This Morning, I met up with someone who texted me with a 267 area code replying to a post on the local Salt Lake City Couchsurfing Forum. I assumed that the text from the 267 area code was coming from a European hitchhiker who responded to my post online. However, when we met near the REI parking lot, I was surprised to see that I was meeting someone from Pennsylvania who decided to text me directly after reading the Couchsurfing Post and seeing my cell phone number in the forum post.
Josh Solt (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/josh-solt) moved to Salt Lake City about 18 months ago from Pennsylvania. His parents are missionaries currently living in the Dominican Republic and he has four siblings each living in different parts of the country. He has been working seasonal jobs at ski resorts, but his main occupation is Wilderness Therapy. He works for a company that coordinates with parents of rebellious teens around the country in order to arrange for the teens to spend time in Utah engaging in challenging hikes, camping trips, and other potentially character-building outdoor activities.
It was interesting to learn that the Great Salt Lake isn’t much of an attraction. Because of the shallowness of the lake, in the past century the surface area has fluctuated from about 900 square miles to 3,000 square miles. Because of this dramatic change, development along the shores of the lake hasn’t been viable. Also, the extremely high salinity and mercury levels sometimes cause the lake to have a foul odor. Most of the salt in the lake is brought in by the three rivers that lead into the Great Salt Lake.
We carpooled to the Mt Olympus trailhead, which was within earshot of the freeway. The hike was about 3.5 miles each way (7 miles round trip) with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain, which comes out to an average of about 1,200 feet elevation gain per mile. To put this into perspective, the trail to Mount Baldy from the Mt Baldy Village is about 1,000 feet elevation gain per mile. This was a strenuous hike with continuous uphill climbing and rock scrambling. After about 2.5 hours of moderate-paced hiking, we reached the end point of the marked trail.
At this point, we met a group of three young ladies who were also reaching the end of the marked trail a few minutes after we did. The three friends (Kim, Diana, and other girl) attended the University of Florida together and now lived in the Portland Area. All five of us decided to make the rock-scrambling trip up to summit together. From the end of the marked trail, there is a few hundred more feet of elevation gain to reach the summit. This part of the hike was an extremely steep slope, which had to be ascended through careful, slow-paced rock scrambling. The rock scrambling portion of the hike alone took us about 1 hour round trip. The summit of the hike offered 360 degree views of snow-covered mountains and the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. After a few minutes of relaxing at the top, we descended the rock scrambling portion and the main trail. In all, the total hiking time was about 6 hours.
After hiking Mt Olympus, I continued driving north in the direction of Boise, ID. About a half hour north of Salt Lake City, I decided to stop at “Historic 25th Street” in Ogden, UT, which would probably have a nice selection of restaurants and also a nice area to walk around. About a block into the walk, I saw a window sign for “stuffed burgers” and decided to check out the restaurant named Scrud’s Gourmet Grub (http://www.yelp.com/biz/scruds-gourmet-grub-ogden). The stuffed burgers consisted of meat patties that were blended/infused with numerous cheeses, bacon, and other flavorings. Because all the stuffed burgers were pre-made with bacon, I ordered a veggie burger (with a fried egg topping) and sweet potato fries. The meal was extremely filling and heavy, and I’m still completely full over six hours after eating the meal.
Historic 25th Street (http://www.historic25.com/) is a 3-block portion of 25th Street which is currently undergoing a revival just like so many other downtown areas around the country. The street has over 100 years of history as a hub for gangs, brothels, and political scandals. Around 6PM today, most of the retail shops were closed and most of the people on the street were homeless. Even though there are numerous fenced parking lots, empty lots, and dilapidated buildings, it seems like the street is headed in the right direction. There are many impressive, high-end restaurants and signs for projected business openings of Coldstone Creamery, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and a hip waffle restaurant. This three-block portion definitely has potential, but the surrounding area will also need to be improved. A simple three-block retail shopping district surrounded by dilapidated buildings and parking lots probably isn’t exciting enough to attract tourists and locals. There needs to be more restaurants, movie theaters, parks, condominiums, and apartments in the immediate area.
Continuing on from Ogden, I drove an additional hour to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, UT. After the Mt Olympus hike I knew that a shower was necessary, so it seemed like a good idea to precede the shower with a dip in hot springs, especially since I would pay approximately the same amount for access to shower facilities. It was a nice facility, but didn’t measure up to the hot springs in Ouray, CO which had the backdrop of nearby mountains.
