One Day Long Spring Break

During our "one day long spring break".  My family and I headed to the Wedge Overlook.  I took my bike of course and it was my sister's first time in the area. 

The dogs came and they had a blast, I think.  Here's my sister and my mom in this picture.  My dad came too.

Here's my dad and his favorite place.  We also met some people from Greensboro, North Carolina, a 45 minute drive from my older sister's place in North Carolina.  We just thought is was odd that people from that far away knew about this place in the middle of nowhere.  We also bumped into an old neighbor that used to live across the street from our house.  I didn't see her though because I was out on a bike ride. 

While my parents and my little sister ate a picnic, read books, and sightsaw the Wedge more, I rode my bike on the Goodwater Rim bike trail. 

It was a good ride and I felt good and strong.  I went 9 miles and then 9 miles back which is halfway of the whole 15 mile trail.  I kind of liked that way better than doing the whole trail then come back on the dirt road because on the way back on the trail is mostly an uphill so I can get a workout.  It was an awesome ride and fast.  I didn't site see that much and I didn't run into any other riders at all.  There was a little bit of wind but the Junipers blocked most of it.

After my 2 hour ride, we all drove the car down through Buckhorn Draw to show my little sister the cool stuff.  My parents have seen it before but my sister hadn't.  First, we saw a dinosaur footprint....

Then the pictographs.....

Some rock art....

.....and of course, the Matt Warner name.  Who was an outlaw with Butch Cassidy. 

What a great little trip!

Another Trail...

Every time my mom wants to meet up with my little sister in American Fork or Sandy, UT, I definitely grab my bike and go along.  Because anywhere else outside of Sanpete County has way better mountain bike trails.  Especially near Draper or Herriman.  Draper has the Corner Canyon Trail System which has premium bike trails for sure.  Anything is better than the Sanpete crappy trails. 

This time I didn't go to Corner Canyon and I decided to explore some new trails near Herriman which is in the south part of Salt Lake valley, like Corner Canyon.  This area had way less people than Corner Canyon and that's why I liked it.  They are very short but also fun if you do laps.

First I climbed up this uphill out-and-back trail.  It dead ended up after 1.8 miles uphill, they say according to the internet that they are going to continue building the trail up the canyon 20 more miles.  That would be sweet!   Anyway, I went back down and did a couple laps on the Juniper Crest Loop.

Juniper Crest Trail is a fast, easy ride.  I really liked it because it was pretty fun and flowy.  At first I was planning to ride one lap then do another trail called Blackridge Trail close by but I decided to do another lap instead because I wasn't in the mood for another sustained climb.  For some reason I still felt a little cramped from the last ride and had a cold for most of the week.  So I just rode until I got pretty tired and it was fantastic.  I loved how there wasn't that many other bikers there.  Like what I said, anything is better than the Sanpete crappy trails.  We need better trails in Sanpete County but it's not going to happen, not enough mountain bikers.  It's an atv riding area.

Best. Bike. Rack. Ever.

Well, my Subaru is gone now.  Now I drive the truck which I bought a couple years ago and never drove it much.  I only put 5,000 miles on it during the last 2 years(probably world record on the low miles).  My Subaru engine just went bad and I decided to screw it and donate it to the Cars for Veterans instead of putting a third engine in it.  And just drive the truck.  If I can put another 30,000 miles on the truck then I'll be happy.  Anyway, I bought a really nice hitch rack for the truck and I am very impressed with it.  It's a rack from 1up USA company which is in Wisconsin, all made in USA.  For some reason, US made items are usually the best and very well made.  It was very easy to mount it into the hitch which only took 2 seconds with a special theft-free kind of allen wrench.  Plus I put in fat bike adapters on the rack so it would work for my fat bike.  It was easy to install. 

It works for my mountain bike...

road bike...

and fat bike...

This is pretty cool, I could tilt it down with the bike on the rack and put down the tail gate and get in the back of the truck.

....and there is a key lock to lock my bike which is what I really need!

And just to drive around and not having a bike with me, I could fold it up when it is not in use.  This is a pretty cool bike rack and if I want to transport more bikes, I could buy bike add on racks.  They go up to 4 bikes.  It is a pretty pricey rack but well worth it!  Here is the link to the website for this rack:  http://www.1upusa.com/

The Start of Spring Riding: Saint George, UT

Went to Saint George last weekend and the weather was marvelous.  I did a big ride(for me) on Saturday on the JEM Trail System.

I started from Sheep Bridge Road Trailhead and started climbing on JEM and got on Dead Ringer, a brand new trail which goes all the way to the top of the JEM Trailhead.  It took me almost an hour to get to JEM Trailhead from Sheep Bridge and it was worth it.  It was all climbing, but a very gentle climb.

When I got to JEM Trailhead, I finally stopped and rested, took pictures, and ate a snack.

Then I turned around and went back down Dead Ringer then took More Cowbell Trail which was a short loop on top of a mesa.  There were some serious runners kept asking me where the trails were and where the trails went, the guy was talking too fast and I think he was a Stravasshole(somebody using Strava and trying to compete without making mistakes and acting like jerks). I am a Stravasshole sometimes but I am trying to do better now....I hope.  Now what I know what a Stravasshole looks like. 
 

After More Cowbell, I got back onto Dead Ringer downhill, then got onto Goosebumps.  Goosebumps was also a fun trail.  Then Cryptobionic all the way down to Virgin River Dam Overlook Trailhead. 

I was going to turn right onto the Rim Trail back to JEM but I decided to turn left and ride south of Hurricane Rim Trail for a while then turn back and get back on JEM.  I was trying to get more miles and elevation but I shouldn't have done that because I got a flat tire on the really technical rocks.  I tried to fix the tire but my back up tube that was in my bike bag for maybe 2 years was bad and didn't work.  Dang.  A walk back.

So I walked from the Virgin Dam Trailhead on this road for like three miles to this main road which a family member picked me up from there.  I didn't really mind it because the weather was beautiful and I was watching the sun setting.  I felt like Forrest Gump.

My mom and I stayed overnight in Saint George, then on Sunday, we went to check out Snow Canyon.

We did a short hike up along Three Ponds Trail.  It was a 3.5 mile out and back.

It was mainly walking on a wash with lot's of sand and it was pretty.  It reminded me of San Rafael Swell but the rock was red.

After walking back I decided to hike more and see the Petrified Dunes.  My mom walked back to the car because she was scared of the cliff sides and steep rocks.

So I walked around and took a few pictures.  This is not a place for exploring and doing long, hard hikes.  But it is perfect for taking kids and old people with you.  They would enjoy it.  There were quite of few people there.

President's Day Weekend "Staycation"

 

President's Day Weekend was a 3 day weekend and I definitely decided to stay home because I knew everywhere else would be just as bad.  Such as St. George, Moab, San Rafael Swell, etc.  I stayed home and had my own fun which I called "Staycation".  I did go out in nature during all the three days and I didn't even go to church.

Saturday, I did a hardcore bike ride up in the Black Hill Riding Area.  The temperature was in the 60s so it was very nice.  There were a lot of dirt bikers, target shooters, and horse riders.  I've never seen so much people in that little area.  But it was bearable though so I had a good ride.  I couldn't believe that there was dust on the trails and roads already in February.  I didn't feel super good on my ride though, it could have been better.  I probably just need to take a little break and recover more. 

On Sunday morning, it was also sunny and nice.  I took Duke up for a 5 mile walk just at the base of the foothills behind my house.

It was so nice and it was a good walk, Duke liked it.  I was wearing a t-shirt.

On Monday, which was President's Day, I went for a hike at Maple Canyon.  I wasn't thinking it wouldn't be that bad because of the lame winter.  But it was actually really icy all over the roads.  Just in the canyon where it's always shaded. 

I decided to walk until where I couldn't but I just kept going, even on the sheer ice.

Duke loves to come out hiking with me and look for anything that moves.  Like squirrels, chipmunks, lizards, deer, or he even would go after a bear or mountain lion if he could.  But there was nothing really out there on this hike.

I made it to the very top of the San Pitch Mountains above Maple Canyon.  I didn't think I would make it this far but I just kept going.  Plus all of the road at top was on the south face, so there was no snow and the ground was all dry with patches of snow. 

There was no wind at all in this canyon, so it was nice.  It was very windy down at the valley today though.
 

My dad kept talking about this section of the road for years and years.  This was the story where my brothers, my dad, and I would go up this road on that 2 wheeled drive 1968 Chevy truck then break the clutch.  It scared my dad so bad because we were on this section of the road with a broken clutch.  Ah, good times during the old days of Maple Canyon when there didn't used to be people in the area.

On the way down, I ran into an old friend I haven't seen in 15-20 years, he was actually my brother's close friend and I used to do things with him too.  Ben Cook is now living in Portland, OR and was down here visiting and taking his wife to Box Canyon.  He is also a geologist and this is really a good place for a geologist with all these Maple Canyon rocks!  He had a rental car and it was stuck on the icy road and I stopped by and he said that his dad was coming up to help him get unstuck.  That is when I ran into him.  It was really nice to see him.

So I walked into Box Canyon a little bit to see some ice because I've never been to Maple Canyon in the winter.  So this is the only ice waterfall I saw up there.  Not much this year probably.  Well, it was a good weekend.  Now back to work tomorrow.  Did I tell you how much I love my job?  Well, let's put it this way, I can't believe I actually get paid to do woodworking!

Surprisingly early Price, UT day trip...

Every Spring in the last few years was reserved for a Price bike trip.  I know it's not Spring yet and it's February but since this weather has been really strange, yes, I could ride there now.  Usually the snow on the trails don't melt or dry up until March or April but since it was a very dry winter, the trails were very packed down and was a go.  Even the temperature was perfect.  I just wore knickers and a long sleeve jersey and I was very comfortable.  When I went last Saturday, there were a quite of few other bikers there also.  The other years, I was like the only one there usually.

This time, I didn't want to do the full eight figure ride so I did Luke's and Smo Joe's.  Then half of Luke's again and rode on a new trail I've never done before which split the loop kind of half but it felt more I did the big loop again.  It just split to the cattle grate at halfway of Smo Joe's.  It was a great ride but I was careless on my shifting on some of the ride though and broke my chain about at the last half mile of my ride.  I did have a replaceable chain link in my seat bag but no chain tool to get the old link off.  I realized I forgot to put my bike tool back in the bag after I had it in my fat bike bike bag for the winter.  But I coasted and walked back to the trail a half mile which was no big deal.  Then I drove home and stopped at my friend's house in Mt. Pleasant on the way to visit for a while.  It was a good usual Saturday bike day.  I just couldn't believe I was doing this in the first part of February.