Utah: Mid-Mountain Meander

This morning I took some time to myself and did a point-to-point hike/run from The Canyons Resort back to our Condo in Park City via the mountain bike trails. The Mid-Mountain trail traverses across the middle of much of the ridge between Park City and Kimball Junction. The weather wasn't awesome but I brought along my good camera anyways, planning to store it once the clouds opened up. Raleigh donated his day pack to my cause which turned out to be perfect as it has a rain fly. Because I think blogs with pictures are more interesting, here's much of my hike in photos as well as a few shots from yesterday's mountain biking adventure:

My view from the back of the train heading up Jenni's Trail.

After exploring the mountain trails for a few hours we ventured down to the dirt track for a quick spin. This is Casey contemplating something crazy. 

Raleigh going for it...

When we got back to our condo we discovered this rugby game going on right across the street...there are lots of groups that visit this field every day. I think today is probably the first day we haven't seen anyone over there and I'm sure that's only because it's 43 degrees and absolutely POURING rain. 

Last night we got a visit from the ice cream truck at the field....if we had already eaten dinner when he showed up I'm not sure we would've been able to restrain ourselves. 

 

Raleigh and Casey hanging out watching Despicable Me last night...

 This morning I caught a ride from Seth and the guys on their way to rollerski East Canyon. They dropped me at the base of The Canyons Resort where I tried but failed to find Holly's mountain bike trail up the mountain. Instead I hiked up the tote road until I ran into the Mid-Mountain Trail. 

These guys were watching me head up the mountain early on.

The view from part way up the first face of The Canyons. Yes, I used the camera settings to enhance the colors of the foliage...it was pretty grey out today so the actual look was much more muted. 

Without color enhancement looking south in the direction that I headed. 

Another view with enhanced colors...

The Mid-Mountain Trail. 

The trails were really pretty today despite the lack of sun....all the aspens are bright yellow right and in some places the trail is just covered with them....

like this!

More deer.

Mid-Mountain just cuts across the hillside so it traverses a lot of the alpine trails. 

Lots of leaves on the trail.

More leaves. 

And more leaves. I guess I liked them!

Found this perfectly paved road that goes up the hillside on the southern edge of The Canyons property. There are all kinds of mansions up there (see next photo) so I'm sure this road is private and gated, otherwise it would be awesome for an uphill workout: no cars, perfect pavement. 

A HUGE mansion. One of many that all seemed to be empty. 

Traversing a steep alpine trail before it started to snow and rain. 

Looking back toward where I started. 

One last shot after the bulk of the snow and rain stopped. I didn't use any color-enhancing settings on this shot and was amazed at how vibrant the yellows still were even though it was so dark after the rain. 

Tomorrow we have an off day which is lucky because the forecast is for more of the rain and snow that we've had this afternoon. On the docket: knitting, reading, and tea. 

Maine to Salt Lake (and everything in between)...

This afternoon I'm hanging out with Raleigh, watching some (seri-terrible) home-makeover show, while we both try not to give in to napping because we both sleep better at night without a midday nap. So writing anything really creative right now? Not going to happen. So here's a photo filled blog with captions as my way of sharing my last couple of weeks with you...without writing too much! 

Seth and I went on one last warm mountain bike ride around Fort Kent before our fall/winter travel season started. We had a perfect day and the scenery was awesome. 

Farm roads in New Canada...

Potatoes waiting to be harvested in Fort Kent...

Another farm road...

Petunias at Will and Sarah's house in Stockholm....playing with some camera settings while basking in the warm September sun on their porch. 

I stayed at the Sweetser-Dominick house for a weekend taking care of these rascals, Castor and Pollux, while Will traveled back from Europe and Sarah helped with the MWSC junior/PG camp. 

Pollux...probably wanting to know where I threw the tennis ball. 

And then they found it and this mayhem (with LOTS of barking and jumping) ensued. Notice Castor freaking out in the background...

Birdhouse on their garage....

The 10th Mountain Outdoor Club jerseys came in...they're pretty sweet. 

 Heading up the mountain during the 10th Mountain fall ride/hike event. The foliage was amazing...

I got up really early while I was still in Stockholm to capture some pictures with the autumn fog settled in the valleys around Madawaska Lake. 

Another shot of fog lifting off the lake. 

The rising sun illuminated a ton of dew-covered spider webs.

Fog hovering over the river and lake. 

An apple tree on the hill above Will and Sarah's house.

And the same tree with more fog behind it. 

After doggy sitting I drove home and met my parents at the Fryeburg Fair for a day. We had perfect weather and the fair was great...

My mom was pretty excited about this pie-sized whoopee pie. 

Too bad it wasn't gluten free - she couldn't eat it! 

Piggies!

This sow had 14 piglets! 

Cows!

And the draft horse barn...

One of my favorite recent shots: the ferris wheel with the sun setting behind it. 

And the lit up (upside down) ferris wheel. I could never ride this thing without getting miserably sick. 

While I was at home in NH I discovered a whole new trail system less than a mile from my house. The trails were great...I can't wait to go back! 

A view of the lake from the hillside.

Pretty leaf-covered forest floor.

Trail head - the sign says you can ski here in winter too. I'll be back for sure!

Trail map...some of the trails are great for mountain biking and will only get better as they are ridden in. 

My mom and I did some arts and crafts for the farm stand...

Mine before the face-holes were cut out...

Someone didn't want me to leave. I had to trick her to get her to come out and then when she figured it out I got a solid half hour of sad doggie faces while she begged me to leg her back in my car. 

Now we're in Utah! 

This was a shot that Seth took toward the end of our 2:45-3 hour ski up Mirror Lake Road in Kamas UT (east of Park City). That's me in the red raincoat. Mirror Lake is a through road to a National Park but luckily it was still open despite the government shutdown. When we finished our ski we still hadn't reached the top of the pass and were above 8,000 feet in falling SNOW! In the summer the local ranchers pasture their beef cattle in this valley so we were on the lookout for cow poop in the road and roadkill in the ditches. The final count from our ski? 5 dead cows, 3 dead deer, 2 dead snakes, 4 live deer, 1 live moose. 

Hopefully we'll have some sunny weather soon so I can take the good camera out in Park City to capture the amazing foliage in the aspen groves along the alpine slopes. Now it's time to get ready for training...time to hit the gym for a strength workout!