racing the weather

It sure doesn't seem fair when it's beautiful all week, while we're stuck at work, and then there's wet weather on the weekends.  A sizable, winter-weather storm was due to roll into northern Utah Saturday afternoon and continue into Sunday, which looked to curtain our outdoor activities.  To make the best of it, then, we got up at a reasonable time and drove over to Round Valley.  It was too cold for me to MTB (my hands and feet get painfully cold when it's in the 40s) so Milton and I walked while H rode; we all got on the trails around 10 a.m. and planned to meet back at the truck around 11:15-1130.

Milton approves of the Round Valley trails

While H did a speedy 14.99 mile tour, Milt and I walked up Ability Way to PorcUClimb, up PorcUClimb, across the top and then down Somewhere Elks.  Although the clouds were gathering, we did enough uphill that I broke a sweat; as the wind started to pick up at 11 a.m., it got a little chilly.  Milton did a good job coming back to me when called and checking in to see which way to go at all the intersections.  We only saw five or six MTBers and I noticed them in time to call the dog back and get him off the trail.  We did see quite a few other dogs with their walkers: if it was just a solo dog, Milt would go right up to say hi but if it was three or more, he would stop and wait for me to go with him.  We even met two rescue dogs, originally from a New Mexico reservation, who looked just like Milton, only taller and heftier - they had the same spotty paws he does.

Snow-capped peaks in the distance, about to get snowier

We met H back at the truck right on time.  It was getting colder and windier but we were undeterred from our beers, even as we were getting chilled.  The storm brought four inches to the Park City valley floor and over a foot to the peaks of the Wasatch Front - this may have been the last northern Utah MTB ride of 2019.