Hikes, Bikes, and ~Fish~

Well, it's been a good two weeks.  First off, I've had some awesome rides.  I've been feeling pretty good to go on some pretty intense ones, some sprint workouts on my road bike, and a few grueling climbs on my mountain bike.  I had a blast to go up the Flume Trail and it felt great!  It was awesome and in fact, I went up the Flume today too.

While the girls were gone down at Phoenix, AZ for a week.  My dad and I were left with three dogs.  It was very hard to babysit them but thank goodness they weren't actual kids.  That would have been very hard.  We were be able to escape and take all the dogs with us to Maple Canyon.  This was the first time I've been there like in 10 years.  I can't believe it has been that long.  It was like going down memory lane.
  

We went through Box Canyon and I think the last time I hiked through Box Canyon is when I was probably 9 years old.  When we went through, I thought the canyon looked smaller than it did 25 years ago.

Bailey had a blast and he walked pretty good.  We kept him on a leash though.  Dad got really tired when we went through Box Canyon, and there were a few people there.  Maple Canyon now gets a lot of visitors from all over, it is a rock climber attraction.  Back when I was a kid, Maple Canyon didn't used to be like that.  We used to just go there and camp and we were the only ones there and never had to reserve and pay for a camping spot.  Well, those were the good old days.

Another day, actually it was on the 24th of July, I went on an awesome bike ride up the Flume, then ate something when got home and took Jeri and Duke up the mountain for a short hike.  We went up to this GBEEC nature trail.  It goes through this pond and along Bluebell Flats.

It's a pretty easy hike which takes an hour but a very gorgeous hike.

Then last Saturday, a friend invited me to go fishing up at Snow Lake which is a high elevation lake up at the top of the mountain.  We fished all morning long until lunch and that is when all the crowds were starting to come in.  All three of us caught fish and I caught some pretty big fat juicy ones, five of them.  My parents and I ate the fish that night and they were soooo good.  Probably because they were fresh.  I will need to go fishing more often not just for the fun, but for the food. 
Well, I am having a good summer and I love summers.  A lot of biking riding, hiking, and all other kinds of recreation.  I don't want summer to end!

Park City Summer of 2013

My older sister, "The Karen" came over to Utah to visit for awhile to see us.  It was great fun while she was at home for a few days, we also made plans to go to Park City for a few days.  She got us a great condo with her timeshares and it was great(Marriott Summit Watch).

I definitely took my mountain bike to ride in Park City and the weather was perfect.  The first morning, I did South Midmountain Trail.  It's a great trail and it's somewhat level with mostly rolling hills kind of terrain.  It was good interval training.  The trail was beautiful with trees and such.

The views were great and there were quite of few hikers that day that never said hi back when I waved at them.  Very rude people.  Well, a few people did, but the fancy tall people that looked like they were from Europe or straight from Park City, never waved back.  Just ignorant.  They just kept looking down at the ground as I passed by every time.  Oh well, it's Park City, not Ephraim, probably normal.

I started from Silver Lake Lodge in Deer Valley Resort and did the Midmountain Trail to Park City Resort and did the return trip on the same way. I tried to do this loop following this map above but I couldn't find the starting of John's 99 Trail.  I even asked this girl at the top of lift who worked there.  She didn't know.  But I figured it out by looking at a more detailed map at the bottom after my ride, there it was.  Oh well, I had fun as an out and back.

This is my "special room".  I had the whole living room with the sofa bed.  Also the kitchen and dining area.    Everybody else had their beds in the bedrooms.  I had some good rests in this room.

On the second day, I got up earlier than the previous day and had a good morning start.  It was cooler and felt nice for my planned climbing route kind of ride this time.  I decided to climb up Jenni's trail that started from Park City Resort Base.  This trail is probably the easiest climb ever in Park City.  The grade is not as steep but it was perfect for my riding ability since I am not good as shape I used to be.

The climb was beautiful with sun and trees and a morning breeze.  It took me an hour to get to the top.  I wasn't too fast though like other riders but it was a great reward for me anyway.

The top along John's Trail.  I took the downhill, John's Trail(not John's 99).

John's trail is a very technical and curvy singletrack.  But awesome.  I liked the roots and sharp turns.  After the trail, I took Sweeney's Switchbacks right back to the motel.  RIGHT back to the motel, awesome.

Dad made a new friend while we were walking around Park City with the girls.  Dad didn't like Park City too much, he said, "to have fun in Park City, you got to have a bike".  I don't blame him, if I didn't have my bike, I would hate Park City a lot.  But that's all I did there, biked.  I don't like the people in Park City and everything is too expensive.   It's just all ritzy and artsy.

The third and last day, turned out to be a life changing experience.  Well, I did Lost Prospector for an easy ride then crashed big time.  I did an endo and landed head first right on a rock in the middle of the trail then rolled over while the bike flew ride above me.  I got a big road rash on my shoulder and knee.  My helmet got dented from the rock and cracked it.  It could have been my head! 

I continued on and had like 30 minutes left of riding but it was great fun and took it easy and took it more careful.

Lost Prospector is mostly a level trail but it was short, took me an hour to do an out and back.  But great fun.

I love helmets!  Saved my life.  Well, I have to get a new one.  You're not allowed to ride with damaged helmets, it's a rule I guess.

I had fun being in Park City with Karen and Company.  We ate at some good places and my favorite place was Vinto's which was an Italian place and it was very good.  Also inexpensive.  The pizza was very good and that's what we had.  I went shopping for a little while with the girls at the outlet stores.  I had to buy some much needed clothes for myself.  Bought some cool clothes at a good deal.  Also went swimming at the motel and it felt really good after my 2nd ride.  We also had good ice cream cones and such.
That was the only vacation I get this summer and it was a good one other than the crash.  So, if you have a bike in Park City, it's more fun.