John and Mindy

Our friends, John and Mindy came out for the weekend, so naturally, Jacqueline and I took them on a hike. We tried not to overdue it since Mindy's hip was rather sore. So, we headed out to Kolob Canyons. We stopped first at the Timber Creek Overlook so that John and Mindy could check out the views. John, being a good friend from Grand Canyon, was ultimately not too impressed even though he enjoyed the view. We headed back down to the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek trailhead where we started our ramble through Kolob. The hike was altogether pleasant. We all talked and had a good time, while Mindy toughed out her bad hip, walking in such a way that made me grimace just looking at it. I thought that possibly we could continue our way past the Double Arch Alcove when we got there because I have not seen where the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek actually ends. Neither John or Mindy were too keen on this idea, so we did the traditional 2.5 mile hike to the Double Arch Alcove. Jacqueline and I were happy to do that as it is true what John said about the fact that it is just fun to hang out since we don't get to see each other much. This was proved the next day when we went out to Mindy's family's property across from the Watchman Campground in Springdale. We went down by the river and played plastic horseshoes for hours just so one of us could get to 21. John ultimately won, but John and I both thought that it was an accomplishment to finish. We lost the girls long before the game was done as they were able to get out of the hot Zion sun and sit in the shade to talk. I wanted to take John through some slots, but it was fun nonetheless to just chill with some good friends.

Lower Right Fork

Having been scheduled earlier to hike up Right Fork, but having it canceled by the fires, now that the backcountry was reopened, I gave it a try. I had plenty of time on this day and I wanted to make it up the canyon as far as possible. I headed off fairly quickly and it was interesting to see the kind of damage that the fire had left from last year. The Right Fork took a brutal hit as the first hour was mainly in a charred wasteland. The horseflys were also a bit irritating, but slow, as I spent my time getting both bitten and mass murdering them afterward. The route took me in and out of the creek. I was there to check for people and cows, but none of those seemed to be around. 

The water was not particularly high, so I was able to keep my feet dry for quite some time. Always curious, though, I wanted to see what was in some of the side canyons that entered into Right Fork. I knew that a work day was not the time for that sort of exploration, so I continued straight up the drainage. Finally, about two hours into my hike, I got to a spot where I finally had no choice but to get my feet wet. I went on through the water and from there on up, the way was tricky but easy now that I did not care to keep my feet dry. It wasn't but another hour until I reached Double Falls. I forgot from last year's sojourn through Right Fork from the top, that Barrier Falls was the end. 

For some strange reason, I had it in my head that Double Falls was actually called Double Barrier Falls. I should have figured it out when the way to the right seemed rather smooth. I decided to lunch and take a dip, both of which were refreshing in the constant summer heat. When I got back to hiking, I realized that I had some time to kill, so I figured, what could it hurt to explore on of the side canyons. It was a great idea as I picked the side canyon right before the first place I had to get my feet wet. It had a rather good flow of water coming in, so I figured it might be something worth exploring. I was not disappointed. Very narrow, with some deep potholes and some interesting narrows to negotiate around. 

I finally got to a spot where I would go up with another person on my days off, but on work time, it did not seem prudent. So I headed back down the same way I came. When I got near the trailhead, I realized I still had some time to kill, so I headed up the Left Fork a ways until I found what I thought to be the Grapevine Trail. I took that, having never taken that small trail before. It lead up through the same hot volcanic rock that the Right Fork Trail goes through to its trailhead. The view was excellent from that trail and a little cross country got me back to my vehicle about the time I was supposed to get off of work.

Unique View of Kolob

Today was a rare day because everything that we expected to happen really didn't. The plan was for Jacqueline and I to meet Drew and go try to make it to Chasm Lake from Kolob Reservoir. All of that went fine until, we actually got to the reservoir. There were private property signs up everywhere. One had a statement that men would be shot, women kidnapped, and children sold into slavery. We figured that person's property was not a good one to go on. So we found the only place that did not have a no trespassing sign and we headed out from there. We stayed on some dirt roads, just looking at the map to see where it might take us. 

Finally, we had to head off into the bushes. This would not have been such a bad prospect if it had not rained quite a bit the day before. While it was nice to not be dealing with the brutal Zion heat, it was muddy and wet. We seemed to cross an endless array of barbed wire fences and through many a bramble and gambel oak. The way was tough, but soon enough we could see Kolob come into view. Quite a spectacular view. This was not what we were looking for though as we wanted to see the famous Chasm Lake. We looked at the map and it told us that we needed to go north to have a shot. So that is what we did. The brush got thicker and we became more resilient. 

This was not what anyone had in mind, but with the incredible views we were getting including ones of the arch, we all agreed that it was worth the hike. Finally we came to a canyon. We were not positive, but we thought that it was probably the canyon above Chasm Lake. So we checked out Chasm Canyon and got quite a ways down before being cliffed out. It felt like we should be able to see the lake from there, but no luck. We headed back out of a steep drainage to our journey back through the weeds. We definitely hit 4th class bushwhacking on this day. Eventually, with much traversing of the landscape around, we left our incredible views of Beartrap, Willis, and La Verkin Creek canyons to another random dirt road. 

We were not sure where this one lead, but we followed it anyway. It popped out on another dirt road that looked like it was much bigger and could head down to La Verkin Creek area. I asked the group who wanted to go for it. Drew was not to keen on it and in the end it was definitely the right decision as there was not much hope of us making it down and up to Chasm Lake on this day. I felt bad for the group as I lead them on a wild goose chase to a lake so close, but yet so far from where we were. There is just no way to look at a map in Zion and really understand that, though we may be close, it isn't even close to good enough. Still, Zion has so much to offer, that we felt good about our day because of the unique perspective we got on the place. The road lead us back to our car in less than half an hour. We headed down the hill and we saw the owl researchers camped out. We figured they probably had something interesting in their sights. Turned out to be a condor. I have seen plenty of condors at Grand Canyon, but none this close. We perused that for a bit and then headed back down the hill to resume our day to day lives.

What does a backcountry ranger do when the backcountry is closed?

Well someone freaked out and closed all of the backcountry in Zion. The fires burning all over the park out of control probably had something to do with it. Well, with the entire backcountry closed, what is a backcountry ranger to do? Well I guess my first idea was to hike the frontcountry. So I grabbed David and we headed up to Observation Point. He was a bit beat so we took it just as fast as normal. David amazed me that at thirty-seven years old he could stay out like a teenager and still function the next day like he got a full eight hours. I am not sure if I could live in that realm anymore. Observation Point was a good hike and there were not too many people to run into despite the rest of the park being closed.

It was a good view from the top because we could see the fire burning on the West Rim. We had a good hike, but it was only a couple of hours. I took the time I had left after lunch to hike the Emerald Pools Trail and pick up a full huge trash bag mainly of water bottles. Jacqueline helped me with this, as this turned out to be the only hike that we got to do together for work all summer long. The next day that I got to get out, I went with Brad, Mary, and Andrew over to the East Side to do rescue/canyoneering training. We did not get too much time on the rope before Ray gave us a call and wanted us to do a rescue in Hidden Canyon.

 This was exciting, because we got to be the rescue team. I carried the 35 pound drill up to Hidden Canyon, which Brad used to secure the main line. It was a sweet rescue, even though it was only a simple lower where we lowered Luke down to a fifteen year old kid stranded on a ledge and then lowered them to the ground. Jill was in charge and I got to run the main line. That was good stuff and everything went smoothly. On the way up there, we saw a ton of grafiti. Since Andrew and I had the next day off, we were able to go back up and clean it up. We spent the morning discharging the battery from the drill and then we were off. 

For everyone who thinks that working backcountry at Zion is all fun and games, they forget the days where we do stuff like pick up other people's poop, clean up garbage, or wash off grafiti. This wall had gone unnoticed for at least a half dozen years. There were over one hundred inscriptions. We went psycho on the thing using our patented water spitting than scrubbing technique. A lot of it was charcoal, so this technique was highly effective. We each went through two two liter bottles getting this wall clean. The finished product was not perfect, but it was definitely improved. 

Just another day in the life of a Zion backcountry ranger.

On Top of a Mountain

For those of you wondering how I proposed to my beautiful fiancé, here is how the story goes...

I bought the ring at the end of April. It was laborious process, one that every man should have to go through so that they appreciate the fact that they only have to do this once as long as they faithfully honor the commitment behind this incredibly expensive purchase. I was seeking many different ideas of ways to propose to Jacqueline, when finally I figured the best way would be to go to a place that was very important to the two of us, Great Basin. We had spent an amazing weekend there a year previous, so we decided to head on up again.

This time I picked a more remote section of the park hoping to get away from any sort of crowds. I was successful. When I got up to the trailhead in the Snake Creek section of the park, we were the only ones there.
We started our extremely difficult hike to a lake far, far away. Actually it was only 3.7 miles away, but 2400 feet uphill. I was not exactly in what you would call the best shape of my life. I was still recovering from my bad ankle injury. This was actually the first trip I was able to take on my ankle other than for work. We were both rather winded the entire hike up. Eventually we made it to our destination, which was Johnson Lake for the night. 

The lake was beautiful, resting peacefully under Pyramid Peak rising with its boulder sized scree slopes above. We spent the afternoon doing various activies: sleeping, cribbage, taking dips in the lake, as you can see the small scale silhouette of Jacqueline in the photo above. I was proud of Jacqueline as it took some coaxing to get her into the lake, for as my face shows, it was not the warmest of lakes. The history of the lake makes it even more interesting as there was a rather productive tungsten mine above the lake until the cable works, still visibly in shambles, were destroyed by an avalanche. We spent the evening, eating, playing hangman, playing cards, and then eventually sleeping and enjoying the cool mountain air away from our hot desert home.
The next day we awoke with the rising sun. I got Jacqueline going pretty quickly and we headed up the "trail" to the pass between Johnson Lake and Baker Lake we visited last year. The trail became steeper and rougher the higher we climbed. Finally near the end, it got a bit sketchy. There was snow over the trail in the only safe place to go. I had to blaze a trail and lure Jacqueline to attempt the same way. Soon we had reached the pass.

From there I could see that the summit was only a boulder hopping climb away. We continued our way up and both of us did well considering how winded we could have been heading to our eventual elevation of 11,926 feet. Meanwhile little does Jacqueline know that as I am walking up to the summit I am thinking, well, I hope I can pull this off. Inside my pack, hidden for the duration of the time out in Utah and then on the backpack is the beautiful diamond ring I bought for Jacqueline. I had my strategy planned out and now it was time for me to execute it.
This is the picture I took of Jacqueline right before I proposed.

 I said stand over there and I will take your picture. After the picture, I said that she should take my picture. In the camera case, instead of a camera, I got the ring case. When she opened it up, the largest smile appeared on her face. I walked back to her, told her how much I was in love with her and how happy I would be if she would spend the rest of her life with me. She said yes and thus the next step began. We still had to continue our way down the mountain to make sure that the happily ever after had its opportunity. We scrambled down to the pass which was the easy part. There was a couple there that we chatted with, but did not tell them we just got engaged. It would have been hard to tell someone who did not know us first the incredible news. As we came off the pass, the lake below us looked so small.

We still had to make the traverse across the snowed out trail. We did well, as Jacqueline seems to be willing to do just about anything if I do it first. I even took a side trip up to see the mine (not very impressive). We made it back to camp where I took one more good dip in the freezing lake. Then we headed down the hill and back to the truck where home meant sharing the wonderfully exciting news with our family and friends.

Hot Valley

Hot Valley, better known as Hop Valley, was our assignment on the schedule for this beautiful 110 degree day in July. Jonathan, our volunteer for the season, and I had no choice but to head into what we knew was not going to be a very enjoyable day. The nice part about going for work is that we get an early start and we got to drive the government rig. We hit the Hop Valley TH at a little past nine. It was already near one hundred. I came extra prepared on this day, bringing with me five liters of water. We headed across the sandy plain. The trail was in great condition, nearly 100 percent sand. The other time I had done Hop Valley was in the early spring when it was muddy. I could not tell which was worse. The flat sandy, sage brush filled plain seemed to go on for hours, but it was probably only an hour until we dropped into what actually was Hop Valley. After looking at the terrain and putting my geology experience to work, I realized that Hop Valley must have at one time been a lake. I confirmed this later and the largest tell tale sign was how incredibly flat the valley was. There was a small very slow moving stream which we would have to cross. I was glad that I brought all the water that I did, which I was drinking rather swiftly, though, because there was no way that I was going to drink the water coming out of the stream. This was because of the only reason why Ray would send us into Hop Valley in the middle of summer anyway: the cows. I was getting all fired up because I thought that the cows we were running into were on Park land. I took a ton of pics, but it turned out that they were on their legal private inholdings where they were strongly destroying the resource. I was a bit worried about these guys, too, because there were a couple of bulls mixed in with the cows. They did not seem too happy to see the two of us, so Jonathan and I carried with us a big stick to use in case one started to charge. When we got to the actual Park Service gate, we realized that the cows were legally on their side, though. Later we learned that Rich from Kolob chased the cows back just a day before. Jonathan was all pumped to go out to Kolob Arch. I was not about to let him down. So we headed up through the only trees and shade that we would have all day and then dropped into La Verkin Creek. I was stoked to see the creek flowing very strongly. It had been some time since I saw La Verkin Creek, so this was a pleasant surprise. We were able to make it up to the arch after another mile, for a halfway total of seven miles. After the arch, we went to the creek to refill our water bottles that were now near empty. It made a big difference as both of us were still feeling good because we were well hydrated. We knew we were going to have to haul to make it back by the time we got off work, so we just put our heads down and moved. Since we checked the campsites on the hike up, which were empty as we assumed, we could just go. The cows left us alone and the water kept being drained as this day was so incredibly hot it was hard to believe. We walked the long, sandy seven miles back to the government rig and both of us were very happy to see it. We each drank two gallons of water in one day, but speaking for myself, I only used a friendly bush once on the whole hike. It just reminds us that carrying a couple extra pounds of water weight can only provide for a more enjoyable hike rather than vice versa.