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.

The next big thing

This is the wood species my mom decided, actually everybody else. Knotty cherry.

The door style will be almost like this, raised panel with roman arch design:

The guy I used to work for about 3 years ago is going to do the kitchen for my mom and he said that I could help out. He was nice enough to do that I thought. We decided on the knotty cherry species with a clear finish on it. There will be some changes in the kitchen, the sink will be centered to the window, where it should be, the dishwasher will be in a different place, the false ceiling will be all gone and there will be more space, there will be no hangover cabinets above the bar, so we can see out more, there will be new cabinets all the way from the floor to the ceiling on the west wall, so that means there will be lot more cabinet space, and the microwave will be above the stove instead of the blower but the microwave will be the blower also.

On the flooring, we don't know for sure what kind of flooring yet but we are thinking 3/8 inch thick engineered flooring that covers all of the kitchen and dining room. The floor guy that did the carpet in the house said that I can use his nailer for me to do the floor. It's going to be a great nice lookin' kitchen!

"It's called the bathroom"

Finally done with this 1 month long brutal bathroom project, maybe a month and a half. I can't really recall. After the tub was put in by the plumber, all the rest was up to me. I came up with some ideas, actually, my mom did and most of it didn't turn out the way it planned, it turned out better than it planned! After I did the mudding, painting, trimwork, etc. All there was left was the surrounding of the tub and the floor. At first we were thinking of putting in a linoleum floor so we went down to look for a remnent but there weren't any so since the floor people said they will lay it down for free if we buy a piece but the floor guy never came for like five weeks and during that time, we figured out something else, while in Home Depot, I saw this resiliant floor and it looked way nice and way easier. It is a thicker vinyl and has some kind of sticky surface on the ends and it looked like a real wood floor but it's vinyl and it comes in pieces like wood planks. Perfect for a bathroom since it gets wet all the time. About around the tub, same story. We planned to have some guy around here to put in a tub surround and we thought he could do a better job than me but he never came at all even though mom called him like 5 times. Since mom decided to have me put it on, she looked at some tub surrounds and she didn't like them and thought they were expensive. Then she decided on tile. Me to do the tile. This time, I tried to do a good job on the tile work. I spent so much time and took my time and tried to do more perfect and everything looked pretty dang nice. The carpet guy came here today to fix the carpet in the bathroom, he looked at the floor and tile job, he was pretty impressed with my work, he looked shocked and amazed. Even a professional floor and tile guy like him thinks I did a good job. I think that is a first! Anyway, the bathroom is perfect and we all love it!

A lot of snow is always good...

Big case of snow dump just happened, by golly!

Duke taking a break

Top

It was 9 degrees when I left the house and as soon as the sun came out while hiking up, I was hot, sweating, and dying.

Always go out and have fun in the snow when you feel like it! It was great and it was a beautiful morning. It was cold at first but when the sun comes out, it sure makes a difference and I was sweating and all soaked, I ended up with just one shirt on and it was maybe like 15 degrees by the time I got to the top. Shoeshoes worked great and Duke had a blast. Lot's of snow and plenty of sun.

I started from the end of the pavement of the Canyon Road and went along the uphill singletrack trail I have been going up all year on my bike. It's a better route and still had lot's of snow. By the time I got to Taylor's Flat, I ended climbing more on another trail from there and ended up to the starting of the Backbone Trail then turned around. It was a great hike!

I get mixed feelings between the bike and the hiking in the winter time, and it happens every year. Some days I miss the bike and thinking of riding someplace. Biking gets addictive but by the time when the fall comes, I get tired and am ready for snow and I want to do something else for a change. Maybe change is good, maybe that's why there are four seasons in the year, well, of course, for sure the earth operates better that way, and so do I. If I was still mountain biking, I think I'd be tired of it and I wouldn't even bike at all for a while. I could go down to St. George to bike if I want to but I just don't want to really because every winter, it's nice to take a break from the bike and do something else for a while. Then my mind will be refreshed for the upcoming bike season during the warm months. I will still hike too in the warm months! I don't mind to go for a short ride in the winter sometimes but the only place I like to go in the winter is the Canyon Road pavement and that's good enough for me to keep my cycling legs in memory.

So, cross training like snowshoeing is a fun sport, I like hiking and I find it relaxing, I also like to spend time in the mountains without even thinking about going for an intense ride on my mountain bike. Most of the time, it's fun, to go to places I have never been to and try to stay in shape in the winter months.