2023 ~ May Recap

 Memories from May ... 

• Jen's Medical: The head is healing ... it's a pretty big/bad scar this time, that not even a lot of hair covers up all the way. It's been a little tough getting back to the exercise and eating. Walks on the treadmill and Zumba have been fine (there was even an evening Zumba session with the Young Women), with pickleball added back in. A tetanus shot was needed near the end of the month after some gardening ended with an encounter with a rusty piece of metal ... and the day after that Jen was hit with dizzies and nausea. Couldn't get out of bed for the whole day (500 steps on the Fitbit). Hoped it was a one day thing, but it stuck around for about a week, getting only slightly better each day. But it was a solid week without leaving the house, and not leaving the bed much. Missed out on Colton's Wolves basketball tournament :(
• Car Stuff: Gray's truck wouldn't start mid-month ... and luckily we're in a pretty good situation with Coop/Jen able to share the Durango, so Grayson was able to take the Tesla while the truck was in the shop. Landon has been driving a work vehicle for a while, but with the divorce final and the house sold, he was in a good spot financially to finally get a car. It's a  2023 Toyota Camry - and it's RED! In addition to Colton's Charger having the spoiler ripped off at the car wash (and that's not something they claim responsibility for) his front license plate gets bent every time he goes through. He installed a plate frame to help with that issue before it broke off completely.
• Ice Ice Baby: Our icemaker in the freezer has been having issues for a long while. Sometimes it would work fine, then other times ... nothing. Then it would drop some ice cubes and pour water directly over them creating a big, solid block. We are super spoiled with out nice commercial pebbled ice maker, but we want the bigger cubes too. I called for repair ... it took FIVE trips. But we have ice again. Finally.
• Keaton's Corner: Keaton moved into his place back in March. Not many photos were taken the first day, and we hadn't been back to see him settled, until now. So if you wanted to see his spot, you can check out the blog post HERE. 
• Blackham Bunch Activities: The Blackham's got together for an MS Walk at Veteran's Memorial Park, super close by! You can read a little more about it HERE. We also gathered to try out Clay's new pizza oven (the WJ Blackham's have a couple ovens that have been used quite a bit the last year or so). The dessert pizza was a hit!
• A Trip to the Tulips: Gray surprised Jen with a day date to see the tulips at Thanksgiving Point ... with the cooler weather, there were still a lot in bloom later in May. You can see photos HERE. 
• Mother's Day: A lovely bouquet of flowers. It was drizzling, but we did a little family pickleball in the rain. Cal and Kate had been gone but got back in time to drop by in the evening.
• Pickleball: We've been hitting the pickleball courts each week. Originally Keaton had said he didn't care for the game as much, but he's become one of our regulars as well. He has a crazy lob! So there are five regulars (Jen, Coop, Landon, Cal and Keaton) and once in a while we get Gray and Colton out too. Jen also plays once a week with the relief society ladies, and went with a friend to an evening session in Murray. 
• Basketball: Colton had a tournament with the WJ Jags the first week of May. Jen's still been cautious (especially in the evenings, driving and going out alone) and so Landon accompanied her to the first game, Keaton was the chauffer for a late Friday night game (the boys had a great comeback). Colton has still been practicing with Metro and with Coach Scott. He had a final tournament with the Wolves (they won the championship) and Cal's men's league has started up again, and Colton has been filling in there when they need an extra man. 
• Hiking Hubs:  Grayson's hiking adventures were mentioned in the April update, and the dedicated blog post about all his activities has been updated. New hikes, pictures, maps, there's even a haiku and new lyrics to a hit song (with a little help from ChatGPT). Scroll down HERE to see the latest updates. 
• Books! Jen's Bookclub read(s) this month were Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (had a bit of a "To Kill a Mockingbird" feel. Wrote a lot on the GoodReads review!) and The Measure by Nikki Erlick (what would happen if everyone over the age of 22 suddenly had the choice to see how long they had to live?) Tons of discussion ideas on this one. Horse by Geraldine Brooks was another favorite.
• ByeBye Beta: Colton had received a little Beta fish last year (an answer/ask to a date/dance). The kitties loved to drink out of the beta bowl (ewww, fishy poop) and one day I found the bowl knocked over and poor Beta exposed. I scooped him up and put him in water, and he was alive, but never quite the same after that. It was a bit of a relief when he was out of his misery, and flushed. 
• Cal&Kate: It was a busy month for these two. They had a weekend away in St. George, then a trip to Oregon. Kate also had a birthday!

School was wrapping up as the month ended ... so things will shift into a summer schedule for the next few months.  Here's a look at a month of memories one second style ...

https://youtu.be/PTgKoSoepcM

My Hiking Hubs

Symphony Homes, and the Health Insurance provider EMI have a hiking challenge going ... "Beginning April 1st and ending on September 30th, all members of EMI Health’s medical insurance are invited to lace up those hiking boots and get on the trails! The goal is simple: complete 20 hikes before the season is over."

Grayson got going!

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve - San Diego, California

Three mile hike from the trailhead to beach, then along the beach back to the trailhead.

Gray and Landon had gone on a quick getaway to SanDiego. In a text to me, Gray wrote "I think I may have set the wrong expectation on this one" (to Landon) "I called it a walk, or a mile hike."  Gray had done a six mile run in the morning, and added the three mile hike to that, and was topping 20k in steps. I mentioned Cooper was close to catching him in steps .... Grayson said "he better not" ... oops! April 21, 2023

Adam's Canyon

From Grayon's email to me and to the Symphony challenge... "ZLichtie and I reporting in on conditions in Adam’s Canyon this morning – brisk and icy – but exquisite nonetheless. Hike was 4 miles and in better conditions we would have been done at least 20 minutes faster. We. Needed. Spikes. On our shoes. There was much slipping and sliding. Coming down was not fun. I do want to do this one again but prepared. Good start to the day. A hike can be pretty cathartic."  April 28, 2023.

Orson Smith Trail to the Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge

Weather report – a far cry from Monday earlier in the week. Cool bridge and overlook – enough climb to get your heart rate up. Saturday, April 29.

Living Room Lookout Trail

Not a long hike but almost entirely uphill to the overlook. Downhill was a quad-killer – rubbery legs for the rest of the day. Weather Report – perfect. Sunday, April 30, 2023

South Deuel Creek Trail

Creek flow is very heavy – and beautiful. All bridges were cross-able with only some sketchiness. Trail condition is great up to the rope swing. The rope swing itself seems to be ready for the coming season of swingers (that sounds weird now that I read that back). We trekked past the swing about 3/4 mile and end up in mucho snow before we turned around. All in all, an excellent hike. Bonus: about 1/2 mile up (give or take) springing up from the base of the canyon is an absolutely exquisite tree in bloom. The attached pic doesn’t do it justice in any way. You have to go see it. And unfortunately the blooms will probably be gone in very short order.

Viewmont V 

Conditions – very, very schwetty. Excellent views of the valley and our Great Salt Lake puddles . Since the “peace” sign is the official BeWell hand symbol (don’t look at me funny, I’m just following the book), it seemed a fitting hike for the theme. So yeah…..and done.

Bountiful Lake Loop

Conditions – W-E-T. I tacked this “hike” on with a morning run directly out of the office. About 1/3 of the trail is under water so I was doing some serious high-knees through much of it and returned with sopping shoes. Listed at 6’ of elevation gain, yes, SIX FEET, this one was a grunt. Luckily it was breezy keeping any mosquitoes away. Probs won’t be recommending this one even though it’s on the list of suggested hikes. My suggestion…..skip it.

Wild Rose Loop

Above North Salt Lake

Conditions – Perfect. Cool and fresh from some light rail the night before. Greenification is still in the works. Numerous options on this jaunt that can extend from 40 minutes to well over an hour, if you want. Great views of our stomping grounds in Davis County. Unfortunately, no roses, wild or otherwise, to be seen.

Ensign Peak via Bonneville Shoreline Trail

May 10 ... Hammered out 6.35 miles with Zac dragging my sorry carcass to the finish. Speaking of carcass, the elk or deer remains on the trail certainly got our attention wondering who’s dinner this was and if we were next. On our return trip to Tunnel Springs Park, the photo ops were in FULL BLOOM – grads, engagement, bridal, missionary….what have you. They are were all there. While the views are mostly urban and less mountain-y, this was a great loop. The city overlooks are worth a glance. Trail conditions were perfect.

Farmington Creek

May 13 ... Farmington Creek Trail 

This oft-forgotten trail needs its minute. 2023 may be its year and quite possibly not have another year like it. Why, you ask? The falls……Oh. Em. Gee…..the FALLS. Neither my verbosity nor any picture will help. This hike is worth its ending. Hard stop. To summarize some info: The actual trailhead is about one mile above the Farmington Canyon gate which is currently closed/locked and will probably remain that way for another month, plus or minus. There’s a parking lot right below the gate. Park it there and start walking. Because Zac-Attack is an animal and takes no prisoners, he made me park at Farmington Pond and add another mile to our jaunt. Because of course. At the first switchback in the road you break off to the trailhead. The greenification of the canyon is still a work in progress. Not sure what bug we encountered but it was def worth a close up. Along the path, the tale of casualties coming from the road above is told by the vehicular carcasses still on display at the canyon floor. R.I.P. whoever was inside whence they descended. For those who will venture out on this hike, waterproof hiking shoes or better yet, hiking boots are invaluable. There are 3 stream crossings which I would call small, medium and large. Being able to get into water at least ankle deep will make your voyage a bit easier. About 2 miles from the trailhead you reach it….your destination….your purpose for being there that day. The Falls. Here’s the kicker – to get down to the base of the falls where you can really take in the proportions…..nay, its majesty… there are two routes: Rope descent – not a rappel but marvelously sketchy nonetheless. Muddy switchback – not as bad as it sounds as it will be drying a little bit everyday and making it much more passable. The choice is yours. The payoff, if you don’t tumble down the hill into the raging rapids below, is beyond any description. And I shall not attempt one. Now you can wait until the gate is opened in a few weeks and park right at the trailhead. But you risk the waterflow dropping to a more normal level. To reiterate….the pics just don’t capture it. Real life is the only way to experience it.

Here's a little video (https://youtu.be/py9WbQxqb7Q)

Parrish Creek

May 16 ... Gonna go ahead and say cross this one off your list unless self-punishment is part of your regimen. Parrish Creek Trail (not to be confused with Parrish Creek Pictographs Trail).  A tad over 6 miles. Over 2000 feet of elevation gain. Scenery and views decent but no climactic ending point. Just a heave almost the whole way. Note to self: no more light grey shorts. There’s a reason I wear black. Won’t going into details.

Fun fact: I did not know that Milk Duds grew naturally in the wild. A tad bitter at this stage, so I’m guessing they need to ripen a little bit. But Jon Olson will be relieved to know he no longer needs to spend absurd amounts of money when he can harvest them naturally in the foothills of Davis County.

To reiterate….proceed at own risk! GB Out.

Mueller Park - Elephant Rock

I asked Gray how they got the cool shot (below) of them on the rock from a distance. He said that Zac spotted a biker who had just arrived at the point where you start the scramble to the rock. We yelled up to him and he obliged. Then we scrambled back to the trail so he could text it to us. Even the full images aren’t particularly good quality but they were much better than nothing.

This was May 25, and here's Grayson's write up for the work competition ...

So I said to ChatGPT, I says…. “Write a satirical haiku poem about our hike on Mueller Park Trail to Elephant Rock” (I am not responsible for this content. Blame ChatGPT. I’m just the messenger)

Perfect day to hike,

Zac and Grayson hit the trail,

Fashion show begins.

Zac, hot and stylish,

Hiking gear on fleek, they say,

Nature's catwalk star.

Seven miles conquered,

1099 feet uphill,

But Zac steals the show.

Elephant Rock waits,

Scrambling to a fierce pose,

Overlooking views.

Fashion-forward hike,

Zac, the trail's top model,

Nature's runway won.

 

Deuel Creek - Attempt

May 26 ... with a crew of five. Creek had overrun one of its crossings. We couldn’t find an alternate. Had to back out. Bummer. Decided on breakfast instead. Again, Grayson turned to ChatGPT...

Grayson completed the hike himself a few days later.

Bell's Canyon

Gray hit Bell's Canyon in Sandy on May 21 (alone) and then again on May 28 with Landon. Landon has been getting into hiking now too. Grayson doesn't want to dominate the Symphony hiking challenge, so he's not even submitting all his hikes. No clever write up for this one. 

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Gray and Zac hit three different trails ...

... more HIKING in JUNE/JULY 2023 and in AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023