utah snow. nothing better.

i just cant get that utah snow out of my head.
heres a few more scenes from the past couple of years
at snowbasin and powder mt.
sigh:

snowbasin. sigh.

all this snow in DC has made me miss snowboarding.
i miss my snowbasin morning ritual.
solo chair ride up jp. headphones on.
the morning light and music setting the tone for my day.

see. there i am. me and my shadow.
headed towards the heights of happiness:

and just before the chair ended, my soul would illuminate.
always. every single time.
and how could it not, with a view like this?:
(click on the pic to see how it REALLY felt. come on, just do it)


and not too bad from the peak, either, overlooking ogden:


so many incredible days at snowbasin.
it really is my favorite resort. and i miss it.
heres where it gets good.
headed down:



mmmm.
snowboarding + me = joy.

manti temple

just cruising through manti, utah headed home from an amazing couple of weeks on the road. the town is a fairly non-descript little utah town with a cute main street, and not much more. when you are heading north you turn one last corner and all of a sudden.... BAM! there's this waiting to greet you:

i didnt know what to say except... HOLY... HOLY... HOLY...


yeah, i guess just HOLY will do it!

capitol reef national park

woke in the morning with a burning desire to get back on the road. who am i, jack kerouac? left the ranch early and drove through the dixie national forest on the way to capitol reef. the plateau, where boulder mountain resides, is at about 11,000 ft. lots of trees and lots of green. the leaves were so fresh and bright green on the aspens. everything seemed more crisp in this alpine forest.

then on down to capitol reef national park, a vast 100 mile long fold in the earths crust. the rock colors and patterns were so striking and the valley floor lush
with color from the fremont river




reminds me of the samples song 'nature' - when they sing:
NATURE its all around me
NATURE is so astounding

grand staircase-escalante national monument

nicole took me on a hike just a few miles from the ranch - shes so lucky to have all of this so close! i've heard from others that this part of utah was their favorite; now i know why. this pic cant do the area justice - but if you enlarge it and look at it closely, you'll realize just how vast this place is. mid photo you can see a canyon cutaway with a river flowing through...


15 minutes of descent and we finally arrived to it - those trees are full sized 30-40ft or so


we hiked in to a little pool and took an afternoon swim. then we lay on the rocks basking in the hot sun like lizards.
oh, i could reallllllly get used to this...


everywhere you turned there was
something beautiful to see:


hiking back home - steeper than it looks!

boulder, utah

um. wow. i have a new favorite spot in utah. unbelievable. went to visit my girlfriend nicole who manages the boulder mountain guest ranch. i planned only a few days. next time will be more like weeks. driving in on route 12 from zion was probably one of the most beautiful stretches of highway
i have ever been on... amazing.


the guest lodge is a typical mt style timber lodge with several guest rooms, dining area and huge living room with big fireplace. so welcoming...
pretty sure i havent felt as calm and relaxed as i was staying here, um maybe, ever?


there are also 3 private cabins on the property that look out over the horse pastures.


theres sooooo much to do in the area and at the lodge... horseback riding, mt biking, hiking, national park exploring... even in-lodge massages! but, one of my very favorite parts was heading a few miles into town where we enjoyed post dinner dessert and wine at hell's backbone grill . this is now one of my favorite places on the planet. great spot, amazing food and kind, welcoming people...

bryce. grand canyon. vegas.

we spent the nite in a nice little
motel parking spot in kanab, utah.
when we woke i realized that i may have been a bit hasty in transferring things to the front seat last nite... OOPS!


since the turn signal and lites were broken, we decided to rent a car from fred flintstone, but the brakes were a bit touchy so we switched back.


on our way to bryce canyon national park, we decided to stop at the best friends animal sanctuary. such an amazing place, and so beautiful. some day i want to go back and volunteer there.


just beside this barn lived the turkey that kara befriended:



our visit to bryce was rainy and COLD - the park sits at about 9,000'. we spent very little time out of the car and snapped few photos, jumping out at the viewpoints and running back quickly for warmth


then we headed back to kanab. on our way thru a little town, we thought we'd definitely get a speeding ticket from the sheriff... turns out - that dummy was sleeping. ;)


from kanab we headed to the north rim of the grand canyon. we seemed to be following the storm, so it was rainy and cold again.


ok. over it. lets go to vegas!!! big smiles...


finally arrived and spiffed up a bit.
mmmm showers are a beautiful thing.


a few drinks into it and the nite started to look like this:


i'd tell you how the rest of it went -
but you know how the saying goes...

*note: you may have noticed a lack of bijou in this post.
dont worry, we didnt ditch her.
she'll be launching her own blog shortly too... :)

dogsit retreat

dogsat at the koobs again this wknd - my mountain retreat!
lots of hiking, relaxing and taking in the scenery.

snowbasin has tons of snow left,
too bad its closed :(


this is the view i woke up to,
with wolf mountain in the distance.
now you see why i love dogsitting?


sunset from the backyard:

and the new baby horse next door!
cuties.


but sadly, fuzzy and wuzzy are gone now :(
heres fuzzy and i having one last moment together...

hasta fuzzy.

accidental hike

went for a walk with bijou today.
1/2 mile down the road, we decided to head for the hills.
determined to make a full loop we arrived home 1 hr 1/2 later after climbing 3 different ridge lines.
(Frost prefers the 'road less traveled',
why is mine always the 'road most difficult'?)
it was much steeper, and thicker with vegetation than
we had anticipated...

we're not in kansas anymore toto, i mean bijou


we displaced only one deer in the process... sorry little one! but several scrapes, and im sure a few bruises to follow later, it was well worth the exercise, and the VIEW!


often seems that the unexpected moments in life
are that much sweeter...
oh, and btw. in the last photo, that is what i call 'courtney's bowl' mid range, and filled with snow.
YES one day it WILL be mine! and it WONT be accidental

en route

seems alot of time has been spent in the car lately. its pretty much where ive lived for the past month. luckily im fond of road trips! i love this shot because it sort of represents my mobile lifestyle lately. everything i need is in that car...


theres a stretch of the 6 from wellington, ut down to the 70 on to green river, ut that i've always been particularly fond of - barren nothingness to desert plateaus.

bijou and i stopped to take it in, have a cheesy moment together and chase some tumbleweed on our way to crested butte for the wknd. the air was 70 degrees and WINDY! (bij's hair doesnt normally look like that ;)