Cedar Breaks single track.

With a long over due desire and a recent change in weekend plans, we finally made it to the Brianhead/ Cedar Breaks area to ride the pedal bikes. We chose to camp up by Navajo Lake to stay close to trails and as a great in between spot nestled in the peaking aspens. Here's what we found.

 One of the uncrowded overlooks at Cedar Breaks and a glimpse to the distant Blowhard trail by the small dot atop the distant peak (Blowhard mountain).

 Yes, it is still Milkyway season and the wind finally let up enough to shoot a few exposures looking straight south towards Navajo Lake.

 The landscape around the lake was reminiscent of Bend Oregon and the Mckenzie River sections with lava.

Lichen covered lava was only on the east end of the lake and made for a cool start to our loop up to the Virgin Rim trail.

 Insert postcard title here "               ". wish you were here! Looking south towards Zion National park.

Hard to tell just how windy it was, but that was as close to the edge as I felt confident with.

Although we did not ride the Blowhard trail together, I chose to hike up from the parking to get one shot of Amy descending the last fun narrow canyon section before the drive back.

Since we only rode the Blowhard trail on our last day, we thought a hot lap in Cedar City on the Boulder dash and Lava flow trails would be appropriate. Look at my wife slaying this section of Boulder Dash.

Both the drive there and back provided amazing displays of Gods craftsmanship in the sky.

Another week another jungle.

Every time we venture up American Fork, I can't believe it is this close to the city. The trails are rugged and the views always impress. I see why it doesn't get the mountain bike traffic when I'm sitting atop my dirt mover (KTM 200) and that's ok. It's all about Timp, Mt. Timpanogos and the sweeping valley below.

Most people that make it up here are on dirt bikes or horses and even that crowd is pretty low in numbers. The trails are maintained by the good folks at www.uintatrailcouncil.org/ and allow you to work for some pretty amazing lunch spots.

If you have been in the high country this week then you know it is good, real good.

My wife enjoying the views of where we are headed next.

At last, Mt. Timpanogos and the waist to chest high wild flowers.

The ride back down was pretty nice too.

The Emerald island of singletrack

Although I was on several assignments recently in Steamboat Springs (old hometown) I always spend some cardio-time on the amazing trails on Emerald mountain (AKA Howelsen, Quarry mtn, Emerald). This will go down as one of the greenest Summers in quite a while and the foliage is at an all-time high too.

The flowers were out early and the grasses were taller then I can ever recall in 28 years in Steamboat. I was also fortunate enough to work with yeticycles.com ambassador and professional snowboarder Justin Reiter and local ski racer/teacher Emily Colin.

A classic view of Steamboat from the bluffs on emerald.

The extremely tall grass on the lower Lupine trail almost slows down Emily in the switchback section. In addition to her biking skills, Emily also founded a really cool non-profit in 2010 pedalforchange.org. If you love to bike and give back to those in need, definitely check this out.

Oh, did I mention the ferns were tall too. This is the new trail (morning gloria) named after local entrepreneur  Gloria Gossard who donated the land allowing sections to be taken care of responsibly by making good sustainable trails for hikers, bikers and horseman.

Emily heads down a fern section of Morning Gloria as I feel like I'm in an Amazon jungle filming a documentary.

Back at the stables near the rodeo grounds a couple Colorado craft beers wait for some attention after an amazing couple of hours deep in the emerald jungles of Howelsen Hill!

Another 2 wheeled addition to the family, say hello to "Cavita".

We recently discovered a unique old vintage (43 years old) style of two wheeled pull behind camper, aptly named the "Campster". After some research and a few classified ads we pulled the trigger on this little gem "Cavita". My wife coined this name after its cave like feel and rounded shape. It is a blend of mostly fiberglass on a steel frame with a center pop-up roof for the stand up cooking area which adds to the venting process. The weather was perfect for her maiden voyage to Mt. Timpanogos park.

Not even 10 feet long on the inside but compared to the back of my 98 Taco very comfortable and easy towing.

Not a bad view for her first trip under new management, and she can hold 2 bikes inside. Battery operated Christmas lights..........not included.

Room to stand, cook, eat, sleep and enjoy coffee out your back door.
The 2 bikes weren't just for looks we actually heard that Sundance Mountain has some really fun singletrack so after breakfast we drove down the road to the base of Sundance ski area.

Turns out they also have lift-served biking with a Swiss Apls feel to it!

Like most ski areas in Utah and surrounding mountain states, it is as lush as can be.

Wouldn't be complete without a little pedaling, just don't forget to look at the scenery.

Archies basin is a fun little loop around the southern boundary of Sundance Mountain Resort complete with the Timpanogos range in your rear view mirror.

Let's  see, lush singletrack, big mountain snow capped views and street tacos with your favorite honey. Yum!

Desert stoke and season shakedown ride.

In a seasonal lifestyle there are endless firsts, the first cast, first ride, first skin, first wave, first powder day, first big drop..... you get it! With all of our complex toys it comes down to how they were put away "last season". Fortunately with a little extra time this Winter we were able to prep the dirt bikes for their first ride and what better testing grounds then the desert of mid-west Utah near the San Rafael Swell known as Chimney Rock.

With a quick over nighter and only one good long day of riding, we lucked out on some great weather with my favorite lighting scenario, dark storm clouds off in the not so distance. With just a light dampening of the desert floor camping was going to be prime.

There was a micro-tornado on the drive in and then an awesome full rainbow just before we got to camp, and then the wind subsided and the moon came out.

A big Thank you to Cousin Kate for the Big Agnes tent loaner and BA for the Pine Island 4 shelter design.

Not a bad spot to wake up in for the seasons first "shakedown ride".

We actually got to play tour guide with 2 new riders and 2 vets from Salt Lake and I almost forgot to shoot a few images until we came to this gem of a scene.

All we needed was to get back to camp, load the bikes and get off the clay before this monster hit us.

Thanks to my amazing riding partner and wife for the smooth throttling and great patience for making a few fun images.

Catching the corn before Winter returns.

My brother recently visited from our old home of Steamboat Springs Colorado with a couple of over-sized grown up toys to play with in the spring  like conditions of the Wasatch! Thanks to his wife for loaning her Specialized Fatboy to my wife, I then secured a Salsa Mukluk from the cool folks at Go-Ride sports. Conditions were mere guess work as this is a fairly new sport here and finding "daily ride" conditions is really hard. It only took about a mile of dry road before we got onto snow and even though we had a late start conditions were now great for the 4.7 inch tires with 6 psi.

The views are very impressive from the road, but we were hoping to find some firm corn which would allow for an almost endless choice of routes. Due to our late start, the higher we went the warmer the snow was feeling and the less our options became.

We stuck to the snowmobile tracks as these had the most stable base to keep us floating, but once we hit the highway summit we realized our tour was hitting it's return mode. The next day would change dramatically with lower temperatures and a lake effect[ storm.

Wow, what a day can do in the mountains! We actually made it to the summit of Guardsmen pass in the blizzard and decided the visibility was only getting worse, plus we were both ready to dry out,warm up and find some breakfast.

Meanwhile, back in the valley we had to get Blue out on at least one trail as the Wasatch canyons are all watersheds and do not allow dogs up any of them. The reliable Bonneville shoreline trail is always fun and even funnerer on a Fatty!

Dirt biking Stansbury Utah

Got to explore the mountain range on the other side of Salt Lake (west) otherwise known as Stansbury. This is where Deseret Peak is located and offers some amazing views back towards the great Salt Lake. The Stansbury Front trail was our in and I'm glad we chose the dirt bikes for this trip, because the climbs and the size of the rocks in the trail would not have been enjoyable on the pedal bikes.

The landscape changed a lot over the course of 20+ miles (out and back) but this section called for a snack break.

No one but me noticed this quick view of Deseret Peak on the way up this rocky section so I made our tour guide (Joe) and my wife ride it together on the way back down. The parking for the trail head is up the canyon another mile and from there you can summit in less then 4 miles (one way) to Deseret Peak.

Heading back down valley you get a back side view of the mountain range where the Bingham Copper mine sits and the southern tip of the great Salt Lake with the town of Tooele in the valley below. That's pronounced To-ill-uh (Tooele) : )