The Unicorn Trails

 While my brother was here, I knew we had to take him out on the Unicorn Trails. These are newly discovered trails on the ranch. The story is already confused. My story is that I called them the Horse Trails, but that Desert Girl called them the Unicorn Trails and I immediately saw the brilliancy of that name. Desert Girl's story is that her mother is crazy and came up with the name all on her own.

Anyway, the trails are made by my mother-in-law's horses. I realized after our trip to Moab that they would be a great place to practice single track. So far the kids have been a little less than enthusiastic. Fortunately, Desert Girl has realized that this is a way to go visit the unicorns (ahem, horses).

She's a horse lover, so doesn't mind an excuse for more time with them.

Maggie had to get kicked a couple of times, but she eventually learned how to get along with the horses.

And then the unicorn appeared! The horn just blends in with the clouds. Really. Or maybe you can only see the horn if you believe.

We continued through a more difficult section of the Unicorn Trails.

It resulted in a spectacular leap. Wearing zebra leggings definitely helps.

On the way home we had a slight detour. We've been waiting for our swimming hole to dry out so we can turn it into our version of the OK Corral and bike up and down short obstacles. We can ride part of it now.

It's fun to have nearby trails to explore! I'm hoping we will get out more on our bikes, although if winter eventually comes, we might have to postpone that a bit. Nevertheless, we can keep dreaming about the Unicorn Trails and what we might find there.

A Trip to Crystal Peak

 

 My brother was in town and wanted an adventure, so we headed out to Crystal Peak. This is a small mountain made of Tunnel Springs Tuff, about 33 million years old. The light colored rock really reflects the light, so on summer afternoons, it looks like the mountain is glowing. In the winter, the sun is in the south, so we don't get the same effect, but up close, the mountain is still beautiful.

Desert Girl really wanted to find some fossils, and along the south side of the mountain, the tuff meets up with the highly fossiliferous Kanosh Shale. It didn't take long for the rock hammer to come out!

We started seeing some fossils, mainly brachiopods.

But then we found some different fossils (maybe a cephalapod?).

 We weren't sure what caused the iron intrusion next to these brachiopods.

We kept going higher to see if we could make it to the summit. I remembered doing it a few years ago  and had conveniently forgotten all the hard parts. (That's one of my skills for going back to unpleasant caves.) I had also forgotten the right landmarks. I should have read my 2014 Crystal Peak blog post, which conveniently shows the easiest way up to the summit. We started up a gully.

We had some spectacular views of the Burbank Hills, the distant Snake Range including Wheeler Peak, and the Flat Ferguson Desert. We also had a scary climb. The tuff is not a solid rock, and handholds and footholds will suddenly break.

Desert Boy had elected to wait below with the dog, but Desert Girl was ready for a challenge.

Ed made it to the top! Well, the top of one part of the mountain. It wasn't the tippy top because I had led us up the wrong gully, but the views were still awesome.

We decided that was good enough for the day, and started heading down. Down is actually much harder than up--back to that rock crumbling part.

The interesting hollows in the rock are called tafoni. I only know that because I read my 2014 blog post. :)

It seemed like we went down a long, long time.

Looking through a tafoni window towards a peak to the south. Yeah, I have to get a little artsy fartsy sometime.

The true peak is up above the nearly sheer cliff just right of center in the photo below.

We met up with Desert Boy and Maggie. Desert Boy had been in a bad mood, but the rest had cured him, and now he was happy.

The late afternoon light was magnificent, highlighting the shadows on the mountain. This peak is full of challenges, and I'm sure we'll be back! If you want to see and read more about this peak, check out the 2014 post and the 2009 post.

Still have to teach the dog how to sit still for a photo and not come to me!

Walking Around (Through) Pruess Lake

 On the first day of Thanksgiving Break, it was warm. Actually it was hot! We joined some friends at Pruess Lake, south of Garrison, Utah. We had had a crazy morning so were running a little late, so we hurried to catch up.

 These boys were busy trying to make a little dam, so it wasn't too hard to catch up!

The low water (we have hardly had any rain in two months!) met that the lake level was extremely low. We found lots of California floaters along the shore.

After about an hour, we were hungry, so broke out some snacks and a stove to cook hot dogs. (The fire didn't work, so good thing there was a backup! We'll have to practice our fire making skills.)

Then came something particularly interesting--a live California floater. We had fun looking at its gooey insides. Then Desert Girl put it back in the lake.

Isaac found a goose decoy.

Desert Girl had a bag to collect her treasures.

The kids were excited to find a mini-lake. It was obvious they were interested in the water. So was I.

I couldn't resist taking off my shoes, rolling up my pants legs, and walking in the water. Most everyone followed.

The water was warm. The mud was gooey. It felt great.

The water was so calm that we had great reflections.

Eventually we came out to a muddy beach.

And then it was time to wallow in the mud!

I accidentally stepped into a soft spot and ended up coated in mud.

Desert Boy got trapped later and needed help.

We hiked a bit further.

The water was so shallow the kids could go way out in the lake and it was still only ankle deep.

And then they started wallowing in the mud and water again. You'd think it was summer!

The mud was a little sticky, so they were looking a bit dirty.

Maybe "a bit dirty" is an understatement.

We tried taking a shortcut to get back, but the mud got super deep. I was sinking up to my knees with every step. It was like post holing through snow, only warmer. The beautiful views kept us going, and we eventually made it back to the vehicles. It was a good adventure, and quite amazing we could do it in late November.

The part I didn't get photos of: the cleanup! The kids didn't particularly like being hosed off. And we had to soak their clothes in a bucket of water outside before putting them in the washer. It was still worth it!

2017 Moab Adventure 5K Race

 A few years ago we went to Moab and I participated in an Adventure 5K race and the kids did an Adventure 1K race. It was so much fun I wanted to do it again, and the kids are now old enough they could do it too. We invited our friend, Brooke, who had moved to Colorado to join us, and fortunately she was able to. We met the night before at a hotel and went swimming (warm November!). The next morning we got up and headed to the race site. The marathoners had already started and the half-marathoners were in the process of leaving in waves.

We had time to do a little warm-up dancing.

Brooke got a family photo for us.


And I wanted a photo with Brooke. Can you spot our little photobomber?

The Adventure 5K started in four waves: competitive men, competitive women, recreational, and family and friends. Brooke, Desert Boy, and I started in the third wave, and my husband and Desert Girl started in the fourth wave. The trail quickly became single track.

Soon we were jumping across a creek.

Then it was up a hill and through a cave.

We could see a line forming on the other side of a ravine for the first rope section.

We climbed a ladder and got in line. We had about a 15-20 minute wait.

The line behind us was even longer, and my husband and Desert Girl had to wait an hour here.

Desert Boy was glad when it was his turn, and he scrambled right up.

We had some nice slickrock running on the other side. Here the trail was marked with flour.

Desert Boy started getting really tired here.

Soon we had some downhill, including another roped section.

Then run through a culvert!

Next came the obstacle course. We had to crawl under the cargo nets.

There was even a burlap sack hop.

The balancing was a bit tricky. So was the frisbee golf.

Brooke finished quite fast, sixth woman overall. And a young lady was the overall winner for the Adventure 5K.

Because of their long wait, we had time to go back and find my husband and Desert Girl at the obstacle course.

We've since implemented a couple of these obstacles in our yard!

It would be fun to put in even more.

Here they are near the end.

This adventure 5k race is a little pricey, but a lot of fun. We didn't like the waits for the cliff, so if we do it again, we'll try to be faster in the first part (and not start in the last wave). I'm also really tempted to do the half-marathon, it would be a super pretty course.

Next post: the rest of the Moab trip. You can't go to Moab and just do one thing!