Mile 729. The latest work deadline is past. Tortoise celebrated by exploring the Pioneer Rim trail in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. It's one of the very nice things about living in the southwestern corner of Utah -- it is a very short drive in any direction from work to a nature preserve, scenic trails, good exercise, and an escape from the stress of the day.
This particular trail is not well marked, so Lou had to work extra hard to look ahead to the next trail marker or cairn to stay on course. When he got done, he felt like he had walked more like 6 miles than 4. It's all good, though! The day's walking thought was provided by Henry Eyring ...
Cheerio!
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| Starting from the Pioneer Hills trailhead just off Red Cliffs Parkway |
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| Gorgeous country! But where exactly is the path beyond the first bush? |
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| About to cross the T-Bone trail |
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| The trail ends at the reserve boundary fence. |
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| It's not hard to find a path from there |
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| back to Red Cliffs Parkway (at 1000 East in St. George) |
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| Tortoise never noticed this pond all the times he has driven by. Looks pretty nice walking by. Even had someone enjoying the fishing! |
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| The Desert Garden is beautiful |
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| Now starting up the T-Bone trail to return to the starting point. |
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| Junction of the T-Bone and Pioneer Hills trail. Lou turned left to take the Pioneer Hills trail the rest of the way back to his car. |
Today's walk was 4.10 miles, done in 1:48:59 hours at the very tortoise like average pace of 26:35 minutes per mile. This route had an average tortoise rating of 4.2, earned by climbing 418 feet in the 2.05 mile uphill portion. Average elevation was 3057.
This was #hike6 of Lou's 52 Hike Challenge.
Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:
729.91 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 710.19.
Tortoise has climbed a total of 50,944 feet so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 43,708. Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- as a way to get the 125 heart rate his doctor suggests for these walks. So far in 2016, Tortoise's walks have averaged 59:12 minutes each, compared with his daily average of 1:07:04 hours the previous year. He enjoys seeing what he can do in an hour and change each day!
His average pace so far in 2016 has been 18:05.0 minutes per mile, compared with his 18:25 minute per mile pace in 2015.
Lou has walked 424 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, 2015. overall he has walked on 527 of the 536 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 98.321% consistency rating.
Today's walking thought was "Preparation in the Priesthood: I Need Your Help", by Henry B. Eyring. from the October 2011 LDS General Conference
"His feelings of weakness had made him more patient, more sympathetic, and therefore better able to strengthen and serve others. ...
"Great priesthood trainers have shown me how to build that strength: it is to form a habit of pushing on through the fatigue and fear that might make you think of quitting. The Lord's great mentors have shown me that spiritual staying power comes from working past the point when others would have taken a rest."
The tortoise is smiling!
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