Provo Round #2

This weekend I was lucky enough to be able to visit Ivy again! My Andrew aunts and uncles were celebrating my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary, so I asked to be just dropped off at BYU. I arrived just after Ivy had raced in the school's mini-triathlon, and had finished strong. We (she) recovered in her apartment in the Foreign Language Housing where she studies Spanish. 

Later in the afternoon we hiked up Rock Canyon, which is only a 15 min. walk from campus. The fall colors were pretty, and the cool air was perfect for a hike. There were several groups climbing and mountain biking, and we joined the many couples that were obviously hiking for a date. We explored the canyon, found a cool cave, and crossed the stream several times. Ivy told me about Squaw Peak that overlooks the canyon and times that she's climbed it. Pretty cool!

After we walked back into town, she showed me around campus and all the things that she does around there. We had dinner at the Ruby Thai restaurant and then watched a flick at the International Cinema. I invited her over to my grandparent's house for the night and the next day, and we stayed there with all my crazy wild cousins and family. Sunday we went to church and after lunch we dropped Ivy off and headed home to Moab (where my new climbing harness had arrived! Now I have all the gear I need to climb with my friends). What an awesome weekend.

Exploding colors in Rock Canyon

Klondike Bluffs

Sterling and I wanted an afternoon ride the other day, so we threw on the bikes and sped off to Klondike Bluffs. After saying goodbye to the trailhead, we began the 4.5 mile ascent to the lookout on the top, which views Arches Nat'l Park. Uphill wasn't too bad; just pop your bike into granny gear and cruise up. We stopped to check out the dinosaur tracks on the left of the trail and then helped out a couple who had bent a derailleur (helping others = good trail karma). After a nice hike at the overlook, we jumped back on and just bombed downhill. It made all that up really worth it! Klondike Bluffs is an awesome trail, and I'll definitely ride it again.

Good Times in Happy Valley

I got Saturday afternoon tickets to General Conference! It was an awesome double-date; I took Ivy and Jed took Kesha. It was my first time going to a session in the Conference Center, and it was pretty exciting to be completely surrounded by people who were all there for one purpose: to listen to the Prophet. After that session, we needed to get to my Andrew grandparent's house because we were going to stay there. It took us over an hour of driving to finally figure out where we were going (we drove a complete circle around the city of Murray). I almost always get lost in big cities, I hate it! Cities are nothing like a canyon or desert - those are easy to find your way, sheesh. Anyways, we stayed at my grandparent's house on Sunday and watched the rest of Conference there. What a crazy awesome weekend of friends, family, and Ivy!

Deso #3

Last week Karen, Kerri, Ammon and I did a three day Desolation Canyon trip. We actually did the whole thing in about 50 hours (Karen had to be back for a Cat trip), without a motor. Cooking on the boat, naps on the boat, grooving on the... no, just kidding! We rowed into the dark every night, and even floated Range Creek Rapid in the dark. Camp was always late, but we enjoyed it and the weather was beautiful. No rain, hardly any wind, and it was pretty warm. We stopped at the iron-prowed skiff, Rock Creek Ranch, the Three Canyons Bridge, Last Chance Rapid (in the dark!), and climbed up the cliff at Rattlesnake. Most of these places we don't stop when we're on commercial trips. And the wildlife was amazing! There were bald eagles, two herds of bighorn sheep, and lots of beavers. It's the best in the fall - I love guide trips.