tempus fugit

 The days they pass so quickly ... here it already is, late Wednesday night, and I haven't posted since Friday.  To be fair, there isn't all that much to post about so this will have to bridge the gap until the coming weekend.  We did go down to Moab last weekend, leaving mid-afternoon on Friday, driving through some flurries through the Spanish Fork/Price canyon, and then arriving in Moab in the chilly evening.  No traffic back-ups this time: we must officially be in the slow season.

Henry had to keep available for a work project all Saturday, so Milton and I were left to our own devices.  We had driven down in the truck, and I don't like driving the truck all that much, so we opted for a hike along the Pipe Dream trail since we didn't have to drive to any trailheads, just walked down to Jackson Street and picked up the trail there.

He's sure that was a rabbit

There was a storm moving in and it was overcast and cold (high 20s/low 30s), with a slight breeze.  Even so, I broke a sweat within fifteen minutes since there is some elevation gain; later, my hands would get cold but otherwise the temperatures were pretty good for hiking.  I let Milton off leash as soon as we got on the trail and he did his wide-ranging thing - I suspect that's good rabbit terrain, although I didn't see any.  We went to within shouting distance of the Hidden Valley trailhead - where the snow was starting to fall in earnest - and then turned around and retraced our steps.  We pretty much had it to ourselves: we saw two trailrunners in the distance and met two women and a nice dog on our outbound leg.  Other than that, it was just Milt, me and the trail.  It's a great trail: far enough from the road that the traffic noise is muted; rolling ups and downs; good footing.  It's too difficult for me to MTB but I sure like walking it.  I didn't take the GPS but I would guess we did about six miles round trip.

Bright lichen

After we got back, the snow picked up.  The storm would leave a couple of inches in the Moab valley by the next morning.  It also left very cold temperatures - it was 9 F when we got up Sunday - cold enough to dissuade us from doing more than neighborhood walks before we had to head back north.  A quick trip this time - hopefully we'll be able to get out more our next time down.