living the pipe dream

In addition to cycling the bike path while the truck was in the shop, Milton and I also had several Pipe Dream excursions, since we can walk to the trailhead from our house.  We did a short south-bound out-and-back on Saturday, an out-and-back to the Hidden Valley trailhead and back on Monday, and a north-bound loop on Tuesday.

Claret cups were bangin'

We got early-ish starts each time and barely saw anyone out there: one MTBer and dog (Lila? Stella? in any event, we've met them before and she is never that impressed with Milton) Saturday; a couple of hikers and a trail runner on Monday, although the Hidden Valley parking lot had quite a few cars in it; and only one older lady on Tuesday, who told us to be careful on our descent as it was a little loose.  Advice taken and appreciated!

Dunno what it is but it was everywhere

While we didn't encounter many people, there were lots of critters, most chaseable, according to the dog: rabbits, lizards, ground squirrels and tons of birds, including some chukars, which are a kind of partridge.  At one point, Milton took off after some squirrel, following it WAY up the hillside (see next to last photo below) before it lost him by diving into some rocks.  I called him back down and he was unfazed, happily pouncing (and missing) on a lizard moments later.

Penstemon, southern Utah version

The desert wildflowers were in all their glory as well, and will likely be past their prime by the time we get back down there, except for the prickly pears which hadn't started yet.  We need to get a book on southern Utah wildflowers; we're pretty good on the northern Utah ones but are pretty limited in identifying the ones out in the desert.

That black dot = the dog

By our third time on Pipe Dream, I was getting a little bored with it - not Milton, who obviously lives in the moment and was just glad to be out there, chasing stuff - but still appreciative that this trail, for both hikers and MTBers, is so accessible.

Prince's Plume (I know this one!)