New address

Smiling for three hours straight. I think it's permanent.

To make it easier to follow emails and updates from me while I'm on my mission, I'm posting to a mission blog here: chrisinsacramento.blogspot.com. I send a weekly email to this blog address and it publishes my letters automatically. See ya there!

Take two

As a last romp in the desert, Kim, Ivy and I took a trip down to the San Rafael Swell. Neither of them had canyoneered in Blue John before, but really wanted to. I was familiar with the canyon already, and I love the long, narrow slots, so Blue John it was. The drive was interesting; we saw a herd of wild horses and got the car stuck in the sand. There must've been a strong storm or something, because the road was covered in deep sand--not like it had been last month. After we got the car stuck once, we found a great camp spot close to the trailhead and stayed the night.

At the trailhead in the morning. Here's to you, Aron Ralston! Cliché, I'm sure.

Over the last month this canyon had seen a lot of changes. There must've been a strong flash flood, because the slots were filled with standing water and slick mud. It made getting through the canyon a lot harder than before, and we hadn't counted for that difficulty. It took us almost twice the time to get through the canyon than it had taken Jef and I.

On our way back through the west canyon, there were several places in the canyon that it was apparent that there had been small rock slides. A little dust here, some rocks there... it was kinda cool. And then we came across this:

Gnarly. The trail used to be right under all that! There were gouge marks all the way down the canyon walls where the boulders had fallen. It probably happened within the last week or so, before it thunder-stormed and flash flooded. Kinda a big deal.

This is at the end of our hike, at 7:30pm. 10.5 hours of hiking, scrambling, canyoneering... SO exhausted. It was a great adventure.

6 HOURS

Yesterday my buddy Jef and I went to The Robber's Roost and descended into Blue John Canyon. The canyon was made famous by this guy:

There are a couple of forks that join together to form lower Blue John Canyon, where Aron got stuck. That canyon drops into Horseshoe Canyon, where my dad and I hiked a couple weeks ago. Jef and I did a loop through the slots above Lower Blue John, and it only took us 6 hours. This sign we found at the trailhead info kiosk.

Read the bottom paragraph: the blue pool is NOT in Blue John (like it shows in the preview and movie!).

At a wider section of the slot canyon. We caught the sun perfectly! Some deeper parts of the canyon never see the light of day.

Jef descending deeper into the slot. There were about four or five places that had webbing to rappel from, but it wasn't exposed or technical enough to need a rope. It's incredible to be inside such narrow slots without the heat from the summer sun!

Worst pet peeve

I really hate it when I find graffiti and vandalism in the wilderness. It's really narcissistic and shows disrespect when you scratch your name and date in a wall. What if every hiker pecked their name into the rock? Really, who will recognize your name and truly care if you were there? Take a picture of the rock for crying out loud. Markings like that take away from the natural beauty of the rocks and their features. The sad part is, most graffiti is labeled as a "historic resource" after about fifty years. The "50 year rule" generally applies to all graffiti, trash, and anything else that is not native to the land. Ridiculous.

In this picture, Clyde, Joe, and Albert scrawled their names right over the native american pictographs. Dumb.

The Needles, Canyonlands. Mountains of untouched crypto. You don't find too much of this in Arches.

This is what I love: beautifully pristine wilderness with no sign that any other human being was there before you. I took this picture while backpacking with Ivy. Only a narrow trail led our way through the desert.

Wildfire

There was a wildfire in the wetlands on Monday. It came really close to the west side of town, where I live at the World Wide warehouse and the Hazlett's house. It was about 5pm when I noticed ash falling into the warehouse yard and was about to jump on top of the roof to see if I could see any flames. Ken Bishoff from the county Search & Rescue walked into the yard and told us that they're encouraging evacuation. A few of the guides and I walked down the Hazlett's house and prepared to help spray trees down if it got any closer. There were 50mph gusts spreading the flames, and it got really close to a few houses before the winds died down and the firefighters got it under control.

A view from the Hazlett's yard. Click to see a report on KSL.

Horseshoe Canyon

Last weekend my dad and I took off to the San Rafael Swell. We started in Horseshoe Canyon, a deep canyon filled with incredible pictographs, known as the Great Gallery. The trail meandered through a sandy and rocky wash in the shadows of the towering walls and the cottonwood trees. There were small pools in the wash where thousands of little tadpoles and water skippers swam. The red pictographs rose high on the cliffs, obviously painted in a time when the canyon floor was higher. Some figures were close together with triangular bodies, and some had limbs wielding weapons.

Part of the Great Gallery panel

Little friend on the trail

On the way back we stopped at Chaffin Ranch Geyser. Who knew there was a geyser in the middle of the desert?! It was an old drill hole that spouts carbon dioxide and water filled with minerals twenty feet in the air. We were there when it blew, and it went on for about fifteen minutes. The ground all around the cold-water geyser is covered with hardened layers of minerals that turn everything a brownish-orange color. An old wagon wheel and wood beams laid close by, slowly petrifying. It was incredible.

Thanks, dad!

If I told you

where this place is, I'd have to kill you. I'll give you a hint though, it's in Arches. It was cool to hike to something not well-known in such a high-traffic national park. I love discovering the wild and weird; the esoteric places of Moab.

Two years in two minutes

This girl is my best friend. She's amazing, and I love her!

Life for two years

I got it today: my mission call to Sacramento, California. I leave August 17th. English speaking. Getting the envelope and opening it, reading the letter and mission information... it was all so surreal. I knew it was coming, but it was just a little unexpected. You know Christmas day, when you've been waiting all year, and then it's finally here? It's like "Woah man, it's Christmas." except it's "Woah man, I'm living in California for two years to teach the gospel." You know? Crazy.

Now the shock has worn off a little, I'm pretty excited. Sacramento is right. Life is good.

Training

We've been busy at World Wide these past two weeks; we did a Cataract Canyon trip in one and a half days, ran Westwater five times, and did a three-day Desolation Canyon trip.

Cat went by fast with an S-rig and one row boat. About 20,000 cfs.

I had never done Westwater before, and I was amazed at the incredible rock formations and intense rapids. Desolation Canyon is the best multi-day trip, but Westwater is a new favorite.

About 15-20,000 cfs

The black canyon walls are metamorphic rock called "Vishnu Schist." Westwater Canyon is the only place on the Colorado besides the Grand Canyon where Precambrian rock is exposed. It's eroded by water pushing around smaller rocks creating little tunnels called "fluting."

Meet Kirk, Ghia's husband as of January. He came along and helped train, as well as motor and cut down rowing time. He's a fly guy, and his boat is sweet!

This was my fourth time down Deso (about 22-24,000 cfs). I love that canyon; the history is full of ranchers and outlaws, indian lore, fun rapids, and incredible beauty.

Celebrating Joe and Jordan's birthdays with dutch oven carrot cake and lots of burning things.

 

Joe and I had a minor sinus issue... allergies.

A few of the crew this year: Will, Dallin, me, Ivy, Cameron, Joe, Libby, Ghia, Matt, Jane, Kim, Jordan, and Lexy.

Atop a towering cliff about Rattlesnake rapid. I love this place!

Lost in Lost Canyon

I just got home from an overnight backpacking trip in The Needles district of Canyonlands! Ivy got an internship for the SCA and is a park ranger there. River guide buddies Mike, Joe, Stephen and Amber joined Ivy and I hiking in Lost Canyon, Peekaboo, and Squaw Canyon. The trails were amazing! We hiked on solid slickrock for miles, where the trail is only discernible by numerous rock cairns until we descended through slots into canyons filled with meandering streams and newly-leaved Cottonwood trees. We explored several Indian archeological sites. I am always amazed at how well-preserved the wilderness is in the Needles. There are mountains of untouched cryptobiotic soil! The trails are followed and the campsites are well cared for. I love that place.

Camp broken and ready to go this morning at our campsite, LC3

Several animals visited us last night: hungry mice, Rodents of Unusual Size, and squawking birds at 4am. But after 10 miles, that pad has never been so comfortable!

We hiked to Peekaboo and found these incredible pictographs. I've never seen hand-prints like these.

Claret Cup Cactus

Ivy and I. She only has 5 more weeks here!

This post goes out to Moab

Eco-friendly, tourist-friendly, local-friendlier, adventure-friendly... I live in a happy place. These are the places I frequent.


View Local Moab in a larger map

Castleton Tower

Today I climbed Castleton Tower! Brian Hays and I climbed the Kor-Ingalls route, the route that made the first ascent of the tower in 1961. It was incredible! The climbing was fun and fairly easy, but the wind was terrible.

Behind me is the Colorado River, the towers Jah Man, the Priest and the Nuns, and the Rectory.

There are four pitches. The first, second, and fourth were easy. The third pitch was pretty hard, and slick hardened calcite didn't make it any easier. This is Brian at the anchors of the last pitch, about to rappel.

Where is this?

The view of our route before the approach. The tower stands 400 ft above the ground, and it's elevation is 6,656 ft. What a beautiful tower!

Chris on a bored day.

After night bouldering late yesterday, my internal adventure clock woke me up way too early this morning. It must not have known that today was going to be a cloudy, rainy day. I could not live in a place that was always cloudy, like Seattle, because after just one afternoon of gloom I feel doomed. Here's what a day like this looks like:
-check my facebook
-think of things to do
-realize that I've already done everything on my list
-watch YouTube videos
-get dressed
-listen to music, maybe buy new songs
-check my facebook
-call/text all my friends in town (who usually have normal jobs and can't play)
-finish project(s) that my understanding mother gives me
-browse instructables, mountain project, friends blogs
-check my facebook
-leave the house on my bike
-meander town, "bored shop"
-come home, check FB again, loaf around, fall asleep at 1am

I actually check my facebook a lot more than what I put on that list. Also, eating out by yourself isn't that fun either. Bleh. I'm always unprepared for days like these. I need to find a service project or homework or something.

Happy Earth Day

Canyonlands, Needles District

What Inspires You?

In 2008 Ueli Steck broke his own world record ascent of the Eiger in Switzerland. The north face normally takes four days to complete. It has earned the German nickname Mordwand, or "death wall," because more than sixty climbers have met their death on the mountain.

I will keep moving, and make progess in my life.

Celebrity Playlist: CFA

This is what I've been grooving to lately.

Gemini to Baby Lion's

Here's a few pictures from the weekend. We rode Gemini Bridges in the morning with snow at the trailhead, and rappelled in the afternoon with bitter winds. Never a bad day for adventure!

The crew at the bridges - Mick, Tyler, Arlee, Sterling, Jed, Mike, Chris, Chris.

Where are we? 

Jed was our shuttle driver, and at the trailhead he just decided to follow us. We had truck support on Gemini Bridges! At the end I suggested we ride with Jed through the flat and uphill. He dropped us off at the top and we bombed down to the parking. Sweet!

Chris just got a new static rope so we can go canyoneering. So Mick took us to the top of Baby Lion's Back in his Jeep to test out the new rope on the rappel up there.

Crotch shot

That night we were too tired to do anything, so we let Dumb and Dumber play while we napped on the couches.

This Time

This time last year I had a machine breathing for me
I was put in an induced coma so I could not move and possibly cause more damage to my lungs

I was on more drugs than you can count on two hands

For weeks no-one knew why my lungs were hemorrhaging
I was in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Mary's for 13 days

I regained consciousness a week after I was supposed to be running the Canyonlands Half Marathon. I couldn't sit up by myself and it took effort just to talk. I was 25 pounds lighter than I was one month before, in my peak physical condition. It took a long time to get my body back. "Taking it easy," "not overdoing it," physical therapy... I had to be reminded to be patient.

I could've died. Miraculously, I live without lasting impairments. Life means so much more now. My physical body is the greatest gift I've received.

Now, I have been training for months. I am ready to run the Half Marathon that I missed last year.

This time this year I ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon.