Adams Canyon Again - July 2010

Twice in one year! I guess that's what book research does to you. This time George Coleman and I took our kids up the trail. It was a nice night. That first 1/2 mile is always a sandy slog, but once in the canyon it's a beautiful hike. Davis County's most popular hike. Ethan oozes energy, bouncing off rocks and running the trail. Boys are awesome! Megan has a harder time of it, but Elsie was a real trooper. The waterfall - ahhhh!

Ensign Peak

We are famous. Today Ethan, Matt Thalman, Josh Page, Molly and I hiked Ensign Peak. I've never been before. It was the perfect trail for these guys. Short, interesting little dirt trails, rocks to climb on and we quickly got to the destination. The trail is grassy and dry, but the overlook takes in the entire SLC valley. The spot where Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and other future prophets of the church stood to look over the valley and envision their layout of the city, this is most certainly the spot for that! A clear view right down the center of the valley with the Oquirrhs on the right and the Wasatch Range on the left. Took us only about 15 minutes to get to the top. But, back to the reason we are famous - Channel 2 News was there to look at the trail and they interviewed me. I got a plug in for the book. We just finished watching it. They got all the boys, Molly dog barking at the camera, and my interview was pretty smooth. Fun trail for kids!

4th of July - Rocky Mountain Raceway

Hadn't been to the RMRW before and I got a couple passes on writing trade from Travel Host, so I took the fam. for the 4th. Long night, hard seats, lots of racing (the boys loved the train races). They put on a A+ fireworks show at the end, but all in all I was glad to go home. Not really my bag, but you don't know til you try it.

Wasatch Crest Trail

The Wasatch Crest trail is one of Utah's finest mountain biking trails, but if you've got the whole day it's a gorgeous hiking trail too. The views are just unbelievable down both sides of the crest. This trail is long on foot, but worth it. Wildflowers punctuate the area during July and August! This trail will be in the hiking book too. Rick Gardner and I biked this and the Pipeline trail mid-July. Good climb from Guardsman, but the downhill on a bike is a blast! Good fun and a great ride!

Days of Thunder

All I can say is I think this hike ruined me to the sport of backpacking. Who knew? Bells Canyon is a steep granite canyon that frankly is little more than a staircase of rocks rising at 1000' elevation each mile. 10 hours to do 5 miles. The next day Mike Scalora and I hiked to the North Thundermountain overlook up fields of granite boulders. Feels like you've gone miles when you've only gone yards. Couldn't walk for 4 days after I got home. Didn't hit the trail again for 2 whole weeks. I'm thinking of bagging my attempt on all the 11,000 foot peaks. Uggg! I must give due credit to the wonderful falls on the way up! The trail to the lower and upper falls will be included in the guidebook.