csa summer 2023: week 2

 Second CSA box, picked up July 12, had two kinds of cherries, more scallions, some garlic scapes, carrots, more apricots, one each of a zucchini, a summer squash and a cucumber, another cantaloupe, romaine lettuce and green leaf lettuce.

My very first garlic scapes (had to

crowdsource recipes)

The cherries were delicious this time: I liked the tangy yellow ones while H preferred the extremely sweet red ones.  The melon was also very good.  I made a carrot top and garlic scape pesto for the freezer (perhaps a little too garlicky for my preference) and shredded the squashes, which were frozen in half-cup servings for future baking.  The carrots were made into a carrot "lox" for bagels - a little weird, but we may just have to try a different recipe.  The scallions went into a scallion vinagrette (scallions are the only onion I can tolerate raw).  And we've been eating a ton of salads with all the fresh greens, bulking them up with brown rice, black beans, sriracha tofu and BBQ tempeh.

cross training

 On the days that I didn't hike with Milton, we rode our bikes.  Actually, bikes were ridden each day.  H did road rides (on the bike path, on his road bike) Friday (6.23 miles), Saturday (21), Sunday (21) and Monday (21).

Some of the little trees are high and dry now

Our cruiser bikes got worked out too.  On Saturday, we just rode to Woody's to meet our friend Chris for a beer.  On Sunday, when I was supposed to be resting my ankle, we rode them 16+ miles, out to the entrance to Arches and then out along the river road and back, then rode another 3ish miles to see our friend Crystal.  Monday, after Milt's and my hike, we cruised the river road (12ish miles).  And Tuesday we repeated the Arches/river road route (16ish).

Look at all that dirt!

We stopped to check out the level of the Colorado River on one of those cruiser rides.  It's down for sure - the current looks slower too - and the amount of sediment it has dropped on the boat launch by the pedestrian bridge is incredible.  There must be two feet of dirt on top of the concrete - it's a whole new beach.

It's important to stay hydrated

Tuesday was also the Fourth of July so we took Milton out to watch the parade (it ended a block from our house and lasted a whole fifteen minutes, consisting primarily of first responder vehicles wailing their sirens, but also included a horse drill team with a well-trained blue heeler).  We also were social!  Our friend Jose invited us over for Palomas, which were delicious, and then we three and our neighbor Natalie walked to the Trailhead Public House and Eatery for burgers.  What's more American than a good burger?  We are pleased to report that you can get very good ones at the Trailhead: I had the Italian Chic and H had the BBQ Bean, both house-made vegan burgers on vegan brioche buns and both VERY good; Jose had the Polygamy Burger (multiple patties haha); and Natalie had the Rosemary Mushroom Melt, which if I were just a vegetarian, I totally would have gotten, it looked so good.  No photos as we were all too busy stuffing our faces.  But the food was great and we were able to sit outside on the deck which was (1) in the shade at that time and (2) dog-friendly.  So you know we'll be back - Milton will insist upon it.

easing into it

My ankle is improving but since it's a high ankle sprain (I did finally go see the doctor), it will take longer to fully heal than a more common low ankle sprain.  I really miss hiking though - Milton does too! - and when we were last down in Moab, I wanted to see what I could do.  I was looking for something not too long, with a combination of surface types.  I wanted water too, since it is July and the desert and you can't take a dog hiking without water in these temperatures.  Millcreek seemed perfect and since it's close to the house, we didn't have to get up too too early to get to the trailhead by 6:30 a.m.

Low sun, long shadows

We did it twice, on Saturday and again on Monday, giving my ankle some rest in between.  Each time, there was just a single car in the lot when we got there; on Saturday, there were about fifteen or so cars when we finished but on Monday, there were fewer than ten.  Each morning it was an extremely pleasant low 60s temperature when we started, with the sun just barely clearing the La Sal mountains as we headed out along the rim.

Sun's out, tongue's out

My plan had been to go out along the rim where there is no shade when the sun was lowest, then drop into the canyon, head upstream to the beaver flood section and cross there, then come down on the far side since it stays shadier longer.  On Saturday, the creek was really cranking and we weren't able to cross where I wanted to: the bank was steep, the current was fast and the water was deep, and between my wonky ankle and Milton's beginner-level swimming, I didn't feel comfortable with it.  So we retraced our steps and walked out on the sunny side.

Pretty native grasses

By Monday, the creek seemed to have come down a little - not much, but enough that I felt comfortable crossing.  All things being equal, however, we probably should have just stayed on the sunny side again because when we got down to the cowboy jacuzzis, we couldn't cross back over (see above re: deep and fast).  We had to backtrack to find a shallow enough place to cross the creek.  Since the creek crossings were difficult for me (stupid ankle), adding those two for no real good reason wasn't the best idea.

Enough water still to cover

the cowboy jacuzzis

Still, while difficult, all the creek crossing went fine (if slow) and the cold water felt really good.  Milton seemed a little nervous about the strong current but he stuck close and didn't get carried even a little bit.  I also found the sections of trail with deep sand to be challenging too: harder to walk in and more of a strain on the still-sore ligaments.

Love a blue sky

It was good to test things out and I think that was a good trail to attempt different conditions.  Milton thought I was still a little slow (I was) but as always, he loved getting back out on the trail.  So did I.

csa summer 2023: week 1

 After we enjoyed last year's foray into CSAs, we couldn't wait to sign up again this year.  We went with Tagge's Famous Fruit & Veggie Farms again for the convenience and for the amount and quality of the produce.  We got a small discount as a repeat customer and our first box arrived on July 5: zucchinis, summer squash, beets with greens, green onions, apricots, cantaloupe, cherries, dino kale, red leaf lettuce and an enormous head of romaine lettuce.

So much squash tho'

The first night, I quick-pickled a bunch of zucchinis and summer squash and we had the beet greens, sauteed with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, for dinner (along with brown rice and BBQ seitan).  By the next day, we had devoured the melon - it was a mini, must be an early variety, and was delicious - and were working quickly through the cherries.  Kale and summer squash went into vegetable pancakes for Friday night dinner; more kale and summer squash went into Saturday afternoon smoothies (with mango and Meyer lemon and orange juice).  I'm mostly at a loss as to what to do with the beets - I still have some in the freezer from last summer! - but I think I'm going to quick-pickle them too, and we can eat lots of pickles with the lettuces.

We get a two-person box and even though we're vegans, it's still plenty of produce to get through each week.  And it's super fun figuring out how to use everything with as little waste as possible.  I'd never done beet greens before and they were yummy - I prefer the greens to the actual beet roots.  Can't wait for the next box!

riding and receding

 Despite my literal lameness, we did manage to double-session every day, hitting the bike path on our cruiser bikes after our morning road rides and short hikes, respectively.  Since the route is mostly flat, it's an easy pedal and although it was often breezy, it was never too windy to be onerous.  We did two thirteen mile routes (from our house to the end of the bike path up the Colorado River and back) and one seventeen miler (from our house to the Arches National Park entrance to the end of the river bike path and back).  I'm super-glad to have these cruiser bikes - and to use them for more than just riding to the bar.  Although we did that too.

Not only is the water below the sign, 

the silt has covered the posts

(see our May 20 post for comparisons)

We also stopped to check out the river level.  It has definitely come down since our jet boat ride as the peak snow melt has finished, but it still seems high and fast.  And it's still cold too: the adventure jet boat groups we saw were all wearing waterproof anoraks under their life preservers.  Come the August heat, the water will be refreshing but right now, it's hypothermia-inducing.

There's a beach where a concrete boat ramp should be

something's afoot

 Content has been sparse since Memorial Day weekend, in large part due to my ankle sprain.  It's four weeks later now and while the swelling is less, it's still swollen and somewhat sore.  It's very stiff to walk on in the morning.  I've been wearing a compression wrap sometimes that helps with the swelling, and the doctor I (finally) saw recommended stretching for my Achille's tendon.  

Immediately after I sprained it, May 28

After two weeks of hobbling around, I couldn't stand it anymore and took my MTB out for some paved hill climbs around our Sandy neighborhood.  I wore that compression wrap and it wasn't too sore during the ride.  But when I stopped, I couldn't twist my foot to unclip from the pedal: I had to unlace my bike shoe, take my foot out of the shoe and then unclip the shoe from the pedal.

A little better by June 10

All of this is to say that hiking has been non-existent since then in northern Utah (plus most of our favorite trails are still deep with snow) and pretty vanilla in Moab.  We were down for a weekend recently and Milton was really needing some off-leash time.  While H did road rides (bike path rides) each morning, Milton and I walked down to the Jackson Street trailhead for the Pipe Dream trail to get at least a little trail time.  I limited us to two hours total, including on-leash sidewalk walking, so it really wasn't much to get excited about.  Except for the dog who got VERY excited to chase lizards, smally furry critters and birds.  Hopefully my ankle will continue to improve so we can go a little further afield next time.

Getting to the end of the southern

Utah wildflower season

desert delights

 Our neighbor Amelia had invited us (and Milton) to do a locals-only hike with her and some other friends on Sunday.  Since it was a longer hike (9-13 miles, no one was sure) that would take most of the day, H opted to spend the day with his folks.  Milton and I joined the crew and just after 8 a.m., eight people and four dogs headed off.  But first, the three who had done the hike before swore the rest of us to secrecy.  So I will be sharing photos and a description, but no pins/tags on social media and no directions.

There's a white pictograph just above that alcove

This hike required a shuttle so we left a van at the empty Millcreek parking lot and took the other two trucks up to the start.  We walked on a jeep road for a while, the dogs running and sniffing and getting used to each other; besides Milton we had Amelia's Moscow, Dave's Tank and Trooper, a chunky chocolate lab visiting from Colorado.  When the road deadended, we dropped down into a wash.  There wasn't any water flowing at that time but there had been recently, so both Milton and Trooper immediately plunged into the biggest pool they could find.

Small petroglyph panel

We continued down this wash for a while until it joined up with a branch of Millcreek, which was flowing nicely.  This was great because it meant that there was plenty of water for the dogs.  We stopped several times to check out petroglyphs and pictograms, and had lunch under the shade of an excellent arch.

Bit of an oasis

Last summer's floods had changed the course of the creek quite a lot (apparently) and we had to bushwhack somewhat where the trail had been swept away.  It was super pretty, though, and nice to walk in the creek.  We stopped to soak our hats and shirts as the sun climbed higher; I put Milton's white (white-ish) t-shirt on him when he started looking hot.

Good spot for lunch

For about eight miles we had this hike all to ourselves and when we finally heard voices of folks coming up from the left hand fork of Millcreek, it was a little startling.  We came out above the plunge pool and slid down some rock to get into it.  It was here that I slipped, rolled my right ankle and heard a POP.  "Well, that can't be good," I thought.  It was immediately sore and weak-feeling, and my Achilles tendon (which has been bothering me for a while now) was painful and stiff, but I could walk on it.

There were also grooves in the rock

nearby from sharpening arrows

As we headed for the trailhead, weaving our way through the increasing crowds, I fell behind.  Our neighbor Lauren slowed down for me and I told her what had happened.  She stayed with me - Milton, himself quite tired, didn't mind the extremely slow pace I was setting - for the last mile, which unfortunately included lots of people, some rock scrambling and a couple of creek crossings.  When we got to where the two Millcreek branches join, the water was much colder and more than twice as high and fast as it had been.  Lauren and I got across but we had to call and coax Milton: he didn't like it and got carried by the current a little before he found a shallower crossing.

Not a soul in sight

When we joined everyone at the van, someone in our crew was like, why didn't you say anything [about your ankle]?  But what was there to say?  I could walk on it, I needed to get back to the car, and it wasn't like we were going to call SAR for me.  So they gave me a beer and made me sit down in the van, and, as locals, we pointedly ignoring everyone who wanted our parking spot, as we toasted a very excellent hike.  The dogs would surely have agreed with the consensus except that they were all passed out, exhausted, under the van.

Probably not Pocket Arch

jet set

 Oh my heck, where did that week go?!?

In any event, we were down in Moab over Memorial Day weekend.  It was probably crowded but since we stayed away from the parks and didn't go out to eat, it didn't affect us.  H's parents came to visit and we tried to take advantage of the very pleasant weather - sunny, mostly calm and not too hot - with scenic drives through the La Sals and along the Colorado River, picnics at our new favorite picnic spot above the Colorado River ...

The last bit of shade for two hours

Speaking of the Colorado River, we booked a two-hour scenic river tour with Moab Jett.  We were at the HQ at 9:30 a.m. to sign waivers; once everyone was there (the boats seat ten passengers and besides the four of us there were two other couples, plus Rob, our driver/guide) we loaded up on the shuttle bus for the ride to the river.  They fitted us with life jackets, loaded us aboard and we were off.

Looking upriver

The river was running high (around 36,000 c.f.s.) and fast; anyone who was taking rafting or paddling tours was going to have a quick trip.  We started off downstream, so they could get photos of us coming up under the footbridge, and then roared upstream.  The trip is 26 river miles round trip: thirteen miles up to Red Cliffs Lodge and then back down again.  Rob told us that his primary focus would be safety - since the river was so high, there was quite a lot of floating debris to dodge - but he stopped often to point out features and talk about the area.  He was great.

Couple of wooden dories heading downriver

The highlight was near the Big Bend campground where we spotted a small herd of desert bighorn sheep.  We didn't see any lambs but there were 8-10 sheep on the top of a cliff overlooking the river.  We stopped to watch them for quite some time; our guide was as enamoured with them as we were.

Sure-footed sheep

Because the river was so high, a lot of the usual rocks were far below the surface.  This didn't mean that there weren't any rapids, however.  There were a couple of spots that had some churn to them and when we got to our turnaround spot, there were some standing waves that were at least four feet high.  Rob gave us a tiny taste of what the adventure tour must be like by hitting some of them (in the adventure tour, he said, they often have to stop to bail out the boat) before heading back downriver.

Sheep on a cliff

There was lots more river traffic at this point (nearing noon) and almost everyone seemed to know Rob, who has been driving for Moab Jett for nine years.  Back at the take out, he roared us through a swampy patch before splitting the bridge pylons and bringing us safely back to shore.  The take out was swarming with people now, rafters and kayakers and SUPers and tubers, lots with dogs and everyone keen to get out on the river.  It was nice that we'd had an early trip and had largely had the river to ourselves.

Once ashore, we had a quick parking lot lunch before stopping off for a beer and a trip rehash.  Was it touristy?  Absolutely.  Was it fun?  It was so much fun and we heartily recommend it to anyone.  In fact, both H and I have decided that we're going to have to go back a little later in the summer and do the adventure tour, just to see what that's all about.

TLDR: book a Moab Jett tour - it's worth it!

call it a day

 H and his triple sessions!  Saturday he did a morning road ride (21.09 miles; 1:08:14 time; 18.5 average speed; 27.7 max. speed) before the three of us went to Day Canyon for a hike.  There isn't an official trailhead, just a spot for a few cars to park on the Potash Road, then a social trail put in by climbers over the years.  There was actually one car there when we got there, but it was a young family with their dog and we passed them quickly.

Heading up

Day Canyon is green and cool and shady at the mouth of the canyon, with tall cottonwood trees that had sent out literal drifts of cottony seeds.  But once you get past that, and the sun climbs above the canyon walls, there is no shade.  The climb is pretty relentless too.  We didn't try to reach the head of the canyon this time - on our previous two attempts, the trail just faded away before we got there - turning around after about an hour and a half of up.  On the return, however, we somehow got off the trail and ended up down in the bottom of the wash.  We actually preferred that: it was more fun having to scramble and there were some pools for Milton to wade in.  

Cottonwood going off

Hike stats: 6.82 miles; 2:18 time/3.0 m.p.h. moving; 2:28/2.8 overall; 1,050' elevation

Good place to turn around

Since it was our last day, we dropped Milton at the house - he wasn't upset about it as he definitely had cumulative fatigue - and took our cruisers (double session for me; H's third workout of the day) to Josie Wyatt's to see our favorite bartender.  We felt we had earned our beers and toasted to a very good spring break.

Cruise stats: 2.3 miles roundtrip; 15.21 minutes; 9.0 m.p.h. average speed; 19:8 max speed)

falcon flow

Thursday.  H did a road ride (24.39 miles; 1:17:13 time; 18.9 average speed; 31.2 top speed) and then, at H's suggestion, we three went up to Sand Flats to hike Falcon Flow.  The Raptor Route is a series of three recently-constructed trails in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, put in as a slightly (but not all that much) easier alternative to the Porcupine Rim.  Falcon Flow was built in 2020, Eagle Eye in 2021 and Hawks Glide was completed in 2022.  

You can just barely make out H across the wash

We drove in a ways and parked at the first Falcon Flow lot.  There were a number of other vehicles there but, again, we only saw a handful of MTBers out on the trail.  Traffic on the Sand Flats road seemed to be starting to pick up a little, as folks were rolling in for long weekends.  We put Milton on his leash and walked up the road for over 2.5 miles to the upper entrance to the trail.  Although these MTB trails are technically two-way, you'd be foolish to bike up them.  Hiking up them isn't bad, though, although we preferred to get the road walk portion out of the way first.

So much green!

Falcon Flow is quite pretty, following along much of the Porcupine Rim trail but up above on the hillside.  A lot of the trail is sidehill-y, with steep downhill drop offs.  But it also goes through super pretty rocky bowls and washes.  It does have a long out, however: you see the Sand Flats road long before you come out on the Sand Flats road.

Cruisers

We paused at the Slickrock parking lot for a quick beer, then went home to shower and drop off a tired Milton.  Then we double- (me)/triple- (H) sessioned by hopping on our cruisers to go out along the river (no flat tires this time) before stopping by Woody's.

Hike stats: 8:08 miles; 2:27 time/3.3 m.p.h moving and 2:31/3.2 overall (not much stopping); 1,020' elevation

Cruise stats: 12.78 miles; 1:07 time; 16.8 average speed (that seems wrong/fast); 23.3 max. speed