I'm not really gone.

I go for my hike most days. The only time I miss for the most part is when I spend all day in a vehicle. Last week was one of those days. I was out on the West Desert with a high adventure group. I didn't get much hiking in, but we did go rock climbing. On the way back to camp the storm that had plagued us all afternoon gave us this in compensation. The picture in NO way reflects the true grandeur of the scene spread out over the valley, but it'll give you the idea. Both rainbows were the full 180 degree classic, with their bases on the ground in the valley. The brighter one had more and more defined color bands than any I can ever remember seeing and the valley itself, along with the mountain ranges in the distance were just sharp-etched in brilliant color and relief. Really a perfect 20 minutes of Mother Nature almost outrageous in her showing-off mode.

It's been a long time since I visited this blog. I've had a busy summer and fall but have now settled into my 9-month a year routine of working and taking an hour walk as exercise and lifeline to sanity. My (most) daily walks paid off during the past year as I topped them off with a 52-mile trek through the Southern Wind River Mountains. I came to the trip with a little trepidation because I hadn't lost as much weight as I had wanted to. But the trip went fine and I powered up and over the three major mountain passes with no problems. In fact, I felt better than I had since I was a kid crawling over the mountains.
Now the routine is: break for an hour sometime during the day and hike up a nearby canyon then get back to work.
I used to drive the other direction from the office and head to the gym. There I would do a little weight training then hop on the treadmill for an hour. My ipod and an audiobook from audible.com was the only thing that got me through what otherwise would have been tooooo booooaring.
I like the view going east from the office better.

It's Hot

I headed up to my "default" trail this afternoon. The oaks are now fully leafed-out in the foothills and the underbrush is green and lush. It's very summer out there right now. I was in shorts and I had a liter of water with me and my feet just sort of took the rest of me along on a hike that ended up much longer than I had intended. I got to the switchback at the top of Fern Valley and went a little ways along the ridge separating Beus Canyon from Birch Creek Canyon. Last Monday I had a similar experience of being "taken" for a hike and got to the same spot before I managed to turn around. It was still quite snowy. A week makes a big difference.
I got an email today from a volunteer who sent a link to an amazing video of a guy who also took a hike. It's a little long, but if you like to hike, it'll blow you away. It's some place in Spain where apparently, they have managed to actually kill all the lawyers. Follow this link: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562

April Showers in May

When I left work today the sky was heavy with rain. On my way to the Beus Trail head there were a few splats on the windshield but it hadn't actually started raining in earnest. Of course as soon as I started hiking...

It didn't last long. At least not the real rain. After a minute or two it settled down to just a drizzle. The walk was actually very pleasant. It always smells good in the rain. And the colors are vivid, if a little dark. Because of the weather, I decided to stay in the canyon and hope I got a good workout before I hit snow. I made it all the way to Fern Valley before a few drifts started to appear on the North-facing slopes of the canyon. At the mouth of the canyon the leaves are out full, except for the oak, which is just beginning to leaf out. As I hiked higher, spring got newer and newer, until the leaves were just buds again. The little creek is running high but mostly clear. It was a great walk.

Yesterday I hiked up Taylor Canyon to the overlook on the first switchback. I was in snow from just past the spring until the trail came out of the trees at the end of the switchback. It was really a glorious day. There were kids rock climbing across the canyon on the Schoolroom Wall and everywhere I could see a trail I saw hikers and bikers. It was that kind of day. One that insisted that everyone get outside and drink it in.

Today I was completely alone. (rare) Just me and my cell phone--just in case. It was a different kind of glorious.

Nearly Summer on the Shoreline Trail

Today I took out my camera and took a picture of something novel: The last real snowfield on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail--at least the portion between the Beus Canyon Trail and 12th Street. I can't speak for the North Ogden segment since I haven't walked on it for a couple of years now. I don't miss the snow. If I did, I only have to go strait in Beus Canyon instead of left and in a few minutes I'd be right back into winter. I'm going to give that route a rest for a bit more. I walked it a couple of weeks ago and was in deep snow after 200 yards. I'm sure that's changed, but I'm also sure I'd be slipping and sliding before I made it to the little cascade that marks the 30 minute point. (For me.) Walking on cold, soft snow isn't bad. And with crampons, even ice can be dealt with. But hard spring snow with a mushy layer on top of an uneven base just takes it out of you.

Anyway, this snow is endangered. I can actually kick up dust while I'm walking. All of the trees except the oak and a couple of walnut near the trail head are beginning to leaf out. Even the Mule's Ears are putting out leaves and flower buds. I actually saw a few Allium blooming today. The only thing I need to see to prove that spring is actually here is a rattlesnake.

Near Melted

It's been fun to hike the same trail day after day for the past few weeks. I've been watching the snow retreating each time I go up and I'll have to admit, even though I love the snow, it's great watching it disappear. There's still a lot left on the north-facing slopes but it's completely consolidated and firm and so walking on it has been no problem. I can cover ground just as fast on the snow as on the bare trail.

I've learned that you use different muscles when you walk on bare ground versus on the snow. I can feel the burn in my hamstrings as opposed to my thighs. Interesting huh? I don't think so either but it came to mind on a day where not much else did. I gotta say, even though it's nice to see the snow retreating, what is emerging is pretty...dreary. No leaves on anything and the ground looks blasted by winter. Still, it beats the gym. And so I'll walk until spring turns the grey and brown green. And then I'll walk some more until it's hot enough that I feel like finding some snow up high to walk in again.

Melting.....

Three weeks goes by frighteningly fast. The weather has been consistently in the 50's or even 60's and not freezing many nights but the snowpack is still far down the mountain. It shows how used to dry winters I've become to remark on this during the month of March which is still pretty much traditionally in the grip of winter around here. But, the snow is melting...in between snow storms. The storms come, they lay some snow down, but it doesn't stay long, and the melt from the new stuff only slushes the old stuff that much faster.

Yesterday was Saturday and I had lots to do, including four hours of church meetings so I took off in the morning for my typical hike up Beus Canyon and onto the shorline trail. It's mostly bare now, there's a hundred yards or so in the canyon where the trail is still plastered, and there's a big area on the mountainside that had deep, deep snow last month, but the trail is peeking out there too. Another week or so in the upper 50's and I'll just be hopping drifts.

It's great to see the dirt again; even if it's mud. I have gaiters to keep it off my pants and the mud only persists for a day or so after the snow melts, then the trail is firm and fast.

Still Melting

I got an extra day from the solar system today. I also got one from work. I was scheduled to help with the Vertical Challenge fund raiser at Snow Basin but got excused. So I worked until early afternoon and took off.

I followed my footsteps from yesterday and someone had actually pushed on from where I had stopped and went to the bench that overlooks the Dee Events Center. I broke trail to the overlook above WSU's Promontory Tower Dorms, thinking maybe someone had come that far from the North. No such luck and it looked brutal beyond the overlook so I saved it for another day.

On the way back, I picked up a partner. This vulture must have seen me floundering in the snow and followed along hoping for dinner. Sorry sucka, I'm tougher than your average pudgy, bald guy and getting tougher.

Here are a couple of pics to document the slushing of the snow pack.

Tomorrow I thought I'd climb to the top of Malan Peak...but my wife thought I'd clean out the garage. I'll probably post some pics of my clean garage tomorrow.

Melt Out

Crap! It's been an actual month since I've even logged on to this site. I haven't heard any complaints from the legion of daily visitors so...no harm, no foul.

Speaking of foul, weather conditions this week have been anything but. I can't say the same for hiking on the trails. That has been foul. The snow is melting fast but it's still deep in most places. The succession of pics with this post were taken in the last three weeks. I took the one of the rocks because it was the first time since December I'd seen any that weren't covered with snow. The next one was taken last week. I had just "post-holed" through a few hundred yards of hip-deep snow. If I could discern the trail that was buried by the last couple of big storms, I could walk on top. If I missed the trail, I'd plunge down into soft snow until my leg disappeared. It was loads of fun. I wanted to go as far as I could because of the tantalizing bare slope on the other side of the draw. The trail was still covered but I wanted to smell the dirt.

I took the last photo yesterday. It's not so dramatic really. But It shows what I haven't seen since before Christmas. Bare dirt on the trail. It was only a 40 foot stretch and then I was back in the deep stuff, but it offered hope that the snow would eventually go away and let me walk without gaiters soon.

I love for the snow to come. I love for it to leave. I love snowshoe'rs too. Now that a few cars can pull into the Beus Trail Head parking lot maybe a few of them will come and stomp the trail hard again. In the meantime, If you walk on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail between Beus Canyon and Strongs Canyon. You should send me five bucks or so. I'm the one (only one) who busted the little path through the white wilderness. Believe me, it's worth five bucks to you at the least to walk in my footprints.

I take Visa, MC and PayPal

Ice Feathers and Frozen Toes

I can't get my little Subaru in the parking lot at the Beus Canyon Trail Head because it gets high-centered in the snow berm the plow throws up over the entrance and so I've been concentrating on Taylor Canyon at the top of 27th St.

It's been beautiful for the past few days. Lots of new snow and cold cold cold. I haven't been walking up the canyon itself. I've been veering off to the right and angling up the mountain on the trail that leads to Waterfall Canyon. I actually made a loop the other day; going to Waterfall on the upper trail and then returning to Taylor on the lower one. It took me about an hour and a half because I was on breakable crust for about a third of the way.

Today I only had a little time so I hiked to an overlook above the condominiums at the top of 29th street and then returned. There was 6-8 inches of new, powdery snow and the top of this new layer was covered with ice crystals that were shaped like the tips of feathers. The sun sparkled off of them big-time but I won't say it looked like diamonds. It did, but saying so would be trite.

Still Out There

I haven't been posting, but I have been walking. The end of the year is a zoo at work and in life. I suppose I could have taken 15 minutes once in a while to post to this weblog but...I didn't. Sue me.

I have been to the gym once or twice in the last month. I've been on a hike 3-5 times a week. The snow has been piling up and walking is more difficult. That's OK though, I'm walking because it's difficult. I don't get as far these days since walking on the snow, even when it's been packed down by snowshoers, is like walking on sand.

These pics are from Waterfall Canyon. I started up from the 29th street trail head, thinking I'd see if the sign with the phone number for information on the via ferratas in the canyon was still there. (No.) But it took only 20 minutes to get there and since the beaten path continued up the canyon I decided to go another 10. In ten minutes it seemed like I should just about see the frozen waterfall if I got around the next bend. Actually it took another 15 minutes and several bends and by that time I figured I needed to walk right up to it. There was only a little water trickling behind the ice. There were some smaller chunks that broke off and fell while I was there, along with a few rocks from the cliffs surrounding the falls. If you go here in winter, you need to stay well away from the ice unless you know lots about ice and physics and etc. I've been up here in winter and seen some biblical chunks of ice come crashing down. But even a fist-sized chunk falling 100 feet and making its acquaintance with the top of your head will get you in the newspaper. (Obituaries.)

Great place for a hike though. I think I'm going to stop paying the Ogden Athletic Club every month and just ignoring them. I've proved to myself that I'll hike in any weather. No need to go indoors.

I'm Still Here

Not that anyone would be missing my posts yet, (Only family knows about this blog right now) but I haven't actually died. December has happened and at the Scout Office, that means "Humbug". Our end-of-the-year-charade sucks all the joy out of life; it's the month where we turn our high and holy principles into an ego-driven paper-chase to secure the next career move for the region staff. If you think that sounds cynical, you should know I have one of the more charitable attitudes towards year-end membership among my colleagues.

I haven't been completely inactive in the getting in shape department though. I've been to the gym more days than I've been on the trail, but I did get out yesterday and took a few snaps of the results of the latest snow and apparently, wind storm. The snow was blown into odd shapes and then frozen into the sculpted shapes you can (maybe) see in the hillside photo. I seemed to be the first to travel this stretch of the Shoreline Trail since the weather event since I was making first tracks on the bench portion of the trail until I got to the area of the "rest bench"; the goal of my hikes on busy days. There, there were footprints from folks who started around Strongs Canyon or the Fitness Trail above the university and make a little loop of the high and low segments of the Shoreline Trail.

The snow was crusty, and in places I could even stand on the top, but in most places I cracked through the crust. I get lots more exercise in the snow than I do in the dirt. All the better to work off the effects of all the crap people bring into the office this time of the year and that I'm obliged to sample.

Finally, driven to the gym

It's been some time since I posted to this thing. Life's been frantic. I have had to choose to exercise or blog about it. My last hike was on Thanksgiving day. I went up the Indian Trail with my daughter and my son-in-law. (Married to a different daughter.) It was dark before we got back to the car, but a nice hike with a great sunset at the end. My daughter does heroic things at the gym and takes a pilates class that would kick a running back's butt, but she doesn't hike and it was gratifying to see her panting along behind me. So much for stupid pleasures.

The weather has been nasty this week and so I've been back to the gym. It's boring compared to a walk in the woods, but it beats having snow fill your ears while you exercise. I listen to audio books with my ipod while on the treadmill, but in the weight room I can't because I'm not clever enough to count reps and keep track of the story. I spend an hour or so, shower and go back to work or home, whatever the case may be. Perhaps the weather will improve. It'll be nice to walk in the snow. The bare trees and dead grass were getting dreary.

Short Week

This week has been frantic because for work, it's only three days long. I'll get my six days of exercise in though. Monday was supposed to be stormy. I had planned on going to the gym but when I got through in the afternoon the weather was still fine. I took a hike up the Wheeler Creek Trail that begins at the base of Pineview Dam. If I have time I like to walk up the old Art Nord Drive until it intersects with the canyon that Wheeler Creek comes down. Then up that canyon to Refrigerator Canyon. Then my route turns left and intersects the bike trail that comes down from the resort and parallels the old Snow Basin Highway until it hooks up with the Art Nord trail at the trail head in Snow Basin. (The Snow Basin, not the ski resort.). Then I follow the trail down to the starting point. It's about four and a half miles and gains and loses 1200 feet or so.

It's mid-November and the terrain is a bit drear. The only leaves left on the trees are brown, just waiting for one more blow to come down. The creek tumbles down the canyon but its bed runs through totally dead vegetation. There's not much in the way of evergreen along this path except for the fir trees on the North and East slopes. I saw several deer though, including a big four-point buck. It's antlers were huge for only having four tines to a side. I took a picture but he had already decided he wasn't interested in me and so all you can make out is his white rear. You'd see nothing if I shrunk it to fit this blog.

Yesterday I went up the Indian Trail. Starting at the 22nd street trail head, I hike up until I get into the cliffs that overlook Warm Water Canyon. The last few hundred feet are off the official trail but there's a good path through the cliff bands that leads to an overlook of Ogden Canyon. It takes me about a half hour to go this far. It's a little less than a mile and a half and gains about 800 feet. It's a dramatic trail. You end up in the cliffs above the narrows of the canyon. The trail is well-maintained but if there's any snow or ice on it, it can't be negotiated safely without an ice axe in a couple of spots at the top of steep gullies that plunge down to the road. If you ever got sliding or tumbling in one of these couloirs, you'd be a mess to get ready for the funeral.

Tomorrow is Turkey Day. I promise to be semi-good and to get some exercise after dinner. On Friday or Saturday I'll probably drive to Star Valley in Wyoming. We have a tradition of going out on the Bridger Forest and killing our own Christmas Trees. They sell the permits in Afton. After driving there and back including meals on the road--we can't seem to get excited about packing all our meals--it's the most expensive $5.00 Christmas Tree you'll ever see. But they're guaranteed fresh, and it's a tradition. Good exercise too.

To The Top Again

In my last post I mentioned a hike up Taylor Canyon. Four and a half months ago I hiked on that trail to the top of Malan Height and the next day I couldn't sit for more than a few minutes at a time. That began a months-long debacle with my lower back that was about as scary a health issue I've ever personally experienced.

The hike had nothing to do with the infection in my spine, but during the weeks of being a near--actually I was a genuine invalid--just not permanently so, I wondered sometimes if I'd ever again have the simple pleasure of hiking to the top of Malan Height. Well, yesterday I finished my chores and drove to the top of 27th St. in Ogden with the intent to hike at least to the overlook on the Malan Basin Trail. Well, it was a nice day, and when I got to the overlook I felt good and had some daylight left so I continued. Before I knew it I was at the top. What an incredible rush! When I was released from the care of Dr. Winters, the neurosurgeon who took care of me, he told me I could do what I felt I could do physically, but not to be discouraged if it took six months or longer to really get to feeling like I was on the mend. So even though the Malan Height hike is just a 2 1/2 hour exercise hike, I felt like I had accomplished a lot.

It's two miles one way to the top and you'll put 2000 ft underneath you in the process. Good exercise and a great view for a reward.

I decided to go for a little variety today. Instead of driving to the Beus trail head I went to the top of 27th st. in Ogden and walked up Taylor Canyon. This is probably the trail I'm most familiar with. I used to come up here almost exclusively because when I first started hiking the trails above town for exercise, this one was by far the best maintained and longest of them all. It still gets more traffic than the other canyons.

I only had an hour, but today I would have gone farther if I could. Once you switchback out of the bottom of the canyon the trail climbs steeply to an overlook about 1000 feet above the end of the road. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to this point. It's really steep. In places the trail is nearly knee-deep from the erosion. It's a knee-buster on the way back down too, but the view is great, and the hike gives you a feeling of having gotten somewhere for the effort. Another 40-45 minutes (for a fat guy) gets you to the top of Malan's Peak, or Malan's Height to be more precise. It looks like a peak from town but it's actually the buttress end of a long ridge coming down from Mt. Ogden. That's a great hike. Marvellous views from the top both across the valley and up to Mount Ogden and up and down the range. The trail continues into Malan's Basin which is a great "cool and shady" on a hot summer day.

My favorite hike around here if I have half a day is to hike up Waterfall Canyon and then scramble up through the notch in the cliff just south of the waterfall. From there you pick your way up the draw until you can't go farther without getting into the scrub oak. Then you climb along the edge of the cliffs to the divide between Waterfall Canyon and the lower portions of Malan's Basin where the creek cuts through the rocks then plunges over the cliff forming the waterfall the canyon is named for. You stay well above the waterfall though, and pick your way across the top of a little cirque basin and over the edge into a deep forest of fir trees then down to the creek. From there you can follow a poor trail up into the basin, meeting up with the Malan's Basin Trail (Taylor Canyon) near the site of the old hotel that the Malans once operated up here.

Of course then you hike out of the basin, over Malan Peak and back down Taylor Canyon. Now you can finish the loop on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. It's a great hike. Lots of exercise, a 125-foot waterfall, off-trail class 3 scrambling, a shady basin, superlative views from the peak and a well-made, if steep, trail back to the car.

Nothing like that today though. 30 minutes up and then 30 down was all for me. Meetings to go to. People to see.

Walk in the Dark

I should have gone to the gym today. I didn't have a chance to exercise until after 4:00. But I went up the canyon instead. It was dusk by the time I got back to the car. It was dusk before I started hiking back down the canyon. Even so, I passed lots of people hiking up the canyon as I was going down. Two guys were running up. I think when I get to 200 lbs, I'm going to run up the canyon too. There was a man coming up with two little dogs and three people with two big dogs. I guess these were doing what I was doing; taking a walk in the woods in the dark, against the day--not to distant now--when to do so will require wading through the snow.

There was ice along the shore of the creek, and on branches that hang over it in places where there is water spray from the little cascades. I pulled the sleeves of my jacket down over my hands because it was so chilly. I'll need to put some light gloves in the car.

The day was almost done as you can see from the photo. Day went down like the year is going down. Another six weeks and it'll be New Years.

I'll still be hiking.

The Committee Expands

Today's exercise was another walk on the Shoreline Trail. It has been drizzling lightly all day and I got sprinkled a couple of times on the hike. I much prefer that to drowning in my own sweat when it's 100 degrees outside. As you can see, the view across the valley was mixed; mostly low, dark clouds but with enough sun poking through the holes to light up parts of the scene, especially over the lake. It was hard to capture the mood of the afternoon with my little camera, and shrinking the photo to fit the website won't help. You know the type of afternoon; sullen, with shafts of light that make parts of the valley floor shine silvery against the otherwise dark landscape. It was an altogether satisfying way to spend an hour.

The bench in the photo was probably put there by a scout working on his Eagle rank. Fifteen minutes spent on that bench can bring you the solution to lots of the world's problems. Today I didn't sit down. I was in a hurry to get to a meeting, and besides, the rain had dampened it to the point of being uninviting.

Our high adventure committee expanded this evening. We met with the Camp Loll committee chairman, Kim Bott. He brought lots of great ideas to the table. Foremost of these in my opinion, was an enthusiasm to create a "journey" for units preparing to participate in the treks. He even mentioned, prominently, the need to become physically fit in order to enjoy the adventures.

A week into my "fitness journey", I've lost 2 lbs. I still have a few to go.

Today I helped with the council Venturing committee's rock climbing activity at Preston Valley in Logan Canyon. We had a little over a dozen of our roughly 7000 Venturers at this activity. The rock spire is named the Preston Valley Pinnacle. It was a climb of about 40 feet from the ledge you can see the boys on. The climb is impressive because once you get to the top you are looking down about 150 feet to the base of the rock on the other side and over twice that to the bottom of the canyon.Thanks to David Deakin for making this activity possible by leading the pitch and setting the top anchor and then encouraging the climbers while Jason Eborn and myself take credit by belaying the climbers.

Yesterday was one of the busiest days of the year for us at the Scout Office. Auction day. It's the culmination of two to three months of pretty intense work. Most of us are out procuring items to be auctioned. Some have assignments for the "show" itself. Still, I managed to take an hour in the afternoon for me. I took a hike on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. It was a hazy day but the view from the mountainside was better than the one from Washington Blvd. I have to maintain the integrity to treat myself with care in spite of a hectic schedule. I know from personal experience that overall, I can accomplish much more when I get in my exercise and other personal care things done than when I neglect myself and the most important relationships in my life in favor of saving the world through my career. the Photo is taken above about 40th st. looking back towards Farmington.