Tennis can be an adventure, right?

Two weekends ago, Matt decided to go tweak his back. After hobbling around for a few days, he decided to flake out on FAC (ha! No really, I feel bad, Matt. Hope you're back to 100% for next week). But have no fear, there is another FACker guest start for the summer - Lisa! As a teacher, she has the rest of the summer off, and hopefully will be joining us for the next few FACs.

One of my summer school teachers decided to give us a final on Friday night. I mean, come on....Friday night?!?? So, to keep things simple and unstressful, Lisa and I played tennis for a few hours so I could study. Believe me, tennis with us is an adventure, so the FAC tradition lives on.

In other news, my most astute and thoughtful husband bought me a book for my birthday that will fuel the FAC fire for years to come: Hiking the Wasatch by John Veranth. This book is loaded with tons of obscure hikes in the central Wasatch like Little Black Mountain, Beacon Hill, the Olympus to Raymond traverse, and the Beatout. Gotta love those Wasatch Mountain Club folks for doing all this crazy stuff first so we can feel cool by doing it later.

Great link - Utah Peak Bagging Pics!

I found this awesome link this spring that will be a great resource for the FAC.

The possibilities are endless...

Grandeur Peak (Matt)

So, chiming in a little late...my legs still hurt. The approach from the west is definitely the more brutal route. As said by Tracie, not a real scenic hike...but worth the trip to tick off one more FAC peak.

The view of the city on the way up is tremendous. The view from the peak is good too...just didn't get a good city pic from there.



For the record, a little proof that we were really there.


Sitting on the top of a peak might be one of my favorite places in the world...doesn't really matter which peak, just on a peak.

Grandeur Peak - the Hard Way

Our hiking options continue to be limited with the massive amounts of snow that still lingers in the Wasatch. Matt had never been to the top of Grandeur Peak, so I convinced him that he should do it the hard way.

The West approach to Grandeur is pretty unforgiving. The trail starts right off Wasatch Blvd at the Shoreline parking lot and goes literally straight up to the summit. It's pretty brutal, so I figured it would be another good early season butt-kicking training hike. And it did not disappoint! My calves barely made it to the top and my quads barely got me back down.

I forgot my camera, but realistically the hike isn't spectacularly beautiful (except for the city views). I think Matt got a few pictures. Regardless, it was another successful FAC outing.

Little Black Mountain, Part 2

Yeah, my quads were not ready for an 11 mile hike. At least we know that the "direct descent" off the Avenues Twins is not a good idea. But, the weather was perfect and the views were great. Good way to kick off the season!






For reference, I'm including trailhead and trail info. The trailhead is on Tomahawk Drive above Popperton Park. Take Virginia Street past Popperton, left on Chandler, right on Cambridge, right on Tomahawk.



Follow trail up to the Shoreline. Once on the Shoreline, take a left and climb the short hill. From there, either bushwhack to the faint singletrack straight ahead or follow the Shoreline around to the next ridgeline. A trail comes in from the north.

Little Black Mountain

So, kicking off the summer 2008 FAC, Tracie came up with the idea to hike up Little Black Mountain above the Avenues. She estimated the hike at roughly 10 miles round-trip...but it felt like a lot more. On the way back from the peak, we decided that hitting Twin Peaks (the Avenues variety, not Big Cottonwood, or ever American Fork) would be a good idea. Not bad for the first FAC of the summer. More to come in following weeks...

That's the final goal...really? No, not really, the actual peak is somewhere behind that.



The wildflowers were out and looking pretty good.


A nice view of Grandview was with us for almost the entire hike.


There's something nice about standing in snow and looking down at all the people cooking in the city...especially on a Friday.


Almost there...just one final push up the ridge to the summit.


The view from the summit is oh so sweet...


...but my ugly mug, not so much.


A look back at where we'd been.


Holy crap!!! There be dinosaurs in the hills...or maybe they're just horned toads (aka short-horned lizards).