this hike is why we drove the subaru to moab this time

Neither of our cars are young: my Crosstrek will be ten years old in August and H's Chevy Silverado is downright elderly.  To save wear and tear, we alternate which vehicle we drive from SLC to Moab when we go, although the truck always gets the spring and fall vacation trips.  This last time, we drove the Subaru, even though it was technically the truck's turn (H had taken the Subaru in March when I was back east with family).  The reason: I wanted to do a specific slot canyon/creek hike [not named here because while it used to be a "hidden gem," due to Instagram it is no longer in any way "hidden"].  

Iconic landscape

Moab doesn't have many slot canyons but it does have this one.  It usually has water year round - the end of the out-and-back hike is a waterfall - as the creek flows out of the La Sal mountains.  In the past, we've gone later in the year, since the water is good for dog hikes; this year, given the all-time low snowpack, I'm not sure the creek will actually be year-round and wanted to get Milton out there while there was still water.

So frickin' scenic

The dirt road in to this hike is long and washboarded and rough.  When we have taken the elderly truck down it, I cling to the passenger side door, hoping to keep it from rattling off the frame.  This time, when Milton and I loaded up to go (H wasn't interested in an 8.5 mile round trip with very rocky footing), we promised to drive slowly and carefully on that dirt road.

You will get your feet wet. At 

least while the creek is still flowing.

We didn't get as early a start as we had intended but even with it being Saturday, there were only four other vehicles in the trailhead lot when we pulled in.  It was cool and clear and we made good time, passing two sets of hikers on the way in and catching a third at the waterfall.  (The fourth must have been on another trail since we never saw them).  

Getting narrow

As we were heading to the waterfall, I noted a couple of side canyons that we've never checked out.  I'm sure they don't go far but told the dog that we should investigate on our way out.  However, about a mile into our return, the temperature dropped, it got windy and started raining.  I wasn't nervous about the rain since this "slot" canyon is pretty wide (we were out of the narrowest part) but I was nervous about the dirt road getting sloppy and slippery.

Mr. I'm-nervous-about-the-loud-waterfall

We cruised on out of there, stopping briefly, of course, to chat with other hikers and their dogs who were still heading in, undeterred by the rain, but not checking out those side canyons.  It never really rained hard but it was enough to get us wet and chilled.  The little Crosstrek?  She did great and, over a week later, is still sporting the red dust and mud from that darn dirt road.

four miles, full of flowers

In the year with no winter, spring flowers are emerging in the desert.  We were in Moab a couple of weekends ago and while H held down the fort (by which I mean, was home when the plumbers arrived to remove old/install new hot water heater), Milton and I went to Millcreek.  After a "winter" of Pipe Dream hiking, it was nice to have a change of scenery.  We didn't get a particularly early start, so there were already four or so car in the lot when we drove up.

M stops to smell the flowers

Blanket flower

We did our preferred route: out along the Rim trail, then dropping down into the canyon and returning along the creek trail.  There were a handful of other folks with their dogs up on the rim but it really was pretty quiet.

Love this guy so much

I was gonna look this one up.  But didn't.

Also quiet: the creek.  There is very little snow in the La Sal mountains and the creek is very low.  Like, June/July low.  This time of year the water should have been up above my knees on the creek crossings but instead I was able to keep my feet dry for the whole hike.  Wish it had been otherwise.

Globe mallow

Primrose

There were definitely people heading in towards the waterfall (such as it is) as we finished up, which on a Friday heralds the busy season.  

Claret cup (a favorite)

Prince's plume (which miners

thought indicated uranium)

EDITED TO ADD: After the hike, H and A did A's first road ride of the season.  The temperatures were nice but it was a little windy, and A got saddle-sore with it being her first ride.  We were on the bike path from our house, out and back along the river and then up to the Arches National Park entrance.  From there, A headed home, while H did the river road out and back again first.  It was windy - and a headwind always psychs A out - so A got home mere minutes before H did, despite his markedly longer ride.

eester

Sunday was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturday.  Up at Alta, H never once waited in line after the initial waiting-for-the-lifts-to-open line.  No new snow, of course, and it never got crowded - when he left midday, the Wildcat base parking lot was about half full.  Folks have moved on, is the general consensus.  This was also the last weekend for the ski bus: H will have to drive himself for the remaining ski days (except for closing day, since parking reservations have long been all spoken for).

Not a cloud in sight

Down in the valley, A and M did their Dimple Dell walk where the biggest moment of excitement came from spotting a CAT chasing a SQUIRREL.  That silly dog didn't know which to freak out over.  It was another quiet day on the homefront (no weeding yet again, which I will likely regret in the future but was happy about in the moment).  Housecleaning, meal prepping, hummingbird nectar making and feeder hanging, laundry.  Dinner was a vegan Greek avgolemono soup, which seemed suitably Easter-y, and a foccaccia.

No foccaccia photo but it was a pretty good one

And we also did the first garage tailgate of the season, much to our neighbors' chagrin.

inching upwards to 289

We got snow!  I mean, it was just a little two day storm that brought rain and a couple of inches of very wet snow in the valley, but about 30" in the upper Cottonwood Canyons.  It's too little too late but every single inch counts at this point.  And when H went skiing on Saturday, he reported that it was MUCH better than it had been last week.  (And apparently Friday was really quite good storm-skiing.)

Another bluebird day at Alta

It wasn't that busy, though.  Which surprised me a little, since so many other resorts are closed, notably Deer Valley, PCMR, PowMow and Snowbasin, with Canyons closing 4/5/26 - I figured Alta would be very busy.  But I guess folks have written off the season and moved on to other things, like golf and kids' sports.  H reported that all the regulars were there, and the patio was getting full as he left midday.  It was a gorgeous day, clear and sunny, the storm having moved on, but it was still a little chilly - around 30F at the summit - which had a negative effect on the number of girls in bikinis (none, at last count).

This is a good, not-too-sweet snack bread/cake

Down in the valley it was a gorgeous day too, clear and sunny.  A took a stand against the weeds, refusing to acknowledge them (or pull any) for one day.  Instead, Milton and I did our usual Dimple Dell walk, observing lots of raptors circling overhead, looking for small and delicious critters.  Then Milt took up his post in the driveway, keeping an eye on the neighbors, while A made a coconut-turmeric loaf and chocolate chip cookies.  It was kind of a lazier day than they often are, but there were library books to read and afternoon walks around the neighborhood to take. 

pie in the sky

 Up at Alta, Sunday was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturday: just barely firmed up overnight and then softening very, very quickly.  Word is that Snowbird (a) has been closing down at 2:00 p.m. in an attempt to preserve the snow; and (b) is considering closing down M-TH, again in an attempt to preserve the snow.  Beaver, Eagle Point, Snowbasin and Sundance are closed; Deer Valley and PCMR are closing 3/29/26, with Canyons somehow holding on.  The unseasonably warm weather is supposed to change this coming week, however, with the possibility of some mountain snow.  At this [dry, warm] point, we'll take whatever we can get.

Empty sky, empty slopes

It was pretty similar in the Salt Lake valley too, although perhaps a little warmer-feeling since there weren't any clouds early in the day.  A and M did their Dimple Dell walk; then M basked in the sunny driveway, hoping for handouts from the neighbors, while A did more weeding.  Only an hour's worth this time as my hamstrings and lower back were hollerin' something fierce from the abuse the day before.  

So easy when you don't make the pastry yourself

- the apricots collapsed into jam, tho'

On the homecooking front, whole meal muffins (with raisins, carrots and apple) and an apricot puff-pastry galette were baked.  And since it's spring, we busted out a favorite - lemon orzo pasta with asparagus and peas.  (And saved the pasta water to pour on our trees because drought.)

oh yeah it's spring

In case you're wondering: Alta's year-to-date snowfall is still at 260".  That's just over half the historical average.  It almost hit 90F in SLC in the middle of March.  It's so bad.  But no, climate change isn't real.  (That was sarcasm.)

"Thin cover"

Still, ever the optimist, H went skiing on Saturday.  Ski resorts are closing early left and right around here.  Alta probably has the most snow but it's melting quickly.  The photo he took, looking down at Wildcat base, shows the southern-facing slopes across the canyon nearly bare.  And people have moved on, not wanting to pay the exorbitant pass prices for such subpar conditions.  H walked out of the lodge at 9:17 a.m. (Alta's chairs start loading at 9:15) and walked right onto the Collins chair without waiting in line.  When he left midday, the Wildcat base parking lot was not close to full.

Forsythia (and now I've exhausted my

knowledge of flowering trees/shrubs)

Down in the valley, A and M did their thing: five mile walk, taking photos of all the neighborhood flowering trees; and then nearly three hours of weeding.  The weeds are early and extra-prolific this year because they never stopped growing - it never got wintery enough.  

Pink one (might be a nectarine tree?)

There was also time for laundry and chocolate chip cookie baking and a trip to the library.  

At the neighborhood park

Oh!  And the day before, on A's way home from work, she stopped by SLC's Chinatown.  It's not really Chinatown like in NYC or Boston or San Francisco: it's a strip mall with lots of restaurants, stores and the biggest Asian grocery store in Utah, which is why I stopped.  

There's even a gate

I love an Asian grocery store with the variety of veggies, tofu, noodles, spices and so many snacks.  And I had a momentary pang of wishing I wasn't vegan when I saw the multiple bakeries - I LOVE Chinese pastries.

It was wonderful but so very loud

It was a little overwhelming - brightly-colored and -lit, with music blaring, and very busy.  I got tofu, rice sticks, rice noodles, mirin, some ruffle-y baby bok choy, Szechuan peppercorns, Chinese five-spice and an Indonesian hot sauce.  I wanted to get so much more (they had fresh jackfruits - huge!) but was proud of my restraint.  I can't believe it's taken sixteen years for me to get there.  To be honest, I prefer the Ocean Mart in Sandy: it's a little smaller, but calmer and still has a huge variety.

early advent

It's almost like shoulder season is arriving early this year.  It was the Winter that Wasn't, so the skiing is turning towards springtime and devolving quickly, yet the weather is swinging wildly from warm to cold, from sunny to rainy, and it's a little difficult to put an active weekend together.

Take Sunday, for example.  It was a much nicer day sunshine-wise but cold, and Alta was only at 14F when H got up there for skiing.  This meant that not only did the snow set up overnight, it set up rock-hard.  It was windy too, making temperatures feel much colder.  H managed three hours before calling it quits:  "It's cold and the conditions are shit.  Stopping for [tater] tots on my way home."  Who could blame him?

Not pictured: wind chill

Because A and M were waiting for it to warm up into the 30s before venturing out for their morning walk, we were at home when A's brother J called.  His flight back to Maine wasn't until 2 p.m., so he got dropped off at our house, did our walk with us and then we dropped him at the airport, with 4.25 miles under his belt.  After that, it was just difficult to motivate, if I'm honest.  There's a bunch of weeding to be done but not quite warm enough out to be comfortable for it, so that got skipped.  I did manage to pull together a peach puff pastry galette - but storebought puff pastry (accidentally vegan) barely seems like "baking," it's so easy.

Also not pictured: the baking sheet I destroyed

with the burnt-on sticky peach juice

The rest of the afternoon was spent snuggled up with the dog reading library books.  I think that's okay.

holding at 260

I mean, yikes.  Middle of March and only 260" of snowfall at Alta on the year?  And after a sunny, warm week, the base depth is down to 90".  H didn't take the earliest bus on Saturday, nor did he feel the need to hustle down to board at the first stop.  He definitely made the right call: there were only four riders on his bus.  He could see immediately upon arriving at Wildcat base that they'd lost a lot of snow during the week.  It was cloudy and overcast and the light was as flat as light can be without actually skiing in the clouds.  It was warmish, though, already in the low 40s when the lifts started turning, so the snow hadn't set up too hard overnight.  Still, he reported it as probably the worst day of the season for him.  (Just wait until Sunday!)

Kinda gloomy

Down in the valley, A and M weren't the most productive but they were fairly busy.  After laundry and the usual five mile Dimple Dell walk, they met A's brother J and his friend B from college for lunch/beers at the Hog Wallow (M waited in the car).  They were in town for some skiing, renting a place between Solitude and Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  But they'd already had at least five ski days in Colorado before arriving in SLC, and had just done two days of touring up in BCC, so they were looking for a bit of a break.  (Of course, J did swing by Solitude after lunch for an hour or two's worth of resort runs.)  The Hog Wallow was way busier than I expected, although with the skiing such crappy conditions I shouldn't have been surprised.

Our boy loves a bar

And then, at 4 p.m., H and A and M all went to meet E and K at the Watershed's dog-friendly patio for beers and vegan bar food.  We hadn't all been together since Christmas (!) so it was good to catch up.  Plus Milton charmed a couple of bikers, making new friends as he always does.  

daylight

 HOORAY FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!  Yes, it's dark again in the mornings.  But not for long and - most importantly - it's light later.  Yay!  

On Sunday, H once again took the earliest bus to Alta (I mean, he's awake anyway so why not).  It was not nearly so crowded: just enough to fill the seats.  It was a beautiful day up there, bright and sunshiny, which helped to soften the snow that had set up overnight.  It was not nearly so good for off-piste skiing as it had been the day before (too heavy and sticky and solid) however, and H saw two LifeFlight helicopters taking off with folks who were not having good days.

The crowd vibing on the GMD patio

Down home, Milton and I waited a bit for the sun to come up before venturing out for our Dimple Dell walk.  The bright sun made the 40-something temperatures quite nice, and when we got home, Milton insisted on hanging out in the driveway, sun-bathing.  A was fairly productive indoors (vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, making chocolate chip cookies and lentil bolognese pasta sauce, and meal-prepping breakfast (overnight oats with blueberries and walnuts) and lunch (mango-collard green smoothies - better than they sound) for the next two work days, plus a vegan avgolemono soup and foccacia for dinner).

It's starting to look like spring: the weeds are simply flourishing and we are probably going to have to trade some kitchen time for yardwork time next weekend, just to try to get a grip on it.  Rats.  I'd rather be baking.

now 265

 Alta has gotten 56" of snow since H skied last, with a season snowfall total of 265" (still way low).  So when he went up there Saturday, it was to the best conditions of the season. Of course, he was not alone in thinking the skiing might be okay: he picked up the first bus of the day (6 a.m.) at the first stop (Historic Sandy) and while he did score a seat, it was SRO when they left.  The driver managed to cram another twenty-five or so folks on at the second stop (where H usually picks up the bus) but it was jam-packed.

H's favorite trees to ski

The snow was definitely better than it has been all season.  H took advantage and FINALLY got off the groomers; he only had two groomer runs on the day, the first from Collins to Supreme, and the last coming back down into Collins.  Instead he got first tracks on Challenger, got into the trees he likes off 3 Bears, went down Chartreuse and also off the High T, did the very steep skier's left off the front of Wildcat and had some untracked snow in the Backside when they opened that up.  He didn't get that many vertical feet because the lift lines were long, but he skied hard and had some good runs.

Dark blue over the backside

Items of note: H noticed 5-10 other people reading books in the Goldminer's Daughter Lodge while they waited for the lifts to open; he feels like quite a trendsetter.  And a guy told him he had the best mustache on the mountain, comparing it to the one worn by a Grateful Dead guitarist.

Not pretty, still tasty

Down in the valley, A and M were productive.  We did our five mile Dimple Dell walk, did a load of laundry/put away clean laundry, swept the garage and mudroom, dusted (!), made some stuff (four quarts of lentil soup, a quart and a half of black beans and monkeybread) and tried a new recipe for dinner (broccoli steaks with white bean puree and turmeric-harissa couscous).