My long time hiking buddy invited me for a jaunt around the City Creek area on Sunday, April 3rd, which also happened to be my birthday. I’d been pretty dang sedentary for the last 2 years due to working from home, so I jumped at the chance to get off my butt.
The temperature was about 55 – 60 F, the wind was calm, the sun was out: perfect weather. I was really huffing and puffing on the first hill climb but eventually got into the rhythm of the hike and felt better. Yeah, I am pretty dang out of shape (be sure to go to the gallery and look at that one horrifying image of my gut!). My buddy was doing better than I was due to him actually being active in recent years. Ah, well, I’ll get back into some sort of routine. I promise. Really.
We saw some deer and moose droppings, a few mountain bikers, and some big patches of snow in the higher elevations. Felt really good to be out in the wilderness again.
About halfway through the hike, just as my legs were starting to feel very well worked and slightly wobbly, we encountered a snow covered section of the single-track trail we were on. Not too big of an issue if the trail hadn’t been sort of tilted and narrow on the side of a hill, but such is the nature of much of the single-track trails around these parts. I was kind of grabbing onto the hillside bushes in order to avoid skiing down the hill sideways while saying “ah shit ah shit,” much to my buddy’s amusement.
Anyway, this hike was the longest 6.8 miles I remember in recent years, measured by how my legs felt during the last mile. We completed it in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. I was really glad to go home, but super glad I’d gotten outside and had some adventure. My resolve to hike, run, and bike more in coming weeks is renewed!
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