Fall is coming...

Fall colors are starting to show up in the Wasatch 

The seasons are changing. I wore gloves on my run this morning for the first time since June (perhaps its crazy that I was still wearing gloves in June?). Andrea's parents spent the last couple days of their vacation with us in SLC. We took them up to Brighton for a hike on Saturday afternoon... the leaves are starting to change colors. Hopefully summer (or at least fall) will hold out for a while longer. By this time last year, I was itching to ski... this year, I'm itching to ski, but I'm not even considering it until after marathon season is over... and hopefully that will mean mid-January for both Andrea and I.

Andrea will most likely be switching to the full marathon at Philly and will be joining a group of about a dozen women there shooting for the elusive OTQ. We are both healthy, extremely fit, and running very strong right now. In 2 weeks we'll fly to California to race a sea-level half marathon. It was tough to skip the XTerra Nationals this weekend (we both could potentially have won some serious $$$) but we're keeping the big picture front and center... 2:18 / 2:45 are the targets and we're giving it everything we have to make those dreams a reality.


Mt Millicent - last time we were up here, it looked like this



Twin Lakes


 
There's some yellow in there... on the Park City side of the mountains, some orange and red is creeping into the picture



Guardsman Pass


 
Purchase of the weekend - an almost-new medical scale! No more inaccurate digital bathroom scales!

Fisher Towers and Onion Creek

Fisher Towers

On our third day in Moab (see Day 1 and Day 2) we headed east on 128 and checked out some other cool areas along the Colorado River. First we did a hike out in the Fisher Towers area. After lunch, we went a few miles down the Onion Creek road (crossing the creek about a dozen times in my jeep) and went for a cool hike through the "Onion Creek Narrows." On the way out we attempted to keep our shoes dry, but on the return Andrea just decided to walk directly in the creek, so naturally I followed her lead on that one! 

After the hikes Andrea and I made the drive back to SLC and got back to doing things like 6 x 1 mile, while Andrea's parents stayed down in Moab for a few more days and checked out Canyonlands National Park.


The White Wolf hit 100,000 miles at this exact spot (Fisher Towers trailhead)


 
Team North hiking











 
Rock climbers doing their thing on Stolen Chimney


 
The scale of this place was ridiculous!










After leaving Fisher Towers, we headed to Onion Creek...



Jeeping on the Onion Creek road






Heading into the narrows



It was tough to get good pictures in here, but you get the idea... super cool area!









Wet feet!

Delicate Arch and the Fiery Furnace

Delicate Arch

On Day 2 of our Moab trip (see day 1 photos here) we went back to Arches National Park. We hiked out to Delicate Arch, which is probably the most popular hike in the park, but well worth it because that area is just so awesome. After lunch, we went on a ranger-guided tour of the Fiery Furnace, which is a huge maze of little slot canyons with no marked trails. It was really cool and once again we all had a great day!


Arches visitors center


We didn't see any real bighorn sheep, so these guys stood in for photos


Hiking out to Delicate Arch








Its a lot bigger than it looks from a distance




Some petroglyphs along the hike. Looks like the Indians were riding llamas to chase bighorn sheep?


Start of the Fiery Furnace hike


Fiery Furnace... easy to see why they don't let everyone go in here... you can get lost really easily


I swear this rock was about to fall on us and crush us!






Squeezing through a little crack






We finished the tour in this "room"


Part 3 of the Moab trip coming tomorrow...

Corona Arch, Balanced Rock, and the Windows

Corona Arch

We spent the past weekend down in Moab with Andrea's parents. This is the perfect time of year to play in the SE Utah desert.

After surviving an epic lightning storm on the drive Friday night, Andrea and I kicked off the weekend with the usual Saturday morning routine: long run! By the time we were finished with 20 & 22 miles, the weather had cleared, and we were out and about in the red rock land. The first stop was a hike to Corona Arch. Afterwards, we went to Arches National Park and checked out Wall Street, Balanced Rock, and the Windows area.


Bowtie Arch

Hiking out to Corona Arch



Corona Arch

Potash Road and the Colorado River

With Andrea's parents at Wall Street

The La Sal mountains got their first coat of snow of the season

Arches National Park is simply a magnificent place

Balanced Rock

Arches NP and the distant La Sal mountains

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock is a lot bigger than this picture makes it look



Turret Arch

The Windows



Part Two of the trip: Delicate Arch and the Fiery Furnace