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Mile 961.  Tortoise took advantage of a glorious shirtsleeves 62 degree afternoon to explore the Church Rocks Trail in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve before the weather turns again.  Lou accessed this trail from the top of Slick Rock Drive in Coral Canyon, using other trails for just under a mile to get to it.  He highly suggest good walking poles and shoes, and to allow a little extra time for trail finding as much of the way you are walking on rock and looking for the next trail marker pole, or even stacked rocks to know where to go.  The pictures from the extra bit of hill above the nearby Prospector Trail make it worth the extra effort.  Today's walking thought is by David Bednar ...

Cheerio!

Drive to this intersection in Coral Canyon

And start walking on the Western Ledge Trail, to the Coral Canyon Trail,
up to the water tank, down the dirt road on the back side of this bluff,
under Interstate 15 and out to the sign in the title picture of this post

To reach the starting point of the Church Rocks Trail (go right here)
in 0.9 miles

See that thin trail marker pole at the top of the ridge?  That's where we're headed.

On top of which, the views just get better

Pretty light clothing for this late in November.  Sunny and no wind!

The view from the point pictured above

Today's walk was 4.31 miles and had a 4.2 tortoise rating earned by climbing 422 feet in the 2.16 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3227.  This walk burned 712 calories in 1:45:39 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

961.08 miles walked which is 95.92% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 917.84 miles.

295:16:08 hours walked which is 94.34% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

51,351 total feet climbed, compared with 45,202 feet on this day in 2014.

144,194 calories burned.

88.50% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 165 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 268 of the 277 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.75% consistency rating.  This compares with 264 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.31% consistency rating).

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of both distance and of 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 walking record up until 2013 with 2014 or 2015 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you).

And now for today's walking thought ...

"These valiant Brethren devoted their 'whole souls' (Omni 1:26) to testifying of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world.  The totality of their teachings is priceless.

"These servants shared with us in the concluding years of their mortal ministries powerful spiritual summaries of lessons learned through decades of consecrated service.  These leaders imparted truths of great worth at a time when some may believe they had the least to give."

-- David A. Bednar, "Chosen to Bear Testimony of My Name", October 2015 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!