Backpacking in Nevada

We spent Labour Day weekend backpacking with friends in Humboldt National Forest near Jarbidge, Nevada.

We hiked in on Saturday. Here's a view from the trail up to Emerald Lake:



Emerald Lake, close to our campsite:




There was some stormy weather on Sunday, but we were well sheltered near the lake.

















Some people spent Sunday on the ridgeline, hiking to various peaks. Others (like me) only did a little hiking.
Colin's self-portrait at the summit of an unnamed peak. You can see the Matterhorn in the background. He also scrambled to the summit of Cougar.



We hiked out on the Monday. The trip back was somewhat eventful: there were a number of grass fires in Nevada and Idaho on our way back to Salt Lake City.

Settling in

The furballs have adjusted to their new home (and we can't resist posting cat pictures, in case you hadn't already noticed).



Ricky's preferred evening activity is sleeping on the couch with a human pillow.










Bubbles, on the other hand, finds the office more to his liking.











The fireplace also gets the feline stamp of approval.

Big Mountain

Today I rode from home to Emigration Canyon up to Little Mountain, then all the way up to the Big Mountain pass, the highest point on the Mormon pioneer trail. Tough ride.

Utah Backcountry, March 2006

The top of Montreal Hill in Big Cottonwood Canyon. First Utah backcountry trip.

Camping at Amethyst Lake

We finally got to try out some new backpacking gear in the high Uintas near the Wyoming border. We actually tried to do this hike last weekend, except that there were thunderstorms and hail (we're really not thrilled about hail). We went to the art festival in Park City on Sunday instead (no pictures, but we did get a metal art crab).

	This is the Amethyst Lake meadows in the afternoon. We camped at the edge of the meadow.
Here we are the next morning, awake and vertical without the aid of caffeine.

After breakfast, we continued along the trail to the lake. The name is not an indication of it's colour - maybe it got it's name from the mining in the area? It's a fairly large, clear lake with nice views of the Ostler-LaMotte range.

More house photos

The front of the house before the big move (the sign post came down the day before).









The backyard is going to need some work. On the other hand, the covered porch means year-round grilling. We're pretty psyched about that.










The basement (dirty, not very exciting).









The bathroom.















The kitchen from a couple of different perspectives. This was taken a couple of days before moving in. The refinished floors look pretty good here.








The entrance.

The house

This is what it looked like before we moved in.

Outside:





Kitchen:



Living room:



Dining room:



A bedroom:

Little Red Riding Hood 2006

Taken during the Red Riding hood century ride on June 3 in Cache valley near Logan, Utah:

Logan Canyon: Jardine juniper

This Rocky Mountain juniper is approximately 3200 years old. One can hike in Logan Canyon to see it. We also saw a couple walking their llamas on the trail, but I didn't have a chance to grab my camera.





There's the highway all the way down there.

Antelope Island

Bicycle trip on Antelope Island in the great Salt Lake yesterday:

This picture was taken during lunch while work was being done on the ranch.















Later, we saw buffalo.

Hello Kitty

Biking in Moab

Colin & I spent the weekend in Moab. He took the mountain bike and I took the road bike.

On Saturday, I rode up to the old potash mine outside town, then spent some time touring Arches National Park. I also rode in the park on Sunday.

The Gossips:

What we did on our summer vacation, Part 2

Evening in Cannon beach: we wandered around the beach taking photos until sunset.






Our second day in Cannon beach was spent hiking in Ecola State park. We got a great view from the end of the very educational trail (lots of Lewis and Clark information signs) through the park.






After that, we drove up scenic highway 101 along the coast.



More to come...

What we did on our summer vacation, Part 1

We flew to Oregon.

We spent a couple of days in Portland (great city). One of the best parts was the Japanese garden in Washington Park. We saw a great view of the city from there.








We also drove to see Mount St. Helens (smoking).









After Portland and Mount St. Helen's, we headed for the coast.