Goblin Valley

Visiting Goblin Valley has been on my list for a while. Finally Amber and I made it happen. It was the first summer trip. Yahoo! We left Thursday when Amber got off work and came back Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect amount of time to spend at the park, in my opinion.

Thursday night we set up camp at a very windy BLM site. It was free so that was awesome but it was very windy. We got there in time to set up camp, go for a very short walk, get rained on, watch the sunset and go to bed.

We woke up so early Friday morning. The sun was up before 6am. Yikes! Luckily we had gone to bed at a reasonable time. We started our morning off by hiking Little Wild Horse Canyon. This is an 8 mile loop hike right out side of Goblin Valley. It doesn't have to be done as a loop but often is. We first hiked up Bell's canyon and then came down little wild horse. I am glad we got an early start because it was really hot and a lot more crowded when we were finishing.

 Moki was a champion. Her and I got to work on our trust. There were a few spots I had to lift her up and a few spots I had to bring her down. It was a little rough for both of us but we survived. I have some scratches and bruises on my arms and hands to demonstrate that the struggle was real. She started running away from me when we got to the tricky spots because she knew she would need help. It was hilarious. She really is the best dog. She led the way the entire time. . . . like a boss.

These pictures are not in order. Little Wild horse was the area that had the really close walls. It was awesome. I was surprised at how much of the loop hike is actually not in a canyon.

It was a gorgeous morning.

 The canyon walls are so fascinating. It really is a cool to hike in area like this. There were definitely some tighter spots. I would not be up for going in canyons that are closer together than these walls were.

 Somehow Amber and I never get a picture together. That is really LAME!

Overall we loved Little Wild Horse. It is a great hike. Dogs are allowed and children would love it. I wouldn't do the full loop with little kids but you could definitely do an out and back!

 After we finished that hike we went into Hanksville to get some lunch. It was getting close to 90 degrees and so we wanted to let the hot part of the day pass before we did more hiking.

Hanksville is a very tiny town. It had a nice little burger joint that we enjoyed. Then we went to the local elementary school and rested in the shade until it was cool enough to hike some more.

 I am so happy I threw in my hammock at the last moment. It was a great way to relax and rest during the heat of the day.

We stayed at the school until the around 5pm. Then we were ready for some dinner and a chance to hike a little more. This time we headed into Goblin State Park. The park itself is pretty small and so there isn't a ton to do there. We hike a little four mile loop from the campground. We hiked the Curtis Bench Trail out to the observation point and then came back on the Entrada trail.The weather was cloudy and windy so it made for a perfect evening after a very hot day.

The formations looked like mushrooms. I had the Mario Brothers theme song stuck in my head!

 It was so windy.

 The trails are not marked very well but we survived.

 Since we were in the state park I kept Moki on the leash.

One of Amber's super powers is to take pictures of the signs so she can read them later.

It was a gorgeous evening for a hike.

Moki leading the way

 We got back to camp and our tents were a mess. Mine was half down from the wind and Amber's had dirt all on the inside also from the wind. It was crazy. We took care of that and then watched the most amazing sunset while we organized our stuff and brushed our teeth.

 I love that you can see the rays

 Moki was sooooooo tired.

 We had a really busy day. I was tired. It felt great to climb in bed and spend some time reading. Unfortunately I slept horribly. I was comfortable but just couldn't sleep. it was very annoying.

Saturday morning I got out of bed early. My tent was collapsing from the wind and I wanted to hike rather than lay in bed not sleeping. We cleaned up camp, which went quick because we just threw our stuff in the car because the wind was so strong we couldn't pack things properly.

We brought mountain bikes but didn't even use them. That was a bummer but the wind was so intense it sounded awful. We decided to do the last two hikes in Goblin Valley and then head home early.

We did the Goblin's Lair first and then finished with the Carmel Canyon hike. Both were short and pretty easy.

 It was steep getting up to the Goblin's Lair.

 It was really cool to look down into it. A little cave. Climbing back out to grab Moki.

  I had to drag Moki down some tough spots. I couldn't even bribe her with jerky. She was over me lifting her off of things:)

So cool once inside.

 It was a pretty hot day

 The three sisters!

Once we finished our little hike we decided to head home. We were tired and the thought of having the rest of the day to clean up and get ready for Sunday was very enticing. Overall it was a great trip!

Splash Pad with Samanda's kids!

I just love seeing Andrew, Emerson, and Audrey. They make my life so much better. I was out of town and then they were out of town so I didn't see them for a couple weeks and that was too long! Amanda is very gracious to let me come hang out with them. My first two days of summer I was in meetings . . . . BLAH. So on Wednesday I got in a great bike ride with a co-worker and then went and played with the kids.

It is finally starting to feel like summer so going to a park with a splash pad was perfect. The kids and Moki did great and it was so fun to spend some time with the kids.

Audrey is getting so big. I am in love with her swimsuit!

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 Andrew is such a sweet boy. I love that he is always up for any adventure. He is sooooo smart.

 Emerson makes you work for smiles but he is so fun. He has an awesome adventure and absolutely hates leaving any activity he enjoys:)

 Audrey loves to dance!!!! It changed my life watching it for the first time. She is the cutest little thing. Definitely a mamas girl but once mom is out of sight she warms up quickly.

Little Red

So I biked 100 miles on June 1st. It  really isn't a big deal except I hadn't done a century since 2014. I didn't know that until after this ride. I signed up on a whim. They sent me an email the very last day you could apply to get into the lottery. I decided what the heck. Cyndee had told me earlier in the year that she had never been denied when she had applied alone to do the 70 mile ride. I did that knowing I would want to bike 100 miles not 70.

I like having a goal to help me train. I biked a lot in April but May was not as kind. The weather really was terrible. I was a little nervous on the day of the ride because I had not biked as much as I would have liked. The Little Red ride is an annual women's ride that takes place in Cache Valley. You ride in Northern Utah and Idaho. It is a beautiful place to bike and when the weather is good it makes for an amazing day.

I feel like the stars aligned for me because I had a great ride. The weather was amazing. My bike worked great and it ended up being awesome.

I got to lunch in three hours biking time. It was at mile 54 so I was pretty happy with that. I was lucky and had been able to ride in a pelaton with some fast people. The first rest stop wasn't until mile 28, that was a little different from previous years.

Lunch of champions. Why is it always a subway sandwich??????

I didn't stop at any rest for too long because I didn't want my muscled to tighten up. They also said they were closing the 100 mile race at 2pm at some point and I didn't know where that point was so I wanted to make sure I got past it in time.

After lunch I rode alone. I like biking alone. I enjoy going my own pace and just being alone with my thoughts. 45 miles is a long time to be alone but it worked out great. After lunch there were a couple of hills and it started to get hot. I was also pretty tired from biking so fast earlier in the day. I tried to jump in with a couple of groups but I just didn't feel like working super hard to keep up so I stayed alone.

 I clocked in at just over 100 miles. It took me 6 hours and 6 minutes of biking time. I averaged a 16.4 mph pace, not terrible.There was 1,735 ft elevation gain, not very much at all and I burnt 4000 calories.

 I was so excited for how the day went. My hamstring was really tight climbing the biggest hill of the day at mile 89 but other than that I felt really really good. Always happy to be done.

I feel like I really needed to do this to remind myself that I can do hard things. I feel like I have way less confidence in so many things as I get older. It is so weird. Sometimes I am even afraid to try new things, DUMB! So this was a great reminder that I can still bike far and pretty hard!

After the ride I headed back to Bountiful. I had stayed there the night before. Nancy was watching Moki. Katie, Nancy and I went to Texas Roadhouse and I had a delicious post ride meal. What a great start to summer!