blustery day

We have been having an unusually cool and wet spring and, to be honest, it has been pretty nice.  Area hiking is definitely more limited than it has been in the last several years since the cooler ambient temperatures have kept the snowpack around longer than usual, but the A/C has scarcely run at all.  That being said, when an extra-cold cold front moved in last Friday, prompting me to dig out a pair of wool socks for evening television viewing, both H and I were ready for some warmer weather.

 

Rules

For example, we hung around all Saturday morning, waiting for it to reach 50 F in Park City before heading to Round Valley for a MTB session.  It was nearly noon when we got to Quinn's Trailhead and there was scarcely anyone there - unheard of in late June, with normal weather.  It was not normal weather but windy, cold and stormy.  We saw virga and rain all around us, although we never got wet ourselves; we're pretty sure it was snowing a couple of places along the Wasatch Back.

Ominous skies

Despite the threatening skies, it was actually pretty comfortable to ride - uphill, at least.  So we did some good uphills, like Happy Gilmor and Tin Man from the back side of Round Valley to Rademan ridge, then up along the ridge, and the P-Dog Loop (combination PorcUclimb and Down Dog).  We got a really nice downhill Rambler run too - in what we call the Sagebrush Switchbacks - where we were just able to let the bikes roll, with no uphill cyclists to contend with.

Climbing Tin Man

It never warmed up, however, and the wind never stopped blowing, so when we finished our ride, we got chilled very quickly.  We snarfed down our sandwiches and beers and hopped back in the truck, heat blasting on high until we got back to the Salt Lake Valley side of things.  We should appreciate the chill, though, because it's bound to warm up soon - and a lot, most likely.