Gym or Mountains?

I've been an exercise slacker because of lots of travel and visitors (update on all of that coming soon), so I knew I wanted to get some exercise while I had our sitter booked for 3 hours this morning.  I considered doing a quick trip to the gym to do 30 minutes on a machine while watching brainless tv.  It was really tempting because it would've meant I'd have time to read at a coffee or run errands too.  Then, I remembered--it's spring!  The snow has melted on some of the lower peaks!  Maybe I could get my exercise in a less commercialized way!   It'd take longer and be a little harder, but I figured the fresh air would do me a lot of good.  It's like I had a choice between the McDonald's version of exercise or the cute-little-locally-owned-Italian-restaurant version.  Clearly, I had to choose the latter and get some exercise in the mountains!

The hike was so refreshing, but was also a wake-up call for me because I am definitely not in good enough shape for hiking season!  There's no way I could've managed this hike with a 20+ lb Matthew on my back!  I have a lot of work to do to prepare for summer and all the hiking (and biking--currently shopping for a road bike) we hope to do!  

Here's some pics from my morning hike.  What a wonderful way to start the day!


View of Oquirrh Mountains (the "small" mountains on the west side of the city):

The big guys still have tons of snow on top:

The end of this hike is called The Living Room because people have arranged the rocks into chairs looking out over the valley:

I know there's definitely a time and place for the McDonald's workout, but I think it's really important to keep reminding myself that efficiency is not always the goal.  Today was definitely the perfect day to get outside, slow down, and enjoy some quiet and prayerful time while taking in some of God's most impressive creations.