The Flex Rock

We took time out of our busy schedules to do some camping. Pine Valley was our location of choice for this trip. We chose this location because we were looking for a new vehicle. There was a Nissan Xterra available in the town of Leeds, so we swung by to take a look. It was in good shape and we liked the ride. We actually agreed on the purchase right there on the spot. It was great to find a vehicle and have that bother over with, but now we were stuck with the task of selling our vehicle. This was a process that I was not all to entirely pleased about, but I would have to undertake it. We forgot about that as we drove the good ol' Ranger up to Pine Valley. As soon as we passed through the entrance gate, we found a trailhead to go up. It was the Gardner Peak Trail. This one was not used too often, but we got underway. The trail was good at first, but then we got lost. So we pulled out the handy GPS unit with the mapping software loaded on it. This was very valuable and was actually a constant companion throughout this hike. The trail would disappear and then suddenly reappear. When we were on the trail, I was happy with it as it took us further and further into the mountains. The views were good from high up as we looked out into the greenery that is the high desert. We spent so much time wandering around, looking for the trail in places that we spent a lot of time on this trail and were not going to be fortunate enough to locate the summit of Gardner Mountain. We went as far as we could going through some interesting rock formations until we could see that the trail was about to head back down. This is where we decided to just head out to the edge and see what kind of view we could get. The view was great, but the coolest thing was the wicked rock formation we found. It looked just like a person flexing. I had Jacqueline pose next to it with her huge guns. This was a unique formation that possibly no one has ever seen. It was a good final destination: the Flex Rock. We turned around after enjoying the view, because we had to enjoy an evening of all the pleasures of camping. There was food to be eaten right out of the pot. A creek to listen to as we played cards until it was too cold to stay outside. Then we would retreat to the back of the truck where we slept the blissful sleep of the outdoors. We would rise to new complications and the excitement of bringing a new vehicle home with us.

Talkin' 'Bout Friends

"Talkin' 'bout friends, that's what it's all about. Can't live without friends who won't let you down, you gotta have friends." My friend Amber came out from Colorado to hang out with Jacqueline and I. We were excited because this was the first trip that Amber had made to Zion in her life. It is always fun showing someone around this place. She arrived in the evening after I got off my last of two Subway trips. We decided to spend the next day going to Angel's Landing. I do not know if I have ever put Angel's Landing on this blog before as a trip I have undertaken, but I have hiked it quite a few times. 

If it is someone's first trip to Zion, it is a fantastic hike. Jacqueline was busy on this morning, so Amber and I went alone. It was about as much hiking as I could take after hiking a couple of days in a row. It was nice to be on one of the busier trails without my park service uniform on, though. It is hard for me to describe any differences on this hike as the approach is burned into my memory so strongly it is like walking to the store. The particular things that I remember are scared people to follow, busy lines for walking space, my shoes being not particularly awesome, and Amber handling it like a champ enjoying the scenery on the way. When we got back to the house, we were still up for some more exploring. I called up Matt and he was down to join the three of us on a hike through Shelf Canyon. It was nice to escape the heat by getting into Shelf Canyon. I was glad we got to show Amber one of our unique Zion slots, too. It was a quick hike and after we were back, we spent the rest of the night hanging out with Matt and Liz playing games. Next day, we were back at it, this time with a trip out to Bryce. I am sure Amber would have rather had the guided tour through Zion, but I just needed to get away on my weekend. This way we were all enjoying something new. We decided to take the more popular routes and hike from Bryce Point north. We spent a good chunk of the day doing this and it took us through some of the more interesting formations in the park. The hike was not particularly challenging, but it was also not particularly crowded considering it was one of the more popular areas. 

I think most tourists to Bryce don't get out of their cars far enough to get past the viewpoints. We were able to make a loop out of it. We had great vistas along the way and even caught the park service trail crew napping. When I was on trail crew, we took our naps far off the trail where the visitors could not see us. I am sure it was their lunch break, but they looked lazy and rude. We hiked for a good 3-4 hours and around 10 miles. Then we headed home. I had to work the following day, so Amber spent it roaming through the Narrows. It was really fun to have a friend visiting and Amber seemed to appreciate the beauty we call home in Zion National Park.

I'll Have Two Subways and a Das Boot

One of the perks of the backcountry ranger job is that you get to go on some rather fun trips, such as the Subway. One of the drawbacks of being a backcountry ranger is that sometimes you have to go on trips that are not necessarily something you would pick for that day or for your company. That was how this weekend went. I was scheduled to go through the Subway on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was going to be the day that I was responsible for the health and safety of my crew as I was taking the backcountry volunteers from Kolob and also Alice from our side. Knowing that all three of them had done little rappelling, I asked to take Matt too. So our quintet was going in to the Subway on a day when the max temperature was expected to be in the sixties. To add to that, the water was going to be very chilly as it was still cool from spring runoff. Some of us brought wetsuits, while others of us, me included, did not want to bother with them. I should have grabbed one because it was chilly. I had a good time with Gary and Daniel as they were both fun and in good spirits about the whole trip. When Daniel brought trekking poles for the Subway, though, I knew I was in for it. Daniel's trekking poles were not going to help him rappel and neither would his lack of a rappel device. I gave him my extra ATC and then had to hand over my other one to Gary when he managed to tighten his carabiner so tight, we could not for the life of us, get it unstuck. So I got to do the last rappel on a munter. It was a good experience for me and for all the little stuff such as that, it was fun to be with a crew of people who were really enjoying themselves. I was happy to get out of the technical section as that was probably the coldest I had been on a trip through the Subway. I was shivering for most of the day until we stopped having to swim. The hike out was good, as Gary and I got ahead of the crew to get the vehicles. It worked out as we were able to hike a bit faster up the hill.
The next day Brad, Jon, and I were back, but this time it was to go through Das Boot and the Subway. I was sure to bring a wetsuit on this day as my memory of Das Boot was lots of swimming. So we were back to the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead and beginning the hike down. This time, though when we crossed Russel Gulch, we headed up to the left. Then we ended up going through some slickrock, down a drainage, across some steep slopes, and plop we were in the Upper Left Fork. We found another couple there, so we sat and talked to them for a bit. They were good folks and as we ate lunch they got ahead of us. We got our wetsuits on and were on our way. The canyon was wet, but there was a little less swimming then I remembered. It is funny how canyons change so much. It was incredibly narrow, though, and beautiful. There were only a few short rappels and some awkward downclimbs. The wetsuits were good companions on this day as it kept us nice and warm. We wandered through really narrow cracks until we were at our last rappel. The couple we talked to when we started was there with a rope, so we used theirs to drop into the Subway. From there it was business as usual. There were lots of groups to run into, but so far everyone had a permit. It was much more enjoyable until we came upon a campfire that was left there the night before. This did not make us too pleased. It always upsets me, but this one I knew was done that day before. On our way out of the Subway, we happened to run into a shuttle bus driver in there without a permit. I knew that this was going to be chaos. She was respectful, but obviously very frustrated. She made up a bunch of stuff to try to get out of it, but frankly the whole thought was frustrating. She gets free permits, she just did not get in to get it. Honestly, what is the damn point of that. She should be the last one to try to beat the system because she works for the system. Well, it made the rest of our hike out less enjoyable to have to bust her, but I made sure to make the best of a weekend full of trips through the Subway.

Rescue in Behunin

I always love it when I get that call for a rescue and wonder what the heck is going to happen. The first rumor I heard was a broken ankle in Heaps. Then I heard it was Behunin and that started to sound more reasonable. When I got to the Coalpits helispot, I was curious to find out what my involvement in this rescue would be. After the briefing, I realized that mostly what I would be doing is hanging out and waiting. I was supposed to be in the second canyoneering group, which I began to realize was probably not going to go. I was expecting to just chill for quite some time. When we heard on the radio that Keith and Andrew were at the last rappel, I knew for sure I would not do any canyoneering. Ray asked me to hike up to the last rappel in Behunin with the guy short hauling the patient out. I was stoked because this meant I got to be an active part of this rescue. The guy was huffing and puffing his way up the hill and I was impressed that I picked the correct route as there are twenty different ways to get down from Behunin. Up seemed much easier, though. When I got there, we were both tired and sweating, but then the waiting came. I was then asked to take pictures for the rescue, which gave me another purpose. Everyone came rappelling down and sooner than later the helicopter was once again hovering right near my head. It was sweet to say them get hauled out and be directly underneath a helicopter. I don't know how comfortable I would be with that unless I had a horrible night out in the backcountry such as this guy must have had sleeping sideways on a rock. After that, it was a hike out to enjoy chilling for the weekend.