Changing Colors

My dad and Laura were out visiting for the weekend. There was a class at Zion that Laura wanted to attend and it was also her 40th birthday. They brought some friends with them (John and Karen) and we had dinner with them the night before at the Spotted Dog Cafe at Flannigans to celebrate Laura's birthday. The food was excellent. We also made plans to head out for the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek the next day to check out the Fall colors. Jacqueline chose it because she was the only one in the group who had actually done the

hike before. We had an hour's drive from the main canyon to Kolob Canyon. The weather was perfect out. It was still warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt on the hike, but cool enough so that we were not sweating profusely throughout. Jacqueline was extra excited because on this hike, the fall colors were definitely out. I gave her the
camera and that was possibly a mistake. She took picture after picture on this day. Every tree that was of a different color or hue, we would be snapping a photo. It was perfectly acceptable though and she truly got some great shots. My dad and John were just taking it leisurely so that the camera people could catch back up. There was nothing too exciting about the trail. A couple of old cabins dot the way as we go in and out of the creek bed constantly.

The Double Arch Alcove that is the final destination of the hike is definitely nothing spectacular. Jacqueline says that she likes it, but it is just like every other spring coming out of the rocks that you can see all over Zion. The hike was short and there was not too much exploring other than on the trail to do on this day.
It still made for an enjoyable morning and early afternoon to spend with my young, beautiful girlfriend, my father, and one of his friends. Definitely a great day to spend out in Zion as the end of the season approaches.

Havasu or Bust

at the start of Havasupai is not very exciting. Of course, you are hiking through some pretty open canyon country, so we were not expecting much else. I knew the hike pretty well having done it twice before. It took until about the fifth mile of ten, before we heard that beautiful, aquamarine flowing water coming down the canyon. It was a beautiful site, which Jacqueline had seen once before on a river trip a couple years previously. We made it to the campground office, paid our next huge fee, and strolled on down to the campsite. We did not have too much choice as far as campsites goes, but we actually found a respectable site to stay the night in. We had a nice evening doing

This weekend started out as a romantic weekend to take Jacqueline on a secret trip. I was planning the whole thing. She would not know anything about it, which would make it ever so much more exciting. Well, Miss Curious had to ask a whole bunch of questions so that she basically knew before the trip even began. That was somewhat disappointing, but I still had a jam packed weekend planned. It was supposed to begin when we got off work, with a drive to Lake Mead to go camping. What truly happened was a drive to near the edge of Las Vegas and a flat tire. I was so mad and after cussing up a storm for a few minutes, I started to change the tire. It was rusted in place and I had to get some help from people nearby. They were somewhat nice, but told us to get the heck out of that neighborhood before it got too late. So once the spare was on, we drove down the street to the Motel 6 and paid an exorbitant amount of money for a cheap room in a bad neighborhood. The best we could do to salvage the night was bring everything we had in my truck inside, play cards, and order pizza. It actually turned into a very nice evening. The next day we were up with the sun and out the door to the tire place we saw the other day. We just played cards the entire time we were waiting and they got the job done so that we could get going by 10:30am. I was pleased with that because we had a heck of a long drive out to the start of the trail into Havasupai. I paid another large sum of money and we were off. We finally got to the trailhead in the afternoon and were able to start the hike. The trail
our usual card playing and then awoke to the sun beaming through the trees. It was a beautiful sight, but we knew that we had to get going if we wanted to see some fun stuff. Jacqueline was very impressed by the waterfalls. We first went to Mooney Falls.
It is the longest and most impressive. From there, the trail turns into ladders and chains. I did not properly prepare Jacqueline for what she was to encounter. When it got down to it, it was just too scary for her, which was definitely understandable. We had a full day anyway, so we headed on back. We continued up the canyon to see the one we had basically missed seeing the night before. Havasu Falls
came in at this point. Years ago, I swam behind the waterfall, so I thought that we could do that. When we got down to the water, there were a bunch of other people there. We decided to bail on that idea because they were a bit obnoxious. I was disappointed because I did not get to show Jacqueline some of the more interesting and exciting things about Havasupai, but she was cool with it and really enjoyed the weekend with me. From there we did the nine mile hike out. Jacqueline was a real trooper. I was concerned on how she was going to do considering this was our first backpack together. She did a great job. Only once did she say that she had to rest, but that was two minutes from the top. I was impressed that she could keep up with me. We made the drive back to Las Vegas. The original plan was to spend the last night there. Now it looked like we were going to spend two nights there. We arrived in the late evening. I took the wrong exit and we ended up driving through the entire strip, which slowed us down. I did not care and enjoyed driving on my new all-terrain tires. We checked in and trying to save money, I took Jacqueline to the nicest restaurant in the hotel, where she was treated to a $100 dinner. I was really in love with this girl, for sure, because nobody else could get me to spend that kind of money on them. She appreciated it and looked drop dead gorgeous in her red dress that she brought for the occasion. The next day we made sure to enjoy the swimming pool before beginning our journey back to Zion, so that Jacqueline could work. It was one of the best weekends of my life, spending it with the woman I was in love with and I knew that Havasu would not disappoint.

Timpano-go

So my dad and I had been planning a weekend excursion up to the Uintas. He wanted to climb Mt. Timpanogos, because it was supposed to be a very good hike. There is a trail to the top of the peak. I was all for it and I was planning to meet him for the weekend. I got an opportunity to work some overtime for backcountry, so I wanted to take that to make sure that they would want to hire me the next season. That was going to put a crimp in our plans. We made it work, though, so that when I got off at 3pm, I was on my way up to Central Utah, a little past Richfield, where I would meet him.

After a bit of confusion, I met him at a junction with 24 and I-70. We left me truck parked in the middle of some town and headed up. We stayed the night at a hotel in Nephi.

Up early the next day, we were ready to hit the trail. I was not particularly thrilled when the sun finally came up and the peak came into view. Quite a bit of snow was resting on the top. I had no clue. I was enduring 100 degree days for so long that this was an odd site to me. My beat up old tennis shoes might not do the trick. After an IHOP breakfast, we were on the trail in the brisk morning light. I looked up at the trail just above me and thought, oh gees that is just covered in snow. Rocking the tennis shoes was going to have to work and I had to borrow a pair of cheap sunglasses from my dad, which made me look very hip. I endured the climb up the trail with some wet cold feet. 

It was definitely a steep, long climb. It was somewhere between 4-5,000 foot elevation gain in about 8 miles. Thus, it was rather steadily uphill. We ran into some folks on the way up who said that the snow got pretty deep for them and they had to go ahead and turn around. We were determined not to have to do that. We made it up to a little hut and the views were rather sweet from up there. We could see the Uintas caked in a fresh snow, the first of the fall that most likely would only last a few days. We continued on past the hut and soon the snow got deeper. It was easy for a time as we were following the tracks of the people we saw before us turn around. 

Soon we found the spot where they turned around. It got to be tough going, although my dad who was fully equipped was doing most of the hard work. We got to where we could see the summit ridge rising above us, but my feet were getting close to that too numb point. There were a couple lesser peaks around that I questioned scrambling on up also. It was so hard to actually see how to get to the top of the peak and not actually take that opportunity to climb it. We discussed the situation, but I had to bail on the climb. I felt bad as I obviously took the team down on this one. My dad was fine with it. I snapped a picture of him with the peak behind him. We took off down the trail to the valley below where the fall colors were already starting to decorate the landscape. 

By now, near the trailhead, the snow had began to melt. I knew that one day later and the peak would have easily been ours. It was just so hard to believe that in the middle of September when it is still pushing 100 in Zion, I could get snowed out just four hours in the north. Lesson learned, but overall it was a great day exploring the backcountry with my dad.