Shotski Time!

Here's a little camping fun and games..

When you are camping with a bunch of skiers that is.

The "Shotski".

This is a special custom shotski. 2 skis attached together with wing nuts in Snowbird colors. Attached to the skis are 8 beautiful handthrown ceramic shotglasses, made by my friend Susan. Susan orchestrated the perfect shot ski... everyone is lined up my height, so nobody gets a shot shower. (Being a short gal between 2 tall men is dangerous.) Everyone pours the beverage of their choice, on command the shotski is raised in salute, then tipped. Yummy and warm in the tummy.

Funny, I'm not much of a shot drinker, I'd usually much rather sip and savor my favorite beverages... but who can resist the Shotski?

More from Moab....

A lovely Prickly Pear Cactus flower

A few more photos from my Moab adventure. In case a 20 mile mountain bike ride wasn't enough, after our ride a bunch of us headed out to Corona Arch. Not a very long hike, only about 3 miles round trip, just enough the work the kinks out of cycling fatigued legs, a perfect apres-biking activity! Corona Arch is one of the areas most spectacular arches, which recently received much notoriety by climbers who turned it into the world's largest rope swing. A climber rappelled down from the arch as we hiked up and one too scared to rappel down up was still perched on top, and there were others hiking out who had claimed they had just finished doing the swinging thing. Sadly, all this adventure activity may well lead to the demise of this magnificent arch, and the holes from the bolts used to secure the ropes will likely catch water and freeze in the winter, eventually cracking and collapsing the arch. I kind of wonder how these climbers decide the bolts are really still secure enough for these activities. It seems like a real "leap of faith" to me! On Sunday we headed out with our bikes again.... this time to Dead Horse Point State Park where we road the 9 mile Big Chief loop. Loads of fun, not too tough a trail, but being the rock virgin I was prior to this weekend some spots were still a little challenging to me. Totally amazing views!!!!

Corona Arch

Bowtie Arch

Corona Arch

Spotted Leopard Lizard

The views from Dead Horse Point

Memorial Day Moab Adventures

I spent Memorial Day weekend adventuring in Moab with friends and friends of friends. The weekend started kind of rough, as when we arrived early Saturday we were greeted by a massive windstorm, 40 MPH plus winds pelting us with sand, filling our tents, our eyes and ears... made for a fairly miserable afternoon climbing around on the nearby cliffs. But by night time the winds calmed down, ushering in beautiful weather for the rest of the holiday weekend.

The gang... ready to roll!

Mountain biking was on the weekend adventure. I have not done a ton of mountain biking. My bike is a 16 year old hardtail, bought when my kids were young so I could ride trails with my son. We did a few such rides with the kids but it has mostly been in recent years that my bike has been getting used as it should, mostly on moderate single track trails here in the Wasatch. This weekend was first attempt at Moab style mountain biking.

Gemini Bridges

Slickrock!!

The plan was to bike the Gemini Bridges trail, a 16 mile ride starting a short distance from our campground. That "short distance" proved not too short, it ended up being a bonus 4.6 miles, all up hill, to get the Gemini Bridges road. The trip to the bridges was fairly easy, downhill on a jeep road. Then the fun began, we did a few sections of the Magnificent 7 single track trail. This is were the real challenge started for me. I've never ridden slickrock, so I had no idea what obstacles where ride-able, and which would require a dismount. After a bit of riding I did start to get the feel for what I could do, and what the bike could tackle. I surprised myself by going up over rocks I never thought I could clear, and dropping over ledges and stairsteps. I have to say mountain biking the rocky single track had to be the most mentally exhausting sport I've ever done, I really had to concentrate on the rugged terrain, as I really didn't want to crash on the rocks.

Arths Corner Trail - follow the yellow slash trail!

After about 4 miles of the challenging for me slickrock single track, and a short slog through deep sand, we ended up back on the road, where toward the end we got challenged by a long steep upgrade, one where at every turn in the road you joyfully think "this must be it", only to find yet more hill ahead. I didn't make it quite to the top, at some point I had to do a little "hike-a-bike". After reaching the top, the trip down to the main road where our shuttle awaited proved to be equally challenging. It was steep and rocky enough that it required pretty constant braking and attention to rocks and gravel, so even though it seemed like it should be a coast, it was really work too.
It was quite a day for me. 20 challenging miles on the bike, amazing dessert scenery, and my first ever slickrock biking experience. I loved it ... there will be more!

Yeah, this was a killer hill, both up, and down!