Park City, Utah

 [Sat 9/4 thru Sun am 9/5]

After four nights of camping, we were both ready for a shower(!), a bigger bed, and related creature comforts. Karri has wisely scheduled in a few hotel stays throughout our adventure and our first was in Park City, Utah. It was a short but, at times, harrowing 30-minute drive from Redman Campground to Park City. The road climbs and descends through the mountains, with hair-pin switch-backs, steep drop-offs, and few guardrails. Much of it is, understandably, closed during winter, but it's a busy thoroughfare for summertime adventure seekers. 

We arrived in Park City around 10am, both hungry for breakfast. We found a great spot, The Bridge, right in town next to a ski lift. We walked around town a few minutes while we waited for a table, then returned to enjoy a delicious breakfast on their patio.

Pre-breakfast stroll through beautiful Park City

After breakfast, we walked through town, which was much larger than we had expected. It's a nice, high-end ski town with lots of expensive shops, restaurants, bars and brew pubs. Around noon, we called our hotel to see if our room was ready (it was), and drove about a mile out of town to the DoubleTree Hotel to check in. Karri had scouted a bike trail, so we decided to postpone our R&R to get in an afternoon ride - a great call. 

We rode our bikes a half mile from the hotel to the start of the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail. The trail runs north from Park City for 28 miles along reconstructed rail beds. We decided to ride for a while and see how far we felt like going. The first ~4 miles were paved, passing through suburban Park City and getting increasingly more rural, then switched to dirt/gravel as we rode through open ranchland - all of it gently downhill.

Wide open trail to ourselves!

At the 8-mile mark, the trail meets up with I-80 - actually running between the separated east- and west-bound lanes. Realizing this section might not be as enjoyable - and day-dreaming about a dip in the hotel pool - we decided to turn around. We definitely felt the uphill on the return, but were aided by an occasional tailwind. We got back to the hotel around 3:30, started a load of laundry, cleaned up, headed to the outdoor pool for a dip, then hot tub, before lounging in the sun. It felt great to relax for a while. We took turns showering and finishing the laundry, got dressed and headed back into town to... catch the Purdue football game at a sports bar!

Table with our own TV to watch the Boilers!

We watched the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the game, with me frequently texting with my college buddies and our son, Matthew, who was at the game. We had to leave early in the 4th quarter (with Purdue holding onto a small lead) for a dinner reservation at a spot Karri had picked near our hotel. My buddies kept me updated on the game via text message (sorry sweetie! but we won!) while we enjoyed a delicious meal on the outdoor patio - pork chop for Karri, trout for me (plus Karri's leftovers!). It was a great evening.

An indulgence on our rugged adventure

We were back at the hotel around 10:30pm, exhausted, full, and very much looking forward to sleeping in a king bed! We both slept great. I was up first, tip-toed out to the lobby to grab a coffee and work on the blog. Once Karri got up, we had breakfast at the hotel, worked on the blog some more, then packed up and hit the road for the ~4hr drive to Alpine North Campground in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, outside Jackson Hole, WY. Park City was a great stop and a nice way to recharge!

Hiking: 0mi

Biking: 16mi