Which is Better? Living In the Mountains or a View of the Mountains?

Some of us dream of living with that million dollar view of the mountains from our front porch. Others dream of the solitude of living in the deep in the mountains. Either way, the mountains provide something different to each one of us. Getting the opportunity to live anywhere near a mountain would be a dream come true. In the almost 6 years I’ve been in Utah, I’ve lived in the Salt Lake city with a view of the jagged Wasatch Front, lived in Park City with views of the lush WasatchBack, and currently live on top of a mountain. …

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Mountain Biking Gooseberry Mesa | Bucket List Riding

The mountain biking at Gooseberry Mesa (Trailforks Link) is unlike anything else in the world. The landscape is completely unique, even among the already diverse Utah riding styles we have in the mountains and the deserts. But how could a mesa, with only 100 feet of elevation gain from trailhead to point, have nearly 700 feet of climbing on the average ride? Well the answer to that is short, steep, and out-of-the-saddle punchy climbs that highlight the entire trail system, that’s how. And though that might sound like most riders’ nightmare, I’m here to explain why the slickrock trails at …

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The Eden Epic | A Truly INSANE Mountain Bike Race

7 Hours in the saddle. 8,000 vertical feet of climbing. 3 miles of hike-a-bike. Oh, and of course a rain-storm that came in just as the racers were on the 9,500′ ridgeline dropping the temps to a finger-numbing 40 degrees. That’s just a part of the sufferfest that is known as the Eden Epic mountain bike race. Mixed in, during the 45 mile perpetual slog, was actually a stunning landscape that wrapped around high above the Eden valley. Check the course out on Trailforks.com. The race course was a mix of forest roads that were rocky, muddy, and steep, as …

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Cabin Life: Year in Tollgate Canyon

One whole year, 365 days in the books living up on the mountain. My wife and I have experienced and grown so much since moving into our dream log cabin in August 2021. But now is a time to recap on all the highs and lows that we’ve gone though living in Tollgate Canyon just outside of Park City, UT. The Wildlife First thing that comes to mind is the wildlife! Before moving up here, I’d seen maybe 3 Moose in total in Utah. Within our first month, we had seen a moose on our property 4-5 times a week! And …

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Backcountry Skiing Couloir off Lake Peak in Wasatch

This season has been wild so far, with regards to our snowfall and snowpack her in Utah. We got dumped on in October, which is never a great start for any snowpack to prevent a season-long persistent weak layer. November followed with not a single flake of snow, which lead to a rotting snowpack from the early season snow. Then came a record-setting December which gave us nearly 10 feet of snow in some areas. But then a freakishly dry January rolled in, where it hadn’t snowed past the 7th and combining with warm temperatures, we had incredibly safe avalanche …

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Bow Hunting: My First Experience

As of writing this, on October 24th, I still have not harvested a Mule Deer or Elk, but I absolutely love hunting! I’ve been out almost 15 times with no luck, but every single time I learn something new and try to apply it in my next time out. I’ve been close many times, so far, but can’t wait to actually get my first deer or elk. My path to hunting started in the fall of 2020 when my wife’s dad, a life-long hunter, was visiting us in  Utah for an Elk hunt. Around that same time, my coworker Evan …

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Cabin Life: We Bought a Cabin in the Mountains of Tollgate Canyon

To be honest, saying this is the house I’ve always wanted just isn’t true. That’s because I didn’t know cabins like this actually existed outside of movies or book covers. Once I moved up to New England after college, I was immediately hooked on the romanticism of an A-Frame cabin, hoping one day to be the owner of one. Realistically, I thought it would be a really small cabin that we’d only use on the weekends far off in the mountains of Wyoming or Idaho. As luck would have it, and it really was all luck, we were actually able …

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Learning to SCUBA Dive | SCUBA Utah

My story with SCUBA diving is almost identical to that of how I learned to sail. I literally took both lessons within a week of each other in July 2021. SCUBA is something I never thought I’d do because I I didn’t hang around anyone who SCUBA dove until I met my wife Courtney. So as a wedding present, to myself, I signed up for a Recreational Open Water SCUBA certification course with SCUBA Utah. Like all SCUBA lessons, you spend more time in the classroom than in the water, but fortunately all that “in-class” portion is now online. Throughout …

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Learning to Sail with Sail Park City

Learning to sail was something, honestly, that I never thought I’d ever learn to do. I didn’t know a single person who sailed, even though I grew up near the beach in New Jersey. But that all changed, like most things, when you get married. A family friend of ours named Hayden & Radeen sail every spring around the Caribbean and had some of the most incredible stories and experiences that we couldn’t help but be jealous of. So for Courtney’s birthday, I got her a sailing lesson package through Park City Sailing which offers four Adult Lessons in the …

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