Short Post

Hi all,

This post is going to be pretty short because I have laundry to fold and nothing of import really happened this week. Ian and I both worked quite a bit. It started out snowy, then warm and sunny, then rainy. The weather here has the same predictable unpredictability of Maryland but with zero humidity and 10 degrees cooler temps. Tux, the new barn kitten at work danced on my keyboard and deleted all of my emails. “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce has been stuck in my head for the past three days. Needless to say, this week has been a thrill.

It’s an awkward transitional time in the world of outdoor recreation here near Salt Lake. It’s too snowy for regular hiking, but not snowy enough for skiing/snowboarding up on the mountains. Apparently this is also a more dangerous time to venture into the mountains because none of the snowy trails have been groomed or packed down by people, and you’re at a higher risk of an unexpected avalanche because park rangers haven’t plotted potential avalanche danger zones yet for the season. This has made finding weekend trails a bit difficult and has essentially put an end to our short-lived but exciting hiking adventures.

We did, however manage to find a trail virtually untouched by snow closer to Salt Lake City proper, near the University of Utah and the zoo. This trail was 2,000 feet of elevation in just 2 miles, which is steep. RIP my quads.

Part way up the trail we heard this crazy loud cacophony of roars. At first, we thought we thought we were about to get mauled by a bunch of mountain lions. Then we remembered that the zoo was across the road from the trail and realized the lions/tigers/other large cats much wake up for the day at 8:30 AM. They were LOUD. It was kinda wild but kinda cool that we could hear them roar all the way from the mountain.

Anyway, please enjoy the photos below and have a fantastic week!

Downtown Salt Lake City and the University of Utah (the U, as the locals say)