return to deer valley

 Because of that major storm cycle early in the week, we knew the Cottonwood Canyons were going to be a complete zoo for skiing on the weekend.  H agonized over it for a while, then finally opted not to ski on Saturday, instead staying home where he rode his bike and cleaned the house.  On Sunday, however, the clouds and roads cleared and he was able to drive to Park City to ski Deer Valley with our friend Ted, plus another old friend who was in town from back east with his fourteen year old son.

There's snow in the Wasatch Back too

It's been a while since either of us has skied at Deer Valley.  The parking lot was full of out-of-state license plates (um, there's a pandemic going on, folks ...) but H got there early enough to get his ticket before they sold out; because of his Alta pass, H gets one free DV ticket - which is good because an adult Deer Valley day ticket is over $200 these days!

Well, that's pretty

He made two runs on his own before meeting up with the guys and then they skied non-stop for over five and a half hours: fast groomers, some trees for powder pockets, and lots and lots of bumps.  At that point, the other three cried uncle and they called it a day.  A good day too: when H got home, he said that had been the most fun he's had skiing all season, in large part because he had friends to ski and ride the chairs with.  He'd even skied hard enough that his quads were a little sore for the next day or so - a good day indeed!

I think it's hilarious that their jackets are all the same color

Meanwhile, Milton and I did three long walks, two medium walks and three short walks.  I got caught up on all the laundry (even folded it and put it away!), watched a movie and spent some time in the kitchen.  From my new recipe book, Drinking French by David Lebovitz, I put together two infusions to steep in the fridge: an "arranged rum" with pineapple and ginger; and a homemade strawberry liqueur (sugar and strawberries and vodka).  I also made a chocolate bundt cake with chocolate ganache; the cake was a little dense but quite yummy, especially when drenched in extra ganache.  And we went Asian-inspired for dinners: a yaki udon (noodles with carrots, onion, cabbage and broccoli) on Saturday and vegan bao filled with teriyaki jackfruit, TVP, cabbage and other veggies.  I do miss skiing (although not the crowds) but I am enjoying trying new recipes.  Glass half full - with a boulevardier, my new favorite French cocktail, bien sur!

poison spider

 Wow - that week completely got away from me!  We went to Moab for the Presidents' Day long weekend but it wasn't the best getaway.  We did manage to head down Friday morning early but then H ended up working for six hours; Milton and I did get out for a Pipedream Trail hike, doing about six miles.  Saturday was a complete wash-out, quite literally, as it rained all day.  We did a couple of errands - buying a squeaky toy for our neighbor's new Underdog puppy, Moscow; picking up a radio at Walker Drug - but the day was largely spent at home, reading and doing puzzles (and listening to KZMU on the new radio).  Sunday was gorgeous and cold (more on the hike in a minute).  But then Monday, we rechecked the weather and noticed that some snow looked to be moving into northern Utah sooner than we'd hoped, so we just got up and were heading back to SLC early enough to pull into our driveway around 10 a.m.

Still winter

That snow that was moving in?  It turned out to be an amazing nonstop series of storms, mostly in the mountains where Alta ended up getting over nine feet (!) and was under "maximum interlodge" for sixty hours, while the Little Cottonwood Canyon was completely closed for 2.5 days.  Wednesday was even a major snow day in the Salt Lake Valley, setting a record with over 11" of snowfall at the airport.  Driving to work was a little messy but not as bad as I'd thought.  Once the storm moved on, the skiers swarmed the canyons en masse.

Back to our hike.  Sunday morning we had a short discussion about where to go, realizing that anywhere with dirt/sand trails were likely to be wet.  We settled on Poison Spider, figuring that although that is a super-popular trail for 4x4s, the trail traffic probably wouldn't be too bad since it was February.  There were a couple of other cars already at the trailhead when we pulled in and a group of six jeeps rolled in right after us.  They were still adjusting tire pressure when we started out.

Support your local brewery

We had last done this trail in October 2019, when we checked out the petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks before heading out to Longbow Arch.  This time, we just went up the jeep road.  Skies were mostly clear but it was cold, mid-30s F at most, and the wind was colder.  The fact that the road starts climbing immediately from the parking lot helped warm us up; we actually shed some layers before reaching the plateau to avoid getting sweaty.

Beautiful day

That group of jeeps caught up with us on those ascending switchbacks, but then stopped to navigate some obstacles.  We ended up leapfrogging with them the whole way out: they would catch and pass us on the straightaways; we would catch and pass them at the obstacles.  Since Poison Spider is rated a 6 out of 10 for difficulty, there were a fair number of obstacles.  We spent a fair amount of time watching the jeeps, and later more jeeps and side-by-sides - it's very entertaining and incredible what good drivers can make their machines do.

My favorite view

This trail is a point-to-point, connecting with the Golden Spike trail and then Gemini Bridges system.  That was too far for us to go on foot, especially with Milton who really hasn't learned to pace himself.  We went out to an overlook, with my favorite view of Behind the Rocks with the LaSal mountains behind them, then added our layers back on and went back the way we came.

Town deer

Trail traffic had certainly picked up by then.  We counted eighteen jeeps, thirteen side-by-sides, five hikers and two dogs.  When we got back to the parking lot, it was close to full and there were a fair number of people climbing the hillside to check out the dino tracks.  If Poison Spider is this busy in February, it must be a zoo in high season - good enough reason to find other places to go then.

Hike stats: 6.74 miles (Milton probably did around 10); moving time 2:28/average speed 2.7 m.p.h.; overall 3:16//2.0 (slow from all the stopping to watch the 4x4s); 1,120' elevation

keeping the home fires burning

 Another pandemic winter weekend in SLC ... I have to confess to being slightly less productive this time around.  Milton and I did our 3+ mile walks Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Sunday was so gorgeous - and even spring-like - that we went further by returning home through Dimple Dell.  Lots of folks out walking dogs and we met a very polite husky puppy named Kai.

Looking west across the Salt Lake valley to

the not-so-snowy Oquirrh mountains

On the homefront, I cleaned the bathrooms, swept the garage and did laundry; I did not have to vacuum because H did it all midweek.  While he was skiing, I made brownies and a golden milk cake with vanilla icing, plus a batch of Moroccan harira (soup) for the freezer and another batch of tofu jerky.  We tried new recipes for dinner as well: a stew with dumplings and a chana saag with kale and rice, both from Isa Does It.  Photos are lacking because all these dishes were resoundingly un-photogenic (and I am no food photographer) but they were all tasty and that's what counts.

It can't be that bad when you have first tracks

all the way through Catherine's Area

H skied at Alta both Saturday and Sunday.  Unfortunately, he's not having all that much fun.  He has to go up really early to ensure getting a parking spot as parking is filling around 8:30 a.m. these days, long before the lifts start; Sunday he was up there at 7:39 a.m. and had to sit in the truck until the lifts opened at 9:15.  People are being schmucks about wearing masks and complying with the new lift line procedures, lift lines are 20+ minutes and there's just not that much snow, plus it was very windy up there both days - even though there wasn't any wind down in the valley.  In all, it's not making for rad times up on the hill.

Beautiful and breezy on Sunday

On the plus side, there's cake down here at home.

speedy (not speedy)

We figured the trails would be dry for MTBing on Sunday.  Since we'd driven the car - which has no trailer hitch (yet) down, we could only bring one MTB with us.  H was itching to ride while I wanted Milton to get another hike in, so it all worked out.  There were a few vehicles already at the MOAB Brand Trails parking lot when we rolled in but, as it would turn out, neither H nor I saw hardly any people out on the trails. 

West towards Seven Mile Canyon

H did our new regular route: the front side of Lazy-EZ to Rusty Spur to the back side of Lazy-EZ, to the L-E front side again, to Bar M and all the way around the long way.  Milton and I went up the cut-off (with M very concerned that H wasn't coming with us, until we got over the first hill and out of sight), right/south onto Bar M, then left/east onto Circle O, then left/south onto Bar M and right onto the cut-off back to the trailhead.  The plan was that if H didn't find us on the cut-off or Bar M, he'd go out backwards on Circle O until the gang was back together.

As it turned out, we three remet when M and I were more than halfway back on the cut-off.  H was surprised to see us, saying either he was slow or we were fast.  What we figured out was that M and I walked Circle O in the same time that it takes me to ride it on my MTB.  Since we were walking instead of riding, we were able to cut off some of the curves, plus I didn't have to keep stopping to hop off my bike to push it over obstacles.  To be honest, I'm a little appalled that my hike time = my ride time - but I've decided to own it.

Dog on the rocks

cliffhanger

 It rained a little last Friday night in Moab so when we got up Saturday morning, uncertainty about the condition of the trails made H decide against MTBing.  We headed over to Amasa Back for a hike instead, since those trails are more rock than dirt, and were only the third vehicle in the parking lot when we started out.

Nearing the high point

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning, with clear blue skies and great temperatures: high 40s to 51 F, plus all that sunshine to make it feel even warmer.  I didn't have to wear my gloves the whole hike and even wished for shorts at one point.  There was still ice in the shady sections of Kane Creek, however, although the water was low enough that the two creek crossing didn't soak our boots.

Looking down into Jackson Hole (Moab's version)

We went up the jeep road this time - which is noticeably steeper than the Hymasa MTB trail, climbing the same elevation in less mileage - and there were plenty of puddles in the potholes for Milton to drink out of.  When we got up to the canyon rim, we continued along the Cliffhanger jeep road, so-named for how narrow and edgy it is.  We put Milt on the leash for this section, letting him off again as we neared the Jackson trail intersection, where the jeep road moved back from the cliff's edge.

Circle of life

At this point, we discussed making a loop by descending Jackson but finally decided against it, not knowing if it would have ice on it.  We've put that loop on our to-do list for future reference, but going up Jackson as the outward-bound portion; that trail is so steep that it feels much safer going up.  

At the top of Jackson's Ladder

As we were looking at the trail map, we noticed a trail called Jackson's Ladder which goes down a weakness in the cliff wall into Jackson Hole.  Retracing our steps a little, we found the turn-off and followed it under the powerlines to the cliff edge.  There were small cairns marking the way to the edge and from there we could just make out the trail steeply switchbacking down through the rubble.  It was like the Gooseberry trail in Canyonlands: right down the side of the cliff and you'd never know there was a trail there.  We went down a little ways but it was loose and steep enough that we wanted our trekking poles for it.  So we put that one on our list too.  I'm stoked about that one: I had no idea there was a way down into Jackson Hole and now I really want to do it.

The one weakness in the whole cliff wall

We went back the way we came: across the Cliffhanger portion and back down the jeep road.  At this point we started to see a few people and every single one remarked about the gorgeous spring day we were having in January.  By the end of it, we'd met sixteen MTBers, five hikers and/or trail runners and three dogs - a far cry from our last time here in October when we saw 82 MTBers, plus a number of 4x4s.  We didn't see any motorized vehicles on the trail this time and the peace and quiet was lovely.

One of my all-time favorite Moab views

Hike stats: 7.77 miles; moving 2:47 time / 2.8 m.p.h.; overall 3:10 / 2.4; 1,130 feet of elevation