15-325

Mile 971.  It was a clear, beautiful 64 degree afternoon.  There had been heavy wind in the morning, but none on the Hurricane hill after 2 pm.  It made for some really nice picture taking conditions when Lou climbed that hill and continued to the point shown above a half mile down the Gould Rim trail.  Hope you enjoy them, and the day's walking thought by Henry Eyring.  Tortoise suspects Bluebird might be smiling too ...

Cheerio!

View looking up near the top of the hill

High enough to give a nice aerial view of the valley

Nice views in every direction from the top

And the first glimpse of Zion Park over the horizon at the top of the hill

Now headed gradually down the other side towards the beginning
of the Goulds Rim trail

Which is coming up at the short pole to the right

A closer view of the trail sign pole.  Let's head down the trail!

And over the bicycle cattle guard

Views in every direction from today's turnaround point a half mile down the trail from the road.

Even some delicate and pretty purple flowers

Back to the road, the sign points the way back to the Hurricane Hill trailhead on highway 59

Plenty of climbing today.  Tortoise loved it!

Today's walk was 5.50 miles and had a 2.7 tortoise rating earned by climbing 641 feet in the 1.86 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3752.  This walk burned 889 calories in 2:09:50 hours, which included some stops along the way and ten minutes at the turnaround point to enjoy those views!

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

971.92 miles walked which is 97.00% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 924.75 miles.

299:00:34 hours walked which is 95.53% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

52,217 total feet climbed, compared with 45,345 feet on this day in 2014.

145,875 calories burned.

89.14% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 167 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 270 of the 279 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.77% consistency rating.  This compares with 266 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.34% 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 ...

"We all know that human judgment and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers to the questions that matter most in life.  We need revelation from God.  And we will need not just one revelation in a time of stress, but we need a constantly renewed stream.  We need not just one flash of light and comfort, but we need the continuing blessing of communication with God."

-- Henry B. Eyring, "Continuing Revelation", October 2014 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!