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.