Ever since Jeff and I moved to Utah in April of 2021, Jessica and I had been plotting a big celebration of her 50th (June 18, 1972) and my 80th (May 21, 1942) birthdays in spring of 2022. Though I had visited southern Utah several times, Jessica, who moved to Utah in 2015 and who works for Escape Adventures bicycle touring company, had many good ideas and was the kingpin organizer of the celebration.

Joel flew in from California and Lucy flew in from Colorado. Before and after the celebration, these two  worked hard on remodeling Jessica’s upstairs bathroom. Lucy also painted our entryway wall and helped me plant some of the raised beds that she had made when we first moved in. Not a real restful vacation for either Lucy or Joel, though Joel and Jessica took their bikes to the Celebration and got in good bike rides before, during, and after the Celebration. On one ride, they came upon a rattlesnake. Joel's photo above.

We five gathered at Jessica’s house at noon on Friday May 13th to sort out gear and make sure we had everything we needed before driving the 4.5 hours to Red Canyon and the hut. Jeff and I had packed our car with our new cabin tent and cots, our camp chairs, sleeping bags and quilts, the food coolers, games, and car water and snacks for the long drive to Red Canyon.

Jeff rode comfortably in the back seat of Toki while Jess and Joel alternated driving. Jessica and her wine friend Evan Lewandowski bought Toki, a Mitsubishi Delica, together and share it—half a year each. Jessica has it in the spring and summer and Evan--in California-- in the fall and winter. It is spacious and accommodating, though it is Japanese and the steering wheel is on the right. Jess and Joel loaded their bikes and an extra on Toki’s back rack in case one of us wanted to try riding a trail.

I decided not to take my new electric bicycle as I have yet to get entirely comfortable with it and had toppled over two weeks previously and bruised my tailbone. We left one seat in the back vacant for Lucy, but Lucy ended up riding navigator with me, so we piled some things from Toki in the vacant back seat space, making more room for Jeff in the van.

On the way down, Lucy and I pulled off Highway 89 for a pitstop. We heard running water, so walked back and found a clear, rushing creek beside the trail. Suddenly Lucy yelled, “There’s a morel!” Morels are a rare find and fine dining. Lucy and Laura hunt them each spring. Soon at our pitstop location we were finding blonde morels all along the banks of the rushing stream. In half an hour or so, Lucy had filled her morel bag with over sixty of these delectable fungi. Both of us were very excited, and the hunt was a fun break in our drive.

It was decided that we would spend two nights at one of Escape Adventures’ “huts” in Red Canyon, spend a night at Boulder Mountain Lodge and eat dinner that night at their Hell’s Backbone Grill, and then spend two nights camping. To that end, Jeff was in charge of the food for four nights. He provided pesto sauce, pasta, sliced ham, hard-boiled eggs, pounds of shrimp, four large steaks, brioche rolls, mini potatoes, squash, rice, and other things for packet cooking. I made three tubs of raw snacking veggies: yellow & red peppers, radishes, carrots, celery, broccoli, lactose-free extra-sharp cheese, petite snacking tomatoes, etc. Jessica contributed the cookware, cutlery, condiments . . .  and the permission to spend two free nights at Escape Adventures’ Butch Cassidy Hut.

Internet photo. I forgot to take a photo of the hut.

Each of this bicycle touring company’s trail huts is made of recycled shipping containers. And each uses solar power to provide electricity. Their trail system is "comprised of five huts along a 190-mile route from the peak of Brian Head (11,307 feet) to Escalante (5,820 feet). The huts are spaced approximately 30 to 40 miles apart, with long, challenging climbs and fun, speedy descents along the way. Beyond transporting the huts and placing them into their designated hut locations they don’t require any new environmental disturbance.”

    

Our Butch Cassidy Hut had two bunk rooms each containing three bunk beds, also a kitchen, bathroom with foot-pump shower and a composting toilet, and a fire pit. It also had solar-powered outlets, a refrigerator and freezer, and heaters in the two container bunk rooms.

Unfortunately, on our first night, we did not turn on the heater.  Jeff and I with flimsy, old sleeping bags nearly froze to death. (Only slight exaggeration.) Temps that were high and hot during the day dipped to 28F that night. Being inside a corrugated metal shipping container was like being in a freezer. We turned on the heat and slept much better the second night.

That evening we feasted on some of the sautéed morels with our dinner, but Lucy saved most of them to have with our steak dinner the following evening. However, we did not go hungry. We noshed on the veggie platters and dips I had prepared and then enjoyed delicious grilled squash and shrimp-and-rice packets for dinner. We played a game of Rummikub after dinner. Then it was bed for all. We were tired after all the planning, loading, the long day and long drive. This was the night that all of us were cold, Jeff and I shivering and awake nearly all night in our flimsy sleeping bags.

The next morning after Jess’s delicious sausage-and-scrambled breakfast burritos and warming coffee, we explored about near the hut, seeing small, quick lizards, chipmunks and/or ground squirrels (some ground squirrels look like chipmunks but do not have stripes on their heads and have white eye rings), quite a few beautiful mountain bluebirds, a deer or antelope in the distance running parallel to a road far below, and wildflowers struggling to bloom in the sandy soil.

After breakfast, Rummikub, Wordle, and our little explore, Jess and Joel set off on an ambitious trail bike ride and Jeff, Lucy, and I drove to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. I had been there once before in 2011 on my way to Sarah’s house but neither Jeff nor Lucy had.

Left, Joel working on the day's NYT Wordle; Center Joel, Jess & Jeff playing Rummikub. Right: Lucy and Jess (in deep shade) enjoying breakfast

The Park is a wonder. We stopped at Sunset Overlook and then walked to Sunrise Overlook taking pix and marveling at the hoodoos and rock formations and colors. Fortunately I had my lifetime national park pass so we did not have to pay the $35 admission fee. 

Cooking the steaks on the outside grill

When we got back from Bryce, Joel and Jess had returned and were at the hut. They were tuckered but a fantastic steak, morel, small potatoes, and corn-on-the-cob meal revived all. We sat around the fire pit, keeping warm and played another game of Rummikub, sipped wine or drank a beer and then all fell into bed, a much warmer bed this time as Joel had lit the little heater in our shipping container bunkhouse.

The next morning after coffee and Rummikub   . . . and after Joel, Jess, and Lucy had solved the NYT Wordle for the day, we packed up our gear, swept out the bunkhouses and kitchen, and returned the hut to the way we had found it. Since we did not need to be at our next overnight (Boulder Mountain Lodge) until 3:00 or later, Jeff relaxed with a book, Joel and Jess took off for another trail ride, and Lucy and I returned to our morel goldmine—about a 60-mile round trip. We did not realize how far from the hut it was and were inches from giving up when we rounded a bend and spotted the turnout.

At “Morel Heaven” we found about thirty more morels farther along the stream. This time we also crept through the large culvert under the road thinking to find more along the stream on the other side, but the stream dropped off sharply just past the culvert and we found only a few more on that side. The inside of the culvert sported swallow mud nests, several lined with feathers. See one at left in pic below.

Lucy capturing the two of us in the large culvert

The light at the end of the tunnel. Note the swallow nest on the left wall. There were many of them.

On the way back to our Butch Cassidy Hut, we passed the real Butch Cassidy’s childhood home just south of Circleville, Utah (pic left).

Back at the container hut version, we completed our packing and cleaning. Then we locked up and left for Boulder Lodge about 75 miles away, the two guys and Jess in the van and Lucy and I again in the Toyota. On the way, Lucy and I stopped at several places we deemed likely, but found no more morels. What a thrill to find so many and such beautiful blonde ones. (There are blond, black, and gray varieties.) Jess knows one of the cooks at Hell’s Backbone Grill where we will eat tonight. Lucy is going to give her the bag of morels we found today.

All of us were looking forward to the comfort of a real bed, a hot tub, and a meal at the Hell’s Backbone Grill. After our cold night and much discussion, we decided that our two days of camping were out, basically because Jeff and I did not have appropriate clothing and bedding to be comfortable camping. We wobbled back and forth on that decision several times, but ultimately it stuck and we returned to Salt Lake after our night at Boulder Lodge—our five-day 80/50 Celebration reduced to three. I would have gladly paid for a second and even a third night at the wonderful Lodge, but it was booked solid.

The drive through canyons and red rock formations to Boulder Lodge and Hell’s Backbone Grill was amazing and at times scary—very curvy two-lane, up and down with twists and bends requiring speed limits of 20 mph in some places. I had driven it in the opposite direction when I visited  sister, Sarah, in 2011.

The narrow, two-lane road runs right along a knife edge arête, a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. In this case it is called “Hell’s Backbone,” dropping off abruptly on both sides to canyons far below. The narrow road had 14% grades. Lucy clutched her seat and could not look out the window when she glimpsed the abyss on either side of the car. It is pretty frightening for the height wienie in me as well, so I kept my eyes glued to the road.

A Bridge on Hell's Backbone

The Boulder Mountain Lodge is beautiful and overlooks an 11-acre bird sanctuary. On arrival we walked carefully among three Canada goose pairs, each pair protecting four or five fuzzy goslings. Jeff’s and my room was on the ground floor of the Anasazi House at a secluded end of the lodge. The room looked directly on the sanctuary pond. Jess, Lucy, and Joel were in a second-floor suite in the main lodge. Their balcony looked out directly on the sanctuary pond also (See below).

The Lodge from the reeds and grasses across the sanctuary pond

Jeff's and my room in the red Anazai House near this end of the lodge

View of the bird sanctuary pond from Jeff's and my room

View of the pond from the second-story balcony before Joel, Jessica, and Lucy's suite

Our room was equipped with an upholstered wingback chair, a small table and chairs, kitchen, microwave, Keurig coffee maker and selection of coffees, TV, toaster oven, refrigerator/freezer, dishes, utensils, etc. Terry robes were provided for those who wanted to try the hot tub. The beds in both of our rooms were advertised as queens, but seemed more a standard double to all us.

The following morning over coffee, Jeff and I birded at the pond before our room seeing the following species:  yellow-headed blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, western tanager, mountain bluebirds, northern flicker, several ruddy ducks, Canada geese/goslings, Cackling goose/goslings, coots, American robins, Eurasian collared dove, black-billed magpie, white-throated swift, hummingbird sp.

After unpacking and-another game of Rummikub, we showered (ahhhh!), changed clothes, and met at a table on the grounds outside the grill where we sipped wine while waiting to be seated.

When called to be seated, we met one of the Grill’s cats inside the dining area, a large, interestingly marked gray tiger who definitely knew the lay of the land. Earlier that day we had met its brother at the edge of the pond near a picnic table. It loved the attention and sweet talk Jess gave to it. Then, the next morning, Jeff and I found another similarly marked cat hunting on the pond berm before our room. Hmmm. Bird sanctuary and a bushel of cats—odd pairing.

I cannot now remember all that was ordered, but I had trout paté. It was delicious and was all I needed for the meal. The photo left is of the Grill’s trout paté, but mine was served without the garnish and melon. The other four ordered a basket of black powder biscuits with sage butter (right) for a starter. The biscuits were delicious but curbed their appetites for their main meals.

Internet pix of Trout paté left and black powder biscuits with sage butter

After we’d finished our meals, Jess asked for her cook friend. She was not cooking that evening, but our wait person--who did not know what morels were--went to the kitchen to ask if anyone wanted some. An excited female cook appeared and was bowled over by the gift, thanking Lucy over and over and saying that such a package of morels would be over $50 or more at the market. She told us that the kitchen likes to prepare local foods. We did not tell her that these morels were not strictly “local.”

On the way back to the room that evening, we came upon a cupboard containing the Grill’s spices, condiments, coffees, jams, and other delectables, as well as souvenirs (left). None of us was tempted.

The Grill/Lodge was no longer serving breakfast, but on check-in we were given a list of nearby options in Boulder for breakfast. Turns out we did not need it. We ate from the plentiful food we had brought. I ate a leftover biscuit with sage butter and two Mandarin oranges for breakfast and Jeff had an apple. The others also ate from dinner leftovers and the coolers. We did not stop in Boulder on our way back to SLC, except to grab coffee at a coffee kiosk beside the road.

This day Jeff rode in the Toyota with Lucy and me. Jeff was patient when Lucy and I pulled over to explore yet another roadside stream, searching for morels.
 Finding nothing, we continued on.

At a viewpoint at the top of a climb (left) we found Toki and Jess & Joel. They had seen us pulled off road and now invited us to follow them. We followed them to a wonderful campground that also had a little stream running through it. 

Lucy, in the grip of “morel mania” was out of the car and casing out the stream before we had unloaded the picnic coolers.

We set up at a picnic table in the shade and each made a ham sandwich on the remaining brioche buns and munched on other goodies from our coolers. 

All trying to be patient with Mom who was acting the paparazzi

After exploring the campground and once again debating whether to camp, we decided not to camp there (too high and would be too cold) and headed for Jessica’s house in Mill Creek. The beautiful, curvy, high, cliff-hanging roads of southern Utah morphed into Hwy 15, which was heavy with traffic and at times fourteen lanes wide. Relaxed driving was out, so I was glad to arrive at Jessica’s. Jeff and I left almost immediately for our Sandy digs.

Jessica, Lucy, and Joel, posing before Toki and ready to head home

The following evening Jeff and I returned to Jessica's and we all enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta with pesto sauce sitting at Jessica’s outside table. This meal was supposed to be eaten on our 80/50 but since we left early was a treat now. Once again we jumped into a great game (great because I won it, ha ha) of Rummikub and enjoyed ourselves.

And so ended the 80/50 celebration. A great remembrance for all of us.

P.S.  Because Lucy and I had found black morels growing in the mulch of our Sandy yard, once back in Sandy, Lucy and I continued our morel search in Dimple Dell Park near us. There is a stream running through it but little water. We were unsuccessful in our search. 

Lucy on Dimple Dell trail

The Wasatch Mountains provide the background for this pic

It looked like we were going to get rain, but the clouds just looked ominous. If still in Oklahoma we would have been alarmed at the dark wispy points as they could throw a tornado

Lucy and I were on the opposite side of the park from our Sandy house, the whole park having once been a deep lake, so steep trails lead into and out of it. It is too steep to navigate from our side (we are a block behind the ridge right) so we drove to the other side to access the creek.

And so ends another Walker adventure.