Rising Above It

I haven't been writing much the last couple of weeks.  I've been really just trying to get through to the Christmas Holiday with my head down, plugging away, to a point when I knew that I would have a few days off in a row and be able to relax a bit.  I also haven't had much to write about adventure-wise, because honestly the dogs and I have not had very many adventures.  Except for the day a couple of weeks ago that we got up to Round Valley by Park City and Artie scared two elk out of the scrub oak.  That was exciting for a little while.  But then the elk didn't really run, so Artie couldn't give chase.  The elk just kind of stood there and stared at us, which I felt was actually kind of amusing.  The dogs kept looking at the elk, then looking back at me, then to the elk, then at me, and finally the dogs just gave up and came back to me, and we kept running.

The weather has been really bad for a couple of weeks here in Salt Lake.  Some call it inversion, some call it smog, and the weather-people just call it "fog", but it's really a combination of all of the above:  cold air, locked in by high-pressure, with fog and pollution trapped in the valley.  You can barely see to the end of the street on some days, let alone the mountains that surround us.  I've been cooped up in the basement running on the treadmill for the last couple of weeks, watching videos on my computer as I run, and trying to get my weekly mileage.  Which is tough, when the majority of it feels like I'm just plodding along in the basement with the dogs staring at me and wondering why we are not going outside.

Thankfully, a couple of days ago and now just a few days before Christmas, the bad air has cleared out of the valley and things are sunny again.  What a wonderful Christmas present to be able to get outside in the sunshine!  But after a couple of days of nice weather, the bad air is starting to build again.  It's still not nearly as bad as it was, so I'm not complaining.  The only thing that clears out the bad air is a storm (big or small... ) and hopefully we have one on the horizon in about 4 days.

Today I got up in the hills above the city with the dogs and we had a great view of everything.  I had intended on going out for about 4 miles, but we turned it into 9.  It was fantastic.  And really only a handful of people were up there which is in stark contrast to the summer months when you see dozens of people on the trails.

Apparently people are skiing, but I'm still not convinced that it's really that worth it to go up to the mountains to ski.  The snow totals are really low (only about a 30 inch base) and I tend to get bored after skiing the groomed runs for an hour or two.  Given the conditions, I'd rather spend a couple of hours in the hills with the dogs, even if it means we have to drive up to Park City to hit the trails and get some sunshine.  At least for the next couple of days, it looks like we will be able to stick closer to home to get our trail miles in, though.  Happy Trails!  and Happy Christmas.