variety

We have great "sport hikes" in the hills around pocatello. most are trails, some aren't. We always do the steep ones...they take between 1-2 hours to knock off...a stair stepper alternative, i do one or two during the week and the other nights road or mountain bike. maybe throw in a jog every now and then. I think if you want to get ready for hiking that you are almost committed to hanging in the south hills (your area) once/twice a week after work. Walstrom hollow into where you can hang a right, up the ridge and then over to pike summit would be a good choice for one. After you figure out your route (that one is somewhat marked...signs and then flagging tape...it's where the backcountry skiers go), then keep your eye on a watch to motivate you to step up your pace. You don't need to drive in that far though. it looks to me like you've got a lot of bushwack options to get up to ridges and then "string" peaks when you've gotten not too far into the canyon. Most of the trails i've seen in there don't have much vertical so you'll have to get creative. speaking of canyon i think there's a few trails in the river canyon that you could go up and down for vert training. it seems that it doesn't matter what i do to stay in shape...the best way to get ready for hiking is hiking...
re: pyrex....i always pack my lunch so i replaced my plasticware with the pyrex...it's a little spendier, but it doesn't stain, it doesn't get "weird" pits and stuff from microwaving and there's less plastic to worry about. Corelle makes some similar stuff...but i like to be able to see "what the heck was that" when i look in the freezer.