summer so far...

I kept thinking to myself that I still have plenty of summer to still write, but I realized that today is already the beginning of August.

Where did it go???

I suppose that I should keep up on my writing because this is the closest thing I have to a journal at the moment. Needless to say it's been a busy summer. Right after school ended I packed up and headed to CA to fulfill my lifelong desire to sell pest control door-to-door. . . . . . . . . . . .

Just kidding.

That lasted a few weeks (enough to see a few friends from my mission and visit Lake Tahoe with a great friend) and I realized that I left my heart in Moab and that's where I needed to be. So I woke up one morning, called and quit, threw my stuff in the back of my truck and dead-headed it back to the homeland. I was lucky enough to get my riverguiding job back that I had before my mission, and I've been working nights at Sunset Grill as a server.

So between whitewater trips and serving delish steak and seafood I've been climbing and camping when I can. It's been so good to be with my family (especially my brother Joseph who leaves on his mission to Brazil at the end of this month), hang out with old friends, and find new ones.

Anyways, the summer's not over yet, but here are a few of the highlights so far. One of the best trips this summer was a Desolation Canyon trip I did with Dani and Kayla (can you tell that Deso is my favorite?).

Lasal Mountains

Camp at Jack Creek, Desolation

Kerri on Nervous in Suburbia, Wall St.

Rocky Rapid, Fisher Towers section of the Colorado

yurt stoke

Yurt: a Turkish or Mongolian tent-like structure, the traditional dwellings of nomads in central Asia.

Pretty much, the coolest cabin you've ever seen.

This March a group of friends and I rented and stayed in the yurt up Green Canyon here in Logan, UT. It was incredible! The weather couldn't have been better and the hike in was beautiful. We left Logan late afternoon on a Friday, and the hike was pretty moderate. Total of 4 miles from the trailhead, and we hit snow about a mile in. During the summer this campsite is accessible by 4WD, but the road is blocked and the yurt is set up in the winter months for backcountry snowshoers and skiers.

We stayed overnight in luxury with four bunk beds, a wood burning stove, propane for cooking, and even an outhouse (in case your butt wasn't already cold enough from the walk over)! All we had to bring was our sleeping bags, personal gear, and food - everything else was provided. After bear creek soups for dinner that night we roasted s'mores and played campfire games.

The next morning we cooked pancakes and bacon for breakfast and melted snow for drinking/washing water. We left about 11 o'clock, and it was a little cloudy but we didn't have any snow or rain.

Katrina, Kelli, Kori, Braden, Jacob
Clarissa, Jame
me and Todd

Stoke level: through the roof!

Braden keeping it classy in sandals.

I'm happy to check this off the bucket list, but this will probably become a winter tradition. I think next year we'll rent it for a couple days and spend it snowshoeing and skiing some of the trails up there. This was an incredible experience and well worth doing again.

This yurt and two others up Logan Canyon are owned and rented by Powder Ridge Ski Tours. They keep their yurts well maintained and stocked. I would recommend them to anyone, check them out!

corona arch rope swingin'

"So I just go???"
- the last few words out of my mouth before yelling at the top of my lungs as I took the 100 foot drop below Corona Arch.

This was possibly the craziest thing I've done in a long time, second to skydiving when I was 18. My roommate and I hiked to the top of Corona Arch while a group of people were swinging, inspected the gear and riggings, and jumped. If Clint hadn't jumped first I probably wouldn't have tried it. He jumped without hesitation! I barely had time to start recording with my camera. After watching a couple people swing from the arch it seemed pretty safe, but somehow that hike back down to the canyon floor didn't seem so bad! But I just had to try it and I'm glad I did. Try everything at least once, right?

You'll love my facial expressions mid-flight.



Spring break has come and gone too fast! Braden and I originally went to Moab to volunteer for and run the Canyonlands Half Marathon and Clint came down to have fun and see some family. Saturday after the race we all decided to hike Corona Arch and ended up jumping off of it. I don't think I woke up race morning and said to myself, "I want to jump off a cliff today," but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Would I do it again? YES. 100%. It would be a lot easier the second time anyways. Sometimes I wonder if it ever gets old for some people, but I guess not, otherwise why are they still doing it? Whatever, call me an adrenaline junkie.

Up the canyon...

This place is simply amazing! I love Logan Canyon. And the best thing about it is it's about 4.28 minutes from where I live. I can see a tint of color in the leaves as the temperatures start to drop at night. I'm only just beginning to discover the beauty of these mountains. I'm looking forward to many more adventures here.

Martina on the Crimson Trail

Todd and me at the Hobbit Caves.

Trailhead shot at the Wind Caves
Wes, Maddie, Emily, me

On top of the Crimson Trail

I JUST LOVE LOGAN!!!

Camping at Hyrum Res

This weekend Wes (Elder Mangum, mission buddy) and I decided to get a group together and go camping at Hyrum Reservoir. The plan was to stay the night and swim the next morning, but we didn't quite make it that far. We got to the lake, found a secluded campsite, saw a screeching owl, and had a weenie roast. We neglected to bring a tent, but I checked the weather before and it was only a 20% chance of precip so I figured we'd be fine.

Yeah, right.

It sprinkled on and off all night, but about 2am it started to dump. I was a little concerned because we were in kind of a wash, and pretty soon all of us were soaking in our sleeping bags. So we packed back to Logan and by the time we got there around 3am, the rain was done and it didn't rain again all night. Needless to say I was a little bitter, but I got an excuse to wash my sleeping bag and it was worth it.

:)

Emily, Wes, Mackelle, Rachel, Kevin, Cassidy, and Chris

We'll be back out before too long! This time maybe a little more prepared.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Happy Earth Day

Canyonlands, Needles District

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.

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...

Ice Fishing

Today some friends and I went fishing in the LaSals. We rode Josh's four-wheeler with tracks, so that made the three miles to Oowah real quick! (faster than snowshoeing at least)

The fishing was great - the company was better.

Snowshoeing Oowah

Chillin' in sunny LaSal

Last weekend Ivy and I borrowed snowshoes from our friends Brian and Angela and headed to the mountains! We parked on the LaSal loop road and hiked in to Oowah Lake. Three miles uphill in 2-3 ft of snow is grueling, with or without snowshoes. As our first time snowshoeing, it was hard to get used to (never try to walk backwards with those on!), but it was fun. There had only been two other people up there since it had snowed. It was cool to see how the mountains had changed from the last time I had been up there to the deep snow and green pines. Recharged with energy bars and fruit leather at the frozen-over lake, we breezed back down the trail just as the sun was disappearing. So excited for our snowshoe trip in February!

I'll be better with putting up photos...

Stay tuned for sweet action pictures.