Fall Break Part Trois

I'd like to shake the hand of whoever decided that University of Utah students should have a week off in October each year.

Fall break in 2014 was about 2 weeks before my thesis defense. This was not a happy time. Julia, Dave, and Olivia were very persistent and convinced me to get out of town. It was very kind of them.

First order of business was to find a beautiful campsite along the rim of the Little Grand Canyon. That was easy enough.

Seems like a suitable place to have dinner and sleep.

The second order of business was to bike along the rim of the Little Grand Canyon and be amazed. That was easy enough too, since the trailhead started from our campsite and the Little Grand Canyon is beautiful.

Our trail followed the rim for several miles. It was great.

Enjoying the moonrise and sunset after the bike ride.

Tak for turen bike. Photo by Dave.

Glad to be out of the office. Photo by Dave.

The third order of business was to go for a hike that involved a little scrambling and one rappel. That was not nearly so straightforward but it was wonderful nonetheless.

The plan was to walk up one canyon and down the other. Dave and Olivia had picked out the Cow/Calf/Pine loop from a guide book written by Steve Allen that Dave had found at a thrift shop. Steve is quite the adventurer and has done some pretty cool trips in his day but it seems that somebody dumped that book for a good reason.

The hike up the canyon was very pleasant.

Towards the start of the hike. Photo by Dave.

The first sign of trouble was trying to decide where Steve recommended climbing out of the canyon. It came to a very abrupt dead end with a few places where it appeared we could climb out. So we went to the guidebook and found that interpreting Steve's less than precise description was challenging. After wandering about for 30 minutes, trying one option, and turning around, wandering around for another 20 minutes, we committed to a slope with a few tricky spots and eventually made it up to the rim. Julia did quite well with exposure.

What the heck Steve? Your words do not match this route.

A few steep spots made it even more fun.

From the rim, the guidebook began to recommend that we head towards landmarks that appeared to be surrounding us on all sides. There are a lot of small washes, rocks, and gullies in the desert. Apparently Steve thought that vague descriptions were more helpful than specific directions. We were told to look for a fork in the trail and head for rocky areas. Which of the 13 forks in the trail are you talking about, Steve? "Steve Allen is a jerk" became the phrase we used to motivate ourselves to keep moving and find our way back to the car. We are still mystified by what Steve meant when he suggested we would soon be seeing "inverted V's" everywhere on rock walls along the route. Suggesting the trail will become more rocky is not a helpful description. There were several rocks along the trail. Eventually we stood overlooking the canyon we had climbed out of earlier that morning. Steve Allen is a jerk (no offense).

We backtracked and followed a different fork in the trail toward some other rocks. Suddenly an iPhone in a backpack dinged. Service! We found ourselves on the little screen, got oriented, and trudged along.

Not only is Steve Allen a jerk, I have terrible posture.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Eventually we found ourselves looking at a canyon that we were 86% sure that we were supposed to rappel into and hike out of. However the cliff we were looking at was a bit too long for the rope that Dave had been carrying around all day. Eventually Dave and Olivia found a suitable anchor and we scooted off the edge. Julia's first rappel was wonderful. Nice work wife.

Down the cliff we go! Much thanks to Dave and Olivia for
making sure we repelled correctly.

All arriving safely.

After some exciting down-climbing and inadvertent trundling we were at the bottom of the canyon and a pleasant hike to the car was all that was left.

Ha! We were right up there!

I have always been a blind-squirrel-type photographer. Eventually I will take a good picture. Dave is obviously a good photographer. His photos make looking back on an adventure even more fun.

While I was taking this photo...

Dave was taking this one. Photo by Dave.

And getting ready to take this one. Thanks
man. Photo by Dave.

After the hike we headed back to the campsite to soak in some more beauty on the canyon rim.

We all like the Little Grand Canyon.

After another extraordinary morning we took some "Sears catalog" pictures on the rim. Dave and Olivia framed this one for us as a Christmas gift. It captures the trip very well.

We didn't have to pretend we were having a good time for
this photo shoot. Photo by Dave's remote.

A few weeks later my thesis committee stopped asking me questions that I couldn't answer and said I would pass with a few minor changes and several major revisions. And then it snowed. So we went up to Alta to have some early season fun.

This is a 30 minute drive from our house!

Julia getting after it up the hill.

Julia getting after it down the hill.

Good times.

Kings Peak

So we took advantage of a long weekend and went and climbed a beautiful mountain. Julia and I had been hoping for quite some time to get into the Uinta Mountains for some backpacking. Dave and Olivia said let's go do it. So we joined them for a trip up Kings Peak and it was worth it.

We approached from the north, parking at the Henry's Fork Trailhead. We were soon very pleased to be there. The trail was extraordinary.

Olivia at an intersection. Kings Peak is way bock dare.

Weather was pretty good.

What a valley. If I was a trail runner, I would go here.

And there were flowers all over the place. There were so many flowers that our former-national-park-interpretive-ranger tour guides couldn't remember the names of them all. And they remembered a lot of names. It was a fun approach.

A pleasant glade above Henry's Fork Lake.

Two pictures of flowers in one blog post. Weird.

Our initial plan was to hike up valley and enjoy a restful evening in the cirque then go for the peak in the morning. But everyone was feeling good and at 2:00 we were way ahead of schedule. So we decided to set up the tents and go for the peak that afternoon. It was Dave's idea to put up the tents. Good thing we did that. If it were just me, I would have dumped them under a bush and taken off. Instead we got them good and ready for a storm. Julia mentioned something about not being so particular about getting the rainfly just right. Still, I wanted to get the rainfly just right.

Tents set up. Doesn't really look like rain.

Heading up towards Gunsight Pass. Happy wife.

The trail was really fun. There was no shortage of beautiful scenes to look at. Lakes, cliffs, and neat looking rocks all made the afternoon pleasant. We made the pass, scooted up some little cliff bands, and took a shortcut across a field of rocks, all the while astounded by the alpine scenes.

It's worth taking a good long look at valleys made by glaciers.

Up on the north ridge of Kings Peak.

A happy couple on the top.

Good friends. Happy times.

Atmospheric instability started to appear as we first began to head up the ridge. We soaked in the beauty for as long as Julia could handle and started back.

Hello dark clouds.

Throughout the descent it became progressively darker and windier. So we beat cheeks to get back to the tents. But we got caught. When we got back to Gunsight Pass, it was time for a thunderstorm. It began to sprinkle at the top and as we headed down lightning lit up Gilbert Peak and its surrounding ridges pretty good. Then it rained hard. There were one or two profound strikes less than a mile away. We laughed at every crack and assured each other of our safety down off the ridges. I can't speak for the others but for some reason I felt right at home. I wasn't afraid. I was glad to be there.

And our tents were secure. We got back to our campsite as the first storm swung past and we enjoyed to calm for a few minutes. We took the opportunity to cook up some food. As we made dinner another bank of clouds headed up the valley toward our campsite. We retreated to our tents and settled in to ride out the storm. More thunder and lightning (un)comfortably close. Dave and I would whoop and laugh with each strike. Julia became more comfortable with the idea of lightning during an adventure. She may have even enjoyed it a little bit. Helps to be in a good tent. Dave and Olivia were using a nice sturdy tent but with a small leak. In the middle of the night during a rainstorm they had an unexpected encounter with Chinese water torture but were able to come up with a solution using a rain jacket and get back to sleep.

The next morning all was well.

Cooking breakfast on an old moraine.

Refreshing place.

We ate well, packed up, and headed back down the trail. I don't remember what we had for breakfast but it was very good. All of us were very pleased.

Three pictures of flowers?!? This one has mountains too.

Good trail, good weather, and good friends.

Priceless day at Dollar Lake.

We couldn't get back to the car without another afternoon shower. But we were loving it.

At the end of July on the last day of sampling in the Willard Spur poor form pushing the canoe into the water gave me the posture and gait of an 85 year-old. Bummer. But the Uintas didn't go anywhere and the weather looked pretty dang good for the Perseid meteor shower. So Julia and I headed up the Mirror Lake Highway, found a nice spot, made dinner, and watched the stars. It was a good night.

Caption #1

Caption #2

Caption #3

Caption #4

Eventually I figured out how to use the panorama feature.

I am glad there are mountains and sunsets.

Making the Most of It

There is a lot to do around Salt Lake City. Especially if you have unusually motivated and adventurous friends. Julia was training for a marathon all summer while I watched from the couch and waited for my leg to stop hurting. I was often overdue for being outside and Julia was ready to have me out the door. Thankfully our friends helped organize a couple of notable adventures that had a camera along for the ride.

In May we piled gear into the car for a version of the Fun-o-thon.

Drying out the shirt I wore for too long during the Fun-o-thon,
according to Julia.

The original Fun-o-thon was conceived in high school by some buddies I met in college. By the time they were freshman at Hope they had sponsors. Over the course of a weekend we participated in a variety of games of skill, including basketball, Halo, and laser tag. And the t-shirt was free. This Fun-o-thon included packrafting, biking, running, eating, car camping, and being happy to be outside.

The first stop was Green River. We parked our bikes near Swasey's Beach and headed to the end of the road. We hopped in the water and headed down. It was enjoyable. There was one rapid with standing waves a little taller than Julia was comfortable with. But then she went through and expressed that she believed that sort of thing was a whole bunch of fun.

Desert bloom in Gray Canyon.

Enjoying Gray Canyon. 

Some cliffs towards the mouth of the canyon.

Some bouncy rapids. Julia says they are awesome.

We found our bikes and completed the loop.

Wonder of wonders, human powered packraft loops are starting
to sound fun to Julia.

After the rafting adventure we found an extraordinary camp site along the river. Can't wait to return. This was the first test of a platform that I built for the back of our car. The idea is that we can store stuff underneath and sleep on top with minimal craziness. Also I stuck some bike fork holder things towards the front to keep bikes safe and upright. It seems to work pretty good.

We shared our campsite with these little guys, whatever
they were.

Fun-o-thons require good food.

Meanwhile, Julia was still training for a marathon. The next morning on our way out she took a long run while I organized things in the car that didn't need to be organized. Our activities reminded me of the first year I moved up to Alaska and she was on the ski team. I would meet her up at Birch Hill with my cotton sweatshirt after she had done 1.5 hours of intervals. Then she would cool down with me for a half hour and that would be my workout.

After Julia's run we headed to Fruita to meet up with Dave and Olivia to go mountain biking. Dave knows from experience that the Fruita trails are pretty awesome. He was a very knowledgeable and patient guide. The camp sites are adjacent to the trails. We parked, pulled the bikes out, and wandered up and down some single track until dark.

Getting ready for action with pancakes for lunch in Fruita.

A neat looking lizard.

Fun-o-thon participants.

Julia really likes the bike-above-your-head photos. It's getting
kind of weird.

Puckered. Dave went down on biker's right and then recommended
I stay left. Thanks for the advice. Photo by Dave.

"This is awesome." "Sure is."

The next morning we headed for some trails along the Colorado River just outside of Fruita. These were also worth the time.

Checking out the Colorado on the Kokopelli Trails.

Julia on the Horsethief Bench trail.

These trails are pretty neat. 

We followed Mary's Loop to Horsethief Bench and back up to Mary's Loop. Then we went a little further on Mary's Loop and got up onto another trail up on the ridge and back to the car.

Throughout the summer we had a few more memorable bike rides around the SLC area. Dave and Olivia pulled Julia and I up to Park City to ride along the Flying Dog trail.

I can't pull off the button up t-shirt the way Dave can.

We celebrated Neil's birthday up at Snow Basin.

We were told to flex for the photo. This is actually the way
everyone responded.

Sharp looking crew.

It's not Lake Michigan but there are mountains to look at.

We checked out the Mid Mountain trail with friends. Julia took the opportunity to do some reconnaissance for her marathon up there in September.

Mid Mountain trail.

Dave and Olivia are also climbers. They took us out for another adventure up by Ruth Lake in the Uintas on a beautiful day. It's not hard to have fun up there. The knew where to go and led us up some pretty cool routes. Truly, they did all the lead climbing. It was neat.

Good weather and a beautiful trailhead.

Dave lead climbing and whatnot.

Ruth Lake

Olivia lead climbing and whatnot.

Julia climbing.

Another view of Julia climbing.

What a day.

Dave told me to do something sweet like push off the wall with my feet. He grabbed a bunch of pictures. I'd like to think that in the photo below I was jumping to a hold that was just out of reach. But I'm not. I have a death grip on a hold that I gather climbers would describe as "bomber."

The story behind the image is not as cool as
the image. Photo by Dave.

I got to a point where my leg didn't mind hiking so I convinced some friends it would be worthwhile to climb up Mount Olympus and watch the sun rise. We took off for the trailhead on a Friday night when Dave got off work around 10 PM and camped on the top. On the way to the trailhead I was the designated driver. It was a fun hike. We found flat-ish spots on the top and fell asleep around 2.

Sunrise from the top of Mount Olympus.

Neil's spot was particularly not flat. 

Dave and Michal felt pretty good in the morning. 

Neil did too, despite his spot being kind of small and
uncomfortable. Being 6'2" doesn't help.

American Fork Twin Peaks and Lone Peak to the south.

In August Dave married Olivia at a lodge looking across the Teton River Valley at the Teton Range. It was a wonderful wedding/party. So before all that went down we had an excuse to do manly type things for a bachelor party. We rented brand new and expensive (tags still on them) downhill mountain bikes from 2nd Tracks at a very reasonable price and did some laps on the lifts at the Deer Valley ski resort. Very good investment.

Neil getting air.

Dave getting air.

I was really excited about how the rental bikes handled relative to my bike. So the next morning I ran it up to the Bonneville Shoreline trail and down Bobsled before bringing it back to 2nd Tracks. I was in a bit of a hurry on the way up and maybe a little too confident in the shiny new bike and went ass-over-tea-kettle. But no significant injuries to report and the bike was still as shiny as ever.

Utah summers are very easy to enjoy.