South Fork of Taylor Creek

Going crazy from lack of movement, my ankle resting days were coming to an end when Jacqueline and I took off on a lovely summer's evening to hike the South Fork of Taylor Creek up in the Kolob Canyons. We got to the trailhead about 6:30pm after dealing with Jacqueline's van overheating once again from too much AC. The last month here has been so hot and dry, that we figured an evening hike would be our best bet. We were right. I did not even know that there was going to be a trail for the South Fork, but there ended up being one. The ankle was feeling well although the stability obviously was not there yet. The drainage was beautiful. I could just imagine that without the trail it would be a rough bushwhack to get anywhere. But with the trail, which wasn't much of anything except a sandy trampled down path, we could navigate quite swiftly. Soon we were closing in on where the canyon walls narrowed. We could see it coming the whole time, but it was still impressive to look straight up on these nearly vertical walls falling a thousand feet down to the comfortable canyon floor. We were so happy for the evening shade provided as it was wonderful to not have to be sweating up a storm being outside in Southern Utah. The canyon walls continued to close in even more until we were in a virtual slot canyon. Here we found a dead and decaying ringtail cat. Right after that, we found out where the canyon ended with a headwall coming into view. We climbed up aways and then finally hit something that I would not climb without someone experienced belaying me. So we had no choice but to turn around. The view back down the South Fork was just as impressive as the view going up with the sun coming down on one of the longest days of the year. We enjoyed going back down and I was happy because the healing process on the ankle obviously was doing its trick. There was still some soreness there with the hike, but all and all, the ankle was in rather good shape. We hit the trailhead at about 8:30pm, so the hike itself was only about two hours. Still, I would have to rate it as one of the best short hikes in Zion that I have done.

Green River

My student teaching provided me with many opportunities, but none better than the trip that we took on the Green River. We met at school early on Monday morning to begin our drive out to Green River, Utah to start the river trip. I got to drive one group of kids and Scott drove the other. So after loading up the vehicles, we began the long day's drive. It was good although, I did not get long listening to my music before the Joe, who is in the front seat, took over the controls. We began the slow climb up the passes and the roads were good, so it was no problem. Then the big event occurred that kind of left a shadow on the trip. I was pulling in to our bathroom stop in Vail, when Scott backed up real quick right into a pole. It is always surreal when something like that occurs. Scott was a bit worried about it, but we had nothing to do but to continue the trip and worry about it when we came back. We drove about six hours when we made our first stop at the John Wesley Powell Museum in Green River. It was a good idea to break up the day a bit. We saw a film and checked out the exhibits. Then we were off to our campsite where I tried to sleep under a tree while the kids played pirates until late in the night. The next day we were up early and had to make a drive down a dirt road to where we would launch at Ruby Ranch. A company from Moab met us out there and we were launching the boats in no time. It did not take us long to get ourselves moving. The kids all decided to paddle like crazy and it was fun to see the beginners all get going. Chris and Connor could not stop paddling, even sitting in the front of the boat. I chilled out with Scott, which was nice for me. I got the hang of it rather quick and it was sure a lot easier to paddle a canoe than a kayak. After a stop for lunch, the kids slowed down a bit. They got back to their pirate games, which both Scott and I questioned whether the seniors should be playing pirate games. There was some time for teaching as we read to the kid's from John Wesley Powell's book when we got to certain spots, such as Trin Alcove. Scott and I were involved in finding a camp and after striking out our first attempt, we finally found a spot that seemed to fit for the evening. We made ourselves some grub and that the evening got interesting. We began a karaoke contest around the campfire. It was hilarious and all of the kids were having a good time with it. We sang serious songs and funny songs including Chris' performance of "Shoes" that rocked the campsite. Before too long, I was off to my secret campsite away from the kids to enjoy that ever so perfect river sleep. We awoke and after a hearty breakfast, we went off on our float down the river today. On this day, the kids were really taking it easy, which was fine with us. I chilled with Scott in the boat. Our big destination on this day, was to go to Bowknot Bend where you can see both sides of the river from the top of a point. We made it there in the late afternoon. We had to climb a rather steep hill to get to the top. Most every one of the kids made it to the top. We hiked over to a place near the top called the library and left our names on some flat rocks for posterity. (This was encouraged there) Then we had a rock throwing contest where I am happy to report that I was the only one to get a rock into the river from that height. We headed back down and I felt like a wuss as Gee, an eighth grader, ran by me with ease. We were back to our float where we made our camp at what we thought was Horseshoe Canyon. After thorough inspection, though, Scott decided that it was instead Two Mile Canyon. This was where we would have our layover day. The kids really wanted to just have a day to chill out. We spent it eating and drinking lemonade. We did a hike up Two Mile Canyon and we got to nurse a couple of sick people back to health. We did some educational activities, but the best idea of the day was the mudslide. We found this great patch of gooey mud and we all went sliding. We had a great time with it. I mean, some people would say this is not education, but getting kids out here is half the battle. Once they are there, they start to appreciate what they could be missing. It is not just enough to read Edward Abbey, but it is necessary to see what he saw with their own eyes. The last day of the trip was a long one. We had to wake up nice and early to paddle fast. We had to get the boats to the takeout point and get them unloaded by the time the person who we rented our rafts to got there to load up. We hauled and made great time. We got to take this crazy road out, which to me driving did not seem bad because I was in control, but to the kids they were a bit weary. I figured out that I had driven that road before. After that it was a long haul back to civilization and Lakewood, CO. The kids got to sleep, but I drove all the way over the passes. It turned out to not be too bad. We got ourselves unpacked and the kids back to their parental units. The next day was when all hell broke loose for me. I was on my way to workout, running from the park near my house when coming up a hill, I stepped halfway on the sidewalk and halfway off. I felt my ankle go. I had to hobble the one and a half miles back to my truck and then try to drive with a probably broken ankle. I got home and kept my weight off of it, but it still looked like hell when the weekend was through. I was a little afraid about starting my backcountry job, but I knew that it was my only choice to go ahead and go for it with an ankle that looked like this.

Spring Break

After spending a cold winter in Colorado, spring arrived which meant that Jacqueline needed to start work again in Zion. Reluctantly, she agreed to start April 1st. Luckily, that just so happened to land on the days after my Spring Break from school. So, at the first opportunity we took off for Utah. We made a long drive out, mostly on the Interstate until we headed for Escalante. Taking that beautiful drive through the mountains around Boulder and then the canyons of the Escalante was impressive. Jacqueline really did not like it when the road narrowed so much that it was a major drop-off on both sides. Beautiful, yet scary. We finally made it to the campground near Calf Creek Falls. After driving through the whole campground, we were lucky to find the last spot remaining. It was definitely in the the ugliest spot, but we went with it. Having a small time left before it became dark, we headed out for Calf Creek Falls. We knew we would be doing the hike in the dark, but we really had no choice. When we got to the falls, it was just starting to turn dark. We managed to salvage a picture or two, but it just does not do the falls justice for the amount of water that is pouring through there, at least at the end of March. We headed back to the campsite, now with our headlamps on and enjoyed the evening chilling in the tent.

The next morning we were up early. It was time for us to start our backpack. The place that looked the easiest accessible and most appealing was to just venture down the Escalante River. It was already getting warm when we woke up, so it seemed like some water would be nice. Jacqueline was fighting a cold, so I wondered if we would make the trip, but she was definitely determined to get going. We set out down the river and sooner than later, we were having to cross the river. Jacqueline was not exactly thrilled about this exciting option. We were actually starting to cross very frequently. Then a thought came to my head once the sun was out beaming down on us, I forgot to pack the sunscreen. 

We stood around for a while debating what to do. Finally I decided rather than ruin the trip, I was going to run back to the car and get it. So I took off running. I did it as fast as I could, but it still amounted to an hour of trail running through obstacles. I made it back quickly, but Jacqueline was not that impressed. We continued hiking and the views were great. There were unique cliffs around every bend in the river. The going became more difficult with steep banks for crossing, much more vegetation, and some dark clouds coming in. So much for the sunscreen. Finally we made it down to river mile six. 

From that point on, it looked like a rafting expedition was the only way to go if you did not have a machete. We backtracked a bit and decided to climb up a little slope to gain the heights of the cliffs. We had beautiful 360 views of the whole place, but unfortunately left the camera in the pack. We scrambled back down and pitched our tent in an alcove we saw previously. It was definitely the right place to camp, because the cold wind that was blowing in would have made camp life difficult. So we spent a chilly evening in camp hoping that when we awoke in the morning, the weather would have turned. It did turn, for the worst. It was incredibly chilly. 

Jacqueline with her cold and the way being blocked, we decided that the best decision was to just head back to the vehicle. We started the trudge back and it began to snow a bit. It was tough going as we were trying to stay out of the river as much as possible to avoid Jacqueline getting pneumonia. She was still not a happy camper. I was definitely impressed though because I have been doing things like this for years and it is great to know that someone loves you enough to foolishly follow you into the backcountry crossing a river in the snow. When we made it back to the car, we headed from there to the town of Escalante. We had a few meals and a hotel room to warm us up. 

The next day we drove through Bryce, which with my shoes being completely soaked and the weather being snowy, it was not quite the Spring Break experience we were looking for. After that we spent a couple of days in Zion looking at the place we were supposed to live (not going to happen) and moving Jacqueline in to her temporary home. I put her in charge of finding us a place to live for the summer. Then it was off to Vegas to spend a night camping in the hills outside Vegas, a buffet breakfast, and a flight away from my beautiful girlfriend to spend the next two months teaching without her by my side.