Two Day Spring Break

I went down to Calf Creek Falls with my brother and his family.

The hike was about 6 miles and it was easy.  I showed up late because of truck problems so my brother and his family had a head start and I met them on the trail.  I walked very fast to there and back.

Lower Calf Creek Falls was a really cool waterfall.  It was pretty cold in the area too so nobody was swimming in it.

It would be fun to swim in it in the summer time though but the hike to it would be gruesome because of the hot sand on the trail.

They invited me to camp with them so we camped in Caineville.  We got to take some cool pictures that night!

Rainbow.

Pretty cool.  We watched two movies in the trailer and I slept really good.  It was very nice of them to let me stay in their trailer.

The next morning, we hiked to Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef.

Got some pretty pictures.

Then I went on an alone hike up to Navajo Knobs and said goodbye to my brother and his family.  Navajo Knobs is a really long hike and has a lot of climbing.  It was uphill all the way to the knobs with a few breaks of downhill.  The whole hike was 11 miles.

Made it!  Powered by two kippered snacks....and a banana.

And there were some other people there too.

It was a hard 4 hour hike and I loved it.  It was very enjoyable and scenic.  I got a free motel stay in Torrey and I can use it anytime.  Another excuse to go back to Capitol Reef!

Early Spring Riding: Eagle Mountain and Price Areas

I had some pretty good rides out of town in the last 2 weeks.  Last weekend, I went and did the Eagle Mountain high school race course again.

It's a good little area with no crowds.  I know Corner Canyon is in the same area but out in Eagle Mountain, it's so much better.  Out of the city and no people.  I liked it.

So, I started on a trail from Eagle Mountain which was a steep climb and I cleaned it all and rode to the little meadow area with the race course and did a couple of laps.  It was fast and fun!  I got some personal records on Strava this time too.

The next morning I rode on the Murdock Canal paved trail from the motel.  I rode about 12 miles from Thanksgiving Point to Pleasant Grove and back which made the total ride at 24 miles.  It was a pleasant ride but a little chilly.  It was still nice though.

Then this weekend, at the last minute, like in the morning, I decided to drive over the mountain to Price and ride the trails there.

It was nicer than I expected, not too cold, just pleasant.  I did wear a jacket and knickers though but it was just still warmer than I thought.  And the wind wasn't as bad as I thought.  Sometimes there was no wind or when there was wind, it was light and variable.

I did Allen's Alley, Luke's, IMBAtween, Therapy, Smo Joe's, back to the trailhead, then a new trail(which i liked best), IMBAtween again, then back down the new trail and backtracked Allen's Alley.  The ride was 16 miles with 1,004 foot vertical.

It was a good ride and the singletrack was fast and packed down.  It was just what I needed for a day like this.  At first, I was kind of undecisive on this trip and now I am glad I went.

There was a lot of artwork along the trails and even some new ones I've never seen before even though I ride on this trail system every year.  It was entertaining.  Good ride!

Spring came around the corner...

I stayed home this weekend to enjoy being home and rode in the Black Hill riding area.  Earlier in the week, I had a day off and did a trail repair on Rabbit Run trail.  Both dirt bikers and mountain bikers alike ride on it.  I'm not sure about the dirt bikers, but the mountain bikers didn't like going in the ravine which gets water damaged every year and it gets hard to ride in it.  So I made a new trail out of the ravine.  It took me 6 hours and it was hard but I think it was worth it.  But I am not done yet.  At the last of the trail, there is another but bigger ravine I need to make a new trail out of it.  I will work on it soon.  I am trying to get it ready for the Scandinavian Festival bike race this upcoming Memorial Day weekend.  Then there is another section I got to fix.  I will post pictures soon.

Anyway, I rode everywhere in Black Hill last Saturday and it was a good ride.  I was a little tired from last weekend's ride in Moab though but I still managed it.  Rabbit Run will be so much better.

Later in the day, I went down to Gunnison to do things with my nephews and neice. We looked at Fremont Indian petroglyphs in one area and pictographs in another area called the White Cliffs.  The pictographs were from another tribe.  They were cool and I don't know why I didn't take pictures of the artifacts.  That's my nephew on the edge of the cliff.  It was a fun day.  Then we ate and went to see Zootopia at the theater.

The next day, I didn't go to church, probably because my parents weren't home.  I did a 26 mile gravel road ride.  It was a pleasant ride, then at the end, the wind started picking up so the last 3 miles was hard.  After that, I ate and took duke out in the hills for awhile.  It was a good weekend.

Moab Spring 2016

It was time to go to Moab again.

This time I tried some new trails in the area.  There are always new ones being built in Moab.

These trails I did was in the Horsethief Trail System.  They were fun but not as much miles and elevation I wanted but they were great and were loads of fun.  Intermediate class trails are my favorite in Moab.  It's like technical compared to other places, like in the Wasatch or St. George.  And the advanced trails in Moab are so advanced.  So advanced that you need a full suspension trail bike, guts, and the glory.  I guess I don't have that.

Since it was still off season for Moab, it was a warm weekend, in the 70s.  So it was perfect.  Also, there were less people than other times when I usually go.  Plus, the motels were cheap, 70 bucks compared to the 180 bucks during the season which starts about now.  So, I took the opportunity.

The next day, I did trails in the Gemini Bridges area.  I climbed up Getaway Trail up to the start of Bull Run which was a very enjoyable climb.  I loved Getaway.  I started going down Bull Run downhill, then my Lefty suspension fork flatted out.  Super bummer.  I bailed out on a trail to the road and I rode back on the road to the truck.  I was going to finish Bull Run and ride the Great Escape and Arthway's Corner if my fork didn't flat out.  Since the fork was still under warranty, I took it back to the bike shop and the mechanic sent it back to Cannondale.  I hope to get it back soon!  It should take 2 weeks I think.  Now I am riding my old bike(Trek Superfly), I haven't sold that bike yet.  At least I still have a bike to ride.  Well, I got most of the riding done in Moab.  I would like to go again.

St. George Winter of 2016

I've been wanting to feel the warm air again after all the snow playing all winter.  So I went to St. George.

I did a lot of riding and it was great.  So for February for St. George, it was 60 degrees.  It felt nice.

The first day, I did the Green Valley Race Course, Barrel Trail, and Bear Claw Poppy.  It was really good biking and I loved it.  Some technical stuff and a lot of climbing.  Then the Bear Claw Poppy was a fun downhill rolling hill type cruise towards back to the motel.

The next day, I did John Miller Trail, Precipice, Sidewinder, and Barrel Roll Trail.  It made a good 2 hour ride.  The day was very pleasant and there were less people than I thought.

Sidewinder has always been one of my favorite trails in the area.  It's nice a climb to a mesa with switchbacks with a beautiful view.  Then I always like to do the fun Barrel Roll Loop afterwards.  It was just another great pleasant unforgettable weekend bike trip with plenty of sun and warm air!  And I really needed it.

Winter Wonderland II

I got some good photos from my GoPro camera hooked onto Duke while doing more snow biking.

I had some great rides.

My old cross country skis needed some attention and I've read about that there was a new XC ski course at Skyline Mountain golf course near Fairview.  I never skied on a groomed course before and so I had my chance.  It was pretty fun and I was the only person there during the two times I was there.  I wish I could have of gone more but I had fat biking, snowshoeing, hiking, mountain biking to do also.  If I didn't have a job, I'd do a lot more.

Here's my Strava map of the XC ski course I did.  I got 6 miles worth that time.  The guy who grooms the course is someone I knew from a long time ago and that's cool he's doing this.

Another weekend, I wanted to hike Maple Canyon to look at the ice falls.

Here's some photos....

Some ice climbers

Box Canyon

Duke had fun.

Then another weekend, I did some snowshoeing.  I haven't snowshoed in forever.  So, I dusted off my snowshoes and went up to Ephraim Canyon.

I hiked up to Virgil's yurt.  It just snowed the night before and it was perfect.  It was chilly and I had a flu earlier the week so I struggled a little.

Duke came along.  I think out of all the winter sports, he liked me snowshoeing the best.  He just has fun walking behind me and running around in the snow a lot.

Virgil's yurt had a road up to it where there were also some other cabins in the area.  I wonder if my friend, Virgil still uses his yurt.  I was still surprised that is was still there and standing up.
Well, it's been a fun winter.  I think I'll get into biking now and I don't know if the snow will hold up near the valleys after the warm temperatures this week.