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!

amasa back

A couple weekends ago I went down to Moab with a roommate who was running the Moab Red Hot trail run. It was awesome to spend time with family and friends and the outdoor temperatures couldn't have been better! The morning before I headed back north for Logan my brother Joseph and friend Kerri and I rode the Amasa Back trail. The last time I attempted that one was about four years ago when I got sick! I was ascending the long uphill at the beginning when I was coughing and spitting out bloody mucus, and then my derailleur broke. So.... I figured it was a good idea to turn around and coast back to the trailhead. Little did I know at the time that a broken bike part was the least of my worries, but alls well that ends well right?

I've been experimenting with different angles and techniques with this little camera. This is a fun two minute video that I put together from the ride, and ends with a wreck and a broken GoPro mount.

a moab christmas

Annual Andrew Christmas Day hike to Cowboy Hottubs

Christmas morning excitement (including a thoughtful gift from Santa to Olivia)!

Logan and Brooke

It's been hard to sit down and write about Christmas break because so much happened and I really haven't wanted to say that it's over, but in a nutshell, I...

...went duck hunting (I just need my duck stamp right? HEY DUCKS!! I hear I'm the best bird dog out there, so if you need a hound to flush out them ducks I'm your man), hiking, was the best man for my best friend's wedding, climbing on Wall Street, bearding (what happens when Olivia strokes your beard excessively), hiked, ate good food, snowshoed with Kerri, watched the Hobbit II and hung out in downtown SLC with my best aunt Naomi, more hiking....

Of course Christmas day wouldn't be complete without the traditional Andrew family hike. We went up the right fork of Mill Creek, and the stream was completely frozen over. I love ice hikes in the desert during the winter. Not very many people get to see Moab like this with thirty-foot icicles hanging from slowly dripping springs in the canyons and cliffs. As enjoyable as it is to cool off at Left Hand in the summer, I love it just as much in the winter.

And most importantly it was great to be with my family again after two years in California. This will probably be one of the last that we're all together, because Joseph will leave on his mission this summer, and then Anna will get married...

friendsgiving!

Tonight we had the annual friendsgiving dinner with the girls across the hall and other friends. It was amazing! We had a turkey named Norbert, stuffing, delish sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, and I cooked some dutch oven cheesy bacon potatoes (river style, thanks Karen). We finished it off with homemade pies and decorating our Christmas tree. Yesterday Clarissa and my roommate Clint and I picked up a real tree for our apartment. We decorated with ornaments from Walmart and lights from aunt Julie.

.............aaaaand Clarissa's food baby.

49hr Deso

Last weekend we had a 48hr Deso reunion! Three years ago Karen, Ammon, Kerri and I did a 50 (not quite 48) hour Deso trip on the Green. Since then, Ammon and Karen got married (that trip started it all), I served a mission, and life went on.

So, we planned a reunion trip! The government opened up just in time to check our permits and let us on the water. Former guides Joe and Caity to joined us and we rowed all day, into the night, ate on the boat, slept on the boat.... and broke our record by an hour, making this the forty-nine hour Deso trip. It was a amazing to see the fall colors and different autumn sun on this river.

Livin' the dream...

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?

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!!!

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!

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.