Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch

One benefit of spending only 2 days backpacking was that we were able to do a day hike on Sunday. Renee and I were driving back to Salt Lake on Monday and Katie was driving back to San Diego so we weren’t intrested in driving far to get to a trail head. We decided to go to Wire Pass since the trailhead was approximately half an hour drive from the Old Pahreah Townsite (where we had camped along the Paria River). The Wire Pass trail also offered petrolyths at the junction with Buckskin Gulch (1.5 miles in). Even though Renee’s hip was hurting her, she thought that the short hike might help loosen her hip up.

There were a lot of cars in the parking lot but the trail wasn’t very crowded. The first bit of the trail wasn’t particularly remarkable- neat sandstone formations, but the real attraction of the hike is the slot canyons.

We stopped for lunch where Wire Pass meets Buckskin Gulch and checked out the rock carvings.

Another hiker we spoke with had suggested we hike a few minutes along Buckskin Gulch. The canyon is wider and the trail is mostly cobbles and boulders instead of sand.

After a few minutes through Buckskin Gulch we decided to head back through Wire Pass so that we could make it to St. George for the night, get a shower, and cut a bit off of Katie’s driving time. It was the perfect little bonus hike with some amazing photogenic locations .

Paria River and Hogeye Creek Hike

My co-worker Katie has taken a transfer to our Melbourne operations and as a last hurrah, she invited Renee and I to go camping with her and her dog before her big move. After calls to the Escalante and Kanab BLM Visitor Centers, we decided to spend our 3 days backpacking doing the Paria-Hackberry Loop, a 25 mile hike that was estimated to take 2-3 days.

After picking up topo maps, we hit the trail around 11 am. The 5 miles along the Upper Paria River Gorge was flat and made for fairly quick hiking. There were frequent ankle deep water crossings as we followed the river up the canyon so we switched to sandals pretty quickly.

The Paria Gorge is wide and allows horses, dogs, and all terrain vehicles (ATVs). After some creative bushwhacking and walking through soft sand, we discovered that following the ATV trails made for more efficient walking.

We turned up the Hogeye Canyon which was much narrower. The Hogeye Creek is spring fed and the water was clear (whereas the water in the Paria River was turbid). The narrower canyon presented some challenges.

The biggest challenge was what we called the Team Building Exercise. In order to get our 3 packs and Roxy (the dog) through this passage it took all three of us working together to pass the bags up and through the space. As we put our packs back on, we were relieved that we were doing a loop hike and wouldn’t have to navigate that going down.

The stream bed dried up part way up the canyon but after hiking through sand for a stretch, another spring fed the stream. We hiked until we were upstream of the second spring and decided to spend the night where we could easily get water.

The next morning we continued up the Hogeye Canyon and following the route described in the hiking book, we followed the main canyon to the southeast, took the left fork, and looked for our way up and out of the canyon onto Lower Death Valley mesa. We spent several hours exploring the canyon trying to figure out how to get us and our packs out of the canyon. Sheer sandstone faces seemed to be at the top of each section and there was no water to refill our bottles for the 2 miles across the mesa. We decided to turn around and hike back out the way we came.

We made it back to the cars after 12 hours of hiking (including breaks) . In the end it was probably better that we didn’t backpack all 3 days as Renee’s hip and sciatic nerve were bothering her and all 4 of us were exhausted. The BLM staff had told us that it may be tricky to figure out how to exit the Hogeye Canyon so even though we were frustrated that we couldn’t complete the full loop, we were prepared to turn around.

Back to Backpacking

Crazy Weather

Yesterday was clearly summer with a high temperature of 80F.  We slept with our bedroom window open it was so warm.  Today, however, was a different story.  The weather was nice this morning- sunny and warm.  I took a long walk at lunch and noticed the menacing clouds.  By mid-afternoon it was snowing pretty heavily- and by the time I left to go home I had to pull out the scraper to get the snow off the back windshield. Crazy.

Cucina Toscana

To celebrate our anniversary we thought it was time to try a new restaurant. Not only had our friend Sam (who recommended Cafe Anh Hong) recommended Cucina Toscana, but the chef-owner, Valter Nassi is on the cover of the Salt Lake Magazine’s 2008 Dining Awards issue. We arrived around 8:15 on a Tuesday evening and the dining room was bustling (definitely a good sign).

We each started the meal off with a salad, the La Mista Italiana de Verdure (mixed greens) for me and the Spinaci al Salto con Calamaretti, Gamberi e Cappe Sante (sauteed spinach with grilled baby calamari, baby shrimp and scallops) for Damon.

(Unfortunately not the best view of the spinaci which was delicious). The insalata mista was a tasty mix of greens dressed in the house vinaigrette. The warm spinach and seafood salad was delicious and light.

For our primi piatti we split an order of the pasta sampler (Tutta Pasta Cucina Toscana). I am generally hesitant to order pasta at a restaurant now that I’ve started making both pasta and pasta sauce at home that I like and have found excellent fresh pasta options at Liberty Heights Fresh. We have recently ordered several different pasta dishes at Cafe Trio and were disappointed by the fact that we could have made something similar (or in one case, better) at home. I digress… When the time came for our pasta course our waiter wheeled a serving table over to us and prepared the plates tableside.

Two spinach ricotta ravioli and gnocchi arrabiata on a bed of grated parmesan. Not only are these two pastas that I would never make at home, they were wonderfully light and melt in your mouth delicious. The arrabiata sauce had a nice kick but was not overpowering and the sauce on the ravioli enhanced the spinach and ricotta filling.

For our second courses I had the Cioppino Toscano (top) and Damon had the Escolar Toscano.

Both of these dishes were excellent. The mustard cognac sauce on the escolar was complex without being overpowering and the seafood in the cioppino was well cooked, tasted fresh, and was complemented by flavorful broth.

While we were there to celebrate our anniversary (2 years?!), one of the reviews we read correctly pointed out that Cucina Toscana does not have to be reserved for special occasions. Even though prices have gone up since their January 2007 review (a half order of penne arrabiata is $10 now instead of the $5.95), there are pasta dishes and mains that can be had for under $20. We spent $160 on two starters, a pasta, 2 mains, and 3 glasses of wine, tax and tip. We will definitely be back.

Pho Cyclo

One benefit of my current work set-up is that I get to go back to Seattle periodically and hit up some of my favorite restaurants. At the end of March I had my first trip in a few months to Seattle. I made it to Pho Cyclo twice in the 4 days to pick up lunch- one day I got their Vietnamese chicken sandwich with the perfectly crusty bread, daikon, carrots, and spicy jalapenos. The next trip there I got their lemongrass chicken lunch special. We’ve found some tasty Vietnamese food here in Salt Lake at Indochine- but nothing that can compare with Pho Cyclo’s inexpensive and delicious lunches.

Easter

Easter typically evokes images of springtime, Easter egg hunts in lush green grass with kids in cute pastel clothes. This year, we joined the McCausland family for some skiing at Park City Mountain Resort.