Warning: Cliff Area

Warning: Cliff Area. WTF, how did I get here? I was skiing at Snowbird with Bob Hood and as we got on the Peruvian lift, the operator said Mineral Basin just opened up. We went up and went into the tunnel and came out in Mineral Basin. Bob said let's go left which I did but I guess I went too far left. There was about 10 inches of powder but it had been wind blown and was crusty. I followed some tracks up a knoll and started down. I got funneled down towards a chute and my right ski stopped but I kept going and stepped out of the binding. Ouch! I had been nursing an Achilles tendon strain and this seemed to aggravate it. The next order of the day was to find my ski. I had a pretty good idea where it would be and I started digging and found it right away. The powder was pretty deep and I had to build a platform to use to put my skis back on. With skis on I looked up and saw that there was only one way down. Right by the sign that said, Warning: Cliff Area. A skier came up behind me and said it did not look good but was going to try it anyway. I watched him make two impossible turns down the chute and then he scraped off some powder that was covering a slab of ice. He said it was not too bad, but watch out for that ice. I surveyed the scene and realized that a climb out in that powder would take all day so it was down the chute. I somehow made the two impossible turns and was heading for the slab of ice. I dropped down below it heading down the fall line but gaining speed. I made a quick turn to the right and came to a stop. It was so steep that as I stood on my skis I could put out my right hand and touch the mountain. I waited until my heart rate became manageable and then I side slipped down until I got to some less steep but reasonable terrain. I made it down to the chairlift where Bob was waiting and he asked where I had been. Just enjoying the mountain, I said.

Thanksgiving in Dixie

No, I am not just whistling Dixie. We went to Dixie for the Thanksgiving holidays. Here is a little explanation. You see, here in Utah, they call the southern part of the state, Dixie. Go figure! Diane, Sam, and I left Thursday morning from Salt Lake City(really Sandy, our official residence). Riley, Jamie and Riley's girlfriend, Natalie left from LA. Our rendezvous point was a house just outside the east entrance to Zion National Park. It was a pretty fancy house but we got a good deal from VBRO.com. It had four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There was a custom kitchen and a dining room with a large table that seated 10. Next to that was the great room with a cathedral ceiling and a fireplace. We had picked up a full turkey dinner from Mimi's in Salt Lake. We heated up the meal and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. That evening we played a round of Trivial Pursuit following by a fun game called the Game of Things. The next morning Diane fortified us with a gingerbread pancake breakfast with plenty of bacon for the Baconater. We drove into the town of Springdale for a look see and stayed for lunch at a Mexican place called Oscars. It was then into the Park where we drove to end of the canyon and took a hike called the Riverside Walk. It takes you to the start of the Zion Narrows hike. We encountered a little ice on the hiking trail but had no serious mishaps. We headed back to our house and prepared for a visit from the Meulemans who were having their Thanksgiving at their house in Hurricane(pronounced Her-A-Can by the folks that live there, if you can call that living). Tom and Jan brought along their daughters Lindsey(with husband, Joe) and Laura(with boyfriend, Patrick). We had turkey enchiladas and watched a little football until they departed. The next day, we split up. Diane, Riley, Natalie, and I took off to do some hiking. We stopped at the Canyon Overlook trailhead and hiked to a beautiful vista just above Pine Creek. Next, we drove into the main canyon and started up the Emerald Pools hike. Almost right away we came upon an icy trail. I was prepared. I pulled out the traction devices from my backpack. We put those things on and now we could easily walk on the icy paths. We passed some people who accused us of cheating; which I guess we were. There were 3 pools. The upper one required a fair amount of uphill hiking but it was a beautiful sight, well worth the effort. We made our way down and headed back to the homestead. I failed to mention that we saw several Rocky Mountain sheep sure-footing themselves on the steep sandstone on the way into the Park. This would now be our last night and the forecast was for snow the next day so planned an early exit. In the morning we left the house about 6:40 am in a caravan. There was about a foot of snow on the road and it had not been plowed. We made our way through the snowy, steep switchbacks that took us through the Park and into Springdale. From there the roads had less snow on them and by the time we hit Hurricane, the snow was gone. Here, our routes diverged. Riley, Jamie, and Natalie headed back to LA and we headed home to Salt Lake. It was a fun and memorable Thanksgiving.

The Salt and Snake Rivers

Diane and I went to Alpine, Wyoming to stay at the Rockin'M and fish on the Salt and Snake Rivers. It was a little cool but the fall colors were bursting and we caught fish. A great few days.

Father and Daughter in the Subway

Subway, Again. This time with Jamie. She has never hiked it so I snagged a
permit and we drove in Friday night with the intention of getting an early start.That did not happen as the alarm was set for 6pm instead of 6am. That was OK because I was wide awake at 6:32. Jamie said I "flew" out of bed. We prepared our gear the night before so we were on the road in no time. It was about a 35 minute drive to the trailhead. My goal for this hike is always to be hiking by 8am. It is a one way hike and there is a problem of retrieving the car if we leave it at the upper trailhead.
Jamie asked how we were going to get the car shuttled since it was a one way hike,
I answered, "It will be provided!". And it was. A couple of fisherman gave us a
lift... from the lower trailhead to the upper trailhead. After they dropped us
off we noticed the black clouds all around. In fact, one group of guys bailed on
the hike as they were worried about the weather, particularly, flash flooding.
We hit the trail hoping for the best. I could not belive how cool the temperature
was. August in Zion, it was supposed to be 100 degrees. We overcame a group of 3 hikers who had never done the hike before, but they had they weather forecast. More rain, they said. Jamie and I picked up the pace and they sort of shadowed us. They let us do the route finding for them.

We made it down Russell Gulch and up past the sandstone "boob" before it started raining. We hustled toward the cleft chute where I knew we could find shelter but it started pouring before that and out came the raingear. We went down the chute and into the canyon of the Left Fork. We cleared the first obstacle in the usual fashion,
"that sure could have gone better". We no longer worried about the rain for we
would be swimming soon. At the first water obstacle we changed socks to neoprene
booties. Our dry bag kept our water out of food and dry clothes--pretty well. It
was actually a little chilly so we kept moving, rock hopping, wading, and
swimming. At Keyhole Falls, I went first and then Jamie I saw something shiny on
the bottom as we were standing in waist deep water. My camera. Jamie dove down
and retrieved it. It is waterproof, thank goodness. After our last rope descent
I put the rope away(laden with water by now) and we did the hike out staying
mostly in the watercourse. We saw beautiful cascading waterfalls and ever walked through them. The exit was pretty well marked and we began a long
climb up out of the canyon. Thank goodness for the cool weather and no flash
floods.

Hike of the Week: My Sisters Hike

Life if full of coincidences. Today Diane and I decided to take our "hike of the week" to the Brighton Lakes. The names of the lakes just happen to coincide with(almost) the names of my sisters. We visited Lake Mary, Lake Martha, and Lake Katherine. Well, the last one is pretty close since my sister's name is Kathleen. Anyway, I am calling the hike, My Three Sisters Hike. Since it has been getting hot here lately, we left early and started up the trail by 7:30. It was actually cold when we started out but we knew it would warm up quickly as the sun was starting to peak over the ridges. The wildflowers were just starting to show themselves. I would say that in a week or so they will be in full bloom. We encountered mosquitoes and quickly donned the DEET to keep them off of us. The trail starts out paralleling a ski lift and then enters the woods and was pretty steep. The benefit of our early start was the lack of people. This is a pretty popular hike, especially to the first lake. I remember taking my brother, Mike on this hike years ago. We tried our luck fishing at Lake Mary but had no luck. Lake Mary was the first lake we came to. It had flat, glistening water. We climbed along side it and then on to the next lake, Lake Martha. That is when it hit me, The Three Sisters Hike. From Lake Mary to Lake Katherine was another mile. We passed it by and head steeply up to the Katherine Pass where we could look over into the next canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon where Snowbird and Alta Ski Resorts reside. It was a steep hike up to the pass but it was a nice place to take in the views. I decided to leave my backpack with Diane and I took off up the ridge line to get an even better view. It was worth the climb. I got even better views of Little Cottonwood Canyon and could see Mount Timpanogas in the distance. I encountered a marmot sunning himself on a rock. It was then back down to where Diane was waiting for me and we headed down the trail, this time taking a route that took us right next to Lake Katherine. We saw some white columbines on the way down. As we got further down the trail we started to come upon the throngs of people coming up and it make us glad we got an early start. It was about two and a half miles to the pass so we put down a good 5 miles. We rewarded ourselves by stopping at the Silver Fork Lodge to have breakfast. After a hearty breakfast of buckwheat pancakes(me) and oatmeal(Diane) we drove back down the canyon. We were home before noon. It was a magnificent way to spend a Sunday morning.

It's Here! Bocce Time!

It's Coming!