Getting back to normal

I have been away for a while - been pretty busy. I was working at White Pine Touring five days a week and working at Deer Valley two days each week - I wanted to ensure I would have a job after the ski season ended, but at the same time I did not want to quit Deer Valley - it's a great organization and one with whom I would like to maintain a connection.
I had my first 'weekend' in about six weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. My friend Lindsay from Washington DC came out to visit and we went mountain biking and hiking. Our mountain biking excursion was at Antelope Island - quick tip - if you ride there, you need to have thorn proof tires or slime in your tubes!  This is a hilly island in the middle of the Salt Lake. Surrounding this island is a murky silt - not really water - and the island is populated by bison, antelope, HUGE rabbits and a small contingent of feral park rangers. There's a cool ranch at the southern end of the island, and we would have checked it out were it not for the large groups of students sort of taking over the place.  Visitors to the island are greeted by sulfuric smelling air and swarms of gnats that prefer to hover near the face and head area of people.


We got the bikes out and rolling, and Lindsay kicked my ass on the bike. I was hoping I would have an advantage because of the altitude. After the cool ranch, we turned down a trail that climbed toward one of the grassy peaks on the island. I finally proved my chops by staying in the saddle while Linsday struggled behind me. We stopped part way up the hill and had lunch - we were surprised by one of the aforementioned large rabbits - when we went to descend the hill again, Lindsay had a flat tire causedy a thorn. I patched it, and practically said 'nothing can stop us now!' only to discover the tire still had a leak. I patched it a second time, pumped it up, put it back on the bike.... and still a leak. Third patch, and off we go. When we got to the bottom of that hill - which was REALLY fun to ride, I stopped to take a picture of some bison - and the other three tires on our two bikes were flat. We got a ride back to our car from a park ranger who said he wished he had a chance to tell us about the thorns. It was a great ride either way.

Wednesday we borrowed Maisy the dog and went hiking behind the University of Utah at the Red Butte Arboretum. We got in about 90 minutes of hiking and then the weather turned on us, and we headed back to Park City.  

So, hopefully back to a normal schedule with a couple of days off (in a row) each week - I want to travel down to Moab or check out some of the other amazing outdoor adventure opportunities that are afforded me by this amazing part of the world.