Sundance, The Point of the Mountain and a Day Away

Sundance

August skies are lullabies/promises to keep
dandelions and twisting vines/clover at your feet
memories of aspen leaves/ trembling in the wind
honeybees and fantasies/where to start again
some place cool an’ green an’ shady
– John Denver, Cool an’ Green an’ Shady

It happened on an otherwise normal Thursday at around 5:30 pm, just as we were about to sit down to dinner and midway through a phone conversation the kind of which I’d had one too many of in the past few weeks.  What had been on a slow simmer began to boil.  My last nerve was shot.  I was suffering from road rage, sidewalk rage, apartment-building-hallway rage – not to mention grocery aisle rage – and for the next few hours I fumed and moped around like Victoria Beckham having to wear her “fat jeans.” Ike crawled under his side table “cave” and Kel nodded solemnly at my every curse and intoned, “Yes, dear.  Yes, dear,” a hopeful mantra designed to stave off the meltdown he could see coming.  The evening walk didn’t help.  A cup of hot chocolate made barely a dent.

Then a few hours after the phone call it hit me: I was seriously stressed out.  I needed a change of scenery and fast.  Luckily, a remedy was already in the works.  It was time to go where the air is thin and clean, the sky a piercing blue and where the wind holds an icy touch of the winter to come: the mountains.  By 10 am the next morning we were headed up to Bobby Redford’s little retreat in the Wasatch, Sundance.

Sundance

The winding road up to the resort is a therapy of its own.  One must concentrate on where the car is; there’s no space for anger or stress.  Sundance is tucked into the hills and amongst tall trees and despite the fact that there are restaurants, a screening room, art studios, cabins and homes (not to mention ski lifts and runs), it feels very secluded and small and homey.  Fall, in my opinion, is the perfect time to go.  Interspersed among the yellow-leaved aspens that blanket the mountainsides are bright dots of red, orange and deep green. We wandered around the resort and then treated ourselves to “wet” (no foam) soy lattes and settled onto a bench outside to watch the Beautiful People go by.  Because the tram up to the top of the mountain (and to hiking trails) doesn’t allow dogs, we finished up our lattes and decided to do our hiking elsewhere.

The road beyond Sundance is switchbacked and extremely narrow. It felt as if our car was skimming the edge of the road as vehicles coming the other direction drove past us.  I missed a lot of the scenery while hugging the road, but Kel reports that it was spectacular.  When we reached the Timpanogos trail head and the hiking route up to Stewart Falls we stopped for  a picnic lunch at the old amphitheater hidden among the pines, then we pulled on our day packs and headed up.  Unfortunately, just as the photo-taking was becoming interesting, my camera battery fizzled out and I had to turn to my trusty iPhone for the remainder of the hike.  The total 4-mile hike up and back to Stewart Falls took us about two hours.

Mountains

Mountains

On the way home we decided to take a short detour to visit The Point of the Mountains.  Kel had been reading a lot about paragliding lately and we learned that one of the premier spots in the country for the sport is right here in Utah.  When we arrived, it wasn’t looking good.  There were only a couple of cars in the parking lot and two guys gazing forlornly out from the high plateau down to the valley spread out below.  Two gliders lay still strapped to the tops of the cars, wrapped up tight in their canvas burritos.  There wasn’t a breath of wind.

Active Fly Zone

While Kel went off to interrogate Man Number One, Man Number Two suddenly appeared beside me and Ike.  We started talking about dogs and soon enough Dave, a hang-glider and instructor of 41 years, offered to take me up on his glider once the wind was right.  My mother didn’t raise a fool and I simply laughed it off and let Ike pull me away from the salesman pressure for a bit. Before long, Kel and Dave and I and Man Number One were talking wind and gliders and geography and how silly and foolish paragliders were as compared to hang-gliders.

Man Number One decided to set up his glider just in case the wind changed and Dave got to talking about thermals and how thermals were all about contrasts: dirt and pavement; high ground and low; heat and cool; light and dark.  I got it, but my mind wandered anyway.  The view out there was just too big, too beautiful.  Endless sky above, a long, flat valley below with the mighty artery of I-15 splitting it in two, teeming with rush hour cars headed for home, north and south; to the east the Wasatch buckled and climbed; to the west lay the hazy shimmer of the Great Salt Lake.  As Dave’s voice morphed into the pleasant hum of white noise, my eyes drifted upwards and I saw a large hawk circling high above the field on which we stood.  He was gliding effortlessly, wheeling in the air without moving a single feather.  No doubt it looked down upon us poor humans with pity and mirth.  Our puny wingspans, our heavy burden called gravity.  There was no doubt in my mind that his presence above the well-known hang-gliding and paragliding site was no accident. He was shoving his winged freedom in our faces.

Ann, Glider

At some point, Dave set up his glider and offered to let me slip into the upside down hammock-suit – “just to get a feel” for things.  Once I felt how comfortable it was he was pretty sure I’d be asking to take the glider for a spin with him. (For the low, low price of $100.)  I hung out in the hammock-suit for a while and then all at once a strong breeze rose over the plateau.  I looked across the field and saw paragliders everywhere – their colorful parachutes billowing and collapsing, rising and falling.  Some fliers were already strapped into their funny “seats” that resemble turtle shells, some dragging their chutes to the edge of the field where they would step off and hope to be lifted into the air.  Already gliders were circling above us, seeking the hawk’s thermal.  They made their slow way along the edge of the plateau and up and up, heading east and then west again, then east.  Some of them were high above, looking as if they were going to touch their toes along the mountain’s edge.  We feared the gliders – so close together – would collide and fall, but somehow they all missed each other.  I extricated myself from the hammock and soon enough we saw Dave climb into his suit and lope off carrying his hang-glider.  He walked slowly and with effort along the thin gravel runway at the end of which is a sign imbedded into the ground that admonishes pilots to “Hook In.”  Dave stood at the edge for a minute and then he was off the ground, soaring, moving with a speed and purpose unmatched by the paragliders.  He looked like a giant bird.  For a tiny second I wished I had hooked in next to him, but the solid earth felt pretty good under my feet.  He seemed to be heading straight for the sun.  I watched him for a while and then looked back above the field and then above the mountains, but the hawk was gone.  There were only humans flying.

(How does this fit into VeganMoFo?  Did I mention that I had two soy lattes that day?)

Hook In

VeganMoFo

33 thoughts on “Sundance, The Point of the Mountain and a Day Away

  1. Somer

    I can’t believe I forgot to ask you about Sundance. Blame it on the food poisoning! Great photos, and as you know, I run near that Paragliding park all the time, so fun to see all of them in the sky above. Awesome, and yes, soy lattes count!

    Reply
  2. Laurie

    For my husband’s 50th birthday (7 years ago!) we went to the point of the mountain to take an introductory paragliding class! It was amazing!! I went up about 40 feet in the air and then they pulled me back down with the cord I was attached to. Every time we drive by and see all the colorful fliers in the air, I think of how that felt. Next time you head toward Stewart Falls, go right and take on Mt. Timp! It is a FANTASTIC hike!! Your pics are beautiful!! I would love to meet up with you the next time you’re in Utah 🙂

    Reply
    1. An Unrefined Vegan

      Hi Laurie – wow, what a great birthday gift! Makes me wish I’d gone for a little ride myself. Maybe next time I’ll have the courage. Apparently I DO need to “bag” Timpanogos – didn’t know it was kinda the thing to do!

      Reply
  3. My Plant Based Family

    I told my husband the other day that I would hang glide if given the chance. I think I’d love it!

    Reply
  4. Lou

    Oh my goodness, Annie you are too cool – I have always wanted to go hang gliding… they launch not far from where I live and I love taking Misty to watch the “birds” jump of the cliff (!!) Looks amazing, and OH that scenery – it seriously looks like heaven. PLus a few soy lattes, and you have a pretty perfect day 😉

    Reply
  5. Choc Chip Uru

    What an incredible day my friend and just the way to get rid of any stress 😀
    I love your photos!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply
  6. * Vegan Sparkles *

    Oh wow, that looks like an absolutely gorgeous place to de-stress! Stunning photos. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

    The perfect time of year to enjoy that beauty, I’m sure. I feel relaxed just looking at those photos! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  8. Barb

    How beautiful! I’m afraid of heights, so I probably wouldn’t have gone gliding… except that I hate admitting I’m afraid so I probably would’ve gone and then just screamed my head off 🙂

    Reply
  9. evervescence

    Love your photos. Sundance is truly beautiful and I do miss it there especially now when all the leaves are such beautiful colors. I grew up in Utah but have lived the past two years in Florida. I love it here, but fall is my favorite season and I sure do miss the changing leaves in the mountains in Utah. We don’t get much color change here. I don’t know that I would do the hang-gliding either, I’m extremely afraid of heights! 🙂

    Reply
    1. An Unrefined Vegan

      Thank you! I’m so bummed my camera battery died just at the start of our hike. But my iPhone didn’t do too badly. Fall is my favorite time of year as well – would really miss the colors, smells, cool air…Winter, on the other hand…

      Reply
  10. Bridge (The Road Not Processed)

    This is gorgeous! I’ve been to Utah once before, but it was in the wintertime..beautiful in its own way, yet I would love to experience such fall seasons. Florida is slackin’!

    Reply
    1. An Unrefined Vegan

      Thank you so much! Fall is wonderful – especially so in the mountains. It’s as if nature is giving you an extra special treat right before it socks you hard with tons of snow, bitter cold and fierce winds ;-)! I’m hoping to spend a little time in FL this winter, actually.

      Reply
  11. tearoomdelights

    How utterly gorgeous Annie, and I wouldn’t worry about the lack of a ‘proper’ camera, your iphone photos are superb! The colours in these pictures are so clean and inviting, who wouldn’t want to be up there, and with a name like Sundance how could you resist? I was hoping for picnic details but I can imagine that whatever you ate it tasted great out there in those beautiful surroundings. Is there a reason for not having the foam on a latte? I’ve never heard of a wet one before. Thank you for the trip to such a wonderful place, I feel refreshed from just reading this post, and am dreaming about hang-gliding…

    Reply
    1. An Unrefined Vegan

      Thanks, Lorna! The phone did admirably – though some photos were, well, awful. Thank goodness for digital! Don’t you love the name of the place? Robert Redford named it after his character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – but the idea of sun dancing…nice. Oh, lattes. We are firm no-foam-latte people. Two reasons: one, the foam tends to burn ones tongue if they don’t wait long enough for things to cool down; and two, we want more latte rather than foamy stuff! So we ask for it “wet,” which is a term we just recently learned. Hanging about with barristas too much, I suppose!

      Reply
      1. tearoomdelights

        It did make me think of the film, but I had no idea there was a connection. Every now and then it occurs to me that I want to be a barista, I love the way they fire out these amazing beverages. Funnily enough, the foam is often my favourite part. (That might have something to do with it supporting chocolate sprinkles on a cappuccino though.) 🙂

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