Dirt-Roading - May 22, 2010

Jessi, James and The Outlaw on an adventure.

Last year, James and a bunch of the Glen Price boys and Shumans went exploring in the rain up Millville Canyon (May 2, 2009).  I stayed for Kelley's bridal shower.  Which was fun, but I really, really wanted to go exploring too.

This spring, Uncle Glen let me plan an adventure!  I was hoping for Millville Canyon and a stop by Old Ephraim's Grave.  Only Uncle Glen and Craig could come and Craig's vehicle had to stay behind (leaky windshield), so we all loaded into The Outlaw and Uncle Glen's truck and headed off to Logan.

We stopped in Logan long enough to visit with Tammy and Brett and wander to a Farmer's Market in a nearby park.  Luckily it only sprinkled while we were there!  Tammy and Brett became parents the very next day! (Kyrie Violet - May 23 - 9:04 p.m. - 7 lb 9 oz - 19 in)

Here are James and Craig on the street next to Brett and Tammy's place - what a view!

We tried to get to Old Ephraim's grave by driving up Logan Canyon and the Right Hand Fork Road - still "Closed for the Season".  So we tried the Temple Fork Road - still "Closed for the Season".  We drove all the way back down Logan Canyon to try Millville Canyon - still "Closed for the Season".  It was tempting to give up - three strikes already!

Finally, we drove up Blacksmith Fork Canyon - the road up to Old Ephraim's grave from there was still "Closed for the Season", but we were finally able to find a long stretch of dirt road, complete with puddles for exploring.  Yay! A Challenge!

The main attraction along the way is called the Grey Cliff Springs.  So pretty and green, and there were some pretty nice sized fish in the creek.  Too bad I couldn't get far enough away to include the grey cliffs above. 

The End of Our Road - Craig said he and Justin have driven up through this crazy pile of rocks.  Very slowly and with spotters. (It is steeper than it looks and the rocks are huge and not well spaced.)

 

James did take The Outlaw up a little way for a test, but it was tricky!  Finally, we decided to back down and turn around and drive back through the fantastic puddles.

Uncle Glen in his fantastic Ford...

There were a couple of really nice size boulders on the edge of the road.  On our way in, we just maneuvered around them.  On the way back, Uncle Glen and Craig decided to get out the tow strap and drag the rocks off the road.  This one was stubborn and didn't want to go over the edge.

When they got to a nearby tree, they used it to help drag that rock off the road.  Saving the road, one rock at a time! (The tow strap was a little worse for the wear).

What a glorious day!

So Dirty!  Some puddles were so fun, we went through them twice!

Washing The Outlaw at the end of the day.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you G&G for letting us stay overnight, for feeding us breakfast and dinner and for letting us use your car washing stuff. 

We're looking forward to the next Grand Adventure! (I will make it out to Old Ephraim's grave, sometime...)

Too much JAM

I've started a second blog in an attempt to keep my health and fitness goals online and to be accountable to myself for them!   But then I didn't keep up with it, or with exercising much.  So I added some of the posts to this blog and let the other one go.

Cat-sitting and Playing in the Snow! April 25 - May 2, 2010

This is Milo. He loves to play with cat-nip mice and watch James lay on the floor to get them out from under the stove, from behind closed doors, from under the bed, from out of the duffle bag, etc. He thinks it is fun to lick your elbow in the middle of the night and sleep right where your legs would like to be, if there wasn't a black and white cat there taking up the space. Milo likes to jump up on the bathroom counter and sit in the sink. He doesn't like being toweled off after he fell into the bathtub with me. He tried very, very hard to sneak out the door everytime we went outside. He never succeeded.


This is Milli. She loves to sleep ontop of the sofa with a good view of the bird feeder on the porch. She has a very loud "meow" when she wants your attention - perhaps she needs to be petted or her bowl is empty of canned catfood. Milli gets a pill on M,W,F. On Friday, she spit her pill out about a dozen times and finally, she got her pill on Saturday morning.

These are the bird feeders on the front porch. I refilled them all on Saturday. I counted about 9 little birds in this picture. We even had some really big (comparatively) birds - blue jays and wood peckers? - come by for treats. This picture was taken before James and I finished shovelling off the porch.

It snowed almost every day we were up at this cute little Brighton house. This was the first storm on Wednesday evening - it was so nice to curl up on the couch by the cats and look out the window at the falling snow. And James thought it was fun to fire up the snowblower. I helped - I shoveled the porch and steps.

On Saturday we finally had time to get outside during daylight hours to play in the snow. James had all his snow gear and decided to skin up to the top of the Millicent lift. I borrowed snowshoes and wandered the resort boundary out to Silver Lake and back to the house.

There were quite a few cars in the (unplowed) parking lot and lots of skiers/boarders hiking around the mountain. James ended up making two runs. He would have hiked for a third run if the mountain hadn't grown 30,000' vertical feet after the 2nd hike! "So... 3ft of fresh snow in the Wasatch didn't suck. Unless you didn't go. First time I think I have ever had the Milli bowl at Brighton to myself with untracked everywhere and didn't have to scramble to get my lines! It was pretty epic and just wished my legs could've kept going up so I could've enjoyed... some more down cause it was amazing!! Stability was great Saturday, and in fact it was a little on the heavy, heavy side (snowball snow) but not wet if that makes sense? The snow Sunday came in lighter and fluffier and all though I didn't get out Sunday, I noticed it was sluffing off snowbanks pretty easy when I was out with the snowblower. I was guessing up higher that would have been something to watch for."

This is as high on the mountain as I got - see the lift base & cars below?

Then off into the untracked, un-peopled snow for a wander.

Can you see James hiking up on the mountain? Nope, I can't either. This is Silver Lake. Now I've 'hiked' around it in every season. It looked like the water wasn't completely frozen underneath the new snow. Happily, the trail (there was a trail down by the lake and boardwalks) went way around the water.

There are several houses near-ish the edge of Silver Lake. This one has a chair lift swing.

And for the first time (maybe because I wasn't headed straight to my vehicle after a long day of patrolling), I noticed a big boulder near the Brighton Store with this plaque.

Housesitting is done. No more lazy cats. No more 4 am mornings to get James to work by 6 am. No more watching wild birds at the feeders and watching snow fall in the mountains. No more shoveling and snowblowing. No more snowshoeing and hiking for turns. Sigh.

Last day of resort skiing - Snowbird - April 24, 2010

James went skiing at Snow Bird with Jeff Guest from backcountry.com for his last day of resort skiing for this season.  It was a beautiful warm spring day and Jeff took some great videos of James.

Video 1 - 360 and 180 success!!

Video 2 - yard sale!  I love this one!

Video 3 - 360 crash.

Video 4 - rock jump and pretty turns.

Looking forward to next season for more practice!

Moab / Arches National Park - April 9-11, 2010

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Kathleen and Brian are going to BYU-Idaho. We love it EVEN MORE that they make an event out of the beginning or end of a semester and go adventuring with us. This time, we went to Moab and Arches National Park to mountain bike and hike.

(Moab/Arches tip #1 - Charge all your batteries before leaving
home. **A few of these photos are mine, but most are Kathleens**)

James checked out a four-man tent from the gear closet at backcountry.com. Because it is early April, we were concerned that the weather might be chilly (last year, it snowed down in Bryce Canyon!). So he checked out an expedition-weight super tent that looks like half of a soccer ball. We got into Moab at 10:30 pm and finally found a campsite at midnight.

(Moab/Arches tip #2 - no matter how early-season you think it is,
reserve a campsite. Otherwise you may have to spend $40 for the last site in a
campground in the middle of Moab - the one without a picnic table)

We had to set up the tent for the first time in the dark. And discovered that this gear-closet version DID NOT HAVE A FOOTPRINT or even a floor!

The rainfly made a good make-shift floor and protected the gear from dirt. But ASAP on Saturday morning, we relocated to a cheaper, prettier, quieter campsite on the Colorado River.

James has a mountain bike that we brought along and we had already reserved a second mountain bike from Poison Spider.

(Moab/Arches tip #3 - if you don't have a mountain bike with the
serious shocks, rent one. And of course, RESERVE it ahead of time!
Oh, and riding gloves are a great idea.)

Kathleen and I were up first for a quick 6-mile ride from inside Arches National Park on the Willow Flats Road out to the trailhead of the Sovereign Single Track that James & Brian were going to ride. It was a perfect day for riding. 70-ish degrees, a few clouds and a good breeze.

We had to turn the fancy rental bike back in at 5 pm, so we stopped by the grocery store and picked up supplies for a hamburger dinner. We drove back into Arches and grilled up some burgers!

(Moab/Arches Tip #4 - It may be a good idea NOT to unload everything
at the campsite. When we were ready to cook dinner, we had the grill and
all the foodstuffs with us in the car and could make dinner anywhere!)

Well, Kathleen rode around the picnic area a bit.

And so did Brian.

James actually did all the grilling - I just set out condiments and tried to keep the napkins and light-stuff from blowing away.

After dinner, we decided to take an evening hike to Delicate Arch. We passed most of the people hiking their way out from the arch. It is 1.5 miles one-way and we made it to the arch just as it began to be really dark. We almost had the arch to ourselves!

We had flashlights and head lamps, but I was the only one to use one. Once we got past the section where I was worried about sprained ankles, I turned it off again. It was so nice to walk in the dark and watch the stars come out.

On Sunday, our only plan was to sleep in as long as we could. Then hike the Devils Garden Trail at the end of the road in Arches. Then get on the road back to SLC before too late.

(Moab/Arches tip #5 - HAVE FUN!)

Early along the trail, James found this unusual rock laying in the dirt. So he picked it up and settled it into the ground like a fence post.

This is what we found on our hike back out!

Brian - flying along!

This picture is here as proof - I WAS NOT ALWAYS the slowest, last hiker on the uphills!

The snowy mountains in the background are the La Sal Mountains and they were such a beautiful backdrop for the red sandstone.
James testing out the stability of this crazy looking boulder.

Hiking along the top of the sandstone 'fin'. Aren't those snowy mountains wonderful!

(Moab/Arches tip #6 - watch closely for wildlife!)

We saw a few lizards:

A few chipmunks:

And Brian:

(Moab/Arches tip #7 - Arches are everywhere!)

The Windows Arches and Turret Arch:

Kathleen at Turret Arch:

Double Arch:

Brian and Kathleen at Delicate Arch:

Brian, Jessi, James & Kathleen at Tunnel Arch:

Pine Tree Arch:

James and Jessi at Landscape Arch:

Part of what used to be Wall Arch: The trail goes right by the gigantic debris. Wall Arch fell in 2008.

Double O Arches:

(Moab/Arches tip #8 - Start planning the next trip - you've got batteries to charge, campsites and mountain bikes to reserve and trails to research! P.S. Sunscreen is MANDATORY)