Arches National Park

Although this is a crowded national park, it is worth visiting for sure. It's like an alien world, with random rock blobs poking up here & there, rows of rock spines, and, of course, the arches. Apparently, there are over 2,500 natural arches in the park.

Balanced Rock

From some angles, this looked like E.T.'s head...maybe I was in 'alien mode' :)

Windows arches

Landscape arch-

the area beneath is the size of a football field!

walking along a flat spine among many

Not a fantastic shot with the exposure issues...

but, here you see 'Double Arch'

Delicate Arch-

Brandon waited forever to get a shot without people in it

as they kept running up to get their photo taken under the arch.

Although this is a popular arch to visit (there were herds of people up there), it is pretty cool. You hike on slickrock the whole way, then along a ledge with decent exposure, and end up here looking at this one random arch with the La Salle Mountains in the background.

All in all, I think we got some 10 or 11 miles of hiking in that day, between the multiple trails. The wind was whipping around much of the day so we were covered (in our ears, up our noses, etc.) in a layer of dust. Moab is set up well for campers like us who like to play and get dirty but also like to clean up...we were able to get a $3 shower at the fancy and clean town pool/recreation center.

Spring Break 2012

Just before spring break, we headed out on a sunny day with the goal of skiing Kendall Couloirs.

We had a great day out in the sunshine but didn't end up doing much skiing. With a late start and a lot of sun on the slopes, we decided not to do a lot of exploring for the entrances that weren't obvious from our high point. Oh well!

With no new snow in the forecast and feeling the need for some adventure (and more sun), we hit the road to Moab, Utah.

Upon our arrival we were greeted with upper 70 degree temps, a nice breeze, and lots of mtn biking options.  The first day of riding we chose a network of trails called the Brand trails, and rode about 6 or 7 miles to get our bike legs back under us.

Heather on one of the Moab "Brand" Trails with the La Sal mtns in the background

Heather on some slickrock

After one successful day of riding (i.e. the 5-month prego Heather didn't fall), we decided to try the Slick Rock trail, a more committing and difficult trail.  Slick rock is a 10ish mile trail almost entirely on rock that is not slick at all.  In fact, it is very textured and offered great roller coaster technical riding that was Brandon's favorite of the trip.

Brandon starting up one of many short steep ascents

Brandon sticking to the 'slick' rock.

It turned out to be Jeep Safari week in Moab, so there were rock crawlers everywhere. It was cool to watch them on some of this terrain, but it's not a sport/hobby I could never get into.

and the slick rock goes on and on...

 Looking down into the Colorado River canyon from the Slick Rock trail.

Heather riding through a cool carved out waterway

For our third riding day, we did the Sovereign Trail. This was definitely the least crowded and the most varied terrain. It was a fun ride for sure, with some steep downhills, some slick rock, and many steps to ride, and nice views.

Heather on some slick rock

Heather descending

Indian paintbrush growing out of a pocket of dirt on rock

Beautiful country

Again, I dismounted quite a bit in order to protect Kiddo Kern from any potential falls. The good thing about that was that it gave me more chances to take pics of Brandon, here dropping over one of the many steps.

After three days of riding and very sore tooshes, we decided to take a break from the bikes and visit nearby Arches National Park for some sightseeing and short hikes, which we will post pics of soon.

The view from our camp on the dirty Colorado river with lovely desert rock for a backdrop.

If it ain't broken......

Went out to Catherine yet again today with Ed.  As usual Catherine never disappoints, we found very well preserved stable powder, and no other tracks.  Great day, out with a good friend, good weather, good snow, doesn't get much better.

Very smooth

Ed, heels locked, finally

3 laps, back to the barn

The Next Adventure

No, I haven't had one too many beers and developed a gut, nor have I started to gorge on ice cream daily. That little bump is a baby...we're pregnant, 4 months along! 

The story, for those who haven't yet heard it, goes like this. We weren't trying. We were waiting. Uh-huh. But anyway, there were actually no obvious indicators that I was pregnant so we had no idea for some time. I noticed I had very low energy. I noticed I was slowing down on the uphill when skiing. I had a couple days of very low level nausea, nothing horrible. I attributed it all to things like the flu, seizure med changes, etc. 

Even though a few people had asked, 'Could you be pregnant?', I had completely dismissed the idea each time, thoroughly believing it not a possibility. But there was a little nag in the back of my head after one such conversation, so we stopped for a prego test on the way to the pizza place. Really, I just wanted a beer with my pizza, without feeling concerned or guilty. So, I ordered a beer and then went into the restaurant bathroom to pee on a stick. I was super casual, certain I would get a negative result and then be able to enjoy my beer in peace. Out of the bathroom, I gave my beer to Brandon and let him know I'd be drinking a root beer instead. Surprise!

We went to see the OBGYN a couple days later and were especially shocked to learn that I wasn't newly pregnant but nearly 9 weeks along. Woops! That was pretty awesome. I made it through most of my first trimester -supposedly the worst one- without even knowing I was pregnant. I'm sure I'll be miserable this summer during the third trimester, all hot and swollen. 

At any rate, all is well. Baby appears normal and healthy. I feel pretty good, aside from some wicked exhaustion. So, here we go, headed into our next adventure: parenthood. As many of you know, this scares me more than anything yet in life. We are excited too, of course, and are beginning the naming debate, as it will likely take us the full pregnancy. Maybe we'll just call him/her 'Kid Kern'....?

VertFest 2012

VertFest was looking to be an icefest one week out, but then the forecast got better and better.  On the morning of the race, we found over a foot of fresh greeting us at our house!  It continued to puke the rest of the day, adding another foot plus by the end of the day.  About 160 people were at Alpental, getting ready to race. It seems that VertFest just keeps growing every year, which is awesome to see.  

I noticed many light ski set-ups outside the lodge, including a pair of La Sportiva carbon RSR skis (very light, very expensive), so I knew that there were some fast people there to race.  Among the competition were the always dominant Traslin brothers from Canada, pro bike racer Andrew Pinfold (also Canada), Brad LaRochelle (past US national team rando racer), Brian Harder (fast rando racer from Jackson) and local fast dudes Seth Davis, David Brown, and Lowell Skoog.

[They're off!]

[With so much snow, it was a funnel to a single skin track.]

[Brandon out front]

Due to all the fresh, deep snow, the strategy of the day would be to avoid too much trail-breaking and ski down fast.  However, since I am not a great downhill skier, I decided that my only chance to compete was to try to get some kind of uphill gap.  So, I ended up out front most of the time as the slow pace of following was driving me nuts, and nobody else wanted to waste their energy.  The uphill portion of the race went well. I didn't have any skin issues for the first time in a race.  I also didn't really feel gassed at any point, even with being dumb enough to break trail most of the time, so some actual race-specific training paid off.  

[B rounding Chair 2 with La Rochelle & Pinfold following]

[Andy Traslin chasing]

The first descent started out good. I was holding second place until I found some deep snow to get stuck in, then repeated that five more times (including one near suffocation incident), and I managed to pull into the second lap transition about two minutes behind the rest of the lead group.  

A quick transition put me out in front of Mike Traslin, and within a couple minutes I regained the lead group.  Again, I took over trailbreaking, and at the top of the second lap, there were 7 of us all ripping skins at the same time.  

The last downhill was a full-on race for the Traslins and Seth Davis, with Seth just beating out Andy for the win and Mike Traslin in third.  My goal on the last lap was to slow down, and thus not crash, and hopefully not lose two minutes digging out.  

I ended up in seventh place, which is not a great finish but, until I get better at the downhill portion, I think this is how it will go.    

Heather did not compete this year since she wasn't feeling well. Instead, she snapped pictures, skied some pow and managed to help out at the Snake Dance gate.  Our friend Melissa did great with a 2nd place finish in the Womens Rec. race, very close to the winner Holly Davis.

[Melissa cruising on her way to 2nd, even with the heavy ski/binding set-up.]