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.

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.