Hike: Calf Creek Falls

I spent the last few days in Torrey, Utah. The weather was spectacular with clear, sunny skies and warm temperatures. On Monday and Tuesday I hiked to Calf Creek Falls with some friends who had all done the hike before but it was my first time. It's about three miles of mostly flat trail to the falls (six miles round trip).

The road from Torrey through Boulder, Utah was lined with gorgeous aspen trees with near electric yellow leaves.

The hike and the falls were gorgeous and next time I will pack a picnic lunch to eat next to the falls. A few brave souls swam in the freezing cold water but I only waded around in ankle deep water.

Instead, we treated ourselves to fabulous dinners at Cafe Diablo. The sweet potato and black bean empanadas were scrumptious!

Red Cliffs Lodge, Moab

My suitcase is unpacked and stowed on the shelves in the basement. I'm back from four work trips in five weeks. I'm not complaining, I've visited wonderful places, met terrific people, and learned a lot but it is nice to be home.

I just returned from a conference in Moab which was held at the Red Cliffs Lodge. What a stunning setting! Here are a few pictures from my room.





Not too shabby, right?

We also spent an afternoon in Arches National Park and hike to Delicate Arch. It's a about 1.5 miles to the arch with a steep-ish climb up slick rock at the end. Definitely worth the effort! If you've never done this hike but think the image is familiar take a look at the Utah license plate. Delicate Arch graces one of the designs.



This little darling belongs to one of my colleagues and she stole our hearts with her personality plus.

Hike From Hell: Alexander Basin

It's taken me two weeks to recover from the PTSD of this hike and be able to write about it. It was a lovely Sunday morning and I decided that I wanted to go for a hike up Millcreek Canyon. Ban was game to go along and we decided to do a hike we hadn't done before. We decided to do Dog Lake and made our way to the top of Millcreek. Approximately, a thousand other people had the same idea. The parking lot was crawling with cars, people, dogs, and cyclists (yeah, cyclists get their own category because they were particularly obnoxious on this morning). We went back down the canyon to the overflow parking and it too was packed.

So, Plan B. We decided to head down the canyon to find a trail head with an available parking lot. Alexander Basin trail was the first one we found. It was steep. I mean really, really steep. Steep like my glutes ached for days afterward. Once we finally stopped climbing and the trail flattened out a bit we were treated to a beautiful display of wild flowers. We only passed a couple of people during the whole hike. Seriously, it was so steep, did I mention that? As we neared the top, we did run into a girl that Ban and I had gone to school with and neither of us had since since. Random. All the photos posted here were taken prior to this part of the hike.

Once we reached the basin, we could see that Gobbler's Knob was just a little bit further. Note to self: it always seems 'just a little bit further' when in fact it was a long way off. We climbed up a rock slide and as we made it nearly to the top we heard a loud clap of thunder that seemingly came from nowhere. Ban says 'How do you feel about that?'. I didn't feel good about that at all! I started hauling ass back down the trail. Suddenly, we felt a smattering of rain drops accompanied by more thunder and lightening. But, the worst was yet to come, pea-sized hail started pelting us and the rain and hail made the very steep trail super slick and muddy. It took us over an hour to decent. I'm sorry that I didn't get any pictures of what we looked like by the time we reached our car.

No need to lecture about all the things we did wrong. We know. But, all's well that ends well, right?

Camping: Mt. Nebo Scenic Byway

This summer we've been crushed with work responsibilities and as we looked at our calendar for August realized that summer was going to pass without us doing much in the way of recreating. So, last weekend we went camping down by Nephi along the Mt. Nebo Scenic Byway. GOR-GEOUS!

We set up camp and were surprised by the number of cows wandering around. I know, I'm a city girl, you don't have to mock. The funniest thing about the cows was that they started mooing very early in the morning which I found oddly hilarious. Ban dubbed them Nephi's roosters. We also saw deer, woodpeckers, the tiniest hummingbird ever, and early Saturday morning I heard something moving around our tent and couldn't resist the urge to have a peek. It was a wild turkey with three little turkeys in tow.

We did a few hikes and checked out Devil's Kitchen which looks like a small version of Bryce Canyon. We also got out on our mountain bikes and rode along a dirt road that climbed back into the mountains. The scenery was spectacular although the air was very thin at 9,300 ft above sea level. I was sucking air hard. But, the wildflowers, mountain views, and total solitude were worth every bit of exertion.

Hike to Cecret Lake

Yesterday's hike to Cecret Lake wasn't anything like the first time I made the hike. Back then, my kids were little and they weren't too excited about the prospect of the hike at all. Even my bribery of having a breakfast picnic of egg mcmuffins at the top didn't muster up much enthusiasm.

I wanted to see the wildflowers which are spectacular right now so Ban and I went up to Albion Basin yesterday morning. Many others had the same idea so the area was teeming with people, we were surprised at how far we had to park from the trail head. I imagine the weekends will be considerably more crowded. But don't let that stop you, the air is crisp, clean, and cool and totally worth the effort.

48 Hours in Moab

Ban and I decided mid-week to make a quick trip to Moab. The weather man said to expect warm and sunny weather for the weekend. How could we resist a forecast like that given last week's snowy weather? Once we got to Moab on Friday, our first order of business was a quick hike to stretch our legs after the car ride from Salt Lake.

We took off for Corona Arch. About fifteen minutes into the hike we ran into our neighbors Susan and Michelle. Random! They recommended another hike, Portal Overlook. We decided to save that one for Sunday morning before we headed out of town. Corona Arch was gorgeous and a terrific hike. We only saw about a dozen people on the trail.

On Saturday, we rented a Harley and spent the day touring around Arches. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. I've never really been on a motorcycle before but I have to say, it is a wonderful way to see the park.

Later in the afternoon, we left Arches and headed up the road that runs along the river up toward Red Cliffs Lodge and Castle Creek winery. Don't panic, I'm the only one who tasted wine.

Sunday morning we got an early start with a quick breakfast and packed up the car. We made our way to the Portal Overlook trail head. The trail was steep but the views from the top were spectacular!

View from Bowman's Fork Trail

Yesterday after work, I headed up Millcreek Canyon for a hike. I wanted to work out and since it was hot as blue blazes and red air quality in the valley, cruising up the canyon made perfect sense. There were very few people on the trail and the air was clean and cool. It was the perfect after work wind down.

Pipeline

Awesome hike up Millcreek Canyon this morning. We did the Pipeline Trail and the weather was perfect. The first mile of the trail is nice incline mostly in the shade. The trail veers to the left and the next 2 miles are flat and sunny and offer beautiful views of the Salt Lake valley. The last two miles are perfect for trail running too, just be careful that you keep your eyes on the trail (rather than your feet) because bicycles are allowed on the trail on even days.

Bowman Fork Trail

One of my favorite hikes is up Millcreek Canyon. Make a right-hand turn at the Terraces picnic area and follow the steep, windy road up to the parking lot. The trail is mostly in the shade and crisscrosses a creek several times. I love this hike for its steady but not overly steep incline.

This morning on the trail we saw a young deer standing on the trail only 50 feet ahead of us. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to attempt to snap a shot. Later in the summer this trail will have tons of butterflies and dragonflies. It's quite delightful!

This photo above doesn't give you the right perspective but this spot is a lush, green (and quite deep) gully that you come across about 3 miles up the trail. It is hard to believe that you are in the desert because it looks much more like you've landed somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.