Trail rules

Guys, this really is getting boring, just doing the same stuff all the time. I'm still not going back to This Is the Place in the immediate future, so I have to decide whether I even want to find another job, since I am going to school in the fall. It's just a weird limbo time in life.

So really my highlights continue to be all the runs that I do. I've tried to explore parts of trails where I've never been. On Tuesday, I decided to go on a portion of the trail above Wild Rose that I only recently noticed.

As I got to Wild Rose, I was shocked to see a massive group assembled at the trailhead. It looked like a scout group or young men's group. Really, people?! So I went to the other trailhead instead.

I went up the hills and got to my desired new trail. It's always fun to be in a spot you've never seen before.

 Soon, the trail got less clear and became steeper, and I wondered, "Does anyone ever come here?" And soon I saw another guy running up while I was going down. (I have seen a lot more trail runners during this pandemic, which makes me feel less special.) So that showed me that yes, people do use this trail.

 But I really didn't understand why people use this trail. It was steep and a little hard to follow, and no prettier than all the better-established trails nearby. I'm not sure whether it's a real trail or not, but there were signs of trees being cut to make way for it.

Ultimately it ended up at the Chukar Loop, which I usually go to. I don't feel a need to go back to this new "trail."

On my way back, I passed a lot of people. As I came up behind people, I would say, "Excuse me," and they'd get out of the way. But one teenage boy had earbuds in, so I literally said it three or four times and he didn't hear me. His friend, who was like six or seven feet ahead of him, heard me and had to tell him. As I passed, I said, "Headphones aren't a good idea." I hope I wasn't rude. I didn't feel like I said it in a rude way (especially considering that I had said "excuse me" several times without him hearing me), but I hate to be a jerk.

Here are rules that I wish people followed on trails:

1. If you must have headphones in, keep the volume down or only use one ear so that you can still hear what's going on around you. Mountain bikes can come down fast, and it's really not safe for you to have earbuds. Besides, why would you immerse yourself in nature if you're not really immersed in the sounds of nature?
2. Keep your dog on a leash. You might know that your unleashed dog is going to leave me alone, but I don't know that. Also, everyone thinks their dog is well-behaved, even when they're not. Your dog might not be as good as you think it is.
3. If you cannot clean up after your dog, you should not own one. Full stop.
4. Obey trail rules. If it's a foot-only path, keep your bike off it. If it's a bike-only path, keep your feet off it. If horses or ATVs are not allowed, then don't use them!
5. Don't leave beer cans or bottles behind. If you do, then I hope you have liver failure, or I hope that while you're on your drunken hike, you stagger into a tree, and its branches poke your eyes out. Nature is far too spectacular to "enjoy" in an altered state of mind.
6. Don't leave your cigarette butts behind. If you do, I hope you set your clothes on fire. (But I hope that happens while you're at home, because we don't want any human-caused wildfires.)
7. If you're hiking in a group, don't spread out across the entire width of the trail.
8. DON'T PICK THE WILDFLOWERS! If you do, not everyone gets to enjoy them. What makes me maddest is when they pick them and then leave them on the trail. At least if you take them home, you're still getting enjoyment out of them (as selfish as that enjoyment might be). But if you leave them behind, then no one gets to enjoy them. Jerk!
9. Don't create shortcuts. They're almost always inferior (harder, less pretty, more dangerous), and they're unsightly.

Moving on...

I guess another new thing this week was that my dad decided to build another garden wall, but this was smaller. I helped for about an hour.

On Thursday, I decided to go on part of a trail where I went on Thanksgiving in 2017, a trail that goes down to City Creek Canyon. I tend to think that I'm in my best shape right now, but then I remember some of the impressive things I did back in 2017, and I'm not convinced I'm in better shape now. When I went down to City Creek years ago, I had already been running for a long time. I might be too afraid to try that again these days because it's a challenging trail.

 I didn't feel great at the end of that run, so I had to walk the last mile home. As I was walking along, I heard some meowing. And then a long-haired cat came out, and I got to pet it! And then I remembered that cats can carry coronavirus. Oh well. If I get the virus, it was worth it.

Super blurry picture, but it's proof that it happened!

On Friday, I went running when it was cloudy. It did end up raining, but running in the rain isn't too bad in itself. It just makes me sore afterwards.

 When I came home, I found that I had an inchworm on my shirt! I let it off outside, and then Google Photos created an animation of it.

I wasn't the only one to have a stowaway bug this week.

Uh, I don't mean to alarm you, Jimmy, but there's an ant stuck to your ear!

Then yesterday, I decided to return to a trail where I haven't been for almost two years. You see, there's part of this trail that is very steep with lots of loose rocks and gravel. I can do steep, but when it's slippery as well, NOPE. Some of my regular trails have slippery parts, but not so bad as this.

Do you see that split trail on the hill? That's the steep, slippery part.

 Well, I did make it up the steep part, and then the trail met with a trail that I did a few weeks ago. I decided to keep going just a little bit farther at a time, and I ended up going past where I stopped last time. It was steep, but soon I found myself on a little peak. One of the other hikers there told me it was called the Dude Benchmark. There were some USGS markers there. It really was lovely! I had no idea what to expect, and I was happy that was what I found.

 Most of the way back down was fine, but then I hit the steep part again. Going down steep parts is worse than going up. I went super slow, and I walked on better traction when possible, and yet I still slipped. Going this trailhead (which is at the top of the Summerwood/Eaglewood neighborhoods) gets you two miles closer to the Dude Benchmark (one way!), and yet I legitimately don't know whether it's better, just because of this blasted portion! Yet as I was struggling to make my way down, I met an old friend who said this was his third time going up there this month, and I felt like a wuss.