spring break (front half)

As I mentioned, we didn't go too hard during this year's spring week in Moab, and we didn't do anything new.  We did exercise at least once each day, though; and we did not go to the bar every day.  #adulting

I just love that sky so much

Saturday:  We drove down Friday afternoon and spent the evening with our neighbor and her dog.  She is often gone to Alaska by now but this year will be in Moab for the summer.  She may not be all that psyched about it but we are.  On Saturday, H did a trail run on Pipe Dream.  When he got back, A and Milton did a 4.6 mile hike, also on Pipe Dream.  (Sure appreciate a trailhead walking distance from the house).  After that, H and A did a road ride on the bike path, from our house to Lions Park, up/back along the river, up/back to the Arches National Park entrance (plus H went up further and caught up to A on the home stretch), then up/back on the river section, then home.  That afternoon, we watched the Kentucky Derby at Woody's (the bartender said she knew we'd be in since the race was one) and my horse freaked out whilst loading and didn't even run.  And that evening, our neighbor and her dog joined us for beers around the firepit.

Trail dog

Sunday:  H and Milton did a Pipe Dream trail run and then, while they went to Dave's for coffee/dog biscuit, A headed out for her long hike of the week.  I walked from our house to Pipe Dream, south on Pipe Dream to Hidden Valley, up and over Hidden Valley, and then down the Moab Rim trail.  It was a gorgeous day - definitely cooler than the last time I'd done that hike, which is 10.3 miles.  H and M met me in the Moab Rim parking lot, bringing snacks and beers.  I will confess to an afternoon nap, but I rallied and was up late enough for a firepit.

Lil teeny purple flower

Monday:  H was back to a solo trail run Monday, and A and Milton did a 4.5 mile hike on Pipe Dream.  A still had some fatigue from her big hike the day before, however, so H did a solo road ride.  When he got back, we all packed up lunch things and binoculars and beers and went to our favorite picnic spot above the bike path along the Colorado River.  After getting cleaned up back at the house, H and A strolled to Woody's for a quick visit, then returned for backyard beers with our neighbor.

Heading to the Moab Rim trail

Tuesday:  By Tuesday, Milton (who we think is around ten years old at this point) was showing a little bit of cumulative fatigue.  He did a shorter trail run with H, but A opted for walking across town and back for errands rather than doing a hike so he could rest.  A and H did their road ride and then it was time for another picnic, this time up at the Slickrock trailhead parking lot.  It is our opinion that Tuesdays are the least-busy of the weekdays and true to form, things were pretty quiet up there, relatively speaking.  We even spent a fair amount of time watching a bunch of ants carry a peanut from the covered picnic table to their nest.  (There were also MTBers and dirt bikers to watch and side-by-sides to bitch about.)  The afternoon and evening were spent at home, reading.

by the numbers

With much delay (due to super-busy getting caught up back at work, plus laundry, plus other stuff), I'm finally getting around to doing some little posts about our spring week in Moab.  We always do this, to celebrate the transition from ski season to summer.  If I'm honest, it was a pretty chill week - we didn't really go balls to the wall on anything (lol do we ever?), and even though we TALKED about it a lot, we didn't get around to MTBing.  It was mostly trail running, hiking and road riding.  

Trail running: Daily runs totaling 12 miles for H, who is getting back into it after some time off, and 8 miles for Milton, who accompanied him on all but two runs.

Hiking: 33 miles for A (this mileage does not count town walks) and 23 miles for Milton, who accompanied her on all but the longest (10.3 miles) hike.

Road riding: 217 miles for H (daily rides) and around 160 miles for A, who didn't ride two days, plus did about three miles less on each ride.

Most posts with more details (such as they are) to follow.

Here's a tiny little desert lupine,

about six inches tall

in-betweens

 Snowbird is still open for a couple more weekends, and Brighton is hanging in there too, but for us (H), skiing is over.  There's still enough snow to keep us out of the mountains hiking-wise, however, so we're stuck in the valley, walking and running and road riding; the Round Valley MTB trails in Park City are dry and smooth too, so I hear.

Chilly boy

As has been tradition for the last several years, H and I sit on the tailgate of the truck in our driveway on Alta's closing day, drinking beers and gazing at the mountains.  This latest closing day, even though H didn't ski, and even though it was low 50s/high 40s and pouring rain, I insisted that we continue the tradition.  We bundled up - including putting Milton in his sweater - and proceeded to toast the subpar season, with an eye towards better days.

Maybe we'll do a couple this year

We also came up with a potential hike list for any spring/summer/fall weekend days we're up in SLC.  We've done this for a few years now too (we've got a bucket of poker chips with hikes written on them and take turns pulling them), and the funny part is that we just hardly get around to doing any of them.  We don't hike as much in the Wasatch since we've gotten Milton (no dogs in the watershed) and this year will be even worse, as upper Millcreek Canyon is closed for road widening.  Still, we listed 35 (!!) potential hikes.  Maybe we'll even do some, once the trails dry up.  Shouldn't take long.

fizzle

 And with that, the 2025/2026 ski season is over.  As of 2 p.m., Sunday, April 26, Alta was claiming 311" inches (more on that later), which is a terrible, horrible, very bad season of snowfall.  Statewide the Utah snowpack is the lowest on record and peaked three weeks early, with statewide stream runoff anticipated to be 50% of normal.  So when I say seeing my neighbors watering their lawns already, day after day, makes me crazy, there's at least some science behind it.

Ahem.

On Saturday, the penultimate day of Alta's season, H drove up and skied for about 3.5 hours.  It wasn't busy.  It wasn't crowded.  He didn't stand in line.  The snow wasn't that good.  It was partly sunny, which was nice for the folks on the patio, and the clouds helped to preserve the snow, slowed the melt somewhat.  In the valley, Milton and A did their Dimple Dell walk, then weeded the backyard for a couple hours until A's back started yelling.  There were chores and laundry, and M got to do another Dimple Dell walk with H in the afternoon.  It was pretty mellow.

Quiet day for closing weekend

But the big question was: will H go skiing on closing day?  Because a late spring storm system moved in, with Alta's forecasted snow totals all over the place, ranging from 4 to 13".  Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but the ski bus isn't running anymore.  And because it's closing day, H wasn't able to get a parking reservation (despite being a regular season passholder grumble grumble).  So in order to ski, H would have to get the 7 a.m. commuter bus up and then, instead of waiting for the 5 p.m. commuter bus down, A would have to drive up the canyon to fetch him home.  But the little Subaru doesn't have 4WD and if there's lots of snow on the road ...

A wanted to bake but didn't want to

eat, so dog cookies it is.  Also, this

cookie cutter is the only one we have.

In the end, H opted out of skiing on closing day, what with the driving issues, plus the fact that Frank had been canceled this year, plus the fact that cold, wet, stormy conditions make for soggy skiing and less than ideal tailgating.  So the ski season just sort of fizzled out - not that it ever really got going.  And while the new snow is certainly needed, it's a case of closing the barn door after the horse gets out.  Ah, well, on to the next thing.

301 (is it though?)

Alta says that the midweek storm that made temperatures plummet in northern Utah (wreaking real havoc on local farmers' fruit trees) brought them up to 301" snowfall on the year.  I have to say I'm a little skeptical that they may be rounding up: when you're 200 inches below the "average" you may be tempted to fudge the numbers for marketing purposes.

High, thin clouds keeping it cool

The ski bus is done for the year so H didn't have to get up at the crack of early to catch it, with his book and his thermos of coffee.  Pluswhich, on Saturday it was still cold and when he did drive into the Wildcat base parking lot, it was only 19F.  That makes for challenging spring skiing as you gotta wait for things to warm up and soften up.  There was plenty of parking when H pulled in around 9 but the lot was full when he left at 12:30; apparently Alta is offering $50 off a day ticket if you have a season pass from another local mountain.  Most of which have already closed.

Yet another bluebird day at Alta

Sunday was a better day, starting out warmer and thus softer.  It was definitely less busy, though, as H mostly rode the chairlift alone and never once had a full (four people) chair.  There's one more week to go, with closing next weekend.  Alta will be lucky to make it.

Down in the valley: A and M did their five mile Dimple Dell walks; A weeded for two hours each of Saturday and Sunday (barely making a dent ugh); there were errands to Ocean Mart and Costco; baking margarita cupcakes (lime and tequila); and trying new recipes (tacos with Urban Pepper Project taco seasoning, Indonesian tofu scramble and Singaporean flat rice noodle stirfry).

this hike is why we drove the subaru to moab this time

Neither of our cars are young: my Crosstrek will be ten years old in August and H's Chevy Silverado is downright elderly.  To save wear and tear, we alternate which vehicle we drive from SLC to Moab when we go, although the truck always gets the spring and fall vacation trips.  This last time, we drove the Subaru, even though it was technically the truck's turn (H had taken the Subaru in March when I was back east with family).  The reason: I wanted to do a specific slot canyon/creek hike [not named here because while it used to be a "hidden gem," due to Instagram it is no longer in any way "hidden"].  

Iconic landscape

Moab doesn't have many slot canyons but it does have this one.  It usually has water year round - the end of the out-and-back hike is a waterfall - as the creek flows out of the La Sal mountains.  In the past, we've gone later in the year, since the water is good for dog hikes; this year, given the all-time low snowpack, I'm not sure the creek will actually be year-round and wanted to get Milton out there while there was still water.

So frickin' scenic

The dirt road in to this hike is long and washboarded and rough.  When we have taken the elderly truck down it, I cling to the passenger side door, hoping to keep it from rattling off the frame.  This time, when Milton and I loaded up to go (H wasn't interested in an 8.5 mile round trip with very rocky footing), we promised to drive slowly and carefully on that dirt road.

You will get your feet wet. At 

least while the creek is still flowing.

We didn't get as early a start as we had intended but even with it being Saturday, there were only four other vehicles in the trailhead lot when we pulled in.  It was cool and clear and we made good time, passing two sets of hikers on the way in and catching a third at the waterfall.  (The fourth must have been on another trail since we never saw them).  

Getting narrow

As we were heading to the waterfall, I noted a couple of side canyons that we've never checked out.  I'm sure they don't go far but told the dog that we should investigate on our way out.  However, about a mile into our return, the temperature dropped, it got windy and started raining.  I wasn't nervous about the rain since this "slot" canyon is pretty wide (we were out of the narrowest part) but I was nervous about the dirt road getting sloppy and slippery.

Mr. I'm-nervous-about-the-loud-waterfall

We cruised on out of there, stopping briefly, of course, to chat with other hikers and their dogs who were still heading in, undeterred by the rain, but not checking out those side canyons.  It never really rained hard but it was enough to get us wet and chilled.  The little Crosstrek?  She did great and, over a week later, is still sporting the red dust and mud from that darn dirt road.

four miles, full of flowers

In the year with no winter, spring flowers are emerging in the desert.  We were in Moab a couple of weekends ago and while H held down the fort (by which I mean, was home when the plumbers arrived to remove old/install new hot water heater), Milton and I went to Millcreek.  After a "winter" of Pipe Dream hiking, it was nice to have a change of scenery.  We didn't get a particularly early start, so there were already four or so car in the lot when we drove up.

M stops to smell the flowers

Blanket flower

We did our preferred route: out along the Rim trail, then dropping down into the canyon and returning along the creek trail.  There were a handful of other folks with their dogs up on the rim but it really was pretty quiet.

Love this guy so much

I was gonna look this one up.  But didn't.

Also quiet: the creek.  There is very little snow in the La Sal mountains and the creek is very low.  Like, June/July low.  This time of year the water should have been up above my knees on the creek crossings but instead I was able to keep my feet dry for the whole hike.  Wish it had been otherwise.

Globe mallow

Primrose

There were definitely people heading in towards the waterfall (such as it is) as we finished up, which on a Friday heralds the busy season.  

Claret cup (a favorite)

Prince's plume (which miners

thought indicated uranium)

EDITED TO ADD: After the hike, H and A did A's first road ride of the season.  The temperatures were nice but it was a little windy, and A got saddle-sore with it being her first ride.  We were on the bike path from our house, out and back along the river and then up to the Arches National Park entrance.  From there, A headed home, while H did the river road out and back again first.  It was windy - and a headwind always psychs A out - so A got home mere minutes before H did, despite his markedly longer ride.

eester

Sunday was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturday.  Up at Alta, H never once waited in line after the initial waiting-for-the-lifts-to-open line.  No new snow, of course, and it never got crowded - when he left midday, the Wildcat base parking lot was about half full.  Folks have moved on, is the general consensus.  This was also the last weekend for the ski bus: H will have to drive himself for the remaining ski days (except for closing day, since parking reservations have long been all spoken for).

Not a cloud in sight

Down in the valley, A and M did their Dimple Dell walk where the biggest moment of excitement came from spotting a CAT chasing a SQUIRREL.  That silly dog didn't know which to freak out over.  It was another quiet day on the homefront (no weeding yet again, which I will likely regret in the future but was happy about in the moment).  Housecleaning, meal prepping, hummingbird nectar making and feeder hanging, laundry.  Dinner was a vegan Greek avgolemono soup, which seemed suitably Easter-y, and a foccaccia.

No foccaccia photo but it was a pretty good one

And we also did the first garage tailgate of the season, much to our neighbors' chagrin.

inching upwards to 289

We got snow!  I mean, it was just a little two day storm that brought rain and a couple of inches of very wet snow in the valley, but about 30" in the upper Cottonwood Canyons.  It's too little too late but every single inch counts at this point.  And when H went skiing on Saturday, he reported that it was MUCH better than it had been last week.  (And apparently Friday was really quite good storm-skiing.)

Another bluebird day at Alta

It wasn't that busy, though.  Which surprised me a little, since so many other resorts are closed, notably Deer Valley, PCMR, PowMow and Snowbasin, with Canyons closing 4/5/26 - I figured Alta would be very busy.  But I guess folks have written off the season and moved on to other things, like golf and kids' sports.  H reported that all the regulars were there, and the patio was getting full as he left midday.  It was a gorgeous day, clear and sunny, the storm having moved on, but it was still a little chilly - around 30F at the summit - which had a negative effect on the number of girls in bikinis (none, at last count).

This is a good, not-too-sweet snack bread/cake

Down in the valley it was a gorgeous day too, clear and sunny.  A took a stand against the weeds, refusing to acknowledge them (or pull any) for one day.  Instead, Milton and I did our usual Dimple Dell walk, observing lots of raptors circling overhead, looking for small and delicious critters.  Then Milt took up his post in the driveway, keeping an eye on the neighbors, while A made a coconut-turmeric loaf and chocolate chip cookies.  It was kind of a lazier day than they often are, but there were library books to read and afternoon walks around the neighborhood to take. 

pie in the sky

 Up at Alta, Sunday was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturday: just barely firmed up overnight and then softening very, very quickly.  Word is that Snowbird (a) has been closing down at 2:00 p.m. in an attempt to preserve the snow; and (b) is considering closing down M-TH, again in an attempt to preserve the snow.  Beaver, Eagle Point, Snowbasin and Sundance are closed; Deer Valley and PCMR are closing 3/29/26, with Canyons somehow holding on.  The unseasonably warm weather is supposed to change this coming week, however, with the possibility of some mountain snow.  At this [dry, warm] point, we'll take whatever we can get.

Empty sky, empty slopes

It was pretty similar in the Salt Lake valley too, although perhaps a little warmer-feeling since there weren't any clouds early in the day.  A and M did their Dimple Dell walk; then M basked in the sunny driveway, hoping for handouts from the neighbors, while A did more weeding.  Only an hour's worth this time as my hamstrings and lower back were hollerin' something fierce from the abuse the day before.  

So easy when you don't make the pastry yourself

- the apricots collapsed into jam, tho'

On the homecooking front, whole meal muffins (with raisins, carrots and apple) and an apricot puff-pastry galette were baked.  And since it's spring, we busted out a favorite - lemon orzo pasta with asparagus and peas.  (And saved the pasta water to pour on our trees because drought.)

oh yeah it's spring

In case you're wondering: Alta's year-to-date snowfall is still at 260".  That's just over half the historical average.  It almost hit 90F in SLC in the middle of March.  It's so bad.  But no, climate change isn't real.  (That was sarcasm.)

"Thin cover"

Still, ever the optimist, H went skiing on Saturday.  Ski resorts are closing early left and right around here.  Alta probably has the most snow but it's melting quickly.  The photo he took, looking down at Wildcat base, shows the southern-facing slopes across the canyon nearly bare.  And people have moved on, not wanting to pay the exorbitant pass prices for such subpar conditions.  H walked out of the lodge at 9:17 a.m. (Alta's chairs start loading at 9:15) and walked right onto the Collins chair without waiting in line.  When he left midday, the Wildcat base parking lot was not close to full.

Forsythia (and now I've exhausted my

knowledge of flowering trees/shrubs)

Down in the valley, A and M did their thing: five mile walk, taking photos of all the neighborhood flowering trees; and then nearly three hours of weeding.  The weeds are early and extra-prolific this year because they never stopped growing - it never got wintery enough.  

Pink one (might be a nectarine tree?)

There was also time for laundry and chocolate chip cookie baking and a trip to the library.  

At the neighborhood park

Oh!  And the day before, on A's way home from work, she stopped by SLC's Chinatown.  It's not really Chinatown like in NYC or Boston or San Francisco: it's a strip mall with lots of restaurants, stores and the biggest Asian grocery store in Utah, which is why I stopped.  

There's even a gate

I love an Asian grocery store with the variety of veggies, tofu, noodles, spices and so many snacks.  And I had a momentary pang of wishing I wasn't vegan when I saw the multiple bakeries - I LOVE Chinese pastries.

It was wonderful but so very loud

It was a little overwhelming - brightly-colored and -lit, with music blaring, and very busy.  I got tofu, rice sticks, rice noodles, mirin, some ruffle-y baby bok choy, Szechuan peppercorns, Chinese five-spice and an Indonesian hot sauce.  I wanted to get so much more (they had fresh jackfruits - huge!) but was proud of my restraint.  I can't believe it's taken sixteen years for me to get there.  To be honest, I prefer the Ocean Mart in Sandy: it's a little smaller, but calmer and still has a huge variety.

early advent

It's almost like shoulder season is arriving early this year.  It was the Winter that Wasn't, so the skiing is turning towards springtime and devolving quickly, yet the weather is swinging wildly from warm to cold, from sunny to rainy, and it's a little difficult to put an active weekend together.

Take Sunday, for example.  It was a much nicer day sunshine-wise but cold, and Alta was only at 14F when H got up there for skiing.  This meant that not only did the snow set up overnight, it set up rock-hard.  It was windy too, making temperatures feel much colder.  H managed three hours before calling it quits:  "It's cold and the conditions are shit.  Stopping for [tater] tots on my way home."  Who could blame him?

Not pictured: wind chill

Because A and M were waiting for it to warm up into the 30s before venturing out for their morning walk, we were at home when A's brother J called.  His flight back to Maine wasn't until 2 p.m., so he got dropped off at our house, did our walk with us and then we dropped him at the airport, with 4.25 miles under his belt.  After that, it was just difficult to motivate, if I'm honest.  There's a bunch of weeding to be done but not quite warm enough out to be comfortable for it, so that got skipped.  I did manage to pull together a peach puff pastry galette - but storebought puff pastry (accidentally vegan) barely seems like "baking," it's so easy.

Also not pictured: the baking sheet I destroyed

with the burnt-on sticky peach juice

The rest of the afternoon was spent snuggled up with the dog reading library books.  I think that's okay.

holding at 260

I mean, yikes.  Middle of March and only 260" of snowfall at Alta on the year?  And after a sunny, warm week, the base depth is down to 90".  H didn't take the earliest bus on Saturday, nor did he feel the need to hustle down to board at the first stop.  He definitely made the right call: there were only four riders on his bus.  He could see immediately upon arriving at Wildcat base that they'd lost a lot of snow during the week.  It was cloudy and overcast and the light was as flat as light can be without actually skiing in the clouds.  It was warmish, though, already in the low 40s when the lifts started turning, so the snow hadn't set up too hard overnight.  Still, he reported it as probably the worst day of the season for him.  (Just wait until Sunday!)

Kinda gloomy

Down in the valley, A and M weren't the most productive but they were fairly busy.  After laundry and the usual five mile Dimple Dell walk, they met A's brother J and his friend B from college for lunch/beers at the Hog Wallow (M waited in the car).  They were in town for some skiing, renting a place between Solitude and Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  But they'd already had at least five ski days in Colorado before arriving in SLC, and had just done two days of touring up in BCC, so they were looking for a bit of a break.  (Of course, J did swing by Solitude after lunch for an hour or two's worth of resort runs.)  The Hog Wallow was way busier than I expected, although with the skiing such crappy conditions I shouldn't have been surprised.

Our boy loves a bar

And then, at 4 p.m., H and A and M all went to meet E and K at the Watershed's dog-friendly patio for beers and vegan bar food.  We hadn't all been together since Christmas (!) so it was good to catch up.  Plus Milton charmed a couple of bikers, making new friends as he always does.  

daylight

 HOORAY FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!  Yes, it's dark again in the mornings.  But not for long and - most importantly - it's light later.  Yay!  

On Sunday, H once again took the earliest bus to Alta (I mean, he's awake anyway so why not).  It was not nearly so crowded: just enough to fill the seats.  It was a beautiful day up there, bright and sunshiny, which helped to soften the snow that had set up overnight.  It was not nearly so good for off-piste skiing as it had been the day before (too heavy and sticky and solid) however, and H saw two LifeFlight helicopters taking off with folks who were not having good days.

The crowd vibing on the GMD patio

Down home, Milton and I waited a bit for the sun to come up before venturing out for our Dimple Dell walk.  The bright sun made the 40-something temperatures quite nice, and when we got home, Milton insisted on hanging out in the driveway, sun-bathing.  A was fairly productive indoors (vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, making chocolate chip cookies and lentil bolognese pasta sauce, and meal-prepping breakfast (overnight oats with blueberries and walnuts) and lunch (mango-collard green smoothies - better than they sound) for the next two work days, plus a vegan avgolemono soup and foccacia for dinner).

It's starting to look like spring: the weeds are simply flourishing and we are probably going to have to trade some kitchen time for yardwork time next weekend, just to try to get a grip on it.  Rats.  I'd rather be baking.

now 265

 Alta has gotten 56" of snow since H skied last, with a season snowfall total of 265" (still way low).  So when he went up there Saturday, it was to the best conditions of the season. Of course, he was not alone in thinking the skiing might be okay: he picked up the first bus of the day (6 a.m.) at the first stop (Historic Sandy) and while he did score a seat, it was SRO when they left.  The driver managed to cram another twenty-five or so folks on at the second stop (where H usually picks up the bus) but it was jam-packed.

H's favorite trees to ski

The snow was definitely better than it has been all season.  H took advantage and FINALLY got off the groomers; he only had two groomer runs on the day, the first from Collins to Supreme, and the last coming back down into Collins.  Instead he got first tracks on Challenger, got into the trees he likes off 3 Bears, went down Chartreuse and also off the High T, did the very steep skier's left off the front of Wildcat and had some untracked snow in the Backside when they opened that up.  He didn't get that many vertical feet because the lift lines were long, but he skied hard and had some good runs.

Dark blue over the backside

Items of note: H noticed 5-10 other people reading books in the Goldminer's Daughter Lodge while they waited for the lifts to open; he feels like quite a trendsetter.  And a guy told him he had the best mustache on the mountain, comparing it to the one worn by a Grateful Dead guitarist.

Not pretty, still tasty

Down in the valley, A and M were productive.  We did our five mile Dimple Dell walk, did a load of laundry/put away clean laundry, swept the garage and mudroom, dusted (!), made some stuff (four quarts of lentil soup, a quart and a half of black beans and monkeybread) and tried a new recipe for dinner (broccoli steaks with white bean puree and turmeric-harissa couscous).

mind the gap

 Oops - certainly didn't mean for such a long break between posts.  We went down to Moab last weekend for a friend's mother's funeral, and then I had to work long hours to make up the time (without burning a precious vacation day), so things just got away from me here.

On the trail again

It was a little surreal, being in Moab and having to do grown-up things, like wear real clothes and be places at certain times.  The funeral was at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Moab Community Church (which amazingly didn't immediately catch fire when H and I entered), then a luncheon, and then the graveside service out in Castle Valley.  The funeral was nice, actually, very personal with folks telling stories about the decedent, plus lots of songs.  And we hadn't thought to bring beer to the graveside service, but a number of folks did, so there's that.

"Whazzat?" Milton, probably

That afternoon, we hung out with our neighbor and her dog, drinking beers and getting caught up.  That was really good too and we hadn't had the chance for a while: she is a commercial fisherman who spends her late springs/summers/early falls on her boat in Alaska.

Keep 'er movin'

We did manage a little bit of trail time, much to Milton's delight, putting together a 7+ miler on Pipe Dream.  Despite the snow earlier in the week, the trail was in good shape - mostly dry and not muddy.  It wasn't heavily trafficked either, although we did meet a couple of nice dogs out with their people.

Here come the spring flowers!

And finally, to wrap up the adulting, our hot water heater/tank needs to be replaced as it has no expansion tank (?) and is leaking directly onto the pilot light.  There were lukewarm showers all weekend, which wouldn't have been a problem if it was already summer.  It was a decent weekend but all things considered, I think I prefer not to have to adult so much.

untitled (because i've been sitting for 20 minutes unable to come up with something clever)

Ski-wise, Sunday was pretty close to Saturday, although a little less: a little less crowded, a little less sunny, the snow a little less good.  H took the 6:10 a.m. bus again and found it about as full as the day before.  In case you're wondering, that bus gets to Wildcat Base at 6:50 - which is almost 2.5 hours before the lifts open.  He sits in the Goldminer's Daughter Lodge, drinks his thermos of coffee and reads.  And that, my friends, is dedication.

Looks like they got the Backside open

Milton and A had a pretty full day.  We did our Dimple Dell walk, then got some bread dough started.  While that proofed, we did a Costco run and a load of laundry.  Then the rest of the day got fit in between stretching and shaping and resting and baking the baguettes: cleaning bathrooms, making peanut butter cupcakes (with chocolate frosting) and a tomato-chickpea stew for dinner.  Written out like that, it doesn't seem like much but the whole baguette process takes 5+ hours.  Not something that can be done on a weeknight.

First ever baguette attempt

made it to 209

Finally, we got some snow.  A decent storm rolled through Tuesday night through Thursday morning, leaving 3-5 inches in the valley and a nice 44" up at Alta.  My commute home Wednesday evening was a little gnarly: although there wasn't that much snow, the roads were icy and there were multiple slide-offs and crashes to avoid in my dependable little Subaru.  This brings the base depth at Alta to 93" and their accumulation to date to 209".  That's pretty meager for almost end-of-February, but we'll take it.

Clear and cold to start

All the skiers, of course, collectively lost their minds and it was crazy-busy up in the Cottonwood Canyons.  Snowbird had to close their parking lots - full - by 7:30 a.m. Friday morning.  And H, figuring it would be a madhouse, got up even earlier and took the first ski bus of the day, snagging the next-to-last seat at 6:10 a.m.  On the ride up the canyon, the driver of the 6:30 bus came on over the radio, saying that after the very first stop, they were completely full; over in Big Cottonwood Canyon, the bus driver reported leaving 70 people behind after filling his bus.  The Goldminer's Daughter Lodge was packed by 7:30 a.m.  Lift lines were ludicrous, with the Supreme singles line wrapping around one side of Alf's Lodge and the Sugarloaf singles line wrapping around the other side.  Best snow of the season - practically the only snow of the season.

Meanwhile, down in the valley, A and M did their five mile Dimple Dell walk; A also later walked to our local library to restock.  There were house chores (laundry, vacuuming, changing sheets), some baking (vegan hermits) and some cooking (Tuscan-style multi-bean soup, veganized arugula pesto, cashew cream and Mexican-style black beans for burrito bowls for dinner).