Today I hiked up to the top of Mt Loafer with the scouts. The scouts do a program every July called "On Target". You sign your scout troop up for a mtn top in Utah and then between 11:00-1:00 you signal the other troops with mirrors. WE picked Mt Loafer because it is right above Salem and close to home. We started the hike at 8:00 am and at 7,600' in elevation. It is 6 miles up and 6 miles back and you climb up to 10,800' in elevation. There is a good 2 mile stretch that is really steep and the rest is pretty doable. We pushed the pace on the way up because we kind of got a late start. We reached the top and started calling the other troops that were on other mtn's. We were able to signal Mt.Nebo, Lake Mtn, Timp, American Fork and Springville. WE called several frinds in other cites and they were able to see us too. It was a fun hike up but I was not looking forward to the steep hike down. After about 2 miles I decided that I would run the rest of the way. It seemed to be a lot easier to run than walk. I had two scouts that were able to keep up the whole time. I had several close calls of falling but only ended up only crashing once. Luckily a great big bush caught me, and it really didn't hurt that bad. One of the scouts fell pretty good, but he just got up laughing. We stopped at the creek back at the trucks and washed our feet and legs, and soaked our heads in the cold water. It was a fun day and I feel like I ran a marathon today. I hope to take it easy this week so that I can have a good race on Friday. I will try and post some pics from the hike tomorrow. | 