THE TALON: The Living Room/Quarry Mountain

Brad and I have been checking out all these guide books from the library trying to find the perfect snow hikes! Many hikes in Utah are closed during the winter because there is too high of an avalanche risk. But there are many trails you can snowshoe... not many trails you can hike without snowshoes- in just your boots.

Our families are coming out to visit in March. March, as all the Utahans have been telling us, is hit or miss with the weather. It could be beautiful in the 50s, or we could have snow storms. In case of snow, Brad and I are trying to go test out the hikes to see which ones to take our families on, that we could do in the spring weather but that are ALSO doable on snowpacked trails.

The trail we did yesterday, was an AWESOME hike. It was great in the snow, and would be great in any weather really. It was called "living room" because at the top there were supposedly large flat boulders set up to look like furniture!

First geocache on the trail--

Name "Be Gone Long One"

The cache description said if we knew what that quote was, we would know what to look for. We googled it and found it was a quote by that bear in Robin Hood talking to the snake! So we were looking for a snake somewhere... see it here in the image?? It blends very well!

Probably one of the coolest geocaches we have seen yet... When we saw the log book container in it's mouth.. I was like... uhhh how are we gonna get it out of there!?

OH MY GOSH! Look how small it is... the log book actually came out of there and unrolled... I thought for sure we wouldn't be able to get it back in.. but Brad got it haha. Very cool

A little while into the hike, we started getting confused. There are about 15 trails that are in the same area, always intersecting, etc. We asked a passing hiker, and he was nice enough to guide us up most of the way!

Our new guide!

Tons of people with dogs on the trail!

Amazing views already...

I felt like we were in an airplane.. you know that look you get looking through the clouds? Amazing

At this point we had to break off from our guide. We are not up to par with him on who is in better shape! We were so tired already! We needed a break. He was so fit and fast! He left us a note in the snow further up the mountain though saying "go left" at another confusing point. We wrote back "Thanks!" but doubt he ever saw it. So nice.

It was about 30 degrees and I was burning up in my Tshirt! Such a good work out.

Bradley got a doggie!

Hiking with a tripod on your back is SO worth it sometimes! Most amazing view!!

Another geocache around the corner! Clue: "Evergreen"

Got it!

We found this in the cache! It's so cool! It's a CD of 14 songs having to do with a theme. There are then 14 trivia questions based on the songs. Once you solve the questions, you can find out where the corresponding cache is hidden!! You take this CD with you, complete it, and then hide it in another cache- any other in SLC that you want. What a great idea!

Sorry guys... Brad made me take the picture... dead elk we saw on the way

Almost at the top!

Can't get enough of this view! We know our families are gonna love this hike!

Made it! See the couch!? There are arm rests and everything There are lots of little couches, etc down the hill- most are snow covered right now, but we can see their shapes still!

Relaxing on the couch...

This was honestly, incredible. The "couch" was a perfect spot. Surprisingly comfortable and the perfect place for a picnic! The view was breathtaking.

(Note Brad on the right hand side)

Another geocache was located up at the highest tree.. There was no way I was gonna climb that while it was snow covered and I didn't want Brad to either. But my stubborn husband climbed his way up there

Do you see him? Arm up holding the ammo can he found??

One more deep breath before we head back down...

The hike took us about three hours, even though it was only 2.5 miles. We took breaks, and geocached on the way, but it also physically wore us out. It was short in distance, yes, but it was entirely up hill with an extremley steep elevation gain of 1100 feet in 1.25 miles... we were worn out!!

BUT WAIT.

You thought we were done, but of course not! After lunch, we drove up to Park City to try out another cache a coworker suggested. This one near her house is unnamed, but it climbs up Quarry Mountain for views of the city!

2nd hike of the day! GO!

Welcome to Park City, Suburbia!

Measuring the elk tracks. There were tracks and hair everywhere! Dana (coworker) said she saw tons of elk on this trail the day before, but we didn't see any! :(