A Snowbird Tradition: Hiking Hidden Peak

As we do every year, a few of us hiked to the top of Hidden Peak. The beginning of the trail is at 8000ft and it is 4 miles to Hidden Peak which is at 11000 ft. My goal each year is to make it in under 2 hours. This year I hiked with my cousin Mark and his wife Stacia. We hiked in about an hour and 50 minutes. We were the only ones on the trail and the first ones on top of Hidden Peak that day (except for Snowbird employees). It was a great day to hike but windy up top. Alexis started about an hour after us and ran to the top. Then Derek rode the tram up with Evan and Greta to meet us.

Greta, Derek, Evan, Alexis, and Holly

This is part of the trail is in the Peruvian Gulch.

A shot of the SLC valley

Greta was so kind to carry my backpack for me.

Breaking the Sound Barrier on the Alpine Slide

"Oh yeah", "Holy Mamasitta", "Whoo-Hoo" are three phrases that could commonly be heard as Matt and I went speeding down the Alpine Slide. There were a couple times that Matt rode with Robert and I was by myself...It is was boring.

Evan the speed-demon and Uncle Owen come cruising down the slide while Matt chases after.

Greta feeling the need for speed with Uncle Owen.

Old man Owen making his way down the slide.

Leaving behind him traces of smoke, Adam set speed records on the slide. Since Adam is now 7 he no longer needs to ride with an adult and he did a great job on his own.

The Alpine Slide was definitely one of our favorite things to do at Snowbird. I lost count how many times we rode down. When Owen and Heidi told me it was time to go and make dinner I said okay. But two minutes later, I asked "Can I go down it just one more time."

Estes Park, CO

Grandma Ruth was visiting so we took her up to Estes Park for the weekend. It was a nice and relaxing weekend. We even got to ditch church.

When we first arrived, I was parking my car when I noticed what looked like an Elk. I thought it was a ceramic elk, a very large ceramic elk at the time share. I was looking at it when I noticed that its ears and then head thus realizing that it was not a ceramic elk. He was just relaxing before he check into his time share.

Another friendly creature. The butterfly just landed next to me.

Dad, Susan, and I enjoying the hot tub on a day that begins with S and is not Saturday. Derek and Alexis are rubbing off on us :)

Grandma Ruth, Susan, and Dad near a waterfall in Rocky National Park.

Can you guess whose sexy legs those are?

Rocky National Park

Prefontaine

Over the 4th of July, Derek, Alexis, and I went to the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. It was really cool to see professional runners compete and to feel the fans' energy. Although, I am not a runner, it was fun to observe this culture. Some of the pictures you may have to click on to see the image I was trying to capture; my zoom is pretty poor.

A long jumper taking flight.

Mariya Savinova winning the 800m. I remember watching her in the Olympics.

Women's Steeple Chase

Tirunesh Dibaba winning the 5000m in 14:34.07. Amazing, I am just finishing up my 1st mile in that time.

Men's 1500.

Another Long Jumper

Walter Dix just beating Tyson Gay in the 200m. He ran it in 19.72 seconds.

Playing with Auntie Holly

For the 4th of July, I went to Seattle to visit Derek, Alexis, and the twins. I had a great time playing with Evan and Greta. This picture would be perfect but I have hat hair from running. It is so fun to hear them talk. Greta was riding her bike, and I told her to say, "Evan, let's ride" in a tough girl voice. I am looking forward to spending more time with them at Snowbird in less than a month.

On my last day in Seattle, Mt. Rainer decided to come out. It looks like it is floating in the air.

Trespassing with Owen

Owen and I decided we would try to enter Soapstone from the Wyoming side. In order to do this you have to do more than ride your bike. First, we had to open a large gate that looks locked but isn't. Once you drive through there you travel on a dirt road up to another gate that is locked. After lifting our bikes over the gate, we rode for a few miles where we had to lift our bikes over another gate and then over railroad tracks. At this point, I believe we were trespassing for a few miles. Perhaps trespassing is one way to get released from a calling. Eventually, we did make it to Soapstone were we road through a pasture of cows and then along the Cheyenne Rim Trail. We have had a lot of rain so it was quite beautiful.

Nothing makes you smile like Trespassing!

"Oh, my we have to cross train tracks". Owen was a bit scared but I talked him through it.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my pasture?"

I love the green with the red rock. It is so beautiful. But true to the prairie, it is very windy on the ridge.

Owen pumping hard to make it up the monster hill. This is a tough hill because in addition to the incline, there are also little berms that you have to get up and over. So, you get in a rhythm and then hit a berm which messes up your rhythm.

Sometimes on the ridge it feels like you are going to slide off, but it is fun.

Burpees

Once when I was visiting Seattle, Alexis told me that her friend was doing the 100 Burpees Challenge. No, it is not burping 100 times. Burpees are an exercise that are actually used by Navy Seals to do conditioning. The following picture demonstrates a Burpee:

When I go down into the push up position I actually do a a push up and mine don't look as good as this marine's but I try. Anyway, when Alexis told me about her friend I thought that it would be impossible. Burpees are quite tiring and I couldn't imagine doing 100. Well, one of the Crossfit workouts I have is called the "Prison Workout". You start with doing 20 Burpees, walk 25m, do 19 Burpees, walk 25m and so on down to 1 Burpee. This is a total of 210 Burpees. So, I decided to try it today. It took me about an hour. Well, when I got to 13 I wasn't sure if I had done my set up 14 so when I was finished I did another set up 14. So, I think all total I did 224 Burpees. It wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. I think walking 25m really helps give your muscles a brief break. I am not sore yet, but I have a feeling I will be in the morning.