I'm torn

The weather's turned and it snowed here over the weekend. While it's beautiful, and means skiing is around the corner, I'm missing my bike time. I loved all the riding I did with friends this summer and fall! Now the snow means it's over, at least in this area. Maybe I need a trip to St George for a week of riding?

Tonight I went climbing at Momentum gym. It's nice to climb with friends, but my poor arms are so out of shape that I couldn't climb the .11's I had my eye on. I guess I better get in better shape so I can climb all winter!

Little Cottonwood Trail

One of my favorite trails in this area is the one that runs the length of Little Cottonwood Canyon. It starts at Snowbird and ends at the Quarry trailhead. It's a mix of alpine, technical, and fast stretches.

In this pic, we got hailed on for the first half of the ride, making it slippery and muddy. Oddly enough it was also one of the best runs in that canyon I've had! We all got pretty muddy. I've done this trail a few dozen times now and I"m still not riding everything! My friends keep telling me "today's the day to ride that part" and sometimes I actually do!

Moab Mountain Biking

A A few weeks ago my friends and I had a 4 day weekend and we planned on spend it mountain biking and rock climbing in Moab. I really looked forward to it! However, it was being interrupred by a niece's wedding in St George, and another wedding of two friends in Sundance, so I only got one day (Thursday) to bike. My friends Dave and Rachel and I biked Amasaback, a 12 mile ride - 6 miles uphill, then the same trail out, thankfully this time downhill. It was really fun!

Having missed more days of biking, I was jonesing for more riding. I've been getting out quite a bit here in the SLC valley, especially Little Cottonwood Canyon, for rides, but Southern Utah has been calling me for more. I'd done several around St George this summer, and they are so fun!

I ran into a friend at the climbing gym on Monday, and said "Hey lets get down to Moab for some biking this weekend" and she seemed to like that idea, so she, her friend Kevin, and I made a 3 day trip last weekend. We did the classic Slickrock ride, which was really neat. The scenery was cool and the ride was excellent! The next day we did Hazard County and below that UPS, LPS, and Porcupine Rim, which is something like 20-something miles. Some sections were winding and fun, others steeper and more technical. I was sore after that ride!. Here are a few pics from the rides.

Veyo / Crawdad Canyon

What a cool weekend! Good friends, campfire antics, campstove cooking, and great rock climbing!

It rained and thundered on us Friday night, but then cleared up and became a beautiful weekend (I actually loved the rain and thunder too). We did several climbs, the last one a really tough one I didn't finish but enjoyed getting as far as I did. Tammy learned how to belay, thanks to a good friend Erica.

The kids caught and ate crayfish! Dave was wondering why they didn't suck the heads clean? What??? I think not!

Here are a few pics of climbing, and the cool cave that we went into (I only made it in half way before losing my composure and getting out, thanks to Tammy.)

Buckskin Gulch

A few weeks ago I did Buckskin Gulch and Paria Canyon, a 20 mile day through some spectacular slot canyon. While it was non-technical, it was beautiful and engaging. Several of my friends accompanied me through this adventure, and I played tour guide, although I hadn't been there before.

This slot is arguably one of the longest in North America. Once you are in it, the first place to exit is 12.5 miles into the hike. The beauty was astounding. It rained briefly, raising some anxiety about a flash flood, but I wasn't worried. It wasn't my time to die.

The narrowness and length made for an awesome day. One of my co-workers was brave enough to go with me, and he paid the price in pain, but the memories made were worth it. The pygmy rattlesnake in the canyon wasn't happy to see us, and the knee-deep mud about sucked our shoes off. Good thing camp was at the end of the trail!