lot of weeding, laundry, meal prep and window washing.  There's been a lot of Dimple Dell trail running and walking, and road rides in our neighborhood.  I saw a spotted towhee on a recent morning walk but didn't get a photo of it.  Honestly, these are the three most recent photos on my camera - guess I might as well share them:

Dimple Dell flowers

Bison at a neighborhood farm

First poppy from seeds we sowed last year