The Beehive State

Every once in a while I have the chance to travel for work for various reasons. This time I was able to spend a week in Ogden, Utah for training. My travels start very early in the morning to head to Utah since I was unable to get a direct flight to Salt Lake City. I had a short layover in Denver, CO. (One of these days I will actually leave this airport and explore this city!) After a short layover I eventually made it to Salt Lake City. It was an easy airport to navigate and was able to easily make it to the rental car that I had reserved.

Ogden is about an hour drive from Salt Lake City, and the drive the minute I pulled out of the rental car parking lot it was a pretty drive! I was granted blue skies and gorgeous mountains to accompany me on the drive. The drive to Ogden was quick, easy and peaceful. I not afraid to admit that I am nervous of getting lost driving someplace I am unfamiliar with and alone, but getting around was easy this time. The drive was basically a straight drive from Salt Lake City. I made it in about an hour and was able to check into the hotel before 3. For someone starting out at 5 AM eastern time I was happy to be in the hotel by 3. This allowed me some time get settled and out for an early dinner.

I took a quick walk from the hotel to a local restaurant, Iggy’s Sport Grill. On the way I was able to take in the sight of the city surrounded by the Wasatch Mountains. It was definitely a sight to behold. There are painted statues on Washington Avenue. The horses represent the Trail to Pioneer Days which is the largest public arts display in Utah.

After an early dinner I decided that since I had to move the rental car from the street to the parking garage I would take a little drive and explore. I decided to pull up my All Trails app and see what trails were around. I found a moderate trail, Waterfall Canyon Trail, so I headed towards the trail head. It was a warm day and I was still dressed from my flight so I wasn’t able to hit the trail.

I blame the forgetfulness to change on the busy day and time change! So I just wandered around the trail head for a bit. As I was at the trail head I noticed that this was a busy trail with runners, dog walkers, and families alike heading up the trail. I decided if I get out of work early enough and the weather cooperates I would hit the trail while I was there.

After the first day where the weather was in the 80’s it took a little bit of a turn and cooled down….and when I say cooled down, the next day the high’s were in the upper 60’s and cloudy! Since I worked wall day and it was a bit chilly and looked like rain, I decided that hit the trail after work since the forecast was sunny and 70’s. Even though I was getting some exercise in by walking to and from the hotel to my work location I decided to keep the exercise indoors at the hotel gym.

The next day which got out of work a bit early and the weather cooperated. I headed over to 29th Street for the trail head and walked the trail a bit. Since I still had a bit of work to do that night I decided that I would only walk the trail for about an hour before I headed back to the hotel and worked. The trail was an easy walk with beautiful views of the city. It wasn’t a strenuous walk, but it is uphill so you will need some good leg strength. When I was on the trail there weren’t a lot of people on the trail so it was peaceful to walk the trail with just me, my thoughts, and music. By the time self-imposed time limit was up, I made it about half way to the waterfall. I really wished I had more time to walk the trail and make it to the waterfall, but in addition to the work that needed to be done the clouds were moving in for the predicted rain and the winds were starting to pick up. So down the trail I went. I was hoping that within the next few days before I had to leave I would be able to hit the trail again. Unfortunately things did not work out the way I would have liked. The weather turned cold and rainy – can you say highs in the upper 50’s and rain. I did not have the appropriate clothes and footwear for this type of weather so I was not able to back to the trail.