Bell's Waterfall

Diane and I decided to hike to the waterfall today. The first part of the trail has been our training hike that we do year round. In the winter we put on crampons and hike to the bridge. To the bridge, it is a distance of 1.5 miles. The waterfall is about another 1.5 miles but the grade increases dramatically. This hiking trail has gotten immensely popular. The parking lot is always full and there are cars lining both sides of the road. The first part of the hike is a nice family hike with a reservoir to view after about one mile. Many people who hike it for the first time are surprised at how strenuous the second part is.

We got an early start(to beat the crowds). And it was Sunday. Yeah, Sunday. Some people engage in other activities on that day. It was cool and crisp and we made good time to the bridge. The next landmark would be the Lone Peak Wilderness sign, about a quarter mile from the bridge. From the sign, the trail passes through greenery and shade. The steepness also increases after the sign. The trail winds over to the creek in a couple of places and the mist from the rushing water creates a cool mist. I have actually hiked the trail all the way without stopping and achieved my personal best. One hour and eleven minutes. Not today. With the crowds and the need for rest stops, we were in no hurry to get there. We just wanted to get there. And we did. The waterfall was rushing with more water than I have ever seen before. So much so that we could not get to our usual observation point but had to head down  to where the terrain was dry and not slippery. This seemed to be the gathering place for most of the hikers who had made it all the way. We took some pictures and had some refreshments and then headed back down. I think we can say that the hiking season has officially begun.

Subway, Number 10

Tenth Trip through the Subway

This one makes ten! The question is, will it be my last. Time will tell.

Dick and I navigated the Subway on May 1, 2014. The backdrop to the story is that I had procured a permit and thought that it was for May 8 but it was really for May 1(Yes, it could be old age). The other people signed up for the May 8 trip could not change their plans so Dick and I went down to do it. This early in May requires the use of wet suit to avoid hypothermia and death! We drove down Wednesday and rented the wet suits at Zion Adventure Company. Also, since the last trip, the route has changed. The last rappel required harnessing up and rappelling 30 feet. Dick bought a new rope as he was worried about my 11 mm rope going through the rappel device easily enough to keep us from getting stuck. We didn't want to do it if we could not do it safely.

Let's get hiking!  We left Hurricane early and drove to Virgin, Utah and then up Kolob Reservoir road and parked at the lower trailhead where we would leave my car. We checked our gear and loaded our backpacks. They were a bit heavier as we now had to haul full wetsuits. Our plan was to hitchhike up to the upper trailhead. We got lucky and I had my thumb out for 5 seconds before a man in a truck stopped to let us in. We tried to strike up a conversation with him but he seemed to just want to drive us. He dropped us off and we hit the trail. It was cool and crisp as we made our way through the forested section. We soon got to the slick rock of Russell Gulch and began our descent. The park service had been busy establishing a cairned route that kept hikers out of the forest area and more on the slick rock. Things were looking pretty familiar but every time is different. We dropped down through Russell Gulch and headed up to a ridge with a prominent hoodoo. This was reassuring and we then descended the ridge further down into Russell Gulch. We continued following cairns and walked up a plateau that overlooked the confluence of RG and the Left Fork. We descended the cleft chute and got to the pool below where we encountered 4 guys from Denver already putting on their wetsuits. We waded across the pool and started down the Left Fork. A ten minute walk got us to the first obstacle. Of the four options to get past these boulders of epic proportions, we took what turned out to be the easiest. On the right side of the canyon there was an old dead tree propped up between the canyon wall and a boulder. I did not see it right away but when I saw Dick throw his pack down with the rope attached, I gasped and said was that the rope. He then pointed out the dead tree that we could just climb down instead using the rope. Whew! We were now deep in the canyon with towering walls on either side of us. We walked in the watercourse and began to encounter deeper and deeper pools of water. We now put on our wetsuits for we knew a swim was coming up soon. The double or triple pools of water were extremely cold. We swam across, lugging our gear along with us. We stashed the things we wanted to keep dry in our dry bags.We continued down stream in the watercourse and came to another swim where there was a chockstone wedged between the canyon walls. Under the chockstone was a dead tree trunk that prevented one from swimming under the chockstone. We couldn't go under and it was almost too high and without handholds to pull oneself up and over. Dick went first. He struggled with it at first but then found a log floating in the water. He wedged it below the tree trunk and that gave him a step up to where he could climb over the obstacle. Following his lead, I went next bringing along the gear. When we emerged from the water, we realized that this watercourse could have been bypassed by climbing up on a slippery ledge on the left side and carefully making our way along the ledge until we came to a tree to handline down. Like I mentioned, every time is different. We headed downstream and went through some waist deep pools. There was a pour over that we had to lower ourselves slowly down and drop into the stream. Next, was Keyhole Falls. This was only a 10 foot drop but with a rope of 9.7 mm, it could be hard to hold onto to lower yourself. Dick harnessed up and rappelled down. I was wearing gloves so I slid down the rope. We were starting to head down stream when one of the guys from Denver caught up to us and told us that they had lost their rope. It went into one of the pools and try as they could, they could not find it. They asked if they could go with us and use our rope. We had little choice. We were in a deep canyon in waist deep water and even though we had wet suits, we began to get cold, especially our hands as we waited for the four person group rappel down. We suddenly went from a two person group to a six person group and this slowed us down considerably. We entered the "Subway" section and took pictures by the famous north pole tree trunk. We hiked together until we came to the final rappel. This part of the route has changed. One used to be able to walk across some logs to get to the other side of canyon and rappel down there. The logs have washed away and the park service advises against jumping the chasm. Instead, they have put in anchors and bolts on the near side where a harnessed rappel will take you 30 feet down to the canyon floor. The gang of six all got down. I went last. This is where we encountered permit holders who hiked the subway from the bottom up. They miss all the fun part I just described but they are treated to a wonderful view of the subway tunnels and red ledge cascades as they hike up. The hike out consists of many stream crossings and hiking in the watercourse. The cascades are beautiful but can sometimes be slippery. They were not this time. After about an hour of hiking, we looked on the right side of the canyon for dinosaur tracks that were laid down in a fossilized lake bed. We found them and pointed them out to some Japanese hikers who marveled at the sight and thanked us profusely for pointing them out. The hike out is pretty grueling. We removed our wetsuits, ate some food and drank some water. We found the hike out spot and began our 400 foot ascent to the Kolob plateau. After several rest stops, we leveled out and finished the last mile with a jaunty pace. The cold brewskis were a welcomed sight after our adventure in the wilderness.

The Henry's Fork of the Snake River

I had to play this one very carefully: and I did. You see, June 21 is my anniversary and it was also a day that I had off from work in Wyoming and I was invited to go fishing with a pediatric dentist that I work with. I petitioned Diane with a sad story of having very few days off this summer and asked if it would be all right if I went on this trip on our anniversary. She gave me her blessing and the planning began. Two pediatric dentists, Briant and Clark Romney travel from Salt Lake to Rock Springs to practice pediatric dentistry. They bring along their nephew, Drew who works for them. They do the surgical cases at the surgical center where I work. We always talk about fishing and lately we have been planning this trip up to Idaho. Briant suggested that I invite Tom Meuleman and he got a fishing pass from his wife as well. Tom arrived at my house at 4:30 am on Friday morning. We drove up to Briant's house in Bountiful and loaded up the boat and the truck. Briant;s son, Bri(or little Bri as we came to distinguish them) curled up in the back seat after drawing attention the mullet that Meuleman was working on.  Drew was bringing a second boat and would meet us up the road. We made good time to Idaho Falls and stopped at the Walmart and got provisions and fishing licenses. We went back on the road and met Drew in Ashton. We decided to fish the section of the Henry's fork designated Warm Creek to Ashton. With two cars we did a self shuttle and got on the river before noon. We started off picking up small fish with a dry dropper rig. It was a beautiful day and what we lacked in catching large numbers of fish was made up for by the pure beauty of the river and the experience of being in such a great place. We had a great float despite the fact that I developed a painful left shoulder. I did not injure it but it got more and more painful as the day went on.  We headed up the road and Tom and I checked into our motel, The Anglers Lodge. Then we drove out to the "Ranch" the nickname of the Idaho State Park Harriman Railroad Ranch an iconic stretch of the river known for its prolific spinner and green drake evening hatches. We saw only a few this evening and even fewer fish rising on the river. We left to go to dinner at Anglers Lodge. We had a great dinner overlooking the river and then Tom and I headed up to our room and the other three headed for a campground. It was decided to put the old folks in the motel. Tom gave me a shot of toradol before we went to bed.

The next morning we woke up to rain and drizzle. My shoulder felt only a little better but not so bad as to keep me from fishing. We had a big breakfast at Trout Hunter before we waited out a little rain and then headed up to Box Canyon for our float there. The shuttles were accomplished and boats launched and we were fishing. The Box is a beautiful canyon with some areas of really fast water. We were nymphing and had to weight our lines to get the flies down to the fish. We got some big rainbows for our efforts. We encountered some heavy rain showers that got us all shivering despite having on our rain gear. The afternoon saw us floating on calmer waters. As we got closer to the Last Chance takeout, Tom switched to a parachute adams dry fly and had a huge rainbow take it in the shallow water. We took pictures and continued on to the take out. We had dinner at Trout Hunter and the Romneys went to the ranch to fish, Tom fished near our motel and I found a hot tub to soak my shoulder in.

On Sunday, our last half day, we decided to fish the Box again. We did not want to do an all day float because we had to drive back to Salt Lake that day. The Box was perfect for that. Drew had Tom and me in his boat again and once again we picked up big rainbows in the Box. We had our nymphing rigs dialed in with prince nymphs, pheasant tails, and copper johns. Briant showed me how he ties on his weight terminally which helps from losing so many flies. It was like deja vu, having just fished the same canyon the day before. This day, however, I caught the big rainbow on a parachute adams right before we got to the take out.

There was nothing left to do but pack up and head home after a great weekend of fishing with great friends.

Wildlife Trifecta/Zion National Park

I got a few days off so Diane and I decided to go down to southern Utah for a

few days. We went by to visit our friends, Tom and Jan who have a house in

Hurricane Utah. We went for a hike along the Virgin River and came across a

desert tortoise. It is indigenous to the area but not too often seen. It was

smaller than I had expected but maybe it was a baby. That afternoon we drove to

Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park. It was not the busy season

yet and we were able to find a cute little motel called Flannigans. It had a

shaded courtyard and was quiet and serene. After checking in, we took the

shuttle into the Park and got off at Weeping Rock. We hiked up to Hidden Canyon

and the afternoon sun warmed us up as we ascended the steep trail. We entered

the shadows of Hidden Canyon and enjoyed the cool air. We misjudged the amount

of water we should have taken and got a little thirsty on the way down. It was

back to the motel for a quick clean up and then to the Spotted Dog Cafe for

outside dining and a great meal.

The next day we decided on an ambitious hike to the top of Angel's Landing. It

doesn't sound too bad "on paper": about 2 1/2 miles one way with a 1600 foot

elevation gain. It starts out OK but each segment got more arduous. A pleasant

walk along the Virgin River turned into a steep uphill that got us breathing

hard and saw us making several stops to "enjoy the scenery"! Again, it was

warming up but as soon and we make a turn into a canyon, the cool air coming

down from Refrigerator Canyon cooled us down. We traveled along that canyon

until we got to the infamous Walter's Wiggles. That was a serious climb of

multiple switchbacks that got us up to Scout's Lookout. This is also where the

West Rim Trail merges with the Angel's Landing trail. We were now looking at the

knife-edged fin of sandstone that leads to the summit of AL. It is so steep and

narrow that the Park Service has installed chains along the route to cut down on

the number of dead bodies that they have remove from the bottom! After a long,

difficult and scary climb to the top we reached our goal and documented it with

a few pictures. We had to be careful coming down for now our legs were tired and

shaky and we still had to worry about the the 1000 foot drop offs on either

side. Well, we made it down and when we got to Refrigerator Canyon we looked up

canyon and saw 3 California Condors riding the thermals up above. As we

continued down, we encountered a volunteer ornithology ranger who asked us if we

wanted to see a Mexican Spotted Owl. She lent us her binoculars and we got to

see the bird nesting on the ledge of sandstone. What a treat! That is when I

came up with the term, Wildlife Trifecta.

 On this trip we saw a desert tortoise,

California Condors and a Mexican Spotted Owl. Some people go their entire lives

without seeing any of these things and we got to see all three in one trip. We

hiked down and caught the shuttle and went back to Springdale. We had dinner at

the Bit and Spur that night and slept very well. The next day it was back to

reality.

Glad That's Out

Well, it has been said before that I have a screw loose. It turns out that I had more than one screw loose and a broken plate and broken screw in my neck. I got them all removed last Friday by my friend Bob Hood. He had to leave the tip of one broken screw in because it was embedded in the bone. I stayed overnight in the hospital and came home on Saturday. I had a couple of unpleasant days but have done real well since then. It has been a real pain in the neck(ha).

Falls Well That Ends Well

                                               August to November 2012

Well, it was a rough end of the summer and fall this year. I had that fall in August and had the collapsed lung. That hurt but about two weeks after that, I started getting neck and upper back pains that got worse and worse. It was made worse by having to deal with selling the Green River house and moving to an apartment in Rock Springs. Then a drive to Denver and back for a wedding really made things worse. I went back to the Emergency Room and had to have Chris cover my week in Rock Springs. I saw Bob Hood and he said I probably had aggravated my old neck injury and suggested facet injections. Edgar Goldsten did those and boy did that help. It turns out I discovered that the hardware from my previous surgery was loose and now needs to come out. That is scheduled for December 14th. In January, Chris will quit working in Rock Springs so it is back to full time work for me. I am hoping I can find someone to cover me from time to time so I can get time off. I made a trip to Houston to see my 95 year old aunt, Lib. That could have gone better! I saw my old friends, Lindy and Larry Neuhaus. We just finished celebrating Thanksgiving. Jamie was here from LA. We participated in a Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving day. It included me, Diane, Jamie, Sam, Sam's girlfriend, Kate and Kate's Dad, Bob. We had a wonderful dinner that afternoon and watched our quota of football. The next day we went to see the movie, Lincoln and we were all moved by it. Riley stayed in LA this time but will be home for Christmas. We survived another one!

                                                MAN UP MACKIN

It was early Saturday morning. Diane suggested we go for a hike up to the waterfall in Bell's Canyon. It was a good idea. We got off early and breezed along the trail, past the bridge at 1.4 miles and then hit the steep uphill climb a short time later. We were in the boulders and breathing hard. It seem sometimes as if the trail will never end. We got to the section where the trail crosses the stream and we knew we were close. Another quarter mile and we were at the waterfall. There is something special about having a beautiful feature there to reward you for the uphill climb. We rested for a bit and then headed down. Why it always seems so long to get down, I will never know. We worked our way downhill over the boulders and stumps and were now getting to a flatter part. One would think that we were now safe from any slip and or fall. Wrong! Somehow, I got my feet tangled and two things did not happen. I usually can just skip along and regain my balance. This did not happen. In the past, I have gone down and I would just sort of tuck and roll and pop back up. This did not happen either. I pretty much just went splat and landed chest first on some hard rocks(no soft rocks around). I felt stunned. More confused that hurt, although it did hurt. Someone gave me a hand up and I was on my feet. Diane asked if I was all right and I thought I was. I knew I would have hurt for a few days. We finished the hike. I was a little more short of breath than usual on the little uphill portion that we had to get past. We went home and I got out an ice pack. We were home around 10 am and I just hung out the rest of the day. Sam and Kate came over. After they left, I told Diane that I was getting some subcutaneous air that was spreading up my chest to my neck. We went to the free standing ER and the x-ray showed some broken ribs and a completely collapsed lung. My sat on admission on room air was 86%. I was transported to St. Mark's ICU where I met a hospitalist named Julia Whitaker. She numbed me up and put in a chest tube to re-expand my lung. I was in the hospital until Monday afternoon. I was pretty bored and spend most of my time walking around the ward and going up and down the stairs. It was good to get the chest tube out and go home and sleep in my own bed. I took pain pills for one more day and then relied on ibuprofen and acetaminophen. The morale of the story. Watch your step. Which I did today as Diane and I hiked back up the canyon, although just to the bridge. Eight days after getting out of the hospital, I got back on trail. And did not fall!