15-154

Mile 431.  Tortoise paused on his way home from taking dear Becca to the airport en route to her receiving excitement from Rachel and all the Jacksons .. and returning it to them!  An early June morning is a good time to enjoy the splendor and varied colors of the Red Cliffs, so Lou parked his car at the Grapevine Trailhead just off I-15 Exit 13, and began a loop walk on the dirt road that continues west when Washington Parkway turns to begin Buena Vista Park. 

His route continued along the Millcreek, Bone Wash, Sand Hill, and Grapevine trails back to his point of beginning.  For some nice pictures, a video of the panoramic view atop Sand Hill, a map, along with additional details and the day's walking thought by David B. Haight, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

Continuing on the dirt portion of Washington Parkway after the paved road
turns and becomes Buena Vista Blvd.

The only vehicle that passed Tortoise on this loop was this white Utah
Department of Natural Resources truck.  It stopped numerous times
along the way, perhaps to get updates on desert tortoise studies.

Shadows are still long at 7:20 am

First road junction.  Tortoise took a slight left to continue in the same direction.

At just over a mile, three dirt roads meet in essentially the same place.
Lou turned north to follow the extension of Washington's Main Street
towards the Millcreek trailhead and its entrance to the desert reserve.

View to the left looking towards where Main Street becomes paved
at its north end.  (About 1/3 mile from this junction)

View along the continuation of the road Tortoise is leaving

View looking north on the path Tortoise took from this junction.

Looking ahead, the white pole on the right of the road marks where the desert
reserve boundary begins following this road.  Shortly beyond that is the
Millcreek trailhead, about 2 miles into today's walk.

Inside the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve now.  Millcreek trail goes straight ahead here,
while the Bone Wash trail heads to the right at about 2.4 miles into this loop.

Another view of the start of the Bone Wash trail.  Tortoise plans to return
another day to use this trail to see Elephant Arch.

Approaching the turnoff to Sand Hill trail.  It is a single track trail that is well marked,
but you still have to carefully watch for it after walking Bone Wash trail
for a quarter mile.

The views begin looking back down Bone Wash trail at this point

Two signs mark the beginning of Sand Hill trail, this weathered wood sign,

and the newer style sign.  In many places the path is sandy enough that the path is less than
perfectly clear.  Thankfully, these signs occur often enough that it is possible to stay on
the right path by looking ahead to the next sign after reaching each sign.  Basically it
just goes up, up, up to the top of the hill, so if in doubt, look up and you should see
the next trail sign.

There are some great views along this climb!

The path is very sandy for the full mile to the top of the hill.

Tortoise set no speed records up this hill, stopping frequently to
catch his breath and enjoy the views.

Made it to the top, 3.5 miles into the loop.
A video a little later will show the full view here.

And here's a view headed down the east side of the hill

An attempt to capture the delicate purple flowers near the bottom of this plant.

The east end of Sand Hill trail is at the junction with the Grapevine trail,
4.5 miles into today's loop.

Tortoise is looking back up Sand Hill trail that he just came down.

the view up Grapevine trail at this junction

and down, which is the way Lou went

Several trail junctions are passed along the way ...

Brackens Loop, which is a pretty faint trail.

Next is the junction with Dino Tracks trail, shown going up to the left
in this picture, which was taken just after passing it coming downhill
so that both paths would be visible.

View continuing down the Grapevine trail at the Dino Tracks junction.

This is the view looking back up, at the next junction, this one the Prospector trail,
It is at mile 5.6 of this loop, or a little over a mile since the Sand Hill trail ended
and Tortoise starting walking down the Vineyard trail.

Prospector trail winds through the hills paralleling I-15 for a few miles
to near the Cottonwood trail junction at the north end of the Hurricane
industrial park.  Another future Tortoise adventure.

For today, Lou continued on the Grapevine trail, now with
one mile to go to complete the loop.  

Nearing the end of this loop, Tortoise encountered the last trail junction.
This one is marked only to show that the Grapevine trail continues on the
dirt road to the right.  But the faint trail to the left is a real trail, leading
to the Washington Parkway and Sienna Hills trails maintained by the
city of Washington.  Lou walked these in December 2014, click here
for more information on this access to the desert reserve.

Walkers can leave the desert reserve to the left of the closed gate by walking
over the tortoise fence.  Just beyond the welcome shade is the trailhead parking.
Lou's walk of this loop is complete at 6.6 miles.

And now for the panoramic scenic view from the top of Sand Hill:

Tortoise completed today's 6.61 mile walk in 2:57:36 hours, including all the breaks along the way and 15 minutes at the top of Sand Hill.  Tortoise rating was 2.5, based on 732 feet climbed in the 2.69 mile uphill portion (average elevation 3324), and one full point allowed for the very sandy climb.  Truth is, one point is probably not enough to reflect how much work Tortoise did climbing in the sand. There was thus no need for a Benjamin Category Override; in addition this walk was over 10k in length. 1,090 calories were burned along the way.  

Here is a map of today's route:

And here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

431.74 miles walked, which is 43.09% of Lou's 2015 goal. On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 424.94 year-to-date miles.   

130:59:48 hours walked, which is 41.85% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year)

21,677 total feet climbed, compared with 19,592 feet on this day in 2014.  

64,460 calories burned

42.17% of the year has passed

Lou has walked 20 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11. Overall he has walked on 123 of the 132 non-Sundays in 2015, a 93.18% consistency rating.  This compares with 121 days walked after 132 non-Sundays in 2014 (a 91.67% consistency rating).

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells Tortoise that he is on track. Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's 2013 walking record with 2014 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent. And Tortoise feels much more vibrant when he is consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you)

And now for today's walking thought, initially presented in April 1999:

"As time goes on, it is the love that we give and the service that we render that becomes so important in our lives."

To watch, listen to, or read this message in full, please visit https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/04/love-and-service?lang=eng #ShareGoodness

The tortoise is smiling!