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.