Crimson Trail Hike on Sunday

Meet at 10 at the ranger station to carpool with members of the Logan Social/NewComers club. Deatils here.

First Hike of the Season

For some reason I want to blog about all the hikes I do this season. Mostly, I want to get to some of the hikes that you can't easily get information on and provide some record of them. Wind Caves is not one of those. It's one of the most well known in the canyon.

The trail was muddy from all of the rain we've had recently. In places it was hard to get traction to walk up and/or get down without sliding. The weather was drizzly when we started, but cleared up about the time we reached the caves. I was happy to have my ankle high gortex boots for the one stream crossing we had to do. It's always easiest to stomp through rather than trying to balance from one rock to the next.

It was all in all a good first hike of the season. I thought the rain might make us cold. But I think everyone - including myself wore enough clothes to keep warm. Typical me in Utah: I prepared for the cold and ended up hot - so the rain was actually refreshing. The rain let up just in time for the hike down. The clouds were particularly neat, quickly moving through the canyon, building up in pockets against the mountains and then dissapating.

There's plenty of green, but not too much is blooming. There were lots of these little yellow buds around though.

I also learned a new bit of information today. There is also a trail called Wind Cave Way. The split off for it is at the brown verticle "Wind Caves" that's about 1/2 the way to the caves: go right at the split. It was built by Cache Valley Hikers and goes to the ridge. My guess is that it probably meets up with the Preston Valley trail that comes out of Green Canyon to the same ridge.

A fellow hiker also mentioned a hike that goes up a ridge, starting on the north side of the mouth of green canyon. I'm assuming it's from the parking area directly to the left of the Shoreline trail as you enter the canyon. He said there's a picnic bench a little bit up the trail and the trail continues at least 4 mi up. You can probably follow the ridge a ways further and perhaps meet up with Cherry Peak.

Upcoming NewComers Events and New Website

Logan NewComers has a new website. You can check out upcoming events and join the club through the website and RSVP for events. This actually gives members the functionality that we've been asking for a while.

In gearing up for the NewComers' season (most people move in during the summer) - there are a couple Meet & Greats coming up. If you're new to the area, this is a great way to get linked up with people of similar interest. If you've been around for a while, and would just like to meet some new people, you're also welcome.

For the latest upcoming events check out the club's new webpage at:http://new2logan.ning.com/events

April 11 Saturday Settlers of Catan Cache Valley Championship
April 12 Sunday Vegetarian Potluck
April 14 Tuesday Yoga
April 16 Thursday Meet and Greet - Firehouse Pizzeria
April 22 Wednesday Book Club
April 23 Thursday This American Life - Live! (Radio Movie)
May 2 Saturday Girls Night Out - Spa Day
May 12 Tuesday Meet and Greet - Black Pearl

NewComers Article

The Herald Jounral sent a reporter to the 1 year anniversary meet and greet for Logan NewComers. Here's the article.

Upcoming Newcomer Events

June Meet and Greet
Picnic in the Park
Saturday, June 28th, 5:00-8:00pm
Willow Park, 500 West 700 South
Potluck, BBQ, Zoo, Fish Pond, Playground, Volleyball

Card Canyon Hike
6.5 mi, moderate difficulty
Meet at the Ranger Station, 1500 East Highway 89, Logan,
Sunday, June 29th, 9:00 am

July Book Club
Date: TBD
Book: We Need to Talk About Kevin

July Meet and Greet
Saturday, July 26th, 5:30pm
White Owl, 36 West Center St, Logan
On the deck upstairs
Come celebrate the Newcomers One Year Anniversary!We hosted our first event at the White Owl one year ago

For more information about Logan Newcomers see www.new2logan.com.

May Newcomer Events

Upcoming Logan Newcomer Club Events

See http://www.new2logan.com/ for more details.

Hiking and Hot Tubs
This is going to be a gorgeous sunny weekend with highs in the 70s
Saturday May 17th Day Trip (or camping Friday-Sunday).
A weekend of relaxing, campfires, hot chocolate,marshmallows, short hikes, and soaking your worries away is waiting for you in a tranquil valley an hour north of Logan at Maple Grove Hot Springs.

Indiana Jones - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Premier
Thursday, May 22nd, 7:00pm Stadium 8 Theatre. Providence
Meet at Casper’s Ice Cream Shop at 6:00pm.

May Book Club
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
May 27th, Tuesday, 7:00pm

Newcomer Girls Night Out
Rock climbing at Rock Haus.
Wednesday, June 11, 6:30 pm ** Date change
Cost: $8/person plus $3 for shoes

Book Club - Life of Pi

I went to the Newcomer's book club tonight. I was glad that it finally got me to finish Life of Pi, which I had started and put down in the summer. I used to love literature class in high school, but I've been on a slow decline in my appreciation of higher fiction. It was good to not only finish a book outside of the Harry Potter series, but to be forced to think more deeply about some of the concepts - not too deep though and I sure don't feel like righting any papers.

Next month they're doing a nonfiction book about animal behavior (this one I think), a great follow up to The Life of Pi. After that, I think they're moving on to The Golden Notebook. I think I'll try to join in. Mary does a great job of leading the discussion; we had a good time, but I didn't feel like I was in class.

Life of Pi review: Good thinking optional book. Enjoyed it when I was just taking it for what it was on the surface, commentary on animal behavior, religion and a pretty good plot (which picks up 100 pages in). It was also easy to see more to the book once I was in the club's discussion.

Cool. Maybe I can start looking for books that aren't the next installment of Bridget Jones.

Newcomers Ad

The best way to find out about Logan Newcomers upcoming events is to go to their website, new2logan.com. But one of the founders will also ocasionaly put something on meetup.com. I know it's one of the first places I looked for stuff when I came to town. Maybe the ad will remind me to RSVP to events there, so other newcomers know there's activity there.