Our stake does a yearly major service project on a Saturday near Pioneer Day. In 2012 it was in Springdale, last year it was in Confluence Park, and today it was primarily in a new park in Trail Ridge Estates (basically Cholla Creek, but these homes are on the other side of La Verkin Creek). I say primarily because I was sent with some other leaders to do clean up work at a home that had debris to the point that Toquerville City declared it a fire hazard. However, the owner didn't want to let go of his items. After some talking he let us do a few things and eventually became glad we were there. That was a relief.
We were told the project would take until 11:30, but we had a good enough turnout that we were done about an hour early, and I noticed some new potentially interesting places to walk (such as the path pictured above) so I thought this would be a good time to do it. It was warm when I started at 88 degrees and warmer (95 degrees) when I finished 1:48:16 hours later. Thank goodness for the steady dry breeze, and that I had a string to hold my hat in place.
Tortoise walked 3.86 miles with 874 feet climbed. Tortoise rating was 0.5 based on a pretty steady 10% grade for 1.66 of those miles and rocky conditions. Not as extreme as the Brown's Point Trail, but it was a consistently rocky path. Calories burned: 681. Please click below to see a map and more pictures ...
Cheerio!
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| Starting point: End of Cholla Dr. where it meets the dirt road Hunter Lane |
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| Looking back at my parked car at the starting point. |
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| Looking uphill at Hunter Lane. The climb started immediately. |
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| And then takes a breather as the road goes around the side of Gilbert's ranch. |
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| In a half mile, Tortoise reached the other end of Hunter Lane at State Highway 17. |
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| The little white sign up the hill in the middle is advertising 297 acres for sale with residential development possibilities. The lots would have views for sure! |
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| The Gilbert's are serious about keeping you on the road side of the fence and off of their ranch. |
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| I decide to explore this dirt road up to the land that is for sale. There are no signs discouraging Tortoise from doing so. |
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| A typical view up. |
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| Soon the views back down become dramatic. |
And then we have this 360 degree panoramic view at the top ...
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| And we complete the round trip on this side path. |
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| Got your running shoes ready for the bull? Tortoise does not. :-) |
2014 Stats:
569.09 miles walked, which is 56.85% of my 2014 goal.
569.09 miles walked, which is 56.85% of my 2014 goal.
179:06:16 hours walked, which is 57.22% of my 2014 goal
26,638 total feet climbed
90,963 calories burned
54.95% of the year has passed
I've walked 42 consecutive non-Sundays since my last missed day on May 31, and overall have walked on 161 of the 172 non-Sundays thus far in 2014, a 93.60% consistency rating.
The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells me I am on track. I'm sure this is more numbers than you are interested in, all I can say is I'm really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because I don't do them every, every day.
The tortoise is smiling!
What a torch hike for the tortoise! Love that elevation gain and think it was a smart decision to dodge the attempt at fate with the bull :)
ReplyDeleteLedge view and awes video. Glad you found a new trail!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely like the sage wisdom of the tortoise to avoid the running with the bull, and continue his pursuit of daily efforts to add marbles to the jar! Love!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you each enjoyed checking out this new tortoise adventure. Somewhere along the way I'm thinking of seeing how far I can walk uphill from the falls on La Verkin Creek up the canyon from Toquerville ... :-)
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