Treasure Map

There's gold in them thar hills! Not the precious metal, but good mountain bike trails in the foothills of Mount Timpanogos near the mouth of Provo Canyon.

Months ago Adam and I started putting together a website with maps and trail descriptions. It still needs some polish, but the basic info is there so we decided to release it:

Timp Foothill Trails

Hopefully the website will give an overview of the trails for new riders, help all riders understand the layout of the trail system, and unify the trail names.

We know trail names are a touchy subject, and there's no reason you can't continue to call them whatever you want, but you have to admit it is confusing when riders from different groups try to plan a ride and they spend most of their time trying to figure out what trails they're talking about. We tried to break the trails into logical sections and give each a name so it would be easy to describe routes (i.e. up Betty, west on Lament, down Crank, down Ireland). I included some alternate names, but I'm sure there are more to add.

So check out the website and let us know what you think. (Do I need to don my flame-proof suit?)

St. George Day 3: Hiking

Remember when you could sleep like this?


Pioneer Park

After some swimming at the hotel pool Saturday morning, we headed to Pioneer Park (just a little north of St. George Boulevard on top of the bluff). We visit this place almost every time we're in St. George with the kids, because it's fun. I mentioned it in a post last April.

First up is The Crack - a narrow slit in a sizable rock outcrop. It's a tight fit for adults. I'm 6' 1" and 170 lbs and there are 2-3 places I have to exhale to squeeze through. But it's easy for the kids. In fact my 6 year old boy can walk through the whole crack facing forward.

Here's the middle squeezy part.


Kade and Jolene near the end.


Here's what it looks like from up top.


Once out of The Crack we meandered across the rocks to the southeast to see this little arch (that's Kara and her cousin Julia).


Then we wandered around the rocks and I took a few plant photos. Not sure what flower this is, but it's lovely and gives me that "it's Spring" feeling.


Alex mentioned the Blackbrush should be blooming (or very close to blooming). I thought this is Blackbrush, but after looking at Alex's photos I don't think it is. Still a nice splash of green.


Red Cliffs

Next we drove to Leeds to visit the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. We hiked up the creek a few years ago and decided to do it again. We hoped to go higher up the canyon.

Rachel, me and Jamie just past the first obstacle (the muscle pose was Jamie's idea). You can see the steps carved into the rock and a helper rope on the right. It wasn't difficult, but Kade and Kara didn't like it so they stayed back with Jolene.


The older girls and I went up maybe 50 yards and found the next obstacle - a full swim through a flooded channel with rock walls on each side. We scrambled up the rock to the right and got up top. I scouted farther up and determined it might be possible to get back down to the stream past the swim, but I didn't want to leave Jolene and the younger kids too long so we reversed course. But before we downclimbed back into the bottom, Jamie took this photo looking up the canyon.


This is what Kade and Kara did while they waited for us.


We'd had enough of our kids, so we decided to hang 'em.


We hiked out, got in the car and drove home (with a stop in Filmore for burgers and shakes at Larry's Drive In).

All in all a good family trip. It would have been nicer if Thursday and Friday would have been warmer, but it was sunny and warmer than back home.


Monday Jolene and I took advantage of the good weather with a 13 mile out-n-back ride on the BST. I spun out on some loose rocks going around a switchback and fell downhill into some deadwood. But the added adrenaline and anger at my dorkiness fueled me up the rest of the climb from Battle Creek south even though it was loose, especially in the steepest sections.

Tonight I've been working on wheels.

Mike at the UMB shop trued up the two 26" wheels I laced a while ago to the Stans ZTR 355 rims I bought from Bob last year. The front tire on my Prophet went flat (the Stans sealant dried up) so I started with the front wheel. I applied the yellow tape as the rim strip and installed the valve stem. Put the flat tire on the new wheel but the bead wouldn't seat (no surprise). Put in a tube to seat the beads and reform the tire. After an hour I deflated the tube and was happy to see that both beads stayed seated. I broke the bead on one side to get the tube out and reinstalled the valve stem, but I couldn't get it re-seat with the floor pump, but the CO2 got it. I deflated it again and both beads held. I removed the valve core and used a syringe to put Stans sealant into the tire. Replaced the valve core and it pumped right up. This is how tubeless should be! I'm confident these new rims (wheels) will make it much easier to add sealant, which is the only real maintenance for tubeless tires. With my previous wheels the bead always broke when I deflated the tire to add more sealant and I always had to fight to get the beads to re-seat.

Next up was installing the Bontrager rims strips for my Bontrager Rhythm Comp 29er wheels. I got the front wheel all setup, but the brand new Maxis Crossmark tires came close to holding air, but not good enough. Plus I was out of Stans sealant so it didn't make sense to proceed any further. I'll get some more sealant tomorrow and finish the job. I'm looking forward to riding the 29er tubeless - with some weight out of the wheels I expect it to handle and climb even better.

St. George Day 2: Crawdad Canyon Rock Climbing

Friday after breakfast we went to Crawdad Canyon (north of St. George on the south edge of Veyo) for some rock climbing.

When we arrived the sign said they open in May, but the website said they open April 1st. So Jeff made some calls and we found they were open, by appointment. The proprietor came, took our money, and let us in.

It's a shallow canyon with black, basalt walls on each side and a tree-lined stream running through it. A rather lovely place.


The temperature dropped 10 degrees from the already unseasonably cool St. George. Jamie was hoping for warmer.


True to it's name, there were lots of crawdads in the stream.


Kade had fun starting up the rock.


Kara started tentatively, but improved with some coaching.


Rachel climbing well.


Myself and Jamie working our way up two different routes.


Jolene climbing (with new shoes that fit).


Me pulling the last moves on a fun 5.9 route.


Me and my buddy Kade. Note the prickly pear above and the colorful lichen.


The girls.


Crawdad was a nice place to climb. The rock is good with a wide variety of routes all close. And the kids kept themselves entertained with the stream, trails, bridges and rock features. But the operation is haphazard with the website not accurate (schedule and cost - he charged us $8 / person instead of $5 as stated on the website). The pool is open in the Summer (for an additional fee).

After climbing we went over to the brother-in-law's house for dinner. We talked while the kids played. Then back to the hotel to sleep.

Next up: hiking in Pioneer Park and Red Cliffs.

St. George Day 1: Mountain Biking

With the snow overnight we took our time packing up the van to give plenty of time for the roads to clear off (melt and/or plow). We left at 11 AM and the drive was fine.

Arriving in St. George around 4 PM we headed right to the trail head for some mellow mountain biking with the kids. We went up the Bloomington Micro Loop (an easy trail up a wash).

The kids were uncertain at first, but after some coaching and time on the dirt they all eventually were happy riding. Kara and Kade grew tired of going up the gentle incline so Jolene turned around with them.

I took the older girls up to the top of the loop - it joins into the Bear Claw Poppy trail, which we went down. They liked the rolling ups and downs, even though the trail is still bumpy from being tracked up when it was muddy.









After the ride we piled the kids in one of the hotel rooms with some movies and pizza while we went out with the other two couples for dinner at Outback.

Up next: Rock climbing and hiking.

Parting Shots

It dumped snow last night.

At midnight my daughter couldn't make it up the mellow slope of the driveway to get the car in the garage because of the snow. (I got it in - one of my super powers.)

This is our backyard this morning (compare with the photo from yesterday's post).


I was annoyed by the snow last night, concerned it would hamper our drive down to St. George.

But in the bright morning light it was so stunning I let go of my grudge. I wasn't even grumbling while I shoveled the driveway and sidewalks. I was so impressed by the scenery I got the camera and wandered around looking for good shots - and maybe I found a few.











Yes, that's almost 9 inches of snow in Utah Valley on April 16th.


I fully expect to hear some raving stories from the skiers today. dug has skied a lot and he ranked this season as a 10 - did this storm take it to 11?

Time for me to pack up the van. Over and out.

What The Spring ?

Monday:


Today:


Seriously, this is messed up. We have 3" of snow on our lawn down in the valley. Driving home I half expected to hear Christmas songs on the radio.

But am I annoyed, upset, angry?

No.

Because tomorrow we're (the whole family) heading to St. George for some spring break R&R. I'll see if I can bring some sunshine and warmth back with me.

Micro Epic Monday

Today may have been our only shot for a mountain bike ride this week (tomorrow and Wednesday the weather looks bad and Thursday we're heading to St. George with the kids for Spring break). So we went a bit more epic ride than usual for a weekday evening.

We rode away from the house around 5:30 and headed for the water tank road (above the Orem Cemetery). After the climbing we took Betty up to the junction with Crank and considered our options:

1. Continue up Betty to the Altar then down Frank and Dragon's Back, take the Union Aqueduct dirt road then a lap or two on the Race Course then home.
2. Up Crank then west on Area 51 and down Dry Canyon and finish with the BST.

We went for the 2nd option - little did we know.

It started off OK. We expected more snow in the last shaded meadow before the ridge, but we were surprised to discover it was passable - however this may have only opened up today as we didn't see anything but old tire tracks.


Timp blanketed in snow made a striking backdrop for our little adventure.


Upper Crank was in bad shape - the ponies have chewed it up pretty bad when it was muddy and now it has sections of dried chunks and hoof holes. I spun out in one spot but made the rest.


The dip in the old jeep road that always seems to have some water was full up. (Note the reflection of Timp in the muddy water.)


Amazingly the traverse up the east-facing, shaded side hill was clear so I thought we were home free. Nope. Up on top we crossed 100 yards of snow.


Do you know what true love is? This. (Although she did threaten to get me a jersey that says "DO NOT FOLLOW" on the back.)


The views from the ridge were splendid. Yes, I said splendid.


The descent into Dry Canyon was OK, but had a few more patches of snow and the steep spots were chewed up by our good friends the equestrians.

We could hear voices on our way down and when we stopped we spotted some people on the edge of the cliff (in the photo on the right cliff edge). Down lower we met some hikers who said the people up above were rappelling off the cliff. It looked like a good spot for it - I'll have to try it some day.


We continued down Dry Canyon (sorry KC we didn't feel like doing the stairs.) then finished off the ride by rolling down the BST then rode home.

More than we bargained for, but still a good ride. And I led Jolene on yet another of my "I think it'll be OK" adventures. But her bike shifted real smooth because I replaced all the cables over the weekend - so that balances things out, right dear?

I recommend waiting on this route for a while. While we never encountered deep mud, we got splattered and the snow hike-a-bike was not ideal. I guesstimate it'll take one week of temperatures above 60 to dry it out. Then because of all the chewed up sections it'll still be a rough ride.

29er Update

I've been riding the 29er hard tail this Spring (except for Guacamole and Little Creek last week) and it's really growing on me.

The big front wheel still feels a bit "floppy" but I'm getting used to it and learning how to drive this big rig. It turns a bit wider than my Prophet, but not much - frankly it's hardly an issue, which has been a surprise.

I was expecting to take a beating from the hard tail, but it's been OK and rides smoother than I expected. The larger wheels may have something to do with this.

I've been spoiled by the high bottom bracket of the Prophet which means I hardly ever hit a pedal on rocks and logs - the X-Caliber is noticeably lower and I have to watch my pedal timing better to avoid hits. This is probably my biggest complaint about the bike, but it's not major and I can deal with it.

There are some who probably think I should take the next step to single speed (then fully rigid?), but I'm having fun with this bike and will stick with it this year.