getting in some more miles

We've been hiking so much this year (i.e., since ski season ended) that it feels a little weird if we don't get our boots in the dirt on the weekends.  After we MTBed on Saturday, we talked about where to hike; the fact that Round Valley's trails were still as wet where they were convinced us that anything in the Wasatch mountains themselves would be muddy and/or snowy and/or icy.  Wanting to keep to as dry trails as possible, we decided to go back to Round Valley on Sunday, to do a different loop and to get in some miles.

Glorious day in the Wasatch Back

We didn't have to wait quite so long for Park City warm up since hiking in cold weather is more comfortable than biking in it.  It seemed a little warmer than the day before had been and we both ended up in short sleeves, although I did wear my gloves for a while.  To entertain ourselves while we tromped around on these well-known trails, we decided to count how many dogs we saw; the over/under was 40.

Teensy bit of snow lingering in the shade

Our route was: staring up the Practice Loop to Matt's Flat to Somewhere Elks to the top of the hill.  We had intended to go down on Rusty Shovel but that trail was closed for mud; we went down Rambler (the Sweet Sixteen switchbacks portion) and, to be honest, the top half should have been closed for mud as well.  We kept out of it and things dried up the further down we went.  We got on Ramble On to the Round Valley Connector, to Round Valley Express, to whatever trail gets you over to the North Round Valley trailhead.  Then we went up Happy Gilmor and Tin Man, then turned right and followed Rademan Ridge to the intersection of Cami's.  From there it was Matt's Flat and Ability Way, which brought us back to the truck.

We had seen 39 dogs when we got off the trail - and since I had the under, I was poised to win - but then there was a meet-up group of eleven huskies/husky mixes in the parking lot, bringing our total to 51 dogs.  You might think I would have complained about the loss but when there's eleven huskies running around, really nobody loses.

Hike stats:  11.43 miles; 3:35 hrs. hiking / 3.2 m.p.h.; 3:57 total / 2.9 m.p.h.; 1,100 feet of climbing