Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day 3

Today’s schedule:
· 6:15 am Meet
· 6: 30 am Hike
· 9:30 Breakfast – granola, yoghurt, fruit
· 10:15 Open gym
· 11:15 am Stretch class
· 12:45 pm Lunch – green chili soup, BBQ chicken pizza (a half slice)
· 1:15 pm Lecture: Breaking eating barriers
· 1:45 pm Open gym
· 2:30 pm Mountain gradated interval training
· 3:30 pm Kick boxing
· 4:30 pm Water aerobics in the pool
· 5:45 pm Dinner – salmon, strawberry shortcake
· 6:15 pm Lecture on different types of eaters

Hike
I moved up a level to moderate intermediate and there were 6 of us plus two guides and we tackled a route named Camel Back, so called because the 1,500 ft high peaks that you can only see with binoculars represent the two humps on a camel’s back. It was our usual 6:30 start and the morning sky was flooded with red tinged cirrus cloud formations hanging low in the distance. Red sky in the morn, sheep be warned. It’s truly spectacular and for one nanosecond wondered what it would be like to live here before we got out of the air-conditioned van and hit the usual barrage of full on hair dryers.
The trail was much tougher this time and the pace a little faster. The slip of a girl guiding us in front who weighed about 24 ounces, slid up and down rocks as if she was moving on an escalator at Heathrow. The rest of us were in the Sharapova grunt parade bringing up the rear. Again amazing rock formations of different kinds of stratified sandstone left behind when the huge lake that covered most of Utah dried up about a gazillion years ago. It had rained briefly during the night and along the way there were lots of little rock pools especially in areas where there were shading overhangs, and a scattering of ponds were inhabited by these tin y frogs that were about the size of a bumble bee.
After about an hour, the rocks the subject of our destination loomed into view (Why do things always “loom” into view? Why don’t they just appear?) I couldn’t believe that we had travelled so far so quickly. The views from the summit were well worth the exertion and this time no signs of civilization for as far as the eye could see in the full 360-degree panorama, and for the first time I could truly appreciate why mountain climbers climb mountains. We descended quite rapidly because one of the great benefits of sandstone (the others escape me for the moment) is that when you’re on the large rocks, it’s quite sticky – it’s the same effect when you pour sand into paint on front door steps to make them non-slip – so you’re shoes never slip even on almost vertical faces. Now the shale, sand, and small rocky surfaces are a completely different matter – you have to watch every step you make. You only have to be off center on one smallish rock and you’re flat on your face. That’s why I’ve never understood the supposed joy of mountain biking – you have to have your eyes totally fixed to a spot about 1 foot in front of your front wheel – there’s no chance of taking a look at the view or that will probably be the last view you take. Anyway, we made it up and down and despite nursing one blister from sand in my shoes, it was well worth it, definitely the most enjoyable part of the day.

Food
The food is a little disappointing and not what I expected although it turns out to be no big deal. Going down to 1200 calories a day, I thought that I would be starving nearly all day, climbing up the walls figuring out how to get to the nearest 7-11, and wondering if I took out a loan on the house it would be enough to bribe the guide to smuggle in a Snickers bar. Quite the opposite happened – we’re so exhausted at the end of the day, it’s hard to get down everything they serve us and most nights we end up leaving some food on the plate. The disappointment in the food was that I thought that there would be more fresh produce and simpler meals. They seem to go to a lot of trouble to make everything from substitutes: soy milk, whole grain this, no salt, and so on. So they end up cooking something and then adding a bunch of chili pepper or cayan pepper to it to “spice” it up but it can’t mask the fact that there really is no flavor there. Today was not too bad – real chicken for lunch and real salmon for dinner in the evening, but most days the concoction is not that great. When you’re feeding 60 people at a time, I guess it’s harder to make things that are more individual.

Close
For those of you wondering where Betsy is, I can reassure you that she has not met any untimely “accident” in the mountains. She is on a different hike schedule on different routes and sometimes takes different exercise classes. She’s enjoying it too and has gone to downtown St. George tonight with a bunch of other guests to do a TARGET run for some things that she forgot to pack. I trust that she will keep on the straight and narrow while outside the compound and I will tell all tomorrow should she slip off the wagon (or is it on the wagon?).