New discoveries...

I’ve discovered and learned about many things while living in Utah. For example:

Fry Sauce – perhaps the best thing to come out of Utah besides, oh, Steve Young.

The term “Ward” - No, not referring to the geographical boundaries of members attending your congregation, but referring to the actual building you meet in. Like, “FHE is at the ward tonight.” Wuh?

Inversions – apparently you’re NOT supposed to go running outside when one is going on.

That you actually have to pay for parking downtown in most cities besides Las Vegas.

But my newest discovery, and one that has occupied my Saturday mornings for the last few weeks and probably will continue to because I LOVE it…

SNOWSHOEING!

This, my friends is a new favorite activity of mine. Many of you know that I'm just not a fan of snow. Having lived in Las Vegas my whole life, all I think about when I think of snow is how annoying it is to drive in, scraping off my car and getting snow in my shoes, and slipping on the ice created by the snowplows trying to clear the snow--ugh. But snowshoeing has given me a new appreciation for this type of precipitation. It is absolutely beautiful!! Especially if you're the first one to break a new trail along freshly fallen snow, wow. And since I’ve only recently discovered how close the canyons really are to me, I’m gonna go all the time! Seriously, a ten minute drive from my parking lot and I’m at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Awesome – I know.

My first time was about a month ago with a big group of friends (and some strangers :)). It was kind of funny because 2 of my friends had planned to meet on the same day at the same time, same place for snowshoeing and both asked me to go with them. So when they figured out they were planning the same activity we combined forces and had a big group. It was a night hike so we started at about 8:00pm and hiked to Doughnut Falls up Big Cottonwood. Preston came up from Provo too so it was really fun!

It was almost a full moon that night and it was beautiful! We didn't even need headlamps to see it was so bright. (I got this picture from one of the other people on the hike).

Preston and I before embarking on our first snowshoeing excursion ever! My friend Emily let me borrow her shoes, and Preston borrowed a pair from my friend Brian.

Nancy, Kristin (in white), and Morris.
Morris (the planner of the event)

Brian Shelby

Me going down the awesome butt-slide at the top, and Jamen not hitting me on his way down :)

At the top there was a little cave you could crawl down into and inside there was a waterfall, it was amazing! Here's preston in the cave, but it was so dark in there you can't see the waterfall behind him...lame.

Preston about to put his snowshoes back on after our break at the top.

Oh Brian...

Since that first excursion I've gone 3 more times. This guy at work, Mel, goes every single weekend! Seriously this guy is awesome! He used to work at Zion National Park, so when some friends and I hiked the Narrows and Angel's Landing this summer I asked him for some tips. That started a lot of conversations about hiking and other outdoorsy activities. Anyway, we had talked about going snowshoeing for awhile, but let's be honest, I was a little worried he would totally school me notwithstanding he is, uh, more-advanced-in-years than me. But he invited me so I went. The group included me, Mel, his friend Neil (Mel and Neil went on a bike trip this summer from Kansas to San Francisco--crazy), and Neil’s son Jesse. We hiked to Willow Lake and it was gorgeous. Going with Mel wasn't as hard as I thought either. Jesse and I practically raced up the mountain, but Mel and Neil hung back, slow and steady, but they can go forever! Endurance is key for them apparently, they just bask in the beauty of it all--and I like that :).

Mel, me, Neil taking a break

Mel and I starting back

Mel, me, Neil

The next week Mel, Emily, and I hiked to Lake Mary. I crossed my first frozen lake! Of course, that was after we let Mel go first, don't want to take any chances right?!

Mel and I

This butt slide didn't turn out to be as good as we'd hoped, but it was still fun. This is me and Emily behind.

Me and Emily

Last weekend Mel had something on Saturday morning so Emily and I just went by ourselves. She had never hiked Willow Heights so I did that one again. We didn't go very far though cause Emily had eaten one too many Tim Tams at her party the night before and I was running on 1 1/2 hours of sleep (dumb, I know) so we turned around as soon as we got to the lake and were back down the mountain by 10:45am. Mel came up later and must have just missed us but he could see we had been there and was sure glad we broke trail for him. You're welcome.

Emily taking a picture of her new snowshoes, which I believe she has named Joe--just Joe.

So beautiful! (Emily and the mountains :))
Me in the trees
Mel has already given us some options for this Saturday -- USA Bowl, Bear Trap, or Mineral Fork. So many hikes, so little time...