A Day In The Life Of Matt & Kate

A Wilderness Vacation

So Kate and I took off for a week in the woods. Our plan was to hike up to Humphrey's Basin and bounce around the area lake to lake enjoying the solitude and beauty. When we got to Bishop to get our permits, the first person in line got the last of the walk up permits for the trailhead we wanted to enter in. When our name was called a ranger helped us put together a similar trip leaving from closest trailhead that still had room for us. It turns out the Pine Creek Pass we got brought us up to the other side of the basin we wanted, but it started from a lot lower elevation. So instead of having to climb 1500 feet of elevation gain the first day, we got to do 3500 instead. It certainly made us appreciate everything that we dragged up there. 

The picture I took of the John Muir Wilderness sign was almost at the top of the climb as we enter the lakes just below the pass. Apparently my shockproof/waterproof camera is not wilderness proof because that was the last picture I took of our trip, only about 4 hours into it. For whatever reason the camera lense cover got stuck open and it refused to take another picture. Of course after we got home and I got out my screwdrivers to take the sucker apart it turns on with no problems. So sorry no pictures were taken of the many awesome lakes, waterfalls, mountains, and sunsets we saw.

Other than the camera not working our trip was awesome. Once we got over the pass on day 2, we didn't see another person. The lakes on the other side of the pass were all unique and amazingly beautiful, they just required hiking at least 10 miles to get to and the established trail stops at the first lake on the other side of the pass. It didn't stop us from having a great time together. Our plan to hike into Humphreys Basin to get to where our original plan would have us go was interupted by a pretty significant ridge that ran down the length of the area we had hiked into. I'm not sure how they expected us to get over it, since it was about 1000 feet of pretty sheer rock fall. We scouted out a few different possible spots, but decided it wasn't safe enough and there were plenty of lakes on our side of the ridge we hadn't seen yet so it didn't seem worth the risk.

Even on our side of the ridge we had our share of tough terrain. To get to the lake we wanted to camp at our 4th night we had to do about 3 miles of boulder field hiking. It took forever, reminded us of hiking in Pennsylvania,  and got us tired quick but we got there. Of course after all that work when we woke up in the morning we found a marmot had chewed up my trekking poles that I left out of the tent at night. I guess the salt in the straps my hands go through is a treat for them. No pictures of the marmot, but I have the chewed up straps to prove it! 

I can't wait to get back out there, 5 nights in the wilderness was just what we both needed. The solitude was awesome, and the experience is one we'll remember for a long long time.

To the trail we go...

Only one more day until we break outta town and hit the trail. We're doing a crack of dawn start on Tuesday to make it to bishop by 11am when the walk-up permits are released for the trail head we want to start on. We're headed to the John Muir Wilderness and plan on doing most of our exploring in an area called Humphrey's Basin. We're looking forward to the cooler temperatures the elevation will bring and the solitude the permit system ensures. We plan on being out 5 nights and coming back to town next Monday. Stay tuned for trip-reports and pictures.
~Matt & Kate

A Utah Getaway

Last weekend Kate and I got out of town for some fun in the mountains. We backpacked the Under the Rim trail in Bryce Canyon National Park for two nights and got to really enjoy spending time in the wilderness with each other. I think we saw 4 people the whole time we were on the trail. There is no shuttle running out to Rainbow Point, the end of our hike, so we locked my bike up in the woods there and after the backpacking was done I hopped on and rode back to where we started to fetch the car. It was an awesome trip, and not a bad bike ride.

After our backpacking we went to Cedar City and stayed at the Iron Gate Inn for two nights. We got a gift certificate to this place as a house warming gift from our realtors. It was a perfect end to our roughing it weekend. We relaxed drank coffee, had awesome food prepared for us for breakfast, rode our bikes around town, and enjoyed talking to Susan and CR who own the B&B.

To see some pictures of our backpacking trip click here.

For pictures of the Iron Gate Inn and our cats new haircut click here.  

Life of a homeowner

Life got a little crazy there for a bit. Lets see, we moved in have been busy with all the "simple" projects we had in mind for the house. There is still primer on some walls, but we're getting there. I built a new bike for the corporate challange race and didn't use it. I wound up riding my friend Ryans really nice geared bike instead. It was a tough decision but it had brakes and I thought they would be important. Here is a picture of my new bike I took on my ride to Zion last week. I think I've been living out here long enough to thin out my blood. It was in the upper 90's and I cranked out 66 miles of hilly riding during bankers hours. Smart people out here ride early in the morning to avoid the heat. I saw bring it on.

Kate is out for a stint at Red Cliff again before her summer classes start. She'll graduate in December which I know she is looking forward to. We'll try to keep the blog up to date, things got a little crazy and I found out yesterday that I had the billing for the blog linked to a card that was cancelled almost three months ago. So I guess if we aren't going to blog we should cancel our cards so we don't get billed for the time we aren't using it. Maybe not. Off for a bike ride.

moving day!

Today is moving day. Hurray!!! 

Yesterday we cleaned the master bathroom, put new locks and hardware on the doors, put shelf paper on the pantry and laundry room shelfs and had the carpets cleaned. And I fell asleep halfway though LOST. 

With Kate working, and us being short a person at my work, this is by far our least organized move. It will go alright, although I have a feeling that something will get boxed up and we won't be able to find it for six months because it got put somewhere dumb. We'll see. 

Time to stop blogging and start packing.

We've got the keys!

Yesterday afternoon Ryan met me at the house to give us the keys. Last night we spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen and eating takeout food on a makeshift cardboard box table. Our to do list is growing more rapidly than I expected, and we're hoping to get all of our furniture moved in and start painting this upcoming week. It should be a blast! Stay tuned for picture updates.

Race Time

No it's not a race for the keys. We won that race. The bank lost. We're still waiting, hopefully Tuesday.
I'm signed up for the bike race on the Whole Foods Corporate Challenge team. It's a 15 mile race happening April 29th. We did our first training ride this weekend. For the locals reading this (hi Ryan) we rode from our apartment up to Alta then west all the way to the end, then we rode down to charlestown which we took to Red Rocks, where we turned around and rode back to the house in time for me to eat shower and get to work.
Wish me luck, I'll try to blog about the training. I'm working on upgrading my fixed gear bike to a track racing machine. I'm hoping for "not last" place in the event.

Keys Please!

Well today we did the fun signing event for our house. 2 hours and a couple of turkey sandwich's later we are done. Now all we have to do is wait for the keys to our new home. It's exciting and we both have butterflies in our stomachs over this, but all the work is done now we wait. Hopefully we do actually close on Friday and get the keys.

Our House

I thought I had posted this note already, but I see I havn't. Kate and I have made an offer on the house we love and it was accepted. We've already done the home inspection and have met with the lender to fill out all of our FHA loan paperwork and are now waiting on the house to close. We have asked for a close date of 2/13 so hopefully our Valentines day will be a little sweeter. See some pictures on it here at 3232 River Glorious Lane

Wow... New favorite house?

We looked at another summerlin house tonight. We love the area but we have not liked the houses that have shown up on our search. We've felt good about the last few days of our search and were starting to make a decision, but I made Ryan meet us to see this house before he took off for the weekend. I don't know for sure, but we may make a move on this one. Pray for us and our decisions. Lets hope Ryans brother can meet up with us in the daylight hours so we can know for sure.
Check out the pictures in the House Hunting folder.