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

The Hobbit Caves and Fucoidal Quartzite

This weekend Todd and I camped-out at the Hobbit Caves (so named for the small caves that pocket the limestone bedrock). There are a couple of bolted, one-pitch climbs there that we worked on that night. A few friends joined us for s'mores and a game of "what are the odds?" It was the perfect weather - a little chilly but not butt-freezin' cold.

The crew in the morning - Savannah, Todd, Mercedes, and Martina

Martina, Mercedes, and Savannah came back up in the morning to climb at Fucoidal Quartzite range on the other side of the canyon. None of us had climbed there before, but the Logan Ranger District sign helped us out a ton:

Illusions, 5.10

We got a couple good climbs in. I am surprised by my ability to lead a 5.10 even after not climbing for two years. Blessings from heaven.

Mercedes the rock eater grasping for crimpers on the crux - just doing whatever it takes.

Hey Todd - what are the odds you'd climb barefoot?

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.

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!

Happy Earth Day

Canyonlands, Needles District

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.

Goblin Valley

Karen, Kerri, Lauren, Ivy and I took a road trip to Goblin Valley and the surrounding canyons. We drove out to Crack Canyon and had delicious tin-foil dinners and set up camp. In the morning we hiked Little Wildhorse Canyon and explored the hoodoos in the park. I really want to discover more in the San Rafael Swell. I love slot canyons!

 

Little Wildhorse Slot Canyon



Ivy, Lauren, Kerri, Karen.

Mesa Verde National Park

We went to Mesa Verde in Colorado for a weekend vacation.

Carefull, that stuff's dangerous!

Company Cat

This year we got to do a company Cataract Canyon trip! It was just a bunch of guides, friends, and one of Nicki's friends with her family. It was so much fun, and the rapids were awesome.

The crew: John, Mark, Mike, Stephen, Joe, Ivy, Karen, Chris, Jordan, Lexy, Erica, Scott, Jane, Dale, Suzy, Clinton, Morgan, and Sheena.

Like always, Suzy just can't seem to keep her hands off me, and of course Clinton has to help her out. Some passengers on other trips have even asked if Suzy and I are dating because she horses around a lot more than Ivy does :P

Holly wanted to "go on the boats" instead of driving back with Steve.

 We left the put-in at about 9:30, so it was dark as we motored to our first campsite. It was cool, I've never rafted in the dark! People read, slept, and ate leftover cheesecake from some wedding reception.

The fun boat with Mark, Joe, Suzy, Me, Ivy, Morgan, Steven, and Scott.

For dress-up night all three of us unintentionally wore Hawaiian-themed clothing.

I love Cataract Canyon

Lake Powell

The single's ward went to Lake Powell for three days to waterski, wakeboard, kneeboard, and everything in-between. Jane even bare-foot skied!

Cooking fajitas. Good food always makes the trip so much better. We used World Wide's kitchen and food, so most of the riverguides cooked because we knew what we were doing. The funniest quote of the weekend was "I like how as riverguides, we just get it." --Jordan

The best part of the trip was cliff jumping.

Last time I went to Lake Powell I tried several times to stand up on a wakeboard, but I couldn't. So I settled for kneeboarding instead. Ivy got a gnarly bruise from a crazy flip-jump-twist-wreck she did. It was impressive.

Ivy and I at Defiance House, awesome indian ruins!

  Randy, one of our favorite guys. He took us all over the place to cliff jump, hike, and swim. We went to Party Cove, where the cliff wall alcoves straight into the water.

And guess who got groover duty? Eww...

Desolation and Grey Canyon

At World Wide, every riverguide gets a free river trip a year for a family member. I decided to take my brother Joseph on a five-day Desolation Canyon river trip. Ivy came too, so the three of us got our own boat. There where two other guides on the trip, Suzy-Q and Morgan. The first day we have to cover 25 out of 86 miles of the Green River, so we took a motor with enough gas for one day.

Rigging our boats at Sand Wash, the put-in, Monday evening.

The next morning while we waited for Suzy and Morgan to get the passengers from the airstrip, I found a snake. When Suzy came back we put the reptile on her back. At first she thought it was her sunglasses and chums.

Unfortunately Jed, our driver and the motorhead, forgot to tell us to open up the gas tank while the motor was running, so it died a lot. It was embarrassing because all our passengers knew we didn't know what we were really doing. Luckily for us, they were very nice and helped out.

It took forever for us to figure it out. Everyone except for Suzy wanted to shoot ourselves. Instead she just swears, right Suzy? ;)

Outlaw hide-out in Firewater Canyon.

One of the nights it stormed the whole time. Cool lightening and thunder but we didn't appreciate the rain very much.

Morgan tried to stay dry by sleeping in her dry-bag under the table. I don't know why she's smiling, it didn't work that great.

Ivy and I at McPhereson Ranch. I'm glad we use groovers on the river now.

We stopped on a small isolated beach after Rattlesnake Rapid and hung out there for about thirty minutes. One of our young passengers pointed downstream and said, "Hey! A bear!" We got off that beach pretty quickly. The black bear looked like an awkward adolescent. I love the wildlife in Desolation and Grey Canyon!

In camp we played the whipped cream game with our passengers. It's my favorite river game.

Ivy and I drew straws for our favorite rapid on Deso, Three Fords, and I got it! I really hope that the year I come back to guide I can be trained for commercial trips like Cataract and Desolation Canyon.

Love ya deso ~ until next time!