THE INSIDER Bird sighting Keep your tootsies warm X-SOCKS: I’ve tried a fair number of socks through the years in an effort to keep my feet warm during cold weather outdoor activities. After two winters of using X-SOCKS I have to say my feet have not been cold once. The idea behind X-SOCKS is to recreate a natural barefoot feeling while providing, warmth and cooling when necessary. X-SOCKS range from $25 to $80. Other models include hiking, hunting, biking, running, tennis, golf, trekking and snowboarding. — Brett Prettyman E3 WWW.SLTRIB.COM ❘ THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008 Tony Hawk Brett Prettyman ❘ Tight lines Volunteer is hooked on teaching kids how to fish Q&A Bill Fenimore ➤ If you are interested in volunteering for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ youth fishing club program, send an e-mail to Chris Penne at chrispenne@utah.gov. Courtesy of DWR These youngsters show the channel catfish they caught at Willow Pond in Murray. “A lot of the kids have never fished before and they can’t fish anywhere else. Many of them have single parents who can’t take them fishing,” he said. “The most important thing is for them is to have fun. Many of them don’t compete well in sports and I think it is appealing to them to have it just be them and the fish.” Baldwin, who oversees the youth fishing club at the Willow Pond in Murray, encourages other adult anglers to take a step forward and enjoy Hook shot Curt Searle photo Curt Searle, West Jordan: Not many folks can brag that they caught a fish taller than they are, but Curt managed to do just that during a trip to Alaska last summer. That’s Curt just right of the 6-foot-9-inch, 290-pound, halibut. Curt says it took four people to haul the fish in the boat. Others in the picture include, from left, Clint, Chris, Jack and Cory Searle. Send your pictures by e-mail to brettp@sltrib.com or mail them to Brett Prettyman, Outdoors writer, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Include details on anglers, fish, location and date. Include a phone number for verification. Any size fish will be considered for use if the picture is print-quality. the thrill of helping kids catch their first fish. “Catching their first fish can be different with each of them. Some get giggly, some get so focused on the fish they think they can walk on water, some get scared and some feel sad,” he said. The DWR offers youth fishing clubs at 20 community waters across the state ranging from Logan to Washington City. Some of the larger communities offer two clubs. Training for new volunteers, which are desperately needed at many of the waters, only takes one evening in February. The clubs start meeting in early April, but Legendary skateboarder, and sometimes snowboarder, Tony Hawk was in Salt Lake City last week for the X-Dance action sports film festival and had time to answer a few questions: Q What keeps you going — how do you keep up with the physical demands of the sport? A Honestly, I just never quit. If I ever do get hurt, my main focus is to get back out there and do it, even if I’m not doing it as well or if I have to push through some sort of pain, or something that’s hard; I never want to quit. I feel like if I ever stop for more than a week or two, it’s much harder to get back where I was with my stamina, and as I get older, I just feel like the consistency is key for me. Q What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had? Where is it? A About four years ago, I broke Correctly name where in Utah this photograph was taken to become eligible for a drawing for the book Utah Curiosities by Tribune writer Brandon Griggs. Entries must be received by noon Tuesday. Send them to Where Is It? c/o Brett Prettyman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 or outdoors@sltrib .com. Make “Where Is It?” the subject. my pelvis, my thumb and skull all in one trying to do a loop on a full 360 ramp. Something I’ve done many times before, but I was doing it in a different place and I didn’t have enough speed and I tried to overcompensate. I don’t remember much after that. Q What do you think of this generation of skateboarders and the direction the sport is heading? A It’s headed in a really good di- Last week: All but one of the 63 entries correctly identified the dinosaur in Vernal. JoAnn Kanegae, of Salt Lake, had her name drawn from the correct entries and will receive a copy of Fishing Utah by Tribune outdoors writer Brett Prettyman. rection. It’s much more established now and accepted by the general public, by parents, and there are all kinds of different styles of skating so you don’t have to fall into one category. You don’t have to be the X-games guy; you can also be underground, or hit the handrails that are forbidden. Q What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started? A I don’t think I would have wanted to know anything because I’ve learned so much in the process. I never imagined it would get this big. Had I known that things would get to this level back then, I may not be the same person. I may have expected it all. Ski outing of the week Midmountain at The Canyons Runs to try: ➤ Kokopelli: Easiest way down; it is important to maintain speed at the bottom to avoid a little walking or poling. ➤ Snow Dancer: A wide cruiser, it’s more challenging than Kokopelli and gives kids short diversions through trailside trees. ➤ Elk Ridge: Like bumps? This ridgeline run has plenty. ➤ The Pines: Any number of places to pick your own route through clumps of fir trees on well-protected runs that often have light powder days after a storm. Only drawback: The runs are short, then it’s a flat groomer back to the lift. ➤ The Aspens: The trees here are more tightly packed than The Pines and require quick little turns. — Mike Gorrell Silver Horse The Pines area Pine Draw Saddleback Express ➤ Vertical drop: 1,101 feet ➤ Number of runs: 14 ➤ Difficulty rating: Beginner to advanced ➤ Why try it: Tree skiing in The Pines and The Aspens idge ➤ Name of lift: Kok o pe lli BACK EXPR Elk R ESS The ride: The unloading station for the Flight of the Condors gondola takes riders to a midmountain base area, where the second lift on skier’s right is Saddleback Express, a high-speed quad chair that rises to 9,100 feet. The first lift, High Meadow, is for beginners. Saddleback Ridge offers access to a couple of sweeping, wide, well-groomed runs ideal for emerging intermediates. But it also has plenty of terrain for more advanced skiers who enjoy tree skiing. The north-facing Pines ridge has decent pitch and holds snow well, but the runout can be long. Watch for the gully at the bottom. ay tW Eas Gordy Lind of Sandy reported a whitebreasted nuthatch at a feeder in his backyard earlier this week. It has been 11 years since the last sighting of this species in his yard. Nuthatches are a common backyard feeder bird in the eastern U.S. Here in the Intermountain West, they are a higher-elevation bird. This is an “irruption” year. Higherelevation birds, such as the white- and redbreasted nuthatch, mountain chickadee, pine siskin, Cassin’s finch, Steller’s jay and other irruptive species, are showing up at lower elevations. Irruptions usually are triggered by poor natural food supplies. Add the low temperatures and deep snows of this winter, and you have many birds seeking food and shelter in backyard habitats. Several studies by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and other universities have shown that supplemental backyard feeding enhances winter survival. The birds still derive most of their resources from natural foods, but suet, seed and other treats offered by bird lovers can make a difference. The white-breasted nuthatch is common in Utah’s deciduous forests. It has a unique foraging technique: Flying to the top of a tree, it hops headfirst down the trunk in search of insect food. It also caches sunflower seeds and tree nuts in the bark of a tree. Later, it will hammer the wedged food supply open. The nuthatch measures 5-6 inches in length and has a wing span of 8-11 inches. It weighs 1⁄2 to 1 ounce. The dark head cap is black for males and grayer for females. It is bordered by a white face and belly. The back is a bluegray. The nuthatch bill is long with a slight upturn at the end. The white-breasted nuthatch joins winterforaging flocks of chickadees, juncos, downy woodpeckers or brown creepers. These flocks are another winter survival strategy, offering more eyes to watch for predators and food. ——— ➤ BILL FENIMORE is owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center. Join the Wild Bird Center’s free bird walk to see bald eagles on Eagle Day, Feb. 9 at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, leaving from the store at 9:30 a.m. Call 801-525-8400 or visit www.wildbird.com/ layton for more information. only if enough volunteers show up. Chris Penne, a community fisheries biologist with the DWR, reports that 2007 was the biggest year yet for the program with roughly 3,000 participants served by 270 volunteers. Penne says volunteers don’t need as much fishing experience as they might think to help kids develop a love for the sport. “If you have a positive attitude, patience and good communication skills, you have everything we’re looking for,” Penne said in a prepared release. “We’ll teach you everything else you’ll need to have a great experience with these kids.” How to help SADD LE Sitta carolinensis R ichard Baldwin has been “hooked” three or four times while teaching kids to fish. But only once has he needed help to remove the sharp foreign object. After volunteering for eight years with the state’s youth fishing club program, Baldwin considers an occasional hooking to be worth his while. “I’ve hooked myself more than they have hooked me,” the 59-year-old Murray resident said. “You just need to wear glasses, a hat and keep a good eye out.” Actually, it’s pretty impressive that Baldwin hasn’t been hooked more considering he’s worked with somewhere between 800 and 1,000 youth between the ages of 5 and 13 since helping to launch the fishing club program managed by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). Baldwin decided to volunteer because he had recently retired from a career working professionally with a variety of youth programs and he wasn’t ready to stop. Sno wD anc er White-breasted nuthatch Th ws do ea M e Ecstasy Gallery Q Shadow What about the Tony Hawk Foundation — www.tonyhawk foundation.org — is it just stateside right now? Wapiti A It is, because we have a pretty Red Pine Lodge small staff. Even though we do fairly big fundraisers, it’s not enough to support other projects that are outside the United States. Q Are you a snowboarder? Is it a big crossover between skateboarders and snowboarders now? Grand Summit FLIGHT OF THE CANYONS GONDOLA Parking A There are people that do both, but not many that are very good at both. With the exception of guys like Shaun White. He might be the only one. — Jill Gillman