It has been a great summer. Not only
was I able to hike 15 times this year, I also got a new job and we moved
from Tooele to Riverton. Titan is a year older and so much more fun now
that he can move around and communicate. It was great to be able to
take Annie and Titan on some of my hiking adventures this year, and I
have to thank them both for letting me get out of the house and hike all
over the place. I tried to plan the hikes at times when I wouldn't be
missed, but I'm sure I still missed out on some time that I could have
been with them.
I've
compiled a list of all my hikes along with links to the blog post about
each one. There are two hikes that Annie blogged for us, and one that
was blogged by the HAM radio group I hiked with. I also added how many
miles I hiked on each trip. If you're a very quick adder, you'll notice
that I hiked a total of 98.34 miles this summer. That's an average of
6.56 miles per hike. Not too bad, really. There's a really good chance
I'll sneak in another hike this year just to get over 100 miles. (If I
was ten miles short I wouldn't bother, but 1 1/2 miles? Come on.) EDIT: Check out below! I did another hike!
My
friend Tyler got me going this year, and I really appreciate his
enthusiasm and knowledge. Hopefully next year we'll be able to hike
together more often. We climbed Frary Peak together in March while we
were still waiting for the snow to melt off the higher peaks.
After
Frary, I wanted to hike somewhere flattish, but long, and somewhere
that had already lost its snow. Dude Hill was everything I wanted,
except it wasn't nearly as flat as I wanted.
In
May I found myself in Davis county a couple times with time to kill, so
I did a couple short hikes up the canyons up there, hiking the Baer
Creek and Adams Canyon trails.
For
Memorial Day we, and everyone else in the valley, hiked up Bell's
Canyon. It was great to have Annie and Titan with me on such a beautiful
hike.
In
June Tyler and I got together again to hike up Ben Lomond. I freaked
out a little at the snow near the peak and turned back, but still hiked
nearly 15 miles without a single blister (or one blister; I don't
remember).
In
July I went hiking with a group of HAM radio operators who go out
hiking every Wednesday night. It was a very different experience than my
usual solo-hiking. They were great guys, though, and I hope to be able
to hike with them a bit next year.
As the snow melted off the higher peaks, I started into my high elevation hikes, starting with Desolation Peak.
Annie and Titan joined me again for an exploratory evening hike to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. We'll definitely be heading back there.
Back to Big Cottonwood Canyon, I hiked to the top of Sunset Peak above lakes Mary, Martha, and Catherine...
..and followed it up with a hike to lakes Blanche, Florence, and Lillian.
In September I ventured up the Aspen Grove trail to Emerald Lake.
I
thought that Emerald Lake would be my last opportunity to get out
hiking with fall coming on and the days getting so short, but I was able
to sneak in two after-work hikes in October, hiking back down in the
dark.
To
finish up the year, I took Annie and Titan to the top of Hidden Peak.
Okay, so we didn't hike to the top; we took the tram during Snowbird's
customer appreciation days (food donation = tram ticket). But we still
hiked 4.5 miles down from the top, which still counts. In fact, I'm more
sore from our Hidden Peak hike than I was from the 14+ mile Ben Lomond
hike, or the 10+ mile Emerald Lake hike. The 30 extra pounds probably
had something to do with that.
Hidden Peak - 4.5mi
All
in all, it's been a great year: nearly 100 miles hiked in 15 trips, 3
of those with my whole family, and others with good friends. Not only
did I get physically stronger and gain more knowledge of the outdoors, I
learned a lot about myself and what I expect life to be.
EDIT: I hiked another six miles up near Grandeur Peak (turned back because of the snow) for a total of 104.34 miles in 16 trips. Not too bad.
EDIT: I hiked another six miles up near Grandeur Peak (turned back because of the snow) for a total of 104.34 miles in 16 trips. Not too bad.
