Vegan.Hiker
Member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2014
- Messages
- 2,099
Hi guys,
I'm an old member who just reintroduced himself in the noob introduction thread. Hoping I can get some good advice from this forum like I did 9 years ago when I first joined to get some advice on my first trip to Utah.
I'll be coming back to Utah September 2nd through the 10th. I'll be be bringing my wife this time. The original purpose for the trip is at my wife and I are both running the Revel Half Marathon in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Sept. 9th. We registered for this race because it lined up perfectly on my trainining block for the NYC Marathon which I am running in November. My wife ran the NYC Marathon last Nov. and decided she wants to stick to racing halfs. I had to pull out last year which is why I am able to run this year. We figured since we were flying all the way out to UT from NJ for a race, let's make a trip out of it (and also try to acclimate to the elevation a little before the race). This means that the 9th and 10th are out as far as hiking/backpacking plans, and we shouldn't do anything too strenuous on the 8th either. So really, I have the 9/2 (arriving at 1:18pm) to 9/7 to play with. On the 8th I'll be trying to stay at the campground at Mill D in Big Cottonwood where the race is.
With flights booked, races registered, I went ahead and booked a campervan for the whole trip through Wandervans (hopefully nobody has had any bad experiences with them).
That's about all that's solified at the moment and I'm open to ideas and suggestions.
My first inclination is to immediately head towards Bryce, taking the Alpine loop past Bridal Veil falls which I think my wife would enjoy and camping somewhere nice on the drive down that first night (any advice?) then staying at the North Campground in Bryce NP the 3rd - 5th and doing some early morning training runs followed by day hikes. There are 2 RV campsites still available in the North Campground those dates so something is telling me to decide asap. Then I was thinking of heading back up to the Wasatch (it'll be mid-week) and staying at the Timpooneke CG and overnighting Timp from the CG. I did it 9 years ago, but always wanted to go back and re-do it with my wife. If there are recommendations for some good day hikes instead, I would be interested in hearing those as well. I would like to get in more than just the Timp and not sure if thats possible if I overnight it (she doesn't want to do 14 miles in a day so close to the race) so a few day hikes may be a better option. Like I said earlier, I plan to camp in (or very close to) Big Cottonwood Canyon on the 8th.
Is this too ambitious or does it sound reasonable?. I'm open to input and suggestions. If I go with this plan I'd like to book the North CG site and the Timpooneke CG site asap.
Thanks in advance,
John
I'm an old member who just reintroduced himself in the noob introduction thread. Hoping I can get some good advice from this forum like I did 9 years ago when I first joined to get some advice on my first trip to Utah.
I'll be coming back to Utah September 2nd through the 10th. I'll be be bringing my wife this time. The original purpose for the trip is at my wife and I are both running the Revel Half Marathon in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Sept. 9th. We registered for this race because it lined up perfectly on my trainining block for the NYC Marathon which I am running in November. My wife ran the NYC Marathon last Nov. and decided she wants to stick to racing halfs. I had to pull out last year which is why I am able to run this year. We figured since we were flying all the way out to UT from NJ for a race, let's make a trip out of it (and also try to acclimate to the elevation a little before the race). This means that the 9th and 10th are out as far as hiking/backpacking plans, and we shouldn't do anything too strenuous on the 8th either. So really, I have the 9/2 (arriving at 1:18pm) to 9/7 to play with. On the 8th I'll be trying to stay at the campground at Mill D in Big Cottonwood where the race is.
With flights booked, races registered, I went ahead and booked a campervan for the whole trip through Wandervans (hopefully nobody has had any bad experiences with them).
That's about all that's solified at the moment and I'm open to ideas and suggestions.
My first inclination is to immediately head towards Bryce, taking the Alpine loop past Bridal Veil falls which I think my wife would enjoy and camping somewhere nice on the drive down that first night (any advice?) then staying at the North Campground in Bryce NP the 3rd - 5th and doing some early morning training runs followed by day hikes. There are 2 RV campsites still available in the North Campground those dates so something is telling me to decide asap. Then I was thinking of heading back up to the Wasatch (it'll be mid-week) and staying at the Timpooneke CG and overnighting Timp from the CG. I did it 9 years ago, but always wanted to go back and re-do it with my wife. If there are recommendations for some good day hikes instead, I would be interested in hearing those as well. I would like to get in more than just the Timp and not sure if thats possible if I overnight it (she doesn't want to do 14 miles in a day so close to the race) so a few day hikes may be a better option. Like I said earlier, I plan to camp in (or very close to) Big Cottonwood Canyon on the 8th.
Is this too ambitious or does it sound reasonable?. I'm open to input and suggestions. If I go with this plan I'd like to book the North CG site and the Timpooneke CG site asap.
Thanks in advance,
John