The American West is on fire. Utah Fire Info shows (at this point) 136,000+ acres burned in state, with 135 natural starts and four times as many human starts (humans: please stop being so stupid). That of course pales in comparison with what Arizona is going through: the Dragon Bravo Fire on the Grand Canyon's north rim has burned through over 114,000 acres - just that one fire alone. We in the west desperately need monsoon season to start.
We had strung together a Moab long weekend around the Utah state holiday on July 24. As soon as we got through Price, the wildfire smoke showed up: first from the Monroe Canyon fire near Richfield, UT, and then the blown-in smoke from the Dragon Bravo fire. Green River's air was thick with smoke and as we turned off I-70 towards Moab, you couldn't see the LaSals.
The smoke did clear a bit and each morning, the air quality seemed to be the best. So Milton and I headed off to Millcreek for our hike, and H headed off to Pipe Dream for his trail run. But by late morning, the air quality deteriorated and we were a bit reluctant to get out there on our road bikes and breathe in big lungsful. This led to one of the least-active weekends we've ever spent but we did get a lot of books read.
We did do a little more than that (a little). We did some yardwork, trimming back some overhanging trees. We rode our MTBs to the bowling alley bar for beers, just to mix it up a bit. (For the record: bowling alley beers are not any cheaper than Main Street establishment beers, more's the pity.) And we went to a cookout at our friends' house Saturday evening, so we were even social!
It was weird when we got back to Salt Lake where the air was clear - usually Moab's air is much better than SLC's. It's so dry though. We really, really, really need it to rain ... but without lightning, would be preferable. Maybe monsoon season will start up soon.
Trail stats: A and M: 4 miles each day; H: 4 miles Thursday, 3 miles Friday, 5 miles Saturday.
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