Trail Project

There has been trail building in the last two years by someone, some new additions to the Flume Trail and of course the new uphill singletrack(which I call it the Powerline Trail) to ride from the hydroplant to New Canyon Road. I have been enjoying these new additions to the trail...I don't have to ride on the Canyon Road from the hydroplant and up. I am also enjoying new trail from the Flume Trail(green trail) to the hydroplant at the base of Bald Mountain to do laps(orange trail).
Now, I am thinking it would be nice to not ride on the paved canyon road from town at all, so, it's possible. If you try to climb on the original Flume Trail(uphill), it's impossible to climb up that little section on a mountain bike to get to the orange trail. So, I am thinking of building a new trail(red) from the bottom of that hill and along the side of it which makes it just a gradual climb to the orange trail. This way makes riding a mountain bike possible to get to the hydroplant without riding on the pavement at all, plus just start and begin in the same spot. I'm talking about starting from my house and take the dirt road shortcut along the Lund Farm and to Gordon's Farm to get to the start/finish of the trail, so there is no riding on pavement involved(super nice).
I did some scouting and it's right on the other side of the fence of somebody's property. The trail will be on BLM state land. I will start on it as soon as the snow melts and it's only maybe a half of mile long so it shouldn't take too long. I will give you some trail building updates and pictures later in the spring time. So, happy riding.

Bald Mountain mountain bike climb...will be like the old days.

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My goal this year is something I did about 8 years ago or so I want to do it again...climb up Bald Mountain Road on my mountain bike. This climb is pretty hard because it's so steep. 2,500 feet of elevation gain like in 4.1 miles. The first part is the hardest because of the steepness, after the first part and trying to keep going, it gets really hard. Right after the screen, the road levels out more but you are still climbing, then finally, the top is very steep again and most of the time, it's a walkabout on that part but only maybe a 1/4 of mile or so. The top has the best scenic view of 360 degrees. It's that great. I don't know where I am on the physical part, I have been doing quite a bit of riding but not very much on Bald Mountain. Ten years ago, I used to climb to the top of Bald Mountain in an hour and 5 minutes(I can't believe I remember that!), but now, I don't climb that fast. I'll try it see if I can do it in at least an hour and a half. That's how long it usually takes me to climb 2,500 vertical feet now a days.
After the climb, there are great downhill trails on the other side of the Bald Mountain going into Ephraim Canyon. The new Willow Creek Bike Trail, Maple Syrup, and the Flume. Those should be good rewards. I am guessing that the snow will melt up there by middle of May or so. Should be fun. Bald Mountain Road to me is one of the best scenic climbs around here.

White Wash Trip

White Wash Sand Dunes

Sunrise

Dee Pass Loop

Rainbow

Fun trail Tony introduced me

I thought my dog was the spoiled one until I saw this

Owen found an artifact, a barrel! And rolled it up the hill.

Some slickrock, best part of the trail.

Is this heaven? No, it's Moab, Utah. Over President's Day, my brother, Tony and his family invited me down to camp and stuff at White Wash Dunes near Green River, UT. They motor biked and I mountain biked. The first ride I did didn't turn out so good, I went to do a trail near Dee Pass but after mile 3, it got muddy so I turned around and did some more riding on a dirt road then later that night, it got sunny while the sun was setting, I've decided to ride and try to follow Tony and his family, since they got motors on their bikes, they took off so I followed their tracks and had a much better ride. I got a total of 25 miles that day.

The next morning which is Saturday, Tony introduced me a really good ride he liked so much and thought I should mountain bike on it. He drew me a map and I started riding, then went on some cool slickrock that looked like Goblin Valley. I went into a puddle of water then got my chain wet, my chain kept sucking in and it was impossible to keep going. Luckily Tony rode by on his motor bike and I asked him to go back to camp to get my chain lube, 20 minutes later, he came back with my lube and I was back in business. Thanks Tony! At first, I was going the wrong way then Tony showed me the way and I went up this steep hill and rode at the top for a while for like 3 miles or so. I got 10 miles on that day.

On Sunday, I wanted to ride on slickrock and Tony told me where to go to ride on some. So I rode quite a bit that day and got 19 miles.

I am glad we've decided to go because all along we thought we were going to get snowed or rained on but it only rained for like 25 minutes on Saturday afternoon and that's about it. Everywhere else in Utah got a lot of snow or rain, I think we got really lucky! It was great. Warm, not like super warm but comfortable enough to get a few rides, maybe mostly around upper 40s to the lower 50s during the whole time. I had a lot of fun doing things with 2 nephews and niece. Hannah took me on a treasure hunt one morning and we all watched a lot of movies together, watched Little Rascals three times and Napolean Dynamite twice in one day! The trip was a blast and a very beautiful setting. I won't ever forget how pretty Southern Utah can get!

Keeping winter fun

Dukas is up to something

Road

Up by A-frame house, icy road too

With nothing to do around the house, to keep me entertained, I have been doing quite of bit of riding. Even though it was 15 degrees one time. It's been a lot of fun and it is definitely keeping me in shape, I think. I've been doing some riding around town like Witch's Knoll, down West and Canyon Road. Then one warm day, I went from Manti and along the backroad to Sterling and to Mayfield. I stopped at Mayfield at Mike's house for a little while and played a board game with Andrew then went back. I had a good ride that day,and a good time visiting.

This winter, I have been doing more cardiovascular exercise than weight lifting. I am still doing a little bit of lifting though, but not much, maybe stuff like pushups, core exercises, polymetrics, and squats sometimes but not into it seriously though. Maybe like once or twice a week but doing more biking and snowshoeing which I enjoy more but whatever. All the other winters, I have been doing more lifting and always gained like 10 or 15 pounds. This year, doing more cardiovascular, I only gained 3 or 4 pounds. Well, I think that is good.

I enjoyed riding and snowshoeing this winter and hopefully it will get warmer this month.