November 2018 - Hike and Ski time

November is still a perfect month for hiking and if you' re lucky, like we are this year, you might even get some skiing time too!

It's also the month of Hendrik's birthday. This year he turned 16 years, the age where you can get your driver license here in the States! 😨
In Belgium you can only get your license when you're 18, but 16 is the age where you're allowed to drink alcohol. For Americans, who live in a country where the drinking age is 21, this is pretty unbelievable ... for Mormons, who live in a world where alcohol use is a sin, this is probably considered as utterly evil 😈. I'm sure they'll all agree now with Trump's statement of Belgium being a hellhole 😆.

Hikes

As I've mentioned before, I organise activities for the international community and lead the 'energy club' for the Hill AFB spouse club. Hikes are always on the agenda, and when possible I'll organise one, where both groups participate together. Like this one:

'Flag rock via Patsey's Mine Trail'

This hike in Farmington is only about 4 miles (6 km) if you go up via the north side and come down via the south side, but it's really steep, so it sure kicked our butt!
On the way up, there's a cool mine (Patsey's mine) you can explore.
Patsey was an Irish immigrant who was convinced to find a silver vein, and who mined the mountain for 20 years, every day after work, until he mysteriously disappeared! No idea if any silver was ever found.

Patsey

In front of the mine

Inside the mine

After the mine, we continued to the Flag Rock from where you have a nice view on the Salt Lake valley.

There is some controversy about this trail and flag as it was a resident who planted the flag at the rock and cut the trail back in 1997 as a tribute to a friend, but both are located on land, managed by the US Forest Service, and they never approved them. When they were talking about taking it down in 2016, there has been a lot of protest because since 2001 the hike symbolises the climb first responders made after the crash in the Twin Towers, as the 1360 foot elevation change from the trailhead to the flag is around the same height as the former World Trade Center Towers. The Farmington Fire Department leads annual hikes on 9/11 to the flag to commemorate those heroes.

Apparently the protest helped, because the flag and trail are still there!

'Frary Peak Trail'

It's is one of my favourite hikes, located on Antelope Island. The trail leads to the highest point on the island at 6719ft (2048m). The peak is named after George Frary who was a homesteader on the island from 1890 t 1897.

What is a homesteader?

The Homestead Acts were several laws in the US by which an applicant could acquire ownership of 160 acres of government or public land for free. The homesteader had to live 5 years on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for 5 years before he would receive the patent of the land. In all, more than 270 million acres, or nearly 10% of the total are of the US, was given away for free to 1,6 million homesteaders. Most of that land was west of the Mississippi River.

The first Homestead act was signed into law by Lincoln in 1862.

The last one only ended in 1976, with provisions for homesteading in Alaska until 1986!!

The first time I did this trail was in February 2017 (post February 2017), and I didn't make it all the way to the top due to weather conditions (ánd me chickening out because of that 😆). Since then I've done it 2 more times, once with 2 friends and once with Geert ... both times I did make it to the top!
So this was my 4th time, and it just never grows old on me! It's a strenuous hike of 11 km with a 2415ft (736m) elevation gain, but definitely doable, and the views keep on amazing me.
I planned this as an activity with the international spouses, but as Geert had a day off (King's day), he decided to honour the King by conquering a mountain with a bunch of ladies. 😏

Geert with his ladies 😆

On our way up

Lunch at the top

Fun at the top 😊

On our way down

While we were on the top, we heard one or more coyotes howl. When we were driving back home, a coyote just crossed the road (no idea if that was the one we heard). When we stopped to take a picture, he didn't seem to mind us at all (surprising, because most coyotes are shy) ... he even shamelessly started rubbing his bum against the ground in front of us ... he sure looked like he was enjoying it! 😆

'Chesler Park Loop Trail' and 'Druid Arch Trail'

During the Thanksgiving break (if you want to know more about this very American holiday, check out my post from November 2016 - November 2016), we always avoid the turkey feasts and football game which go hand in hand with Thanksgiving, by going on a trip. This year, we planned a backpacking trip in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park (NP).
Canyonlands NP, located south-west of Moab in the South of Utah, has 3 districts: 'Island in the Sky' which most people visit (like we did in our 1st month in Utah - July 2016) as it is very accessible with the car, 'The Maze' which is the most remote district and 'The Needles' district with its many hiking trails.
In April of this year, we already did a 3 day backpacking trip in 'The Needles' (not yet covered in a post 😬), but as this is an extensive hiking paradise, we would still not cover the whole area with this additional 2 day trip.
As in most National Parks, you need a backpacking permit, which was not so difficult to get this time as it was the end of the season ... not that many people are interested in sleeping in a light tent with freezing temperatures apparently 😆
The first day, we hiked about 10km to get to our camp spot. In NPs you can't just camp wherever you want to guarantee that nature is impacted as less as possible by backpackers, so your permit is linked to a certain spot. You're still camping out in the wild, but they just tell you where exactly you're allowed to do that.

Our spots, not bad, right?!

Part of reducing the impact on nature, is the 'Leave no trace' policy that is applied throughout the NP. Which means that you leave no trash behind, and in this particular part of the NP, that means you can't even leave your own poop behind!
Pooping in the wild was already a big step for me, but pooping in the wild ánd bagging it and carry it around throughout your trip???? 😱
The big question was, who would be 'the carrier' 😆. We agreed that it would the one who pooped last. Hendrik was the first to try this out!

The bag, perfectly positioned for delivery 😝

Hendrik checking out his toilet

Hendrik, carrying his poop 😆

Geert and I wanted to hike another 10 km that day to see Druid Arch. The kids did ABSOLUTELY not want to join us 🙄, so we agreed that they would put up the tents while we were gone. The rest of the time they could 'chill' at our gorgeous camp spot.

It was nice to hike without our heavy bag-packs! After getting off the trail and doing 2 extra kms to get back on it (which included climbing down a mountain, which was way out of my comfort zone!!), we were rewarded by this view:

Druid arch

This is about the place where we lost the trail

On our way to Druid Arch

We returned in the dark, but we were prepared with headlamps and it was full moon. Luckily we did not lose the trail this time! It was a great experience!!

By the time we got back at the tent, it was sooo cold (-5° Celsius), that we all got together in 1 tent to play some UNO, after which we went to sleep (in our separate tents) at around 8.30PM.

The next morning, Geert and I got up around 6.30AM to do a little morning hike of 4km before breakfast. We did part of the 'joint trail', which is a few-foot wide crack between giant boulders. Some parts look like they've been carved out by humans, but it's 100% nature's work!