Bursera for Breakfast
When you find yourself in Arizona in January, you go for some hikes and runs. Hit the Bursera Trail with the Mrs. this morning. I love the smell of creosote and wet desert in the morning!
Pushing PRs
I have lost a good amount of weight this year and on the trails I have noticed myself feeling stronger, getting faster, and breaking PRs. Here’s a few recent ones. A few weeks ago I went out for a street run in the evening and accidentally got a 10k PR of 53:32. This accidental PR made me curious, so the next week I went back out and tried to go faster. I did, clocking a 51:01 10k PR. I am…
Moab Exploring
Family trip to Moab. We had a lot of fun and exploring Fisher Towers, the Kane Creek Area, and the Fiery Furnace in Arches. We found lots of petroglyphs (all well-known panels) and took a wrong turn in the Fiery Furnace and wandered around, lost but having a blast!
Battle – Grove Loop
Every time I loop Battle Creek and Grove Creek Canyons I say, “why has it been so long?!” This time I took one of our plant and wildlife science professors with me. He studies aspen trees, among other things, and it was fascinating to see how he viewed the landscape and environment. His scientist eyes saw so much that I glanced right over. so much fun. I’m disappointed that I missed the autumn leaves, but it was still beautiful.
Big Baldy via Dry Canyon
I have bagged Big Baldy via the SW ridge (steepest route), and via Battle Creek Canyon and the Baldy Saddle. Today I tried the final main option, up Dry Canyon to the Baldy Saddle. Dang oh dang. It is steep. 3.5 miles to the top with 3,500 climbing – not evenly distributed. Then, bombing back down. It was a gorgeous day but I was pretty beat up by the time I got back to my car.
Provo Canyon Foothill Trails
I go through phases where I hit a trail system a bunch of times in a row, then don’t go back for a year. Well, this September was aparently my time to mess around some more on the (mtn bike) trails on the south side of the Provo Canyon, off FS 027 Sq. Peak Road. It was hot and these trails offer more shade than most. I had some fun, then went back and tried to do it all faster,…
Nebo Peak Lightning Abort
With the family still out of town I took advantage of the open Saturday to try to summit Mount Nebo. After waiting out some hail in the car at the parking lot, I took off. Perfect temps, but the clouds looked ominous. Sure enough, right as I got to ridge overlooking Utah Valley to the West thunder started banging and a really strong cold wind picked up. Looking west towards the approaching storm I was right on the edge of…
Shingle Mill Peak for my Birthday
It was my birthday today and although I don’t usually go out on Sundays my family was out of town and I was all by myself. So, I gave myself a peak for my bday. My plan was to tag Cascade Mountain. But dang, the climb up from Big Springs to the Cascade Saddle just killed me. I was so hot, so low on energy. When I got to the saddle and looked at how far away the peak was,…
New Waterfall
I spied a waterfall down-canyon from Bridal Veil and realized it was probably accessible from one of the side trails I have seen popping off of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Sure enough, one did. After the waterfall I went along a pipeline trail that got pretty shwhacky. It wouldn’t have been bad except for BEES swarming around breaks in the line and the fact that it all looked terribly snakey. No snakes though.
Slide – Slate Canyon Loop
My neighbor Cody and I tackled the loop up Slide and down Slate Canyons. We saw a small rattlesnake just above the Y. It was hot going up Slide. Up top is gorgeous though. Wow. The drop down into the Slate Canyon drainage (coming from Slide to the north) is just stunning. Lots of rutted out rocky trail though. Not nice on the ankles.