The Honeymoon Is Over

We got home on Thursday night so the honeymoon has actually been over for several days now, but I was so exhausted from all of the traveling that it has taken me all of three days to write this post. Despite being a lot of driving (somewhere in the ballpark of 3500 miles), I would say that we had a pretty good wedding and honeymoon. I think that both Rosey and I would agree that walking on the beaches of the Oregon coast was the highlight of the trip.

So, why home so early? Well, I think that these pictures will explain everything...


This is me packing up camp at Yosemite in the snow.


And this is us driving out of Yosemite through the very treacherous Tioga Pass Road. We learned when we reached the east entrance of the park that they had actually closed the road in the other direction and were not letting anyone else travel into the park on that road.

We had originally planned on hitting Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and then coming down to the redwoods in California. But, we decided to prolong our drive down the coast a little further and go to the redwoods first before heading inland to Crater Lake. So, we stayed a night in Crescent City, California and spent a day poking around in the Redwoods.

Because of the damage to our lens we weren't able to get very many pictures in the redwoods. We snapped a couple of photos with our smaller digital camera, but it's just so difficult to get a photo in the shadows of big trees. The lighting is all wrong.

Rosey and I had a pretty good 4 mile hike through the Redwoods, but I have to say that the highlight for me was riding my bike from Crescent City into Redwood National Park on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. It was a spectacular ride through big trees and lush ferns. I was surprised to discover that just because you are proximate to the ocean does not mean that your elevation cannot quickly rise above sea level. The first couple of miles out of Crescent City I climbed a 'hill' that peaked above 1000 feet.

Before leaving our motel in Crescent City, I checked the weather and discovered that Crater Lake was supposed to be blanketed with snow over the next couple of days. In other words, it didn't sound like a whole lot of fun to hike, bike or camp in Crater Lake... especially if you're pregnant :)

So, we altered our course and pointed our car eastward in the direction of the nearest Olive Garden restaurant... Redding, California. Ok, so we were headed that way anyway, but we figured if we had to stay somewhere, we might as well get a good meal. We were on our way to Yosemite National Park and Redding was as good a place as any to stay for the night.

While in Redding, we stopped by a camera store and bought a new lens for our camera. It was much more pricey that I had expected, but we couldn't exactly go on a trip to Yosemite National Park without a good camera now could we?

It turns out that we could have. Not only was Yosemite overcast and gray, but they had been performing controlled burns in the park for the last couple of days so it was smokey on top of it. Here is an example of one of the astounding pictures that we got with our expensive new lens.


At least we got some good squirrel photos.


While at Yosemite, we managed to get in a hike in the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias. Now those are some huge trees. This is also where I believe that we got the only photo from the whole trip of both Rosey and I (with the exception of our wedding photos on the beach).


We were planning on doing more in Yosemite, but if you read the beginning of this post then you already know how that turned out.

So, it's good to be home now. We've basically spent the last couple of days lounging around the house and unwinding from all the traveling. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the honeymoon really is over... we both have to go back to work :(

Olympic Camping and Beaches

Here are some pictures that we took while camping and exploring in Olympic National Park in Washington. We stayed in the Graves Creek campground in the Quinault Rainforest area of Olympic National Park.

Hiking the Narrows

I already alluded to this in a previous post, but I didn't have time to post any details. So, several weeks ago Rosey and I hiked the entire length of the Zion Narrows from Chamberlain Ranch down to the Temple of Sinawava in Zion Canyon. The total trip was 16 miles, most of which was hiked in the middle of the Virgin river.

The trip was originally planned as a Birthday trip for my sister M who, like me, had attempted several times to hike the Narrows but always had plans fall through for one reason or another. Unfortunately for her, this weekend ended up being one of those times. She had recently had some surgery, and her doctor, at the last minute, disagreed with her that she was well enough to go on a hike like this. I would have just rescheduled the entire trip but all of this happened two days before we were scheduled for the trip and I already had reservations for everything.

Rosey and I took the day off on Friday and drove down to Zion. We needed to get there before 6PM in order to pick up our backcountry permit and to rent our river hiking gear. The river hiking gear consisted of neoperene socks, special boots that are meant to shed water easily, hiking sticks, fleeces, and a dry bag. Actually we could have just brought our own fleeces but it didn't occur to us how cold it was going to be in the Narrows early in the morning.

The trailhead at the top of the Narrows is an hours drive away. We made arrangements with the rental company to shuttle us up there to start the hike. Even if we had two cars with us, it's just so much more convenient to not have to worry about driving an extra 2 hours at the end of the day to go pick up your car.

Our shuttle left bright and early at 6:30 in the morning. We should have been on the trail by 7:30, but one of the groups on our shuttle was hiking in a different area of the park and we had to drop them off first. So, we didn't get started until sometime after 8AM.

The first three miles of the hike followed a dirt road that ran alongside the virgin river. At this point in the hike there was no canyon and no narrows to speak of... just a river running through a field. It was still a beautiful area though.


The walls of the canyon began to grow around us as we ventured further down the river. It was kind of neat to see the canyon forming like that.

And then, about 4 or 5 miles into the hike, really before we had even gotten int o the Narrows proper, tragedy struck. Rosey had just gotten a brand new digital camera from her Mom for her Birthday a couple of weeks earlier. As Rosey was removing the camera from it's case, it accidentally slipped out of her hand and fell to the ground.

The camera really didn't drop far enough that the impact did any damage. It actually had a pretty soft landing in some really fine sand. However, in the instant that the camera came in contact with that fine sand, the sand somehow infiltrated all of the inner working of the camera and bound them up. We could no longer even get the camera to turn on. So, we were stuck without a camera for the rest of the trip. It was a little sad to be without a camera but I was still just happy to get to do the hike after trying for so long.

I'll spare you the narrative for all sixteen miles of the hike and instead point out a couple of highlights:

• We ate lunch sitting on a log beneath a waterfall. The waterfall was only a 10-15 feet tall but there was a massive amount of water pouring over it.
  
• In the heat of the day we found a nice large boulder to jump off of into a deep pool in the river.
• There were several spots when we were able to take a short swim through some deep parts of the river. We never had to hike in water deeper than our thighs but sometimes we would jump in just to cool off.
• Rosey was pretty excited to spot some fish in the Virgin river. I'll admit that even I was impressed that the fish seemed to be doing so well in such a small and seemingly isolated river. She thought that they were some kind of trout.
  

Sixteen miles is a strenuous hike even on flat ground, but it is all the more so when you have unsturdy footing on the bottom of a rocky river bed. Although Rosey and I were beat by the time we made it back to the Temple of Sinawava, there were no serious injuries or complaints.

Some other people that we passed were not so lucky. There was one guy that we met about 3 miles from the from the end of the hike that was hobbling along because he had blown out both of his knees. I felt bad but there just wasn't much that we could do for him. He was close enough to the end of the hike that I wasn't too worried about him making it back before nightfall. Somehow, I'm guessing that guy didn't do much hiking for the next couple of days.

Rosey and I made it back to the Temple of Sinawava trailhead at about 6PM... nearly 10 hours after we had started earlier that morning. On the one hand it was kind of frustrating to have to take the park Shuttle back to our car, but on the other hand it just felt damned good to sit down :)

The few pictures that we did get before the camera puked are here.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

This past Memorial Day weekend Rosey and I got out on a 5-day long road trip through the Southwest. On the way we passed through 5 states (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona), saw 2 national parks and 2 national monuments.

Our first stop on the trip was Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This is a park that has been on my list of places that I've wanted to see for several years. I'm kind of a sucker for a good cave tour and I heard that this one was supposed to be one of the best. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I think that it's fair to say that this was the coolest (neatest) cave that I've ever been in.

I've never been able to get very good pictures in a cave and this trip seemed worst than most. All I managed to get was some shots of complete darkness. So, our only recorded memories from this park will be of the entrance to the caves :)


The cave was just massive and it was decorated with some pretty unbelievable cave formations. There were all of the normal formations that you might expect like flowstone, drapery, popcorn, stalactites, stalagmites and columns but there were also a handful of unique formations. The most interesting one, I thought was called the lion's tail. It was a stalactite that had grown a ball of cave popcorn on it's tail. It was pretty neat. I was also impressed by the fairyland. It reminded me a little of Goblin Valley only with the hoodoos being made of cave formations instead of redrock.

Our second stop was in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. To be honest, this wasn't a park that had really been on my list of places to see, but it was so close to Carlsbad that I figured it warranted a visit if for no other reason than to expand my collection of National Parks Maps :) I think that Rosey and I were both glad that we stopped. We both appreciated the desert landscape and the beautiful and unique mountains and I think that Rosey was particularly thrilled to learn about the geological history of the park (which I'll let her explain in her own post).


We took the better part of the 3rd day of our trip and did a 14 mile hike through the Guadalupe Mountains. The scenery was spectacular and it felt unbelievably good to get out and do some real hiking after spending the 2 days on the road.


On Day 4 we started our trek back home. Instead of going back the way we came we took a slight detour through central New Mexico and stopped by White Sands National Monument. I was impressed to discover that it is the largest gypsum sand dunes in the world.

I also thought it was really neat to learn how the dunes were formed. Apparently water running off the nearby mountains carries alot of dissolved minerals with it. The water settles into lakes in the valley which because of the heat dry up over the summer. As the mineral rich water dries it leaves massive gypsum crystals in the lake bed. Over time the crystals are broken down by the wind and blown into the nearby dunes. It would have been neat to go and see the crystals in the lake bed but unfortunately that part of the park is only accessible via ranger led hikes in the fall.

We didn't stay that long in White Sands and we really didn't do that much hiking. But we did stop to play in the sand. I had a lot of fun walking barefoot through the sand dunes. I was worried it would be too hot to go barefoot, but the sand was actually pretty cool and there seemed to be a surprising amount of moisture just beneath the surface.

Day 5 found us in a small town in Arizona where we had bedded for the night. We still had about 8 hours of driving ahead of us straight up highway 191. I had chose this route hoping that we would get to drive through Monument Valley. As it turned out we didn't get to see Monument Valley but we did get to stop at an unexpected fourth National Park (actually Monument).

As we were driving up 191 we stopped at Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona. The park was unique in that it appeared to still be occupied by Navajo residents. In fact there was only one trail in the entire park that you were allowed to hike without a special permit or Navajo guide. It was really quite interesting to see actual residences inside of a national monument.

The canyon was amazing. Rosey pointed out that it looked like a smaller version of Zion Canyon. At first I didn't agree but I started to see the similarity. We didn't have a ton of time so we toured the park by car stopping off at some of the viewpoints along the way. The most impressive viewpoint was of Spider Rock.


I'd love to come back sometime and backpack and/or mountain bike through the park. We just need to figure out how to get a Navajo guide that could keep up with us :)

Our Spring Break Adventure

My sister Marci was on Spring Break last week and wanted to get out and have an adventure. Marci, Rosey and I decided to do some backpacking in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. We hiked 5.5 miles into our campsite at Peekaboo Springs where we setup camp next to the Salt Creek. The full set of pictures is here.

I think that we may have been packed a little heavy for one night in the backcountry :) How many backpackers do you know that pack in a queen size air mattress and battery operated pump? Hey, I'm not complaining... I slept awesome that night!

The views were spectacular. We hiked in and out of several canyons that wound through the park like a maze.

We had to scale several ladders on the hike including this one. This one was particularly challenging because of how narrow the opening was. My pack was so large that I got wedged in between the rocks about 2/3 of the way down. I wanted to just push back and force my pack through, but I was worried that once I broke free I would end up toppling backwards off of the ladder.

Our Winter/Spring Weekend

Was this past weekend a late winter weeknd or an early spring weekend? I'm still really not sure. Judging by our activities though it may have been a little bit of both.

On Friday we went cross country skiing at the Sundance Nordic center. Unfortunatley the trail was mostly mush due to the warm temperatures. We still managed a quick loop through Middle Earth and arrived safely back at our car despite having a few near death experience coming down some steep runs with no stopping power in the wet slushy snow.

Later that day... we didn't get enough of a workout from the skiing so we decided to go on a quick bike ride. We did a short 12 mile ride around the neighborhood to stretch out our legs. God, I love biking.

Friday night, (unrelated to physical activity) we saw the Flying Karamazov Brothers at Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake City. It was a juggling act that performed in conjunction with the Utah symphony. Some of the juggling was impressive, but too much of the show was centered around cheap laughs rather than juggling performances. For instance, one of the "numbers" were these four middle aged men dressed in tutu's doing a mock ballet. It was amusing, no doubt, but felt a little like I was watching a "cultured" version of a "Jackass" episode (if there is such a thing). The best part of the evening was hearing the symphony perform a medley of music from the Russian composer Shastakovich (sp?).

Saturday morning, we packed up the car and headed down to Moab for the weekend. We started with an 8 mile hike around the permiter of Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands National Park (I believe it's actually called the Syncline Loop trail). Although much of the trail was in the sun and very warm, we ended up walking several miles through a shaded canyon where everything was still frozen and covered in snow. It was strange to transition between these two extremes on the same hike.

Saturday night I discovered that it was bad to mix large quantities of alcohol, sugar and fried food. We ate out at a Mexican Restaurant in Moab and I decided to cut loose a little bit and have a few drinks with dinner. The specialty that night was a pomegranate margarita. It sounded interesting, I had never had a pomegranate drink before. And so, I ordered and drank 3 of them.

I don't think that it was the alcohol itself that did me in. But something in the combination of the alcohol, sticky sugary sweet pomegranate margarita mix, the 3 baskets of chips and salsa that I ate while waiting for a table and the two mammoth sized enchiladadas that I ate for dinner made me feel really not well. I spent the remainder of the night moaning and groaning and trying very hard not to let anything touch or otherwise put any pressure on my stomach for fear that it might rupture and spill out the vile concoction that I had shoved into it earlier that night.

Sunday was dedicated to biking. In fact, my original inspiration for a weekend in Moab came from the desire to road bike through Arches. We ended up in Canyonlands rather than Arches but it still satisfied my craving for miles on the road bike. In fact I even think that the ride in Canyonlands was better than riding through Arches.

We kept a moderate pace riding from the visitor center out to Grand View Point; a short 12 mile ride on a brisk Sunday morning. But on the way back I split off on my own and decided to haul ass in order to atone for my previous nights indescretions. With the wind at my back and a slight downhill grade I achieved a top speed of 39 miles per hour... yes, on a leg-powered road bike. It was way cool.

I continued riding past the car at the visitors center and continued on to Dead Horse Point; about another 15 miles. I had been there several times before but it was Rosey's first time. We spent a couple of minutes gazing down at the gooseneck before returning back to the car for the day.

I ended up with a grand total of 52 miles for the day. Certainly not my longest ride (compared to some of my rides last year), but not bad for a ride in mid-February. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to discover that I had lost some of my stamina over the winter. Towards the end of the ride I was really struggling to find energy. Hopefully, I will regain it all when I start riding to work again.

We rounded out the day by doing some off-roading in Rosey's rodeo. Her vehicle is no longer new by any stretch of the imagination. It was a little unnerving to hear all of the squeaking and rattling as we traversed the rocky road. There were a couple of bumps where I was convinced the whole thing was just going to fall to pieces and that we would have to hike back out. In the end, the truck held together and we were rewarded with an incredible, up-close-and-personal view of the gooseneck in the Colorado river. It was a worthwhile diversion.

We woke up this morning to discover that our Spring Weekend was over. The weather suddenly remembered that it was February and decided to snow again. We drove home under ominous black clouds and light snow and arrived to 5 inches of snow in the driveway. I however, refused to let go of my Spring weekend. The weather was going to have to pry it from my cold dead hands. As an act of defiance, I decided to shovel my driveway in shorts and sandals.

Bringing in the New Year in the Tetons

This is neglected blog post #2


So, if you spend Christmas in the middle of the desert, where do you spend New Year's? Where else but in one of the coldest and snowiest places in the country, Grand Teton National Park.

This trip actually had a little additional utility packed into it. Rosey and I both got new cross country skis for Christmas and this trip was to be our maiden voyage on our new skis. According to the National Park Service website, cross country skis are a great way to explore the park in the winter. It sounded like a good idea to us.

I really lucked out finding a place to stay. I wanted to find a little cabin actually inside the park. A quick web search came up with the Triangle X ranch. They seemed a little pricey but they were smack dab in the middle of the park, the cabins looked really nice, and the price included all of your meals while you were there. The meals were supposedly prepared by a four star chef. I guess we would see about that.

Our Near Death Experience
I took Friday off of work to give us an even longer weekend. We left Spanish Fork early in the morning and headed up Hwy 89 to the Jackson Hole. This route was much more scenic than going up I-15 or out I-80 and took about the same amount of time. The only downside was that if we were to encounter snow these roads might be more difficult to traverse. But, there was no more snow in the forecast.

It had actually snowed pretty heavily the night before we left, but there had been plenty of time for the roads to clear... or so we thought :) We were driving through Logan canyon on our way to Bear Lake when we first had some trouble. The roads actually looked totally clear in the canyon. There was no snow buildup whatsoever and the roads even looked dry. We weren't going particularly fast; at least no faster than the traffic in front of us.

We came upon a turn going through the canyon that didn't look any different than the dozen other turns that we had traversed. But I remember, as if in slow motion, the car slowly drifting forward in a straight line even through the road was turning away from us. Holy shit, we just hit a patch of ice. I let off the gas and tried to correct my steering to regain control. I was in control for a second before the car started sliding the other direction, this time into what would be oncoming traffic (thank God no one was coming).

After three or four more iterations of correction and sliding, I was finally able to re-stabilize the car. Wow, that get's the adrenaline pumping :) I wondered how it was that we lost control and that none of the other cars in front of us seemed to have any trouble going the same speed over the same spot. I pulled over to check the car and make sure that everything was alright. It also gave my nerves a chance to settle. That whole experience gave me a whole new perspective on driving through canyons in the winter. I will never again just assume that the road is dry and safe just because it looks that way.

Will There Be Snow?
We did actually hit some snow near Bear Lake, but we managed fairly well and didn't have any more near-death experiences. Instead we dealt with an emotional roller coaster as we drove through areas of varying depths of snow. I really wanted to be able to ski in the Tetons and we kept passing through areas where there was barely any snow on the ground and I would freak out. Then we would pass through areas with 3 feet of snow built up and I would feel better again. The closer we got to Jackson, the higher the emotional peaks got and the lower the valleys got.

As we pulled into Jackson itself I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. There was only an inch or two of snow on the ground in town and the park was only 20 miles away. It was beginning to look like our cross-country ski vacation might turn into a hiking vacation. I guess that it wouldn't have been the end of the world to spend the weekend hiking instead of skiing, but I had really been looking forward to skiing and had spent a good deal of money making the perfect accommodations for the weekend.

I was kind of sad as I pulled out of Jackson and headed North into the park. I just couldn't imagine that the snow conditions could be that different 20 miles away. Fortunately they were were. As we left town we gradually gained elevation as we drove into the park. The couple of inches in town, turned to six inches just outside of town and then a foot and then two feet, and then three feet of snow beside the road. All of the sudden we were staring out over a beautiful snow blanketed winter landscape. Who'da thunk it?

Living the Good Life at the Ranch


Our accommodations at the ranch were spectacular. The cabin itself was rustic; it was a far cry from luxury, it was quite cozy. It was the lodge on the ranch that really made the ranch an incredible experience. The lodge was where we ate all of our meals and just came to relax after a day out and mingle with the other guests. There was a huge fireplace and a pool table and a piano and even an outdoor jacuzzi. It was wonderful.

I really had my doubts about the food at the ranch. Sure, the website said that they had a four star chef, but lots of places stretch the truth just to get you there. I was imagining that we were going to be eating lots of country cookin': deep fried food smothered in gravy. I was kind bummed out about it, because I was still trying to watch my weight and I didn't want to have this weekend set my progress back any.

You can imagine my surprise then when we sat down to dinner on the first night and were served a pumpkin lobster soup with ginger cream that rivaled, if not surpassed anything that I've ever eaten in a fancy restaurant in my life. The menu was small but it was all gourmet food. Over the course of three days we got to try just about everything and it was all fantastic. The New Year's Eve party really took the cake though. They served a "Surf and Turf" (Lobster tail and beef tenderloin) that was unlike anything I've ever eaten in my life. Wow, this place was such an incredible find. I would recommend it to anyone.

The only thing that was a little uncomfortable for me about our stay at the ranch was that I felt like I was surrounded by truly wealthy people. Even though they were all (well, mostly) very nice, I felt like I was being measured up. I think that this is something that guys tend to worry about more than girls.

There were several couples from Georgia (I think that Rosey actually enjoyed connecting with some compratiots from the south). One of them was retired and was dropping twenty dollar bills from his wad of cash like they were going out of style. Another of them was talking about their passion for sailing and all of their expensive toys and vacations.

There was a retired test pilot for Lockheed Martin that was making comments about how people that aren't truly wealthy shouldn't bother flying because they can't afford to properly maintain their equipment and will likely just end up killing themselves. And then there was a guy from Missouri that at one point in his life owned several dozen car dealerships (that he would not shut up about). Oh and there was another group of two younger couples that were on vacation. They knew each from school... Princeton :)

All of that aside, we still had a really good time. I think that the people at the ranch thought we were a little crazy for all of the skiing that we did. I guess most people who stay with them tend to do a little more relaxing and are a little less active. Over the course of our three days we did 23 miles of skiing around the ranch and in the park.

Deep Snow Skiing
On our first afternoon, we did a quick loop around the ranch on a groomed trail to get our ski legs back. Not wanting to waste any time, we packed up the car and headed into the park to get a short ski in before dinner time. We ended up going just down the road a couple of miles and pulling into the Dead Man's Bar turnout. The road was closed for the winter and made for a perfect ski in the deep snow.

I think that we figured out at some point that the road was actually supposed to be closed to all forms of travel and not just vehicles. That would explain why we were the first ones to lay tracks in the snow. The road that descended down to the snake river was actually really steep; a 19% decline. This would have been a real problem for two novice skiers were it not for the fact that the powder was so deep that it really kept you from gaining any momentum at all. In fact, the whole experience was less like skiing and more like snow shoeing. With each step your skis would sink about a foot into the snow.

It was about 2 miles down to the river. It was really neat to be in total isolation in the park as the sun was setting over Teton peak. It was gorgeous.

But then we discovered how quickly gorgeous can turn into dangerous. As we turned back to the car, the sun was setting and the temperature was quickly dropping below zero. I hadn't thought to bring my heavy jacket since I normally keep so warm just by the motion of skiing. The water that we brought along in Rosey's hydropack had actually frozen solid in the hose preventing us from having anything to drink. All of this and we still had to climb back up that 19% incline on skis. Climbing up on skis is definitely not like snowshoeing. Although most modern skis have fish scales on them to prevent you from sliding backwards, they only work up to about a 10% incline. Any more than that you really should have climbing skins (which we didn't).

The Jenny Lake Loop
The next morning, we had a huge breakfast at the lodge and then headed back into the park for a full day of skiing. The ranch was even nice enough to pack sack lunches for us since we wouldn't be coming back for lunch. We decided to ski from the Taggart Lake trailhead (just past the Moose Visitors center) to Jenny Lake and then back. The trail actually followed a road through the park that is closed over the winter and groomed for skiing. It wasn't actually grooved like a trail would be at a Nordic center, but the snow was hard packed and several grooves had been worn by other cross country skiers.


I think that this was where we really found our stride on the skis. It was relatively flat and we were getting really good glide riding in the tracks of other skiers. And you just couldn't beat the scenery. The Teton peaks were looming over us for the entire ski.


I spent the morning taking off and putting back on layers of clothing. I get so hot once I get going that I sweat uncontrollably. I'm not even sure how it's possible to sweat when temperature is below zero, but somehow I'm able. As long as I was moving everything was OK, but slow down even for a second and all of the moisture in my shirt would freeze solid like I was wearing chest armor. It was rather uncomfortable. My beard was most amusing. It frosted over and made me look like father Christmas :)


At some point near the lake we lost the trail and just started going off on our own in the deep snow. We lunched on the boat dock at Jenny Lake. We were totally isolated. It was strange because we actually started the trail with dozens of other skiers, but everyone else must have taken a different route or decided not to go as far as we did. Either way, it was nice to have the lake all to ourselves.

The ski back to the trailhead proved to be a little more challenging. We were already a little worn down from skiing all morning, we were both dealing with blistered heals, and the terrain was much more challenging. We took a trail that winded alongside a little creek. The trail was icy and had lots of sharp ups and downs that were difficult (for novices) to traverse on skis. I did more than my share of cursing through this area, even though secretly I was having a lot of fun :)

Taggart Lake and Colter Bay
By Sunday we were bruised, beaten, sore and blistered and yet neither one of us wanted to waste any our time in the park not skiing. So we bandaged up and headed back out. This time we took a shorter trail out to Taggart Lake. It didn't take long to realize that we were on a trail that was probably meant to be for more advance skiers. We were essentially climbing up switchbacks. This were fairly trivial to negotiate on the way up, but we were both concerned about navigating them on the way down.

I figured that the worst case scenario would be that we could take our skis off and walk down if things go too bad. But, as it turns out neither of us needed to walk back down. Rosey, who had started off being more skeptical than I was, was taking the turns like a pro. I, on the other hand, had a little rougher go of things :) I discovered quickly that the best technique for guaranteeing your safety when you are getting out of control is to just fall on purpose. I tried this several times just to make sure that I could do it and then used the technique several more times on the way down to keep from plowing into people and things. There were no major wrecks, but even two weeks later, I'm still recovering from some of the bruises.

In the afternoon we did another short 4 mile loop near Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. Although this trail probably had the worst conditions, it was pretty chewed by snowshoers, it was my favorite trail that we did. We weaved in and out of the trees, went up and down hills, skied out to two smaller lakes before making our way back to the car. Awesome!

All in all I would say that the whole trip was an incredible experience. The Tetons are beautiful, skiing was a ton of fun, and the ranch was so relaxing. This could easily turn into a new New Year's tradition :)


The rest of our pictures are here.

A Visit From Rosey's Mom

This is neglected blog post #1 (and it is really delinquent) :)


The second weekend in December Rosey's Mom came to visit us for a long weekend. I had met her briefly in Alabama in June but we didn't really have a whole lot of time to get to know each other before we packed up all of Rosey's stuff and drove across the country to Utah. I imagine that it must have been awkward for a mother to let her daughter move across the country with an almost complete stranger.

We actually spent an enjoyable and eventful weekend together. We kicked things off on Friday night with a trip to Capitol theatre to see the Ballet West production of "The Nutcracker". The ballet has been on my list of things that I wanted to try for a long time. The nutcracker seemed like a good show to cut my teeth on and was, of course, appropriate to the season :)

I had mixed feelings about this production of the Nutcracker. I enjoyed the dancing when there was dancing but much of the first 45 minutes of the show was just a bunch of kids running around on stage. That just wasn't really all that amusing to me. I think that I would like to try out another ballet before passing judgment on the entire activity.

On Saturday morning, we decided to pack up the car and head to Zion for the weekend. This was a particular treat for Rosey's Mom who hadn't been to scenic Southern Utah since she moved away 27 years earlier. And of course, Rosey and I are always up for a trip down into the red rock.

In Zion, I decided that all three of us would hike to observation point. It's an 8 mile hike that ascends up to the Mesa overlooking the canyon. The view from the top is spectacular and the scenery along the way through the red rock canyons is like nowhere else on earth.


Now that I've been in Utah for several years, I tend to forget what it's like to live at a lower elevation. Especially now that I'm in good shape I forget what it's like to gasp for breath when the air is so much thinner than you are used to. Rosey's Mom is actually in pretty good shape but her Alabama lungs were just no match for the climb to Observation point. Even without making it to the top, it's still a gorgeous hike.


Rosey's Mom decided to slowly meander back down the trail while Rosey and I hightailed it to the top and then back down again. Running up a trail like that is unbelievably good exercise. If you could do that every morning, you would never need to worry about your fitness again. Kinda makes me wish I was a park ranger in Zion. Hmm, maybe when I retire :)

We decided to stay in Zion Saturday night rather than drive all the way back to Spanish Fork tired from the day's activities. We found a pleasant motel just outside the park and then went to Oscars' cafe for dinner. Even though it was probably 40 degrees out, we decided to dine out on the patio beneath several gas heaters. The heat felt wonderful and, well, you know me, I'm all about the open flame :)

Sitting on the patio we were lucky enough to be serenaded by some Christmas carolers that happened by. Sure the people inside could have seen the carolers and might even have been able to hear them a little, but they didn't get to experience them like we did outside. It really is a neat experience to be in Zion at Christmas time.

On Sunday, on our way out of the park, we got another rare and perilous treat: we got to see Zion in the snow. As we ascended up to the Zion - Mt. Carmel tunnel the snow began to fall and steadily progressed as we trekked through the park to the east entrance. If you've never been to Zion before, driving through the east side of the park, is like being on another planet. The red rock is swirled and twisted gnarled in ways that you wouldn't think possible. The light blanket of snow just made it that much more incredible.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long before the light blanket of snow became a heavy blanket of snow. The thing that concerned me most was that we were on a route that was going to take us back to Spanish Fork via back roads. The interstates in Utah are usually kept pretty clear even in heavy snow, but you are really taking your chance driving on the old state highway (hwy 89). It's not traveled nearly as frequently anymore and there's no telling how long it would take before a snow plow would come through.


The drive between Zion and Bryce was formidable. I got behind a semi and just kept a slow even pace. The snow was coming down so hard that you could hardly see 20 feet in front of you. Most of the time I couldn't even see the actual semi in front of me. All I could see was the faint red glow of it's tail lights through the falling snow. Fortunately that was enough to keep me on the road.

When we got to Bryce we had a decision to make: Do we stop in the park for a minute like we originally planned or do we just keep pressing forward? On the one hand, stopping for a minute could give the plows a chance to come through and clean up the roads. On the other hand, stopping for a minute could just give things a chance to get really bad. In the end we decided to stop. If nothing else, I could use the break from the tension of driving in those conditions.


Ironically, there wasn't much to see in Bryce. We drove out to Sunset point and did the short hike up to one of the overlooks. The snow was coming down so hard and the wind was blowing so strong that it was difficult to see anything even when you could manage to hold your gaze long enough to take something in. Nonetheless, it was a fun little detour and I think that the roads did improve slightly on the way home.


Before leaving, Rosey's Mom gave us a really nice Christmas gift. She printed off several black and white photos that Rosey and I had taken over the summer (and some one's that I had taken over the years), and framed them for us. It took several weeks after she left for us to actually get them up on the wall, but they are up now and look wonderful.

The rest of our pictures are here.

Celebrating the Birth of Christ in the Valley of Death

Wow, it sounds so cool just to say that :)

Rosey and I have decided to spend Christmas camping in Death Valley National Park in Nevada/California. We hope to get in a lot of hiking and exploring and start a new tradition of a Christmas campfire.

Hmm, I wonder if they have mistletoe in the desert?