Yankee Doodle Slot Canyon

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 Yankee Doodle is the perfect introduction to canyoneering for people of any age or ability, with competent leadership. Just as a warning however, you will become immediately hooked. 

It is located north of Saint George (much of it is on a dirt road but is passable in a passenger car) and will take you about 40 minutes to reach the trailhead from downtown. It is nice because there is no permit required, but sometimes it can be very crowded. It starts with a rappel down a beautiful dryfall with stunning features and has two options: 120 feet from the top, or 80 feet from down inside the first section of slot. Sometimes rappelling down 20 feet into the first little section of slot is a good idea for a warm up before hitting the big waterfall depending on your group. The whole canyon trailhead to trailhead will take 2-3 hours. 

Once you're down the first rappel, hike downcanyon and you will encounter a five foot drop-off and then a 10 foot drop-off which can be easily downclimbed, especially with a handline. There are a couple of bolts as well if you're more comfortable setting up a quick rappel. Depending on the water levels, the 10 foot drop-off may be into water. You can stem over the water here with relative ease. 

 The rest of the canyon contains some short downclimbs, stemming, and possible waist deep wading. When you get to the cairn, use the moki steps to climb up and out of the canyon to the left (southeast). Follow one of the many trails leading to the canyon rim and you'll see the road. Follow it back 200 yards to your car.

There is great camping nearby at Red Cliffs Campground. It is $15 per night but you get bathrooms, water, dumpsters, grill, table, and fire ring. There is also a cool non-technical hike through some sections of slot canyon that starts at the campground. 

There is even closer camping on your way to Yankee Doodle if you're okay with primitive camping. There are designated sites shortly after the paved section ends along Oak Grove Road and other unmarked spots further along so take your pick. There are about five large camping areas. spaced out over a couple miles. Next to Campsite 3, there is a 30 foot cliff with three sets of anchors on top which can be used to set up a top rope for climbing or for rappelling.

Vigor Utah Winter Obstacle Race

The Vigor Utah Winter 5k-10k Run or Obstacle Race was held February 2nd at Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway. You could run the 5k or the 10k with or without obstacles. 

Obstacles included hay bales to jump over, walls to climb over, nets to climb over, nets to crawl under, and hills to sprint up and sled down. None of the obstacles presented much of a challenge compared to those of Tough Mudder or Spartan Race. The hardest part of the race was the near 1000 foot elevation rise and drop (for the 10k).

Running in the snow also presented a new element to running that I hadn't before experienced. The trail had been groomed, but your feet often broke through the hard packed upper layer and sunk into the snow. This was especially a factor on the downhill sections on the backside of the 10k loop, and certainly did not make the uphill running any easier. Running uphill with your feet breaking through at every step was a nightmare. It was a lot like running in sand. At some points it felt like you were on a treadmill, not making any progress up the trail. Don't let my description turn you away from this race. I'm merely describing what it was like from the perspective of someone who has never run a snow trail race. It's just something you should take into account during your training. I highly recommend this race.

It really wasn't that cold, probably around 30 degrees. I wore Under Armor cold gear tights and long sleeve shirt, and running earmuffs, and my old cross country flats with regular running socks. I also wore thin neoprene gloves which were nice for the obstacles where you were down in the snow. 

Here are the Men's 10k results:

I got a Sports Authority gift card and a long sleeve thermal shirt for winning.

Here's a link to the rest of the results: http://runnercard.com/runner/data/1825/4397/Result/2013_Vigor_Winter_Obstacle.htm