Prescott, Arizona - Sightseeing and Hiking

Roger and I decided to explore some new territory in Arizona for Labor Day weekend.  We headed up to Prescott, AZ on Monday morning and spent the early afternoon enjoying Prescott's Faire On The Square Arts and Crafts Show.  The tree filled Courthouse Square at the center of town was a great place to relax in the shade, and the surrounding stores, bars, and restaurants made for a lively downtown scene.  After lunch at Prescott Brewing Company, we drove to scenic Watson Lake to hike several of the shoreline trails.  Monsoon thunderstorms surrounded us, but we enjoyed sunshine at the lake for most of the afternoon.

Watson Lake

Watson Lake

After a great breakfast at Raven Cafe, we made the quick drive over to Prescott National Forest to hike Thumb Butte, a distinctive rock formation visible from downtown Prescott.  The short loop trail passed  through a Ponderosa pine forest, then ascended up and around a ridge which overlooked the entire Prescott Valley.

Ponderosa pine at Thumb Butte

Roger hiking at Thumb Butte

Alligator juniper

Prickly pear cactus fruit

After our hike, we took a scenic drive to historic Jerome, an old mining town that is now an artist community and tourist destination.  We visited a few of the art galleries and enjoyed lunch before heading down the mountain to our final stop of the day, Tuzigoot National Monument.  Tuzigoot is a reconstruction of a 110 room community, built by the Sinagua people between 1100 and 1400 AD.  The ruin sits on a hill overlooking the Verde River, and the visitor center features numerous artifacts from the excavation of the area.  Standing above the ruin, with the quiet stillness of the valley broken by distant thunder, was a memorable experience for me.

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument

Great Basin National Park, Nevada - Hiking

I woke up on Saturday morning with no official plan for the Labor Day holiday weekend.  After a quick chat with Roger, we decided to go camping somewhere to enjoy the beautiful late summer weather.  I emptied my refrigerator of any possible camping food and packed my gear in record time.  By late morning, we were headed out of Salt Lake with a destination of Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada.  It had been a few years since my last visit to the park, and it seemed like an excellent choice for some relaxing camping and hiking.

Great Basin National Park

We realized that arriving in any developed recreation area on Labor Day weekend would pose a problem for finding camping, but Great Basin tends to be a quiet national park.  The secret is out, though, and we arrived to find all of the main campgrounds full.  Our backup plan was to try the primitive camping sites available along Strawberry Creek, and much to my surprise, several spots were still available.  The dirt road was well maintained and the sites were perfect, offering much more space and privacy than many of the campsites within the main part of the park.  The main disadvantage to camping in Strawberry Creek was being far from the visitor center and main attractions of the park.  Roger and I had both hiked to Wheeler Peak and the Bristlecone Pines on previous trips, so we were happy to have a great camping spot to relax and enjoy a less visited spot in Great Basin.

Camping at Strawberry Creek

Roger setting up his hammock

Flowering rubber rabbitbrush

Walking along Strawberry Creek

Rose hips along Strawberry Creek

Snake Creek Canyon road opened for Labor Day weekend after being closed for several months for improvements.  Since Roger and I had never been to that area of the park, we decided to spend Sunday hiking to Johnson Lake from the trailhead at the end of the road.  The hike offered great views of Snake Creek Canyon as it passed through aspen groves and towering pine trees on the way to the alpine lake.  Nearing the end of the trail, we passed the historic Johnson Lake mill and several well-preserved cabins that were built between 1912 and 1935 to mine Tungsten.  We ended our hike at Johnson Lake where we enjoyed spectacular views and solitude.

Hiking to Johnson Lake

Snake Creek Canyon

Johnson Lake Mill

Johnson Lake cabin

Johnson Lake

Feeling chilly at Johnson Lake

Johnson Lake

Keeping with the theme of a low key trip, we decided to relax a bit at camp before heading home to Salt Lake on Monday afternoon.  I finally got a chance to use my hammock thanks to the beautiful trees surrounding Strawberry Creek.  It was a great way to spend the unofficial end of summer.

Hammock time

Pocatello, Idaho - Marathon

Jake and I ran the Pocatello Marathon in Idaho over Labor Day weekend. I've had an excellent summer of running, including some good long runs and quite a bit of hill work, so I felt fairly confident going into this race that it was going to be a good one. After enduring the now familiar routine of waking up ridiculously early and eating weird food for breakfast, we boarded the bus on Saturday morning to be shuttled to the start line. We started down the canyon just as the sun began to rise. There were very few spectators and not a lot of runners, making it feel like one of my solo long runs instead of an actual race. It was so relaxing that it was a little difficult to stay on pace and focus on running at 100%.

I felt sluggish and stiff for the first several miles, but eventually I settled into a comfortable pace as the course made it's way through the canyon towards Pocatello. The course met up with the half-marathoners who began about two hours after us, and suddenly there were a lot more people and much more energy in the air. It was one of those running days where everything works out - perfect running temperatures, a good course, and good preparation. I never felt like I hit "the wall" and I still felt strong during the last few miles. I crossed the finish line in 3:45 .. a personal best by about 12 minutes.


Nearing the 20 mile mark

26.2 miles later

Shawn met up with us after the race and I treated myself to an entire pizza and several pints of delicious beer at the Portneuf Valley Brewery. We wandered around Pocatello for a bit and then headed off to Big Springs campground near Lava Hot Springs for a couple days of recovery and relaxation.


Pocatello, Idaho

Big Springs campground

Horseshoe Lake - Challis National Forest, Idaho - Backpacking

Backpacker Magazine published a "Rip and Go" article in their September issue about Loon Creek and Horseshoe Lake in central Idaho. The article caught Jake's attention (probably because of the pre-selected food menu that came along with the complete how-to guide for this hike) and he decided we should do the trip. Despite my constant efforts to drag people across the deserts of Southern Utah, I occasionally give in to these green alpine hikes because they are always better than the other option - no backpacking trip at all. I enjoy exploring new places and since none of my previous outdoor adventures had taken me to Idaho, I agreed it would be a perfect trip for Labor Day weekend.

We left Salt Lake Friday afternoon and headed to a town called Stanley where we planned to camp for the night. The drive was about 6 hours and we passed through some very nice towns as we approached Stanley. Not the typical small podunk towns scattered throughout Idaho - these were high class, high end resort towns in the Sun Valley area. It was immediately decided that this place was worth additional trips to check out the towns. We camped overnight in a developed campground just south of Stanley and awoke the next morning to find ourselves surround by gorgeous jagged mountains (the Sawtooth Range) and Salmon River flowing through the valley.


The Sawtooth Range near Stanley, ID

Taking down the tent in the morning

The Sawtooth Range and the Salmon River

We made a brief stop in Stanley to see the town and get some coffee before making our way to the trailhead. The town had some amazing views of the Salmon River and Sawtooth Range, and seemed to be filled with cabins and homes catering to wealthy people on fishing vacations. I bet it absolutely sucks there in the winter, but it certainly looked like a gorgeous place to spend the summer. The road to the trailhead was rough, winding, and steep. By the time we made it to the ranger station where the trail started it was already early afternoon.


Jake in Stanley, ID

The Salmon River

Ready to start the hike

The hike followed Loon Creek for about 9 miles up to Horseshoe Lake. Several river crossings added to the adventure, and a hot spring along Loon Creek made for a good rest stop. The hot spring was a bit on the shallow side, and not extremely hot. I tried to love it, but it was just OK.


The first river crossing

Trying to love the hot spring

Taking a break

Arriving at Horseshoe Lake at sunset

We spent Saturday night and all of Sunday at Horseshoe Lake. We decided to hang around the lake and relax instead of exploring any farther because the weather seemed a little stormy on Sunday afternoon. It got fairly cold (a hint of winter in the air at 8,000 feet!) but there were just a few passing showers at night. It was decided that Jake and I have very limited knowledge of card games, and Jake's whiskey wasn't the best I've ever had.


Horseshoe Lake

Horseshoe Lake

Happy tent near Horseshoe Lake

Horseshoe Lake

Jake makes sure the bears don't come looking for dinner

We headed back to the trailhead Monday morning for the journey back to Salt Lake. Between the hiking and the driving, it was a very long day, but very much worth it.


Jake is a big fan of this picture

End of the hike

Heading back to Salt Lake

Great Basin National Park, Nevada - Backpacking

The Great Basin stretches from the Sierra Nevada in California to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. Rain and snow that falls in the basin doesn't flow out. Instead, the water collects in shallow, low lying basins and slowly evaporates (think Great Salt Lake). It's not the most scenic place I've ever seen but it is home to Great Basin National Park. Never heard of it? Most people haven't and that's probably why visiting the park actually feels like visiting a national park, as opposed to a Disneyland of RVs and cranky children.

Rob and I spent Labor Day weekend checking out some of the highlights of the park. It's only a 4 hour drive from Salt Lake City, west of Delta, UT across the border in Nevada. Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, and right on queue was the first Pacific storm of the season to add a little extra excitement to the trip.

Saturday started off hot and sunny and we began our adventure by backpacking up to Baker Lake. The lake is just below 11,000 feet and as we approached, so did the first storm clouds. We decided to duck down below treeline to avoid getting zapped by lightning. Fortunately the storm passed quickly and there were just a few tense moments with some awfully close lightning. After the storm we set up the tent in a safer spot and went back up to explore Baker Lake.


the cirque around Baker Lake

me at Baker Lake

Rob playing in Baker Lake

look of concern with storm clouds rolling in

our slopy, rocky (but safe from lightning) campsite

After exploring Baker Lake we returned to the tent - just in time. Another storm hit and continued for several hours. Lots and lots of heavy rain but fortunately not much lightning. We cooked dinner in the tent vestibules and settled in for a night of reading and relaxing before it was time to go to sleep.

The weather was much different the next morning. It was a bit foggy and much cooler. We had planned to hike over the ridge to Johnson Lake but the ridge was in the clouds and wouldn't offer much of a view. We also wanted to get down to a lower elevation in case it snowed or more storms rolled in.


me getting ready to hike down from Baker Lake

Rob with the foggy peaks in the background

campsite for Sunday night around 7500 feet

The weather was pretty nice for our hike down on Sunday. The sun was out for a good portion of the day and the temperatures were much milder in the lower terrain. We set up our tent and had a relaxing rest of the day. Our plan to camp at a lower elevation the second night was very wise. Huge thunderstorms rolled in just after dark with an incredible amount of lightning. The rain and hail came down hard for a while and I was thankful to be off the peaks with so much intense lightning. The storms cleared in the middle of the night and I took a peak at what the park claims as "some of the darkest skies in America". With almost no light pollution the stars looked awesome. Even with totally clear skies I could see brights flashes of lightning in the distance.

On Monday morning we checked out Lehman Caves with a nice ranger lady as our guide. After the cave tour we headed up towards Wheeler Peak (13,065 feet). There wasn't enough time to climb to the summit, but we hiked a trail below the peak to check out some of the bristlecone pine trees. Some of these trees are almost 5,000 years old making them among the oldest living things on the planet.


leftover hail from the night before

inside Lehamn Cave

curtain formation in Lehman Cave

Lehman Cave

Lehman Cave

"the parachute" in Lehman Cave

Wheeler Peak

bristlecone pine (the usually look almost dead)

Rob in front of a bristlecone pine

me on the bristlecone pine trail

looking out on the Nevada/Utah desert from the green "island" that is Great Basin National Park