Ok, so I'm sittin' at home Sunday night--watching a fantastic Super Bowl, and I get a text from this girl I'm kind of dating? and I call her back. She proceeds to tell me that she wants to go snowshoeing. She heard from her friend how much fun it is and she wants to go. Keep in mind I've never gone but it sounds fun. I suggested a hike that I had read about in my "100 hikes in Utah" book, that goes up the Alpine Loop past Sundance Ski Resort. She is totally game and we started planning.
We both got pretty excited and looked forward to this "adventure" all week. I bought snow boots, ski poles, snowboarding socks, a Nike Dri-fit long sleeve shirt and Dri-fit underwear. (that's not all I wore, come on now) This officially goes down as one of the most expensive dates ever. lol. I knew it was going to get extremely warm despite the 20 degree temperatures, snowshoeing over six miles round trip, and a 2,000 ft. elevation change. I also downloaded topographical maps onto my handheld GPS courtesy of my buddy Adam who actually ponied up and bought the $100 map CDs. I bought a couple of MRE's, some Powerbars, packed my 9mm, filled my Camelback with water, and scrounged up a good first-aid kit, etc. You name it, we had it. When all was said and done I think my "day" pack weighed in at about 35 lbs. BSA-Be Prepared. :-)
Friday morning finally arrived! I managed to get my schedule not only switched with the other Porsche salesman today but asked MY boss--HER dad--if it was ok that I came in 2 1/2 hours late. (I had planned ahead and made up those hours on Monday where I worked an extra 4 hours) In fact, if I remember correctly he even texted her on our descent down the mountain to ask where she was, like he didn't know, lol.
We met up at the mouth of the Provo Canyon promptly at 8:00 AM. She said she couldn't sleep the night before she was so excited. The canyon had been closed due to snow until 11 PM the night before but was now "clear" with nearly an inch of snow left, mixed with salt/sand, all the way up both S.R. 189 and S.R 92. We drove past Sundance and parked in what appeared to be a parking lot buried under a foot of snow. From here we loaded our packs, strapped on our snow shoes and started hiking.
Can I just say we couldn't have picked a more beautiful day if we had tried. As soon as the sun came over the mountains the sky was so blue, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen for miles. We were walking on top of 6 ft.+ of snow (probably closer to 7 or 8). There was a vague trail courtesy of snowmobilers from previous days but other than that it was virgin snow, with the extra four inches of fresh, clean powder that had fallen the night before. It was gorgeous! The white Aspens, the complete silence, all that snow and the beautiful towering mountains made such an amazing landscape. We were following the aforementioned trail and my GPS, taking our time, enjoying the views and even the FRESH cougar tracks we found, and made it to the top around 11:30 AM.
There we made "camp", had a warm lunch and rested a bit, but we soon found out that if you aren't moving/hiking, it feels really cold fast! We made it back down twice as fast as we did going up, picked up the fleece pullover and jeans (too many layers) I had ditched on the side of the trail on the way up, and made it back to the car safe and sound. We were exhausted but it felt so good! Unfortunately both of us had to be back to work at 3:30 and work till 9.
We had a really good time and got to know each other a little better. She is way cool and I really enjoyed the hike with her. I think we might even go out tomorrow night...but I have a ton of stuff to do, and people I need to go visit, so we'll see.
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