Mormon Canyon

It's been two weeks since my last bike post. The reason for that was on our last ride my buddy got a flat and screwed up his rim pretty bad to where he had to take it into the shop to get fixed. Well it wasn't ready by last Saturday so we took a week off. I thought of maybe getting up and going on a quick bike ride up a trail that I've done a few times now, but then I decided that sleeping in until 11:30 am was a much better use of time and resources. However, today we resumed the biking experience through Caribou National Forest. We started at the Scout Mountain trail head and headed along the east bench of Scout Mountain. We've previously ridden this part of the trail when we did our Scout Mountain excursion (last bike blog). We past the pond and continued along the trail that would eventually take us up to Scout Mountain until we came to a fork in the road. Instead of heading north towards Scout we turned south and headed towards Old Tom Mountain but we didn't climb to the top. After about 3/4 of a mile we turned off the Old Tom trail and headed down Mormon Canyon.
The trail down Mormon Canyon is more single track than not. It's accessible and wide enough for bikes, horses, and dirt bikes but not ATVs or Jeeps. It's a fairly steep, and rocky descent down the mountain dropping about two thousand feet in a little under three miles. The beginning of the track rides down the ridge of the mountain so there were many times where not paying attention would send you tumbling down. A lot of the downhill is fairly rocky as well creating a steering/braking problem. It doesn't matter if you're going up or downhill, a rocky trail feels like biking over ball bearings. Regardless of how much pressure you put on the brakes or how far you lean back so as to not go over the handlebars, those rocks take you on the trail they choose. It gets especially annoying/frightening when one side of the trail is that roll down the mountain I was talking about earlier. That part was coming down the mountain into the canyon. Once you get into the canyon part of the trail you don't have to worry too much about a lot of rocks, the tree roots take care of that problem. Sometimes they can be just as bad, if not worse, then the rocks. However, they do make for some nice little jumps to play around on. The canyon trail crosses the stream quite a few times so it makes for a nice cooling effect when riding through. Unfortunately though this week's ride didn't go flawlessly. I ended up getting a flat in my rear tire and had to stop to repair that. I don't think I rode on the flat too long because my rim doesn't seem to be bent at all. I easily found two holes that needed repairing and patched those up fairly quickly. Thinking that I had fixed my tire I put it back on and kept on down the trail. About a mile down I realized that there must have been more, smaller holes that I couldn't find because the tire ended up going flat again. Not wanting to deal with finding and patching the holes I just switched out tubes with a spare that I had brought.
I think that we spent just as much time driving and placing vehicles as we did biking. Like I said, we started at the Scout Mountain Campground just southeast of Pocatello and came out on the other side of the mountain near McCammon. Up and over the mountain the ride was only around eight miles, but driving back was about thirty-three miles. So lets calculate this out really quick...it's twenty-six miles from my house to where we had to drop the jeep off at the end point, then thirty-three miles to get to the start point, then another thirty-three miles after we had finished biking to go pick up the start vehicle. Grand total...ninety-two miles (at $4.10/gallon) to bike a measly eight. I figure that's just about the same, if not more, that I would spend in gas if I had gone waterskiing for a couple of hours. Just like waterskiing though, it was well worth it.

I still got a fair amount of pictures for this trip but not as much as the other trips. Two reasons why: 1)I've already ridden and taken pictures of the first half of the trail and 2)the second half was all downhill and most of the times it's too exciting of a ride to stop and take pictures.

Scout Mountain Trail Head

Overlooking McCammon

Old Tom Mountain (Mormon Canyon to the left)

Mormon Canyon Descent

Mormon Canyon

Ridgeline Descent

Check out the moon just behind my head

The tree spanning the trail made for a great little obstacle

Remember those tree roots I was talking about?

As always look for the complete collection of pictures of this trail and other trails at
http://picasaweb.google.com/tjdhulst

This blog will be the last blog about Pocatello mountain biking for about a month or so. At the end of this week I will be heading back home for about three weeks. Those weeks will be full of waterskiing, waterskiing, and hiking Havasupai Falls. Maybe I will be able to hit up a couple of trails around Ogden. I will be posting news on waterskiing and the hike trip as well.

July Update

My most recent posts have been on the bike trails that I've been on and not much else about what else has been going on these past couple of months.
There's been a lot going on in school since June. We gone through a lot of interesting training exercises and labs to prepare us for the upcoming clinical year. One of those was proper scrubbing techniques and maintenance of sterile fields. This picture is of us, not maintaining sterile fields. Since this training I've watched many medical TV shows (House and Scrubs mainly) and critiqued their scrubbing in procedures. It's actually quite funny to see media portrayals of such things after one has gone through proper training.
We have recently started our ER module and with this comes training in Basic Life Support (BLS [also know as CPR]), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) skills. We have completed the BLS training and will start ACLS and PALS training in the next couple of weeks. I've started going over the ACLS stuff to be prepared for the training and I'm really looking forward to it. Recently we went through a mock trauma scenario where a team of us were in charge of taking care of a gun shot wound (GSW) patient. I was elected team leader in this scenario because of my experience in the ER; which makes no sense to me because I didn't work in the ER under as a medical provider but as an interpreter, so I had exactly the same training/experience as everyone else on my team. However, I enjoyed taking this responsibility and the experience that followed. For those not familiar with team resuscitation techniques the team leader assigns tasks to members of his/her team and uses information provided by the team to make decisions on care for the trauma patient. Before our mock patient "arrived" we were given all the information from the EMS team bringing the pt in and from there I was able to assign tasks to my team. Although knowing this was just a mock pt and we hadn't received all the ER training necessary to fully run a trauma code I felt nervous at first. However, when the pt arrived things started to come and I feel that our team worked smoothly. There were many secondary small simple things that I blanked on but my team was there to help out and remind me of those little things. We nailed the primary concerns and were able to stabilize our pt for Life Flight transport. I really enjoyed that setting. I enjoyed the fast pace of the treatment and the on the spot thinking necessary for patient stabilization. I enjoyed taking charge and directing the care. I liked that setting when I was able to participate in it when working in the ER and really enjoyed being a part of that pt's care. I'm looking forward to actually be able to do it coming up in the clinical rotation year.
Another skill that I enjoyed learning and practicing was the placement of an endotracheal tube (ET tube), known as intubation. This skill was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, well, practicing on dummies anyway.
Other skills we've gone through or will go through have been catheterizations, IV placement, digital blocks, and much more. I don't plan on being a big fan of catheter placing but the others ones I won't have a problem with.
In two weeks we will be officially over with the didactic year of school. No more sitting in class 8 hrs a day 5 days a week. No more sitting through lectures and trying to stay awake (for now). However, that doesn't mean that this next year will be any easier. I'll still be studying a lot for end of rotation tests, but I'll also be studying during the rotations to learn all that I can and be prepared for whatever might come my way. I feel really inadequate for a lot of these rotations because I've forgotten a lot of information that I've supposedly learned. It's not just going to be cram for the test systematically eliminate answers from a multiple choice test anymore. Now I have to create the answers and then systematically eliminate them from my list. It's not just trying to pass with a satisfactory 70% anymore. I'm more excited than I am nervous for this next year but those doubts and fears are still ever present.
I have many friends starting med school and dental school this year. For those that read this let me give you some advice that I'm gained from this year.
Try to organize a schedule that will allow for study and personal time. The schedule is by no means will remain static but try to stick with something. At the beginning of the year I started out strong studying most nights of the week even when a test wasn't present. I understood the information and was able to participate in class with answers. Throughout the year though that studying steadily decreased and I started to not prioritize it enough. By the end I was only studying for upcoming tests and just doing the bare minimum. It's easy to get distracted and burnt out with classes and school work but try to do more than the minimum. I feel that's the main reason why I feel so inadequate for the next year.
You will get bored in class and become easily distracted, especially if there is a computer with internet access in front of you all day long. It's hard to just sit there and pay attention. If your programs are anything like mine the lectures will be taught off of power points and you will have access to them anytime you want. This makes it even more difficult to pay attention. If you get in the mentality that you can go over the lectures later on your own time you will miss a lot of information that doesn't come in the ppt's. Unfortunately there will be many times the lecturer will read straight from the ppt and that will get annoying. I was the one who got bored and started playing on the internet. One thing though that I saw other classmates doing was taking notes on paper instead of on the ppt. This facilitated their paying attention and participating. If you're like me don't think that you can just pay attention and get everything then go over the lecture later without taking notes. It just won't work.
Another thing where I screwed up was letting someone else compile a study guide. The person who did them compiled them very well and they were very thorough. They helped me study for the test but not for retention. Make your own study guides. It will take a lot more time and you might not be as thorough as someone else, but you will learn and retain more.
One thing that I have done that has been beneficial is my internship in psychology. It has given me so much patient experience that otherwise I would have had to wait for. It hasn't helped me out a lot in a medical setting but I have learned skills for interviewing patients that I know will be beneficial. It's also given me added experience in assessing patient progression and also adjusting therapies where needed. In your studies if you get an opportunity, and have time for, any outside experience like that I suggest you take that opportunity.
One final thing, don't expect to know everything about everything. Going in and coming out you will feel inadequate and unprepared. That's just the nature of the beast. The best providers are the way they are not just because they were the smartest in their class but because they worked hard through school and afterwards. They continue to learn and gain experience in the field. Do all you can while in school, but just know that you still will far short. Accept that fact and you'll find that you'll be more excited than scared going into your clinical years.


P.S. don't blog while in class...that also makes it difficult to pay attention.

Scout Mountain

So this weeks trail came a little earlier in the week than the weekend for two reasons; 1) I had Wed of this week from class and 2) I’ll be at Bear Lake this Sat living it up on my ski. We decided to head up Valve House like we did a couple of weeks ago but instead on turning down the wash to loop back around we kept heading up the trail toward Scout Mountain. The trail is a pretty steady incline until we met up with East Fork trail which follows along the base of Scout Mountain until it wraps around the back and up. The trail becomes a little more difficult with steeper, rockier climbs…and more of them. Along the trail we passed a pond that, with the mountainous backdrop the pond didn’t look too bad but upon closer inspection it looked like breading grounds for West Nile and Malaria. We’d been told about the ponds by some other bikers and I was hoping to do some little swimming but that didn’t play out. After the pond we rode up another ridge and came out in a valley of wildflowers and a great view of the country.

Here’s where the fun begins. The actual accent up the mountains begins. We went from 7400 ft to 8600 ft in 3 ½ miles up the backside of the mountain. The trail consists of switchbacks and rocky terrain. It’s big enough for four wheelers and Jeeps to climb up. At the top of the mountain there were a few different tower transmitters and a spectacular view. We took about a 20 min break at the peak and then headed back down. Instead of following the original trail up we decided to ride down the back side of the mountain and wrap around it. This trail is a fun single track trail called Crestline trail and as the name implies follows the contour of the crest. Like I said it’s a single track trail that, on one side hugs the mountain, and the other side a 1000 ft roll down the mountain. We decided it was best not to do anything stupid and go rolling down since neither one of us had cell phone service and only a weak first aid kit that consisted of bandages, gauze, and a wrap. Funny story though, at the beginning of this trail there were a couple of snow banks that cross over the trail. While trying to cross over my friend’s bike did a little slipping and sliding. While trying to control it he went over the handle bars, started running down, jumped, tried to grab onto a tree to stop him, lost his footing and flipped and rolled twice down cracking his head on some rocks. We had just barely begun this leg of the trail and so the fall/roll down was only 25 or 30 feet. Luckily, he was wearing his helmet and there was no head trauma. His helmet got a nice little crack in it on the right frontotemporal side.

After riding along the ridge we came to a downhill that rode through some beautiful forest. For all those Ogdenites reading this it reminded me of coming down Malan’s Peak and Taylor canyon along the switchbacks.

We met up with the paved road that leads up to the Scout Mountain Campgrounds and from there caught the trail that headed back down Valve House, our starting trail. If being out on the mountain for a whole day wasn't fun enough we topped off the ride by chasing a moose down the trail. It was all downhill and after coming around a bend there was a moose standing in the middle of the trail. When she saw us fly around the corner she took off and we followed her down until she ducked out of the way.Apparently my friend didn’t have enough fun falling down a mountain or chasing the moose do he decided that he needed to also blow out the valve on his front tire and get a flat along the last leg. So we had to stop and wait for him to switch out tubes.

The trail took us 7 ½ hrs to ride and hike and a roundtrip of 25 ½ miles. From the beginning to the summit it took us 3 hrs 40 mins and was 11.15 miles. It took us another 3 ½ hrs to get back to the Jeep because of the other trail we took. It was a long, hot, and dusty day but well worth it for the scenery and the shots.

After riding all day on the trail

Midnight Canyon/Elk Meadows

This weeks bike trip not only involved a little biking but also some jeeping to get the bikes to the trail. We scouted this trail last week and decided that it would be better to jeep the bikes to the top of the mountain and then ride down. The trail going to the top was about 5 miles and steep in many places. It took us 45 mins just to get the bikes to the top in the jeep. When we got to the top we unloaded the bikes, got the gear ready, and locked my keys in the jeep. Not a problem though because I had a spare set of keys in my backpack. The problem was that the backpack was also locked in the jeep. So here we are sitting on top of a mountain with both sets of keys locked in my jeep and the windows rolled up. As we sat there wondering which would be less expensive, breaking a window or bringing up a locksmith, an elderly gentleman on his four wheeler stopped by to see what we were doing. He was up there that morning taking pictures and just happened to ride by. We told him what had happened and after a brief laugh he decdied to help ponder some ideas of how to get my keys out. We had been working on prying open the back window and trying to break the latch but it wasn't working. The guy told us of a barbed wire fence that he had past and so we went to go snag some wire. We broke off a couple of pieces and strung them together to make a long hook. From there my buddy and the guy pried open the back window far enough for me to get the wire in and start fishing for my backpack. After a while I finally snagged it and was able to bring it to the window. The trick now was trying to position the backpack just right so I could get the keys with my fingertips. They keys were sitting in a little side pocket so they were reachable if I could just position it right. The whole time I felt like a surgeon working on a patient through laparoscopy. After about an hour of work we finally got the keys out and didn't have to break anything.

Now the bike ride can begin! The trail is wide enough for a four wheeler most of the way and rides along the ridge of the mountain until it drops down into Midnight canyon. The trails follows the stream down the canyon and crosses over it two or three times so both the bikes and us got a little muddy. It's all downhill in the canyon.

We eventually came to a fork in the road and had to climb out of the canyon to meet up with the trail to Elk Meadows. This was a difficult little climb. I'd say we were able to bike half and walk the other half of the trail out of the canyon. Coming out though was beautiful because it was all through pines and aspens, all uphill.

We got out an continued along the trail that eventually would take us to Elk Meadows. There was still a little climbing involved but it was all bikable. We came to this spot in a forest of aspens where the trail looks like it just disappears into the forest.

After climbing a few more ridges we finally came to the end of the uphills and we able to drop into Elk Meadows and downhill the rest of the way. The scenery at the top of this ridges was amazing and all encompassing.

After a short break at the top we dropped down into Elk Meadows. The trail runs through a valley full of tall green grass and wildflowers. The ride was a good ride except for the amount of insects out flying around. I could've used a windshield on my bike that day. For those of you familiar with the Ogden area it felt like driving past Willard Bay at sundown. Disregarding all the bugs the trail was still enjoyable.

The trail continues through the meadows to the main highway. However, me being the expert map reader I am, made a wrong turn and double backed to the West Fork trail that we had done two weeks earlier while at Gibson Jack instead of heading to Corral Creek which was our original endpoint. Even though we had previously ridden this trail we, weren't the least bit disappointed with this unimaginable mistake because it is a fun single track downhill with many turns weaving in and out of the forest.
This has been the longest trail distance wise that I've done up here so far. If you've been looking at the maps the majority of the rides have all been focused around the same region: The Gibson/Slate mountain areas. On the west side of these mountains lies a dozen or so different trails that all interconnect together that make for some great biking. If only I had gotten my orientation merit badge in scouting I might have been able to avoid the mishap of doubling back and we would've been able to go explore a different trail. Oh well, I guess that's what the following weekends are for.

I haven't been able to post in my blogs many of the pictures I've taken on the various bike trips because of sheer quantity. However, I do upload them onto Google's Picasa web storage and if you want to see the complete collection of pics and videos then just visit this site

http://picasaweb.google.com/tjdhulst