Bloated Skiing

April 17, Lakeside and the Boy Scout Trails, Hurricane Ut.

Where to ride after it rains? Internet told us the Boy Scout Trails. We climbed Lakeside trail to the end. Retraced our steps to Varsity Scout to Boy Scout. and Back out on Lakeside trail to Twist and Shout. These trails don't seem to see much use. It seems they were made by the boy scouts, but we had a fun day. 8 miles.

Francine on Lakeside trail

Tom descending Varsity Scout

Kevin at end of Boy Scout

Tom with Francine in distance on Lakeside Trail

April 16, Zion Park in the rain

Weather forecast today called for rain, so since Tom and Lori have the Senior Park pass for life, we headed to Zion. We had a leisurely morning, and got to the park just in time for the parking lots in the park be declared full. Luckily we got a place on the road and didn't have to exit the park to find one of the paid lots in the town of Springville.

Had a 4 shuttle wait, as there were many others like us, viewing the park in the rain. Many families are on spring break. Can't imagine the circus show this place would be in the summer. We rode the shuttle to the end, stop 9, and got off. Instead of doing the hike at the end that everyone was doing, we opted to hike down river, on a trail alongside the road.

The intrepid rain hikers - Lori, Tom, Francine & Kevin

Riverside trail - not on map - not named

Zion

Lori, Francine & Tom

Hiked to shuttle stop 8 and had a snack. Caught shuttle to #6, and walked to Zion Lodge, the only place offering food in the park. We were glad we packed sandwiches, as they were much tastier than the hot dogs and burgers being sold. The rain started coming down harder, and we found refuge in the Zion lodge, theater room, that they so nicely opened up.

After our lunch, went to the museum for the movie, and Tom picked us up and headed back to our house.

April 15, Wire Mesa, Virgin, Ut.

Tom, hooking up on Wire Mesa trail

Rolled in to our nice rambler in La Verkin Ut. Hooked up with Tom and Lori for our first week. We started the trip with a nice mesa loop called Wire Mesa. Super fun flowy trails with minimal elevation gain. Nice way to ease into the trails surrounding St George.

Tom

Francine

April 13, Eagle Mt. Utah

Cruising the trails at Mountain Ranch Bike Park

After Boise we were searching for decent weather. Salt Lake City had fresh snow right above town. Our usual stomping ground, corner canyon in Draper, was covered in snow. Thanks to Facebook and an active Utah group, word was out that the only snow free trails were near Saratoga Springs, up in suburbia land at Eagle Mt. Expectations were low, parking lot was packed with everyone from Salt Lake City and all the sprawl that it encompasses. Riding was, actually, quite nice. Cranked out one big loop. Sucess.

April 11/12 Boise Foothills

Its springtime and that means it is time to hit the road and get our mountain bike season rolling. This year we are headed to La Verkin Utah to get some seventy degree weather and explore new trails. Sticking to our regular driving schedule we stopped in Boise for decent weather window and to get a couple rides in the foothills above downtown Boise.

April 4, Leavenworth

Made a quick trip to a sunny Leavenworth. Did a couple laps on the lower trails near the Ski Hill. Rode For the Boys, Lower Rosy Boa, Freund Connector. Still a little too wet to do Freund Canyon or Upper Rosy Boa, but will not be long.

March 30, Raging River, North Bend, Wa.

Melting out fast. Trail was in primo condition!

March 14, Tour Montana, Lost Trail

Still room in the parking lot. Lost Trail Montana

Lost Trail. Do you know where that is? It's pretty close to Wisdom Montana where we spent the night. Surprisingly when I talked to other die-hard skiers they actually knew about Lost Trail. They are only open Thurs-Sun, so when we planned our trip through Montana we made sure to line up Lost Trail for a Thursday. Our planning paid off! We showed up on a bluebird twenty degree day, with ten inches of snow from earlier in the week. It was pretty surreal to get fresh tracks from top to bottom most of the morning. By the afternoon we were hanging out in the North facing steeps on Chair 1. Great day, great area, only negative was no bar in the lodge. Oh well it was great day to tailgate!

Jimmy Weber gets his soft snow

Kristin

Plenty of room for tracks

Lunch stop at the base

Private bar

Kristin and Jimmy hydrate

Francine hydrates as well

bonus pow shots

March 11, Beehive Basin, Ski tour

Our house was at Moonlight Basin, which is just beyond the turn for Beehive Basin road. It made it an easy decision to do a ski tour. We had pretty much skied out Big Sky, and it was getting hard to find any powder. The route up Beehive Basin follows a summer trail and is pretty easy to navigate. Head up basin until you enter National Forest then head up to the ridgeline and choose from North or South facing slopes. Area was very nice and it would be fun to have all day and a partner to get out further.