Photo by Nicholas Mates
I inched my way up slowly from the creek bed through the new fallen snow. Everywhere I looked the sky was bursting blue with a brilliant, cold winter glow as I cursed my way to the ridgeline.
At the top, you could gaze seemingly forever across the desert range. Six to 8 inches of fluffy, untracked white powder covered the landscape. I accelerated down the trail cranking turns to the left and to the right literally floating through fluffy snow.
With temperatures dipping into the low teens, it was hard to imagine being on this same trail in the Moab desert six months ago with scorching 104-degree heat. We’ve often taken a break from the Park City holiday crush to pile into the Jeep Rubicon for the four-hour drive to Moab for a few days. We long ago ceased to look forward to it as a warm winter break. It’s still winter, but enjoyed in a bit of a different way.