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!

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Monday night I took Ivy to the Banff Film Fest here in Moab. After picking up the free posters and stickers from Petzl, we entered the auditorium and joined the crowds of adrenaline junkies waiting for the show. It started off with two sweaty-palm-inducing, on-the-edge films where you feared for the athelete's life. I got an rush just watching the incredible feats these people accomplish. Dean Potter was featured in the flim "Fly or Die," where he free BASED (climbing with no safety equipment besides a parachute) the north face of the Eiger, a 1,000 ft peak in Switzerland that more than 60 climbers have died on. After successfully topping-out, he leaped from a ledge and flew to safety.

Luckily for my adrenal glands not all the films were this intense. This was one of my favorite films they showed:

I hope someday I can grow a beard like that. After the show I felt like BASE jumping, or treking across a large desert, or something crazy like that. Sponsorships, anybody? Hmm, maybe I can get a camera crew and helicopter to document my float down the daily...

Stencils

To fill the boredom of cold winter days, I've taken an interest in stenciling. I just modify pictures I've taken, print them out on cardstock, and cut them out with an X-acto knife. Layers of tape and spray paint later, I'm left with some pretty cool designs. So far I've stenciled a couple shirts and my messenger bag.

Front: WWCAD? (What Would Christopher Andrew Do?)

Back: Because I'm awesome.

I got a bleaching idea from instructables.com. I cut out my design, "CFA," on freezer paper (like wax paper except one-sided), ironed it on my jeans, and applied bleach from a spray bottle. It works pretty well!