Mile 705. Since he walked the Owen's Loop Trail on August 24, with its terrific views from an observation point like setting, Tortoise has been excited to try the City Creek Trail nearby. From the maps, it looks like a good way to walk through the country cars drive through on Red Hills Parkway without being right next to the cars -- at least for one direction of a loop.
It is that, and more. It turns out to be a popular training ground for cross country runners with its up and down meandering path, which consumes mileage without actually going very far. Lou generally differs from most hikers with regards to switchbacks. He would prefer to walk farther if it keeps slopes to below, say, 10%. As you will see a little later on the trail map, the City Creek Trail takes switchbacks to an extreme. A couple times the trail actually goes up and down in a segment more than if it took the direct route instead of a long switchback. This left Tortoise amused. He still enjoyed this walk though.
The day's walking thought was by Carl Cook ...
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| The trail gets very close to a golf course |
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| then teases about going to the highway |
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| but not yet |
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| This shot looks like out in the wild desert, miles from anywhere. But that almost invisible dip in the picture? |
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| That's where Red Hills Parkway is, with thousands of cars passing though daily. |
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| And we will head back to the starting point on the paved city trail adjacent to the highway. Just before Tortoise was stopped by a car whose occupants wanted to know how to get to Veyo. Lou must just have a certain look about him ... |
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| If you know where to look in these last pictures, |
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| You will see how close the meandering trail gets to the road. Two separate worlds can indeed coexist nicely. |
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| This is a case where the map and the GPS disagree by a significant amount. The GPS says 4.17 miles. Tortoise believes the GPS this time, thinking the map is not picking up all of the switchbacks. There are even more than this map shows. But Lou used the lower numbers for his official stats, just to be sure. |
Today's walk was 3.88 miles, done in 1:28:35 hours at an average pace of 22:50 minutes per mile. This route had an average tortoise rating of 3.6, earned by climb 504 feet in the 1.94 mile uphill portion. Average elevation was 3164.
Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:
705.08 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 684.71.
49,143 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 42,140. Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- but in less time each day than his 1:07:04 hour per day average in 2015. So far in 2016, Tortoise's walks have averaged 59:10 minutes each.
His average pace so far in 2016 has been 18:02.6 minutes per mile, compared with his 18:25 minute per mile pace in 2015.
Lou has walked 416 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, 2015. overall he has walked on 519 of the 528 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 98.296% consistency rating.
And now for today's walking thought:
"At the end of a particularly tiring day ... my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question 'How can I possibly do this?' ... As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor.
"The door opened and someone entered, but I didn't look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, 'What are you looking at down there?' I recognized that voice -- it was President Thomas S. Monson.
"I quickly looked up and responded, 'Oh, nothing.' ...
"But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, 'It is better to look up!'"
The tortoise is smiling! Good thing he has his sweet lady to remind him to look up!
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