And yes, it's Utah but it's still hotter than it should be for June. Alta's snow is melting quickly, although not quite enough to make hiking anything but sloppy. And down in the valley, it's dry - unless you're like most of our neighbors who water every day. (Seriously, stop watering so much.)
Here's the week's forecast. Juneteenth is going to be brutal, but then maybe more temperate for the weekend.
We've now had some time at home in SLC and, if I'm honest, things have been rather on repeat there too. There's still too much snow up at Alta to make hiking much fun* (and not really enough snow anymore for skiing), so exercise has consisted of early morning walks for A and Milton (3.2 mile weekday neighborhood loops and 5 mile weekend Dimple Dell loops) and runs/bike rides for H (various lengths, times and locations).
Late weekend mornings have been spent battling the yard. It seems as though perhaps we need to get started on before skiing ends. That's always been my mantra - no yardwork during ski season because it just seems too early - but it gets ahead of us if we wait that long. Maybe a little earlier in the spring would be a good idea. I guarantee that I will have forgotten I said that by next year.
Weekend afternoons have been pretty chill. It's too hot to bake anymore so there's been a lot of going to the library and then reading library books, while Milton hangs out in the driveway, staring at the neighbors' house and hoping for treats.
We did go to our lovely friends' annual Pride Party. They have an adorable 1910ish bungalow in Sugar House with a double lot, and their backyard - which they put so much effort into - is perfect for entertaining. That Pride Party is the big blow out that kicks off summer season. H and I go on the early side (this year it went until 4 a.m. the next day!!!!!!!) and we always go if we're in town. It's a lot [gestures wildly at everything] to be living in this country these days and so going to that party, to hang out, drinking and laughing, talking with a group of diverse, kind, interesting, supportive, inclusive and well-tattooed people, right here in Utah, was just really, really nice.
* But maybe some Millcreek Canyon hikes, particularly south-facing trails like Grandeur Peak, could be in our near future.
The second half of our long holiday weekend looked quite a lot like the first half. Again, Milton and A did the Millcreek hike first thing in the morning, although on Sunday we went a little further upstream, crossing over by the beaver trees (former trees felled by beavers) and coming back down on the other side. It had been a while since we'd been on that side and the trail has not seen nearly as much foot traffic, even fading out in a couple of places.
There was certainly plenty of foot traffic in the left hand fork of the canyon, where the waterfalls are. Sunday was apparently the busiest day: on Monday, we talked with a guy who was housesitting in one of the homes near the entrance to the canyon and he said that cars were parking all the way out to the main road and three separate ambulances came in Sunday to rescue people. Sorry we missed that (sarcasm).
H and A's late morning bike rides were similar too: A did the 21 mile version while H went a little further, starting up the hill past the Arches NP entrance a ways to put together a 24 mile ride. On Monday, the ranger hanging out at the Arches entrance told A that they only had to have one ambulance on Sunday, so Arches for the win!
The Moab Arts Fest was going on all weekend, and they lucked out on the weather, as after Friday high temperatures didn't even get to 90 - a gift for this time of year. And we lucked out too, as we were able to keep windows and doors open a lot of the time and the A/C didn't even come on. Pretty sure at least that will be diffferent the next time we get down there.
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We go to Moab a lot (obviously). And sometimes when we're there, we just don't feel like driving to go do stuff. There are trailheads for hiking and MTBing everywhere and some of them require a lot of driving from town; going to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands requires 45 minutes in the car, for example. So when we don't feel like driving, we tend to repeat the same trails, like Pipe Dream or Millcreek (which, yes, technically requires driving but only five minutes). When we were down in Moab over Memorial Day weekend, we did not feel like driving and fighting the crowds.
Thus, the first two days of the long weekend looked very similar. First thing in the morning, Amanda and Milton did a four mile Millcreek Canyon hike, getting there early before the hordes. We went out along the rim trail, then dropped down to the creek for the return. We only saw a couple of people out on the trail but by the time we got back to the parking lot, the cars were starting to roll in. Temperatures were super nice, especially in the shade.
After the hike, H and A switched gears (literally haha) and went for a 21 mile road ride along the bike path. This entails going north out of town, then out and back along the Colorado River, then across the pedestrian bridge over the river and up to the Arches National Park entrance, then going back across the bridge, out and back along the river stretch and then back home. The traffic on the bike path definitely increased from Friday to Saturday as more tourists rolled into town.
Our Friday and Saturday evenings did differ slightly. Friday found us at Woody's and then with a backyard firepit, watching the stars come out. But on Saturday we went to C and F's house for a BBQ with several of their friends. They've got a great backyard, cool and shady, and as it was a little cooler than Friday, the afternoon/evening was quite pleasant.
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