playing favorites

Last Saturday, on one of our chairlift rides at Alta, H challenged me to name my three favorite hikes from the Year of Hiking we just had.  The Big Hike (a/k/a the Under the Rim trail at Bryce Canyon National Park) didn't count - plus I don't think either of us would have chosen that one: it's gotten better the further we get from it but it was a suffer-fest at the time.

H's favorites were, in no particular order:

1. Emma Ridge
2. Ben Lomond
3. Naturalist Basin

My favorites, with the qualification that I might have to change my mind because I wasn't sure I was remembering them all, were:

1. Emma Ridge
2. Brighton Ridge Run
3. Ben Lomond or Silver Fork/Honeycomb

But when I got the chance to review the list of all the hikes we did, I think I have to replace Brighton with Murphy Hogback.  I just love that one.  I love Canyonlands; I love the views from that hike; I love that so few people are on it, despite it being in a national park.

We found it interesting that we both had Emma Ridge and Ben Lomond on our respective lists, and we liked those hikes for the same reasons.  Emma Ridge was because it was new, with not many people on it, and with a different perspective in an area we know well by now.  Ben Lomond was because it's long but not difficult, because of the views down into Eden and Liberty and because there were not many people on it (hordes of dirtbikers at the end notwithstanding).

It was kind of fun to spend that chairlift ride remembering all the great hiking we just did.  Yes, the mileage we put in was in training for the Under the Rim trail but as it turns out, we got more than just training out of each individual hike.  (Maybe not Alta Dry Fork/Snowbird - I can give that one a rest for a while.)  I do love skiing but I think hiking may be my favorite.