Wire Pass Hike

Time to get caught up on this blog! Way back in March shortly after we moved into the new house we went on a little camping trip to Coyote Buttes area. This camp trip was our friend Alison’s idea, she wanted to hike the famous “Wave”. I thought it a brilliant plan! As we headed East from St. George to meet her at the White House camp grounds I did take note of the ominous clouds to the north of us. But really how bad could it be? I know Alison had texted me that it was cold and if I didn’t want to come she would understand…. but I was really in need of a camp fire and time away from civilization. 

We didn’t even last 24 hours before packing up a soaked camp and heading home. We arrived Fri at 6PM and left the following day at 3:15PM. Not sure who the hell rates sleeping bags or how that works... mine is supposed to be +15 well I call BS on that one. Glad I took my snow pants or I never would have stayed warm. Even with ALL my ski gear on I was cold in the sleeping bag. When I got up in the morning there was frost on my camp stove, by 10AM the car said it was 35-degrees. Thankfully the kids stayed warm in their sleeping bags. I can do cold, I can do rain. I cannot do kids in the cold rain with sand. I didn't think I would ever find a use for my new three car garage. When we got home I laid out both tents and shoes and anything else that was wet to dry. Sunday morning I spent most of the day cleaning sand off of everything.

As for getting a permit to the Wave… what a joke! Alison tried the day she got there but quickly realized there was NO way all 7 of us would be hiking the wave. Even the chance of us getting one permit was slim. 

As an alternate we decided to hike Wire Pass. When we drove out to the trail head the road was dry. It started raining on us just before we reached the small slot canyon. Just a drizzle nothing we thought we should be concerned about so we hiked through the slot canyon to where it opened up again then turned around and came back, really short hike. Then found a spot to eat lunch out of the drizzle. The drizzle picked up became a slushy rain of sorts. We get back to the car, get all the shoes off the kids, and start driving back down the road to the highway. I have driven in some crappy icy snowy conditions but that was downright nerve racking and NUTS!!!! That road was slicker than snot and we had little if any traction because the tires were covered. Alison did a great job driving us out of there but we crept along. A snail could have beaten us out of there.

By the time we arrived back at camp Alison and I had decided the fun was over with. The kids were angels and helped us break camp in record time. This is definitely one camp trip we will never forget. 

St George Bogley Bike Fest

For the full report find it on  Bogley.com. In the meantime enjoy the pics.

Sarah's Brithday Party

We started with one girl and then there were two, next thing I know six of them were running around and they continued to multiply until there were ELEVEN elven year olds!!! Perfect number of girls for Sarah’s Eleventh birthday party. Cake, ice-cream, popcorn and a cornucopia of candy, Wii, Alison in Wonderland and playing cops and robbers with the 14 year old boys. Five of the girls spent the night with Sarah and in the morning Katy Perry sang at the top of her lungs while they ate breakfast and danced in their PJ’s. They all had wild and crazy hair!

Eagle Point Ski Resort

Last Saturday I was lazy and did nothing all day long and it rained ALL day long. Offpiste from Bogley gave me a free pass to Eagle Point and the more I thought about it the more I realized that Sunday was probably the last day of this ski season I would be able to use the pass. We are moving again and the next couple weeks are going to be busy with packing, work and moving. I really couldn’t have picked a better day to cash that pass in! We woke up at 5AM to get ready to go, the drive from St. George to Eagle Point is 2 hours. My goal was to leave by 7AM to make it there by 9AM, rent Spencer some skis and be on the slopes when the lifts opened.

We pulled out of town at 6:40AM. 20 minutes ahead of schedule, PERFECT! We are driving along and an old tradition of ours when we had to get up every Saturday for ski team was to call out our check list to make sure we didn’t forget anything. We haven’t done that in so long I kinda forgot about it. Spencer (he is so cute) starts hollering out the checklist like I use to and Sarah and I piped in together to confirm each item he called out. He gets done with the list looks over at me and says "we are ready Mom".

As we approach the Leeds exit there are about 25 Semi’s pulled off the side of the road and the exit. I am use to driving in some pretty shitty road conditions but to see this many semi’s pulled off before there is even any snow on the road had me very concerned! I have all wheel drive and a strong desire for some powder so guess we will see what is in store for the drive up. As we proceeded the terrain became dusted with snow. I do love the way this area looks with snow on it! So beautiful! The roads were completely packed with snow from New Harmony all the way to the resort. Both rest stops between here and there were FULL of semi’s. One of them a semi had started to pull out on the on ramp and promptly went off the road! Saw several cars off the side of the road on our drive up. Really crappy road conditions, overcast and miserable the entire way, we drove slow and took our time. There was only one other car in the canyon up to the resort. We arrived at 9:40 to a bare upper parking lot. In the whole lot there were 14 cars.

It was absolutely beautiful up there. The sun was shining and the powder was fresh! They received 16” overnight and 20” in a 48 hour period. We rented a ski package for Spencer and hit the slopes. We started off at the top of Eagle Point because that is where the blue runs are and Sarah’s level. After we made sure she was comfortable on Skyline chair. Spencer and I headed to the Lookout chair. I don’t think there was more than 150 people total on the entire mountain!

Spencer is not a powder skier and was a bit reluctant to come with me but the blues at Eagle Point are really more like greens for my kids. So he was bored on the upper ski area. I am glad he came because we experienced powder so light and fluffy it made the Easter bunny green with envy!!! He and I skied four really good powder runs and then mommy guilt kicked in and I had to get back with my girl. If she would have had someone to ski with I would have let them ski to their hearts content while I did the same. I could not, even in the name of powder, leave her by herself for very long.

We reconnected with Sarah and ate lunch at the upper lodge. Food service was painfully slow and the fries were so over done they were more like chips and they don’t serve beer in the upper lodge. Spencer’s bratwurst and kraut was delicious. After lunch we headed over to the Monarch lift and played as a family for the rest of the day over in that area.

Not a bad little ski resort and if no one bothers with it on a fresh powder Sunday definitely worth the trip to mess that powder up. There is another lift they are putting in on Delano Drop that will make this a much better resort. Right now when you are skiing those lower runs where all the black diamonds are you have to hike over to Delano Drop. Spencer was not up to that so we didn’t get over that far on the mountain.

The blue runs in my opinion are more like greens and the blacks seem a bit tame. Still I think it is a great little resort and cheap skiing. It only cost me $92 to buy two passes for the kids and a ski package for Spencer. If I had to buy my pass it would have been $137 as opposed to $200 at Snowbasin. By the time you figure the cost of gas in Eagle looks even better.

I can’t give a good comparison between Eagle and Brian Head as I have only skied Brian Head during late spring skiing and they had few runs open. I can compare it to Wolf Mountain up in Eden. Eagle has more black runs and actually I think a better place for beginners to learn. Those upper runs are great for a beginner. Short, wide, just the right angle and plenty to choose from. I wonder if Eagle will ever do night skiing?

One thing I can say is they have the LONGEST tubing hill I have ever seen. The kids and I would love to go back up and just go tubing. Only $15 for two hours.

Overall loved it! We had a great family day.



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Zion In The Snow With Friends

Over President’s day weekend we had expected to have several friends from the Salt Lake City Mountain Bike Meetup group come down and ride the trails. However the weather was very uncooperative and all of them bailed but one.  Lou and his son Cole did net the rainy blues keep them away. They arrived late Friday night to wake up to more rain. Cole had come down for a soccer tournament and on Saturday he played two games in the rain. Sunday we all woke up to MORE rain but decided we would go stir crazy if we didn’t get out of the house.  We packed a lunch and headed out. Lou and Cole are from Maine and this was their first visit to Southern Utah. We took them to Zion. Even though it was overcast and raining/snowing I still felt Zion would not disappoint. I love Zion in the snow. 

We stopped at the little coffee shop right before the entrance to Zion and grabbed Lou another cup of joe (I am pretty sure that is all that flows through his veins) and the kids some hot chocolate and ate a delicious cinnamon roll. For our first hike we took them through the tunnel to Canyon Overlook Trail. Sadly we didn’t get to see the amazing views of West Temple but it was still worth the hike. Next we hiked up to weeping rock. Sarah’s feet were cold and wet so she stayed in the car while the rest of us made the quick short hike. The water dripping off Weeping Rock was irresistible and we all tried catching a mouthful. 

After Weeping Rock we continued up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive to Temple of Sinawava. We had all climbed out of the car and only planned on staying for a short minute. It was late about 5:30PM, Sarah didn’t want to hike in wet shoes and we were hungry. As we prepared to leave the car Lou got the strangest look on his face and said “Did you get the keys like I told you?” I may be hard of hearing at times but I KNOW he never asked me that and I knew he was joking with me but in that split second I also realized that he had LOCKED the keys in the vehicle. Lou he is a very funny guy. I just started chuckling. We checked all the doors, they were locked and the keys were still in the ignition. 

There were not very many cars in the parking lot but I did spy two gentlemen returning from their hike that looked like they would be nice enough to help. We asked them to give Lou and Sarah a ride to the lodge so Lou could see if the rangers could help or he could call AAA.  The boys and I hiked the Riverside Walk.  We meandered slowly up the walk. It was pretty humorous to watch Spencer 14yo 6’ tall  210lbs walk next to Cole 11 yo 5’2” 90lbs. Those two never shut up the entire trip. They walked next to each other and jibber jabbered the whole time. We started calling them Gallon and Half Pint.  The boys and I hiked all the way to the end and then started back. It wasn’t too far from the start of the Riverside Walk that we met Lou and Sarah coming to find us. The good ole rangers for Zion saved the day!

We piled into the car and headed to Zion’s Pizza and Noodle Company for some grub! 

Monday Cole had one more soccer game. The rain finally quit! Lou and I were able to go on ONE ride. We picked Barrel Roll Trail.