SoCal

A couple of weeks ago we stayed with my brother and his wife in their new house near San Diego. I had never been too impressed with biking opportunities in the urban areas of southern California - until now. The Carmel Mountain/Los Penasquitos trail system is the real deal: narrow singletrack, steep climbs, rocks, creeks, and even a good view to the ocean from atop Carmel Mountain. And, there is a trailhead just a few blocks down the street from my brother's doorstep!
This large clear pool at the bottom of the creek was perfect for a mid-ride cool-off break.

This was the turnaround point where the canyon closes to a narrow rocky defile complete with pools and waterfalls.

Of course, we spent plenty of time at the beach and our favorite: exploring tide pools!

Old Iron Town

We finally made it out to Old Iron Town, known as Utah's 1st ghost town. A very nice place to visit with kids. More pics over on http://sueandtk.blogspot.com/2008/07/iron-town.html.

Blue Peak, King of the Northern Oquirrhs

At 9360 feet, Blue Peak (a.k.a. Nelson Peak) is not the most impressive peak in the state, nor is it even the highest peak in the Oquirrh Mountains - which divide the Salt Lake and Tooele Valleys. But being the high point above my hometown of Erda, I often daydreamed about climbing to the top of the peak's angled massive ledge of blue limestone. I again summitted Blue Peak on July 4th via Bates Canyon on the west side of the range, which would be about my third time on top.

There is still this huge stone structure on top and I still can't figure out its purpose. The view into the copper pit to the south is always impressive.
A closer look at Blue Peak's massive cliff of Pennsylvanian limestone. It's chock-full of fossilized sea shells - it's hard to imagine this used to be at the bottom of a warm, tropical sea.

There were more types of wildflowers than I could keep track of and they were often waist deep.

Still a patch of snow or two near the top.
The old Bates Canyon jeep road. The BLM closed the canyon to motorized vehicles several years ago and it has now reverted to a narrow singletrack and is perfect for travel on a mountain bike.
Above is what's left of the larger Bates cabin - completely burned away except for the tin roof. This is what the cabin looked like about two years ago. Just 15 years ago this cabin was in excellent repair and a good place to spend the night, if you could handle the mice scurrying across your face!

Below are a few of my favorite images of where I will always call home:

Click the play button to see a panoramic view from Blue Peak.

Crystal Cave

Whenever I move to a new town, I always try and talk to the locals as much as possible and pick their brains about the little-known places of interest in the backcountry. You know, stuff that you can't find in your typical travel guide or the internet. One such place is "crystal cave" up in the hills just east of Cedar. I'm not sure where the name came from. I found no crystals and it actually isn't a cave, but a mine. A lot of the mines around here are a little strange. This one is dug into a prominent sandstone ledge within the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation - a rock formation that is not known to have any mineralization around here (well, uranium has been found in and near this formation in some parts of southern Utah). Someone put a lot of back-breaking labor into digging this and I'll bet they got nothing in return.
Someone, perhaps the miner who excavated the crystal cave, also put a fair amount of work into this sturdy little rock cabin.





On another note, last weekend I went on a campout with the local scout troupe to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Only a couple of boys showed up, but it was still fun.

What is up with kids these days? I heard more discussion about video games around camp than the trees, rocks, or critters.

One of the oldest living things on earth - Bristlecone pine trees.


Also, some of the high alpine singletrack up on the plateau is finally snow free!