...And the rest of the year

I've been doing a few more hikes in late fall/early winter.  This is up to Virgil's yurt.

Then I went a little higher up along Maple Syrup Trail.

The trails in Ephraim Canyon may be hard and too steep to ride with a bike but they sure do make good hiking trails!

The cat in the shop has grown a lot in the past year.  I give him lots of food, even the canned ones sometimes.

I went to Capitol Reef one day to hike.  First, I did Chimney Rock, a trail I've never done before.

The top.

Then I went down Chimney Rock Canyon.  It's a wash that goes through a slot like canyon.

Pretty cool.

I walked on the wash for like 2 hours then I went back to Chimney Rock Trail and back to the truck.

I ate a light lunch then I went to do the Frying Pan Trail, which is my favorite there.

The views are amazing!

I got a nasty sliver in my hand at work from a Baltic birch plywood.  It was in so deep that I had to take a trip to my boss's house and he took it out with some tweezers, a surgical knife, and his wife holding the flashlight.  It took him 2 hours to get it out.  I kept telling him that I could go to a doctor but he said that he can get it out with his EMT skills.  So I guess he did.  It was painful.  But it felt better when he got it out.

I went on a late afternoon/early evening hike in Bear Canyon near Nephi Canyon(south side of Nebo Loop).

Good thing I had a headlamp with me for the hike back!  This was during the way home from my audiologist appointment that afternoon in Provo.

Then it snowed!  I put on some boots and ice trekkers and hiked up Bald Mountain up to the screen and more above that.

This was the highest I got.  Good view!  On the way down, I met two more hikers.

On Thanksgiving day, I hiked up Bear Canyon Trail again.  This time in the middle of the day so I can go up further.

Duke and I made up all the way to the top of Bear Canyon Trail.  It ended up at the Nebo Loop Road about 2,000 feet vertical from the trailhead.

Nebo Peak in the background.

I got trees with my family.  One for us and one for my little sister, which I took up the week after.

Some more riding around Black Hill.  This was the final Vike on a Bike race loop ride of the year.  It was fun.

Bonfire with friends.  We burnt old furniture and old magazines.  What a fun night.  And some LDS missionaries came too.

I caught the prettiest sunrise ever when I got to Spring City to work at around 7:15 in the morning.  I took this picture and did a 360 degree view video.

Our tree decorated.

Bald Mountain hike again after a day of work just before getting dark.

I went to my little sister's house to take her tree up and to do a bike ride in the North Ogden area.  I did the North Ogden Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  It's one of my favorite trails there.  Very fun.  It was around 50 degrees but a little smoggy at the city.

More riding on my gravel bike.  I did some dirt road riding. No snow at all in December.

I did a photography shoot one day.  I tried to get in the exact spot where the photographer from 1920 took the picture of Guard Knoll.  But close enough.  Next time, I will do better.

Another late afternoon winter ride before it got dark, but it was cold as soon as the sun went down.

It snowed!  But not much.  So I did a ride on my fat bike.  I went around Black Hill.

Duke in Tractor Supply.  Hey everyone needs to try this, to take your dog to the store.  It's fun but Duke wasn't very thrilled at it.

Red Ryder BB gun hiding in the corner behind the piano.  Santa Claus probably brought it.

The traditional Christmas morning snow bike ride.  I do this every year ever since I bought my fat bike.  It's a fun personal tradition!  Then after I do my ride, I open the presents with my family.  They usually don't open presents until 10:00 or noon.

Jasper got caught in one of the tomato cages we had laying around in the yard.  One of the holiday disasters we've had.

My dad got this bird feeder stand and sunflower bird feeder from me and my mom.  I mostly got it for me, I was more excited for this than my dad was.  But he really likes it.

The winter has been warm lately and the snow had melted a lot.  So I am back to road/gravel biking again.  This ride, I went from one side of the valley to another and back.  From my house to the west mountains, turned around and went to the east mountains.

Then the second of the last day of the year, I went to Richfield and did the Big Rock Candy Mountain ride.  I love the bike path there.  I did it two times from the rest stop at the bottom of the canyon to Big Rock Candy Mountain.  It's a good ride, about 27 miles total.  It was so warm too...about 55 to 60 degrees.  I loved it because I had the whole place to myself, I didn't see one other soul there.

October Month

One weekend I went with my mom to drive down to Phoenix, Arizona to see my aunt.  I took my bike with me too.

It was a long but nice drive.

We stopped at this Mexican restaurant in Flagstaff where we always stop by.  It's where it's been on tv on the food channel.  Such a good meal.

I had three tacos.  Yummy.  That's what I like about traveling....good places to eat at.

Driving through Flagstaff has always been my favorite.  Because of the trees.  So pretty, it reminds me of Seattle or North Carolina.

We got to Chandler, Arizona that night then I went on a bike ride on the Desert Classic Trail the next morning.  About 7 in the morning Arizona time.

It was nice but there were a lot of people on the trail.  When you go out further, it's less people so that made it better.  I still had a good ride.  After the ride, I went with my mom to see my aunt in the rest home where she is staying at.

After a lot of visitations, my mom and I treated ourselves some barbecue at a really good barbecue restaurant where you eat on a piece of paper, not a plate.  And it had a lot of different kind of barbecue sauces.  It reminds me of the North Carolina barbecues.

The next morning, I went on another ride.  I went to the Hawes Trail System just north of Mesa.

This was a prettier area with less people and the trails were more technical. 

This was a good ride and I got done about 10ish when it was going to get hotter.  It got to 97 degrees later that afternoon.  And Utah was around in the 50s.  I swam in the motel pool outside a couple of times.

We visited my aunt more and we watched some tv with her for a while too.  Later that evening, my mom and I ate a restaurant close by which had diner food.  This meal above was the most fattening dinner ever.  The chicken had good sauce and it was good but very fattening.  I haven't had anything fatter like this.

My mom explained to me that in Arizona in the fall, they plant flowers in the flower beds, just like what we do in the spring.  So that means their winter is like Utah spring.  They're lucky.  But I still wouldn't want to live in Arizona in the summer time though.

The next week, I had an afternoon off during UEA.  So I went on a ride just on the south side of Nebo Loop near Nephi, UT.  I tried this one trail called Mahogany Hill Trail.  I only rode just like almost 2 miles then turned around because it got too steep and technical.  I guess it's only a good horse/foot trail...not bike. 

Anyway, I went further down the road and rode up through Pole Canyon.  It's a six mile road through Pole Canyon and it dead ends up at the top with a trail from there.  I didn't make it to the top because I was getting tired and it was getting dark.  There were a lot of hunters camping along this road.  I really like this road because it's not to steep to ride up and you get a lot of elevation(about 1,400 feet).

Another ride on the Sanpete county roads in the fall.

How do you like my biker's deer hunter outfit?  Orange helmet, orange jacket, and a beard.  Now the hunters can see me for sure.

Another gravel road ride.  Getting darker earlier in the evenings now.  Winter's coming!  And I don't like the sound of that.

One weekend, I did my hike in Maple Canyon with my dog.  Duke loves to go on hikes with me.

I did my usual favorite Maple Canyon hike.  Up Middle Fork trail to the top then back down halfway, then up the viewpoint, then down to the campground on the other side of the viewpoint.

At the very top of Maple Canyon.

The Maple Canyon viewpoint.

Going down the other side(Right Fork Trail) were some rock climbers, it was fun to watch them.

Later in the next week, I went on some more hikes.  Up around the Deer Run area.  Here's an archaeological find: an ACE Hardware sign hiding in the rocks near the Flume Trail.  I used to work there years ago in my high school years.  Well, just for a year though, it was a part time job.  So that's where that sign went, ha ha.

Then I hiked up to the screen on Bald Mountain. 

I haven't been up there for so long and it was a good hike and I might do it more.

It was getting dark so we rushed down the hill to home.

The following weekend, I went on a ride up the canyon on my gravel bike.  It was hard because it didn't have low enough gears for me on the road after the pavement.  So I craaaanked up to the A Frame house until it got steeper.  I probably won't do that again because it did hurt my hamstrings and my back pedaling like that.  Just up the pavement on this bike is good enough.  It has road bike gearing, not mountain bike gearing.

I rode a little bit on the flat part of the Flume Trail and back on this bike, then rode down the canyon road again.  I did wish I had my mountain bike though.  The gravel bike is only good for flat gravel roads with a little bit of climbing, unless I change the gearing on it.  But I am not going to do that since I have my mountain bike.