csa summer 2024: third box

 Without trying to be too critical, I think the third box was slightly less than others we've had.  We did get lots of cherries - two different kinds - but the Rainier cherries looked a little rough (tasted fine though).  We also got a carton of raspberries, a huge head of romaine lettuce, a good number of apricots, some small carrots with greens attached, a couple of summer squash and two bundles of spring onions.

Well that's a terrible photo

We immediately divided up the raspberries: H ate his and I added mine to my overnigh oats for breakfast.  We also ate the best cherries and apricots.  The more rugged cherries went into a vanilla-cherry-chia refrigerator jam (it looks a little weird but at worst it'll be a good add for oatmeal; I made a carrot-top and parsley pesto for the freezer (as it is too hot to boil water for pasta right now); and a delicious scallion vinaigrette.  The squashes got shredded and frozen for soups, smoothies, scarpaccia; and the remaining apricots got frozen too, to be made into cobbler or similar when it is cool enough to bake.  

Honestly, I'm not sure we're going to eat the romaine.  It is quite tough - it is way too hot in Utah for lettuces - and I'm just not loving the looks of it.  Trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to keep from wasting it, though - maybe crisp it in the dehydrator, then blend it into powder for smoothies or veggie broth?

comparison

 On Sunday, I decided to do the exact same thing that I'd done on Saturday, to see how the experiences compared.  In Utah, there's a Sunday factor where things are less busy on Sundays because all the Mormon folk have to go to church.  This has been diminished somewhat in recent years, as more and more non-Mormon people have moved to Utah (us included, obviously).

So Milton and I did our Dimple Dell loop again, getting underway before 6.  It seemed to be about the same temperature (75ish) but it was cloudier, keeping the sun from getting too strong as it rose over the mountains.  Compared to Sunday, there were fewer people out and about at that time, just a handful of dog-walkers.

Flowers just getting going above 10,000 feet

I dropped the dog off at home, changed my boots and was heading up the canyon by 7:50 a.m.  The re seemed to be less traffic going up Little Cottonwood and slightly fewer cars at the White Pine trailhead (but still a LOT of cars at the WP trailhead, don't get me wrong).  I pulled into the Albion lot at 8:25 where it was 63F, about five degrees cooler.  There was partial cloud cover, a cool breeze and fewer cars parked ahead of me (but still quite a few).  

A at 10,500 feet

There were definitely fewer people out on the trail, especially fewer descending trail runners and - wonder of wonders - four of them pulled over to let me by as I went up.  I thanked them profusely.  The cooler temperature made for a much more pleasant hike, and I didn't push myself as hard as there weren't as many people out there to pass.  (I did pass fourteen and no one passed me.)  At Catherine's Pass I paused for a quick snack and then pressed on up to the ridge across Catherine's Area, then continued down through the ski area and campground.  There were still people coming in as I wound my way down through Albion Meadow - and I said hello to the Wine Hiking Society, a womens-hiking-and-drinking (but you don't have to drink) group I follow on Instagram, who were having mimosas near Alf's.  

Buttercups (I think)

When I got back to the car, it was for sure less busy than it had been the day before.  Yes, the day wasn't as sunny but it was cooler and the air was clearer so, in conclusion, the Sunday factor is still a thing.  

sweltering saturday

 Just days after we got back from Moab, the state was enveloped by a heat dome, pushing temperatures in northern Utah into the low 100s (106F for hell's sake) and keeping them there.  It's been miserable and unsafe ... and Milton just could not understand why we wouldn't allow him to lie out in the sun on the driveway.  The only thing to do, for those of us who like to exercise outside, and for those who have dogs, is to go really early in the morning or in the evening as the sun is nearly down.

Baby bison (bisonettes?)

I hate the gym and Milton needs walks so during the week, he and I would walk for about an hour in the morning, starting at 5:30.  We also did some at night, leaving the house around 8 p.m., but honestly it was worth getting up early for the cooler temperatures.  And by "cooler" I mean it was only getting down to about 71F overnight, which is not that cool.

So handsome!

On Saturday, Milt and I did the 5:30ish walk thing, doing our Dimple Dell loop and saying hi to the neighbor bison and longhorns.  (The baby bison are starting to get frisky - so cute!)  

I did see one guy hiking up with his skis

 - assume he was heading to the Apron

We got back at 7:30ish, just as the sun was clearing the Wasatch mountains.  I changed into my hiking boots and left Milton pouting on the bed, to drive up to Alta for a solo hike.  This was a much later start than we usually do for summertime hiking and the consequences were obvious.  There were already hundreds of cars parked at the White Pine trailhead, and the line of traffic heading up the canyon was like it was ski season (except everyone was very polite and stayed in the right lane so I was able to pass a lot of them).  It was already 67F up at Alta when I started walking up the Summer Road at 8:20.

I did my regular Alta loop - from Albion to Catherine's Pass to the top of Supreme and down through the campground.  I am not where I'd like to be hiking-shape-wise and I felt very slow, although I did pass twenty people going up.  There were already a lot of folks coming down - so many trail runners - and I would like to report that not a single one of them yielded right of way to any of the uphill traffic.  Of course people need to get outside and get exercise but it would be nice if they had even a cursory knowledge of trail etiquette.

Hike stats:  Dunno my mileage but judging by how my feet felt at the end of the hike, I'm guessing 8-10 miles with the two excursions.  And it was 81F back at the car - that's HOT for Alta.

on repeat

 We finally got back down to Moab, making a long weekend out of July 4th.  We were a little anxious to see the aftermath from the two floods plus wind and hail but the storms were so localized that our little place didn't have any damage.  Just a few blocks away, however, our friend Chris got quarter-sized hail that punched holes in his fence and stripped the paint off the siding on his house.  Location, location, location, I guess.

Tiny tracks

We had brought our MTBs down with us but when it came right down to it, we really didn't feel like driving out to any MTB trailheads.  So our activities went on repeat for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Early in the mornings, Milton and A drove to Millcreek Canyon so the dog could run.  We hiked out along the top on the Rim trail, then dropped into the canyon and walked out along the creek.  The water was definitely down from the last time we'd done it (when it was over my knees) but the flow still looked healthy.  Milton loved wading and splashing and even did a little bit of "swimming."

There used to be some trees here

The canyon itself was pretty beaten up from the recent floods.  Lots of bushes and smaller trees were bent flat; a number of larger trees had been felled; and the banks of the creek had been resculpted.  In town, we were amazed at all the cobblestones that had been left behind and it was obvious where they'd come from: under the sand in Millcreek there's nothing but cobbles.  The flotsam and jetsam were piled way over my head against the still standing trees; in town, it was higher than H's head.  There had been a lot of water moving through.  Maybe not as much as in 2022 but still.

All cobbles under the sand

After M and A got back from their hikes, H and A got on their bikes.  Road bikes, that is, although we couldn't get on the bike path until the west side of Main Street as the eastern bit of the path mostly impassable due to debris - or the bit by the vet's office that was dangerously undercut by the flooding creek.  We rode those few blocks through town then (not my favorite) and picked up the bike path when we could.  We did the same distance/route each day: from our house out to the end of the path along the river, then back and over the river and up to Arches, then back and over the river and out to the end of the path along the river again, then home (right about 21 miles).

H is standing about five feet above

the creek bottom and the debris is

way over his head

The stretch of bike path along the river had several places that were covered in sand.  Some of it was rideable but other parts weren't, and we joked that it was like riding cyclocross since we had to keep jumping off our bikes, carrying them across and then jumping back on.  We did this ride on Sunday morning too - Milton didn't get a hike that day - bringing our riding mileage to over eighty miles.  There were lots of e-bikes out there with us - at one point, as we rode by a jogger, he shouted out, "Yay! Real bikes!" and laughed.

Got flood?

What else did we do?  Had beers at Dewey's and Woody's (Josie Wyatt's PBR tap was out), watched some soccer, read a bunch, weeded, the usual.  Oh! And we also watched Moab's little (tiny little) Fourth of July parade - only because it goes right by our house.  It took about half an hour and mostly consisted of either emergency services vehicles wailing their sirens or people up for election throwing candy at the crowd.  Gotta love a small town.

csa summer 2024: second box

 Back on track wherein we got our 2-person box!  We got two cartons of raspberries (small and fragile because of the hot, dry conditions but very sweet), tons of cherries (like almost as many as last week), peas in the pod, summer squash, zucchini, golden beets with attached greens, green leaf lettuce and apricots.

HUGE bag of cherries - woohoo!

The beet greens were sauteed the first night with olive oil, red chili flakes and garlic; we started devouring the raspberries and cherries immediately, plus I put some raspberries in my overnight oats; the zucchini and summer squash were grated and frozen for future baking projects; and the box came with a beet hummus recipe that I'm eager to try - if I can cook the beets in the microwave since it's too dang hot for the oven.  

csa summer 2024: first box

Woohoo!  It's CSA time again!  As we've done for the past couple of years, we're getting CSA boxes from Tagge's Famous Fruit and Veggie Farms.  This year, our first box arrived on July 3.  This was a little awkward since we were on our way down to Moab for a long (hot) holiday weekend.  But we just took the box with us.  

We got cherries, peaches, apricots, English peas, beets with greens, garlic scapes, radishes, summer squash and zucchini.  H and I plowed through the cherries in three days; had the beet greens sauteed in olive oil with a little garlic and red pepper flakes; put the squashes and garlic scapes into veggie pancakes; and shelled all the peas, then boiled them for ten minutes (seems long, I know, but we looked it up and it was right) to eat with vegan butter and a sprinkle of sea salt.  The beets are currently languishing in the crisper - we'll probably pickle them.

That's a punchbowl of local cherries

There was a slight hiccup at pick-up - we signed up for a two-person box but there was a one-person box there with my name on it instead - but the very nice young woman at the fruit stand allowed me to double up on the cherries and peas, and added a bunch of peaches as well, to make up for it.

right trail, right time

 Since H wasn't interested in any mileage on Sunday after his epic trail run the day before, and because even-numbered days are on-leash days in Millcreek Canyon (and because Milton is just not that much fun to hike with on a leash), it was another solo hike for me on Sunday.  I like to hike with my guys but I also enjoy solo hikes as they allow me to go at my own pace.  

Pipeline

For this one, back to Millcreek again as the higher elevations still have snow for a little bit longer, I did the Pipeline/Elbow Fork/Terraces loop (6.3 miles).  We three did this last August.  I got to the large parking lot across from the Terraces road around 6:40 and walked down the canyon road just a little ways to the Burch Hollow trailhead.  This connects with the Pipeline trail and I went up (and up) to Elbow Fork.  It was cool (around 55 F to start), shady and quiet; I only saw one runner, one hiker and one MTBer while I was on the Pipeline trail.

Clear down in the valley

At Elbow Fork, I crossed the road and the creek, pausing to answer a road cyclist's questions about the new Pipeline trail extension, and started up (and up) the Terraces trail.  This trail doesn't have a summit and is much less popular than Grandeur Peak; it's steep and a bit of a grind, being mostly without switchbacks, and sidehill-y in spots.  But it was almost completely shaded, especially at this time of the morning but also likely so even in the afternoon, and that was delightful.

Sunflowers and mountain mahogany

As many times as I've hiked this loop (and if you type Terraces into the search box at the top left of this blog, you can see just how many times that has been), I guess I have never done it at this time of year.  I say this because there was a good stretch of the trail, once I stopped climbing and was going across the ridge, that was full of flowers I've never seen before.  It's in a pine forest section but the forest floor has not been overgrown with scrub; it was carpeted with these short plants with heart-shaped leaves and tiny, tiny white flowers.  It was just beautiful and I was so happy that I'd inadvertently timed it right to see it.

Teeny tiny white flowers

It was gorgeous and so green

I got back to the car right at 9 a.m.  The parking lot now had around twenty cars in it, most with bike racks; I think people drive up to there and then ride up the road to the top of the canyon - this is the last weekend that the upper road will be closed so it's super nice for bikes to not have to dodge cars.  Despite how busy it was, I had been by myself for most of the hike: I only saw three runners, nine hikers, two dogs and that one MTBer the whole time.  I passed five hikers and didn't get passed by anyone - I did get yelled at by a red squirrel, though.