It is 3:30 in the morning and my alarm is going off. Ouch! That hurt! My son Chris is off to Cabo to hang with Halie his girl friend and her family for their family Christmas present. I had to get him to the airport and on his way by 5:00 A.M. Jumped out of bed, quick shower and off we go! Parked and ran in to the United desk only to find out that he was only checked in through Denver. We got it all fixed, Chris through security and on to the gate! With my wing man on his way out of the country and knowing my good friend Mitch is up early on Sundays, I call him to see if he was in for a "Walk About" up American Fork Canyon. "Of course!" he said. We worked out the particulars I hustled home to get packed. Mitch was able to talk his son into joining the party and all I had to do was say the word "Hike!" and Maui jumped out of bed and into the Jeep.
My goals for our hike today was to use my Jetboil stove and my water filter to make sure I knew how to use them and if they worked. I picked out freeze dried meals that got the best ranking by REI, packed them, added some treats and filled the the water bottles. Picked up Mitch and son, stoped at Starbucks for an eye opener and hot chocolate, put gas in the Jeep and finally we are on the road.
Knowing the gate would be down at mid canyon (it usually is until Memorial Day), we decided to park at the over look for Timp (N40 degrees 26.996, W111 degrees 38.618) and head up the Great Western Trail.
The day was beautiful! The smell of fresh pine in the air and the sound of the near by water falls, we just took it all in!. The wild flowers are starting to add color to the landscape.Simply amazing! Even snail shells littered the path!
We continued up the path. We made plans for lunch at the meadow at the cross ways for the Great Western Train, Trail 150 and Salamander Flats (N 40 degrees 26.730, W111 degrees, 37.670).
We placed our drinks in the near by creek and set up camp. I got out my JetBoil stove. This stove has won all kinds of awards and with its 5 stars in backpacker magazine, my expectations are high. On the REI web site it is reported to boil 32 oz of water in less than 2 minutes. I got it out of the pack, set it up, turned on the gas and bam! The first click of the auto ignite, we were cooking! It held to its promise! 2 minutes boiling water and our freeze dried Beef and noodles is cooking in the bag! That worked so well and was really cool! We had to to make more! I got out the Thai chicken! Again, 2 minutes, water boiling and the chicken is cooking in the bag!I was pleasantly surprised to find the meals tasty and they hit the spot! Easy to fix with good flavor and light weight to boot! I would recommend these to anyone looking for backpacking meals. The stove worked like the Awesome high tech piece of equipment it was sold to be! This should be in every back packers pack.
We cleaned up camp and with Maui in the lead we started off again. More energy now and ready to see how my filter would work now that we were out of water. We set course for the next creek.
We arrived at the creek only to meet two Mt bikers there for a rest and to rehydrate. I got out my filter and started pumping. Within 2 minutes we had fresh clean and very cold water to drink! It was great to see how easy it was! We filled all our water bottles and headed to the road to complete our hike.
Hike Statistics: 4.5 miles, total elevation (up and down) 3,000+ total vertical feet, average pace 3.2 miles an hour! Total calories burned just over 2,000 according to Garmin. What a great hike! I had a great time hiking with my good friends and dog! I can not wait to head out again! I love this high tech gear! It's a blast to use!
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