Moab Boot Camp - Chapter 2

HIKE HARD (PART I)

We did a lot of hiking and walking during our vacation. I spent quite a bit of time walking around Moab, checking out the stores, getting groceries, going out for dinner, getting coffee and goodies for breakfast (only for Tim, none for me - this was boot camp you know!) and hitting MacDonalds for my almost daily ice cream cone.

There are tons of hiking trails in the national parks (Arches and Canyonlands) and in the state park (Dead Horse Point) and just around Moab in general.

After our bike ride at Dead Horse Point State Park, we spent the afternoon hiking around the Rim trail and had some amazing views.

You know, when I was standing there, I was thinking I was way too close to the edge for my liking but in the picture, it doesn't even look like I'm close to the edge.

Canyonlands National Park - Island in the Sky

At Island in the Sky we started our morning by doing a couple of longer trails, Upheaval Dome Overlook and part of the Syncline Loop and ended our day with a few shorter hikes, Whale Rock, Aztec Butte and the Mesa Arch.

Upheaval Dome is a deformity where rocks have been pushed into a dome-like structure which may have been caused by a meteorite hitting the earth some 60 million years ago.

The Syncline Loop is a strenuous trail that follows the washes on either side of Upheaval Dome. It was a lot of uphill, downhill, then more uphill. It was warm, sunny and there wasn't much shade.

Another incredible lunch spot.

Whale Rock is a fairly steep climb up a slickrock trail that resembles climbing up the back of a whale with fantastic views from the top.

Tim on the back of the whale!







View from the top of the whale.

The Atzec Butte trail is a short steep trail that leads up a slickrock dome to some ancient Puebloan granaries. I found this very steep in parts and had some shaky legs at times. I eventually ended up on my butt sliding down some of the trail.

Things got a little tricky at one point!

The Mesa Arch is right on the edge of a 500 foot cliff, part of a 1,200 foot drop into Buck Canyon. The trail was an easy short hike and a perfect way to end the day. We asked a guy to take a picture of both Tim and I in the arch and he took the request very seriously taking quite a bit of time trying different angles and different lighting. We only really needed one picture but once he had the camera.....

Coming up next post - Amasaback trail (also known as Cliff Hanger) and Arches National Park.

Moab Boot Camp - Chapter 1

These past 2 weeks have been absolutely amazing and I have so many stories and pictures that I will have to post them in installments. The drive down was long and uneventful and it certainly is a long way from here to Moab, Utah. The motto of the trip was bike hard, hike hard, canoe hard and shop hard and I will start with the bike hard part of the vacation.

BIKE HARD

I would have liked to do more biking while we were there but time was tight. We could spend months down there and still wouldn't be able to do everything we wanted to do.

We spent our first night in Moab at the Red Stone Inn and headed out the next morning to a Bureau of Land Management campground - Horse Thief Campground - and I was extremely impressed with it. It had nice large sites with a picnic table, a fire pit and the pit toilets were absolutely spotless (and very warm which was nice in the middle of the night when I was freezing). We set up camp and then headed over to Dead Horse State Park for our first bike adventure on the Intrepid Trail system. There were a few technical parts that I had to push my bike over but on the whole, it was a pretty good introduction to riding on slick rock.

Beginning of Intrepid Trail

Views from the Intrepid Trail

The next day we did the Klondike Bluff trail. The guide book says:

The Klondike Bluffs Trail is a modest climb, but isn't too technically difficult. It's a good trail for someone who's in good shape, but is inexperienced in mountain biking. It makes an excellent first "slickrock adventure." Round trip, it's 9.6 miles on the bike and 1 mile on foot (bikes aren't allowed off-road in Arches National Park, so you hike the last half mile).

Modest climb? I guess the person who wrote the description was in better shape than I because I certainly did not expect it to be as physically demanding as it was. I wore my heart rate monitor and my maximum heart rate reached 192. I'm surprised my heart didn't burst out of my chest. I ended up pushing my bike through spots but I could tell by the end of the ride I was becoming more comfortable with the more technical sections.

At the beginning of the ride.

Couldn`t quite make it and had to get off my bike and push.

More uphill

A little worse for wear near the top of the trail.

The view from the top of Klondike Bluffs was incredible. It was a very picturesque spot to have lunch.

Coming down was a lot easier than going up, at least physically. Technically there were still a few scary spots but I made Tim go first so he could let me know when I should get off my bike or if there was an easier route I could take. However, I did have a little wipe-out when I hit a sandy part coming down - I was going a little too fast - but no serious injuries.




Next chapter - Hike Hard!

An Adventure Starts on Sunday

Today is my last day of work for 2 weeks. I will be taking a 2 week vacation to Moab, Utah to do some mountain biking, canoeing and hiking. I actually quite excited about this trip, I think the scenery will be absolutely incredible and I'm going to treat it as a boot camp. I am going to ride hard, hike hard and paddle hard and hopefully lose the last 2.4 pounds I need to get to goal.

We are leaving Sunday morning (so I won't miss my hockey game Saturday night!) and will drive until we can't drive anymore (for me that would be a couple of hours - gee I'm getting more like how my dad was everyday!). Tim will be able to drive for much longer and we hope to make it past Boise, Idaho for the first night. The next night should land us in Moab. We'll stay overnight in a motel and then go find a campsite for the Tuesday and Wednesday night. We're looking at staying at Dead Horse Point State Park and are hoping to do a couple of days biking/hiking before the big canoe trip. There are so many trails to choose from - it is a little overwhelming to choose but we're thinking of doing Klondike Bluffs, and Dead Horse Point and then there is the MOAB brand trails that look interesting. For hiking, there are some trails in Arches National Park and in Canyonlands National Park.

From Friday to Monday we are going on a canoe trip down the Colorado River. (Meander Canyon) We get dropped off and then picked up on Monday morning. It doesn't matter how far we go, we get picked up wherever we are so there is no pressure to get somewhere for a specific time. This will give us time to explore some of the hikes and little rivers along the way. By the time we get back on Monday, we will just want to find a hotel to sleep and clean up all our canoeing stuff.

We have to leave Thursday so that only leaves us Tuesday and Wednesday to do more hiking and biking. If I got to plan the whole trip, I would have made the canoe trip shorter and did more biking, but I'm not the only person on this vacation.
We leave on Thursday because we have to be in Cranbrook,BC by Friday night to attend the BC Honey Producers Association Conference. What a perfect way to end our vacation. (according to Tim.) We will be staying with a former coworker of Tim's and I hope to do some biking while Tim is at the conference.

Notice what isn't on our trip agenda? I'm going to the US for 2 weeks and what aren't we doing? That's right...shopping. There is no way I was going to miss shopping while we are there so I had to come up with a plan to fit that in. On Thursday we are going to have to drive, drive, drive to make it to Missoula, Montana and that leaves us about 4 hours from Cranbrook. That way we can spend Friday morning shopping and I think the stores open pretty early there. I want to hit Target, Ross Dress for Less and perhaps WalMart. Unfortunately there are no outlet malls in the area so I will just have to make do.



When I get back, I'll hopefully have some great stories and pictures to post!

What Were We Thinking - The Heather Trail Hike

Our last hiking trip of the season was the Heather Trail in Manning Provincial Park. Eric, one of our hiking friends from the Bugaboos did it shortly after we came back from that trip and said it was a beautiful trail, lots of alpine flowers and the trail itself was not too difficult. So when Glenda asked us if we wanted to go on an overnight hike on Labour Day weekend, we thought why not. It might be a little late for the flowers but the views from the alpine would be magnificent. Not once when I was packing up my stuff did I think, Oh there might be snow. I knew it was going to be cold and I knew there was a chance of rain but if you told me there was going to be snow, I would have not believed you. Well, there was snow, and it was wet and it was cold and it was windy and if it wasn't for Glenda and Eric, I'm sure I would have had a meltdown and made Tim turn around and go home. I was cold and my feet were soaked (I foresee a trip to Mountain Equipment Coop in the near future) and I was really doubting if I would be able to make it all the way to the Kicking Horse campsite.

First, from the Garmin
Time: 9:54:56 (just made it under the 10 hours that my Garmin usually lasts before the battery dies)
Distance: 27.25 km (doesn't include the 1 km we walked after supper to get more water and to hopefully warm up)
Minimum elevation: 1785 m
Maximum elevation: 2132 m

The beginning of the trip - Glenda packing up her gear. Notice the snow on the ground and on the trees. The temperature wasn't too bad then and I was hoping the clouds were going to break up and bring us some sun.

As you can notice from this picture, the clouds were not breaking up and the sun wasn't coming out.











The clouds did break up later on in the afternoon but by this time, my feet were soaked, my pants were wet from rubbing against the grass on the side of the trail and I was not a happy hiker. I think it was at this time I said a few not so nice words to Tim.

I perked up once we got to the campground and I was able to wring out my socks and wrap my feet in garbage bags. Plus a cup of hot tea certainly hit the spot. I eventually relented and put on my down booties. I didn't want to put them on because I was afraid they would get wet and ruined but let me tell you, my feet were toasty warm when I put those on.

It was a rough night. I couldn't get comfortable and was cold, even though my sleeping bag was good to -18 degrees (and it certainly wasn't that cold). So needless to say, I didn't sleep well but I was very proud of myself in that I didn't whine to Tim or wake him up when I had to go outside in the middle of the night. I got a good couple of hours sleep close to the morning and when I woke up, I was looking forward to a hot cup of coffee and packing up and going home.

I had rewrapped my feet in plastic for the hike back and for the first little while, it seemed to work. My feet didn't feel that wet and they weren't too cold. However, there must have been a breach in my system because as time went on, my feet were getting wetter and wetter, but the good thing was they weren't getting any colder. There wasn't any view hiking out but since Eric had done the trail before, he told us what we could see, if we could see it. Sounds like it would be magnificent and I hope to do the trail again in the future (but earlier in the season).

It started to rain the last part of the hike and I was so happy when we reached the parking lot and was able to change into semi-dry clothes and get those wet boots off my feet. The warm dry truck felt like heaven and the trip to Cowboy Coffee in Princeton ended the trip off on a high note.

Oh, Tim just informed that this may not be the last overnight hike of the season. I think he has some ideas up his sleeve for our trip to Utah this October...

Mt. Kobau Bike Adventure

Yesterday was my longest bike ride ever - from the top of Mount Kobau (near Osoyoos) to Oliver.












Data from the trusty Garmin:
Distance 32.3 km
Elevation gain 157 m
Elevation loss 1,680 m
Time 5 hours 8 minutes (that is the total time)
Moving time 2 hours 24 minutes
Average speed 6.2 km
Average moving speed 13.3 km
Maximum speed 68.6 km/hr
WHAT!!! That is absolutely crazy. I knew I was flying down the hill but I never imagined I was going that fast. I definitely will be slowing down on any further bike trips because that is just way too fast.

There was a group of 9 of us and some had done the trip a couple of years ago. We were relying on those who had done it previously to be able to lead the way but even with the maps, we were led astray a couple of times.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that we would be doing a lot of downhill but I didn't think there would be as much uphill as there was. I don't have much experience mountain biking on rough trails so it was a bit of stretch for me to get up the hills. I ended up pushing my bike up quite a few of the hills at the beginning but by the end I was starting to the hang of where to choose my trail, to stay away from the ruts and the loose rock. It was also physically challenging to get up some of those hills and to those who just breezed up them, you certainly have my admiration and I hope that one day I too will be able to breeze up them.

The downhill was a little scary at times, especially in the rougher sections of the trail where there was lots of ruts and loose rock. I'm glad Tim took my bike in for servicing last week and had my brakes fixed because boy, oh boy, did I need those brakes. By the end of the day my hands were so sore from gripping the brakes so hard. However, I became more comfortable going down the hills and was soon going down a little faster each time.

The first part of the trail was quite rough and slow going but it eventually became more of forestry road than a trail and then we were moving a little faster. Once we hit Old Fairview Road (unpaved road but in good condition), that's when we started to fly. I had to slow down to go around the corners and getting over those cattle guards was a little tricky, but on those straight stretches....

Tim took a few pictures but I am hoping to get some group photos from someone and hopefully will be able to post those later.

From left to right
Liz, Mary, me

Glen and me - What a view!


After the trip, just before our tasty dinner at the Indian restaurant in Oliver.

Bugaboo Adventure

Where to start. This is going to be a long post as I have so much to write about. About a year ago, my friend Glenda and I decided that we would hike the Bugaboos with our husbands (who have hiked them previously). We set a date, July 26 to 30, and we anxiously awaited the day we would begin our adventure. Of course, preparation for the adventure involved dropping some serious money at Mountain Equipment Coop (every penny spent was well worth it!).

We drove to Bugaboo Provincial Park on Monday and were met with a parking lot full of vehicles. I don't think any one of us was expecting it to be that busy. Fortunately there was enough space for all our vehicles and Glenda and Eric's tent trailer (which by the way was heaven in the wilderness). You have to wrap chicken wire around the bottom of your vehicles and secure it with posts and rocks to prevent porcupines from getting under your vehicle and snacking on the tires, brake lines etc. In the background you can see Hound's Tooth and by the end of the hike up the next day, we were looking down on that.

After a very restful sleep (tent trailers are becoming much more appealing..), we set off on our adventure. Also joining Glenda, Eric, Tim and myself was a former coworker of Tim's, Jim who is no stranger to the Bugaboos himself having hiked it numerous times in the past.

Pictured from left to right, Jim, Tim, myself, Glenda and Eric.









I thought I had an idea of what the hike would be like but never in my wildest dreams would I be able to fathom what it really is like. I can honestly say it was by far the most physically demanding thing I have done in my life. I had my trusty Garmin with me and total hiking time (up and down) was 10 hours and 7 minutes, total distance 10.72 km with an elevation gain of 1,027 meters. And to top it all off, I was carrying a pack that weighed approximately 25 pounds.

The hike up took us 5.5 hours and it was uphill the entire way. There may have been a couple of flatter sections and maybe even a slight downhill at times but believe me, all I noticed is that we just kept having to go up and up and even when I thought I could not take another step up, I had to go up some more. The first part of the hike was along the valley floor, with some boardwalks on the marshy parts and then a climb up the toe of two minor moraines before reaching a small boulder field. This picture was taken just before the small boulder field.

The climb begins here. The trail moves up through forest and then an avalanche slope. Rather than continuing up the avalanche path, the trail climbs some rock slabs where there are steps made out of rocks and in some places concrete, wire cables that supply a handhold for some very narrow ledges (with very steep drop offs on the side) and for me, one of the most memorable parts of the hike was a ladder that scaled a 8 meter high rock wall. Then there is more of the rock steps and wire cable before the trail returns to the more usual rock and dirt path.

We had our lunch at the Conrad Kain hut and cooled ourselves off in a extremely cold glacial stream. It was sunny and hot, which left me very sweaty and with sun burnt ears!) I also couldn't believe the mosquitoes which were out in full force.

The hike from the hut to Applebee Dome was brutal, probably the most grueling of the entire hike. It was 1 km in length and Jim, the numbers man figured out it was at a 27% grade over rocks and boulders and near the top, through snow. From the hut looking up, I seriously wondered if I was going to make it. However, quitting was not an option and I was bound and determined to make it to the top.

Notice the green roof of the Conrad Kain hut near the middle of the picture. Gives you some perspective on how high we had to climb (and I think we were just at the halfway point then.)

Almost at the top!

At the top, we were surrounded by four mountains and two glaciers - Snow Patch, Bugaboo, Crescent and East Spire Mountains and Bugaboo and Crescent Glaciers. It is truly the one of the most spectacular sites I've seen and the challenge of the climb was soon forgotten. It was very crowded with tents and hikers/climbers at the top but we were able to find an area large enough to fit out 3 tents. We had borrowed our friend Glen's tent and it was spacious for the two of us and it was nice in that each side had a zipper access so we didn't have to crawl over each other if we had to get out at night. I also had Glen's sleeping bag and even though it was quite cool up there, I was toasty warm (so thank you Glen!) I was also very glad I had my down booties, down pull over, Gortex jacket, merino wool turtleneck (all Mountain Equipment Coop purchases), hat and gloves.

Dinner that night was a feast. Glenda and Eric packed up crackers and hummus, wine and a bottle of coke (no wonder Glenda and Eric's packs were heavier than ours!) After the appetizers and drinks, we heated up our Indian dinners, rice and naan, followed by a cup of tea with honey. All that drinking made a trip to the outhouse a necessity and I made Tim come with me to navigate the steps to the outhouse perched on the side of the dome. With the number of people there, it was inevitable there was a line up.The view from the outhouse was spectacular. I can honestly say that is the first time I have sat on the toilet and said to myself, "Wow."


My night was not a restful one for a couple of reasons. One was that my thermarest was on a bit of an angle and my sleeping bag kept sliding down towards the end of the tent and the other is that my husband is quite the snorer. However, he did not grumble once when I woke him up and asked him to walk with me to the outhouse. I had visions of missing a step and plummeting over the edge.

In the morning, Eric, Tim and Jim went for a hike on Crescent glacier to Snowpatch Spire while

Glenda and I relaxed at the campsite. I would have loved to have gone with them but my knee was bothering me a bit from the hike up from the hut to the campground and I figured I was going to need everything I had to make it back down to the parking lot that afternoon. We left a little after noon with the plan of eating lunch at the hut.

Pictured left is Snowpatch Spire. Notice the 3 little men hiking in a line towards the spire.

Ladder on the way down!

It took us about 4.5 hours to get down to the parking lot (and the tent trailer/heaven) and by the end, my knee was extremely sore. I had such a feeling of accomplishment when I reached the parking lot, never in a million years did I imagine myself doing something like this. I'm especially grateful to Glenda because without her, I would not have even thought it possible.

The next day we had planned to hike the Cobalt Lake trail to the Black Forest Ridge and then head into Radium Hot Springs to Redstreak campgrounds and a soak in the hot springs. I was a little hesitant about this trail because there was a warning on the website about a grizzly bear in the area and that hiking wasn't recommended due to aggressive behaviour. However, we met the caretaker of the hut the day before and she said that the grizzly had not been seen since July 2 and that she would have no worries about hiking that trail.

Cobalt Lake Trailhead

For some reason, I had envisioned the Cobalt Lake trail to be a short, relatively easy hike and imagine my surprise when I read the sign at the trailhead saying the change in elevation was 900 meters and it was 6.5 km to the Ridge. It was an easier trail for sure, more like a path through the forest as opposed to climbing up rocks and boulders, but it still was a long way up.

When I reached the base of the ridge (picture above), I turned to my husband and said I didn't think I could take one more step. However, I didn't go all that way to stop at the bottom of the ridge knowing that I would be missing the amazing view from the top of the ridge so I dug a little deeper, put one foot in front of the other and next thing I knew, we were almost at the top. The view was incredible, we could look over and see where we had camped the night before.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't know what I was in for because if I had known, I probably would have opted not to do it for fear I wouldn't be able to do it. When we were done, I really felt like I had pushed myself beyond what I had thought I was capable of and was pretty darn proud of myself.

It was late afternoon when we headed off to Radium Hot Springs and the adventure continued for Eric and Glenda who had a flat tire on their trailer. By the time we all got the campsite, it was late and I think we were all too tired to even think about anything other than having a bite to eat, a shower and off to bed. Again, we slept in the tent trailer and I can know see why people haul those suckers around.

Thanks to both Glenda and Eric for the trip. Not only were they excellent company, they had great food (which they freely shared) and I can't forget the tent trailer. They were both so supportive and encouraging throughout the entire hike and many times it was Glenda's "Laurie you can do it" that kept me going. I hope we didn't impose too much on their hospitality and that another hike may be a possibility in the future.