Sand Canyon

Sand CanyonFinally able to get back on the dirt, but I had to drive west to McElmo Canyon almost to the Utah state line at an elevation of 5,600 where the snow is only in the shadows of the Juniper.  Sand Canyon is a Heritage site of the Ancients that has mostly south-facing trails so the snow is virtually gone and it’s only muddy behind the trees shadows.  IMG_2514There were very few on the trail when I started at 10 AM but the parking lot was over capacity by the time I finished the 7.36 mile loop.  Only saw one other hiker past the one mile point and and two pairs of mountain bikers on the back side of the loop.  Weather was blue skies with scant high cirrus clouds and temps probably hit low 50’s by mid-afternoon.

SandCanyonTrailHad fun Friday getting my gear organized and tweaking my spreadsheet of weights.  Disappointed to learn my empty daypack was 4 ounces heavier than I’d posted last year.  Guess I’ll have to start looking for alternatives since I’m supposed to be going UltraLite these days and that 4 oz is the same as my Spot Locator, which I want to keep using.  (Good thing I got a haircut before the hike or I’d really be carrying too much)  Base weight for day hiking carrying a reserve parka, fleece hat and gloves is right at 4.5 pounds.  The whole kit was 9.4 pounds with two liters of water and food.

Audiobook for the trail was The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow.  Wish I could say I understood most of the math and theories but it was really interesting and I’d highly recommend it even without comprehending the evolution of probability theory.