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

mill creek moments

 One of these days we'll go somewhere besides Moab for a vacation or a long weekend.  The past Labor Day weekend was not one of those.  We scooted out early Thursday to take Friday off as well, making it an extra long long weekend.

Old dirt roads are the best

Friday morning, while H did a 21+ mile road ride on the bike path, Milton and I went to Mill Creek Canyon.  We got there right around 7 a.m. and there was only one other car in the lot at that point.  We went out and up along the rim trail, then dropped into the canyon, turning left when we got to the creek and heading back downstream.  The water is definitely lower than last time, which is to be expected because it's fall and all.  On the way out, we saw a few people and met some nice dogs, including a sweet pocket pitbull (she was so small) named Mama and a cutie mini-Aussie pup named Bodhi.

Creek time

Later that morning, H and I did over sixteen miles on the bike path on our town bikes: first up to the entrance to Arches, then out to the end of the bike path on the river road, and back.  We swung by Josie Wyatt's on the way home (it's literally right on the bike path so we couldn't not stop) for a quick beer, then met friends for dinner at Antica Forma.  The pizzas were really good and it's a big space, but it was quite loud.

Prickly pears everythere

Milton and I went back to Mill Creek on Monday.  (We had planned to stay all day that day anyway and go home really early Tuesday morning to avoid the post-weekend traffic.  It was a good thing we did because there was a flash flood in Price Canyon that washed out the road, closing it for hours and hours until they could temporarily patch it with gravel.)

Maybe I've not noticed them before but

there were so many prickly pears this time

In any event, this iteration of the Mill Creek hike was very much like Friday's, except that we went right and went upstream a little ways when we dropped into the canyon; this day's friendly dogs were Mila (Chihuahua mix), Rocky and Rusty (heeler mixes); and we got rained on, just a bit, as we made our way out of the canyon.  

Rainy skies and wrinkly eyes

The rain was just passing showers, however, so H and I were able to get in our town bike cruiser ride (same as Friday), plus a quick ride through town for a fare-thee-well beer at Woody's.

csa summer 2023: week 10

Trying to get caught up here ... the tenth CSA box had tons of fruit! Two kinds of peaches, nectarines, two kinds of plums, a couple of pears, tomatoes, onions, leeks (!), colorful "snacking" peppers and corn on the cob.

As always, the corn was eaten immediately; amazingly, it's still pretty good for how late in the season it is.  The leeks and some peppers went into a tofu scramble - leeks are a LOT of work to get all the dirt out - and more peppers were in a stir fry.  I tried to make a ginger-peach refrigerator jam but it didn't thicken up, so I ended up with ginger-peach compote for oatmeal.  More peaches, plus a serano pepper from an earlier box, went into a green smoothie.  And since there are still more peaches, I've got my eye on a spicy peach BBQ sauce recipe that will also use up some of those hot peppers.

csa summer 2023: week 9

I don't know about H, but I look forward to Wednesday every week because that's when we pick up our CSA box.  For the ninth installment, we got peaches, tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, two ears of corn, a zucchini and lots and lots of peppers: anaheim, shishito, serano and jalapeno.

We ate the corn and beans right away.  The peaches were eaten through the week as they ripened, and I had tomatoes and cucumbers for multiple lunches.  The zucchini, all the anaheims and shishitos, and several of the spicy peppers - plus some tomatillos I picked up - went into a chile verde for the freezer.

oops i did it again

 ... went to Moab for the long weekend and then got caught up in catching up afterwards and forgot to post.  It happens.  Actual posts in the next day or so, promise!

twenty-two

 In the last few years, we've gone for a hike on our wedding anniversary, taking the day off of work should it fall on a weekday.  This year, it was on a Friday and we both planned to take it off, but H got roped into a project at the last minute and wasn't able to.  My boss was already planning on my not being there so I counted it as a mental health day: long walk with Milton, vacuuming the house, doing a Costco run, meeting H for a quick lunchtime beer.  It was pretty pleasant in the evening - cooling off a little with some small storm systems moving through - so we hung out on the tailgate of the truck (in the garage, 'cuz we're classy), chatting with neighbors and taking advantage of the local produce in our frozen watermelon margaritas.

We're ALL getting gray

On Sunday we finally got around to taking our anniversary hike.  We left the house before 7 a.m., again arriving up in Millcreek Canyon about twenty minutes later.  This time we drove to the Elbow Fork trailhead to do the Upper Pipeline extension, which we had noticed on last year's anniversary hike and were only just now getting around to doing.  It was 57 F, cool and wet and the sun had not yet gotten above the canyon.  It was busy too, although most cars were heading up the canyon further towards the Big Water trailhead, and the folks who were parked with us most seemingly going up Mt. Aire.  We crossed the creek on the footbridge and at the sign went left up the Pipeline Trail; the other option here is right to the Terraces Trail.

Super shady

This section of the Pipeline Trail goes from Elbow Fork to Big Water, approximately 3.2 miles (the Pipeline Trail actually runs the length of Millcreek Canyon, beginning all the way down at the bottom at Rattlesnake Gulch).  We did it as an out and back; I suppose you could shuttle it with two cars or a car and a bike.  It's super nice walking though: packed dirt soft underfoot, hardly rocky at all, slightly side-hilly (only noticeable if you are still recovering from an ankle sprain) and almost completely shaded.  Although it does climb steadily, it's never steep and if you do it the way we did it, it's a downhill finish!

We were early enough that it wasn't too busy, with about fifteen dogs, ten or so hikers, a handful of trail runners and four MTBers (I guess bikes are allowed on the lower trails on off-leash days?).  Milton had a lot of fun, mostly sticking to the trail with occasional dives into the underbrush after squirrels, but he covered a LOT of ground with running ahead and then racing back to check on us.  Because the footing was so nice, it was a quick up and a very fast down.

Fireweed blooms bottom to top:

when the flowers get to the top,

summer is over

Back at the car, we gave up our high value parking spot and drove down canyon a little way to a spot by the creek that we like.  We sat by the water for a few minutes for a celebratory beer - twenty-two year! - and watched as Milton couldn't keep his eyes open.  He overdid it, per usual.  Upper Pipeline is a very pleasant hike with decent mileage as an out and back.  There aren't any views because of all the trees but it's far enough away from the road to make it feel like a real hike.  We're fans.

Hike stats: our GPS said 6.8 miles, signage says 6.4; moving 2:16 hours / 3.2 m.p.h.; overall 2:23 / 3.1; 990' elevation