Round Mountain Loop

We had a great holiday vacation at the cabin with plenty of trails to ourselves.  It was chilly, but nice to get out for some exercise each day.

Trailhead Elevation:  4,955 feet

Highest Elevation:  5,150 feet

Total Elevation Gain:  190 feet

Total Distance:  2.30 miles

Total Time:  56 minutes

Negro Bill Canyon

We spent the Christmas weekend down in Moab.  Despite lots of snow and freezing cold temperatures, we managed to get in about 10 miles of hiking.  Most of the mileage was gained with our hike in Negro Bill Canyon to Morning Glory Arch.  The wind was ripping in the open areas, but we managed to make it all the way to the arch. 

Trailhead Elevation:  3,940 feet
Highest Elevation:  4,280 feet
Total Elevation Gain:  810 feet
Total Distance:  5.61 miles
Total Time:  2:16 hours

Red Butte - Up and Across

We did another hike today in the foothills with a little more elevation gain.  It was windy and cold along the ridge and slippery heading down in the snow and ice.  But still a great day out.

Trailhead Elevation:  4,928 feet
Highest Elevation:  6,126 feet
Total Elevation Gain: 1,375 feet
Total Distance:  3.55 miles
Total Time:  2:11 hours

Antennas

For our second training hike we slogged up to the first set of radio towers in the foothills overlooking Salt Lake City.  With two feet of snow in the last week, the trail was soft snow pack.  It felt like hiking in sand.  But good for a training hike.

Trailhead Elevation:  4,831 feet
Highest Elevation:  5,594 feet
Total Elevation:  704 feet
Total Miles:  3.34 miles
Total Time:  1:32 hours

Red Butte Loop

We started our training today with a short hike up Red Butte.  It is a quick 2 mile loop on the lower trail and return on the upper trail.  This is a good route to start with as it has a bit of elevation gain.  It was fun to be out on the trail looking forward to another adventure.

Trailhead Elevation:  4,990 feet
Upper Loop Elevation:  5,490 feet
Total Elevation Gain:  500 feet
Total Distance:  2 miles
Total Time:  48 min

Annapurna Sanctuary Map

Here is a map of the overall trek from the REI website. It is not a great map, but it does show the approximate route starting from Phedi.

Annapurna Sanctuary Trek - REI

After spending a lot of time researching trekking companies in 2011 for our Kilimanjaro trip, we decided to make it really easy on ourselves and just go with REI on the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek.  A few of our friends have gone on trips with REI to Patagonia and Nepal and said REI does a great job with logistics and comfort.  Sounds good to me.  In order to make sure everyone in our group could get in on the same trip, we book our spots a year out.  It seems like a long time out, but the time will go by quickly and we were able to pick the exact dates we wanted for the trip.