The collapse of an arch

I've only been to Arches National Park once, but it was a great trip and I plan on going back again. I heard that a few days ago Wall Arch, which is located on the Devils Garden trail, collapsed. I don't know if it's morbid or what, but as I see arches, I often wonder how long they'll stay up like that and if I would live to see them collapse. I wasn't hoping I'd see them collapse, I just wondered if it would happen. Sure enough it has.

I'm so surprised Landscape arch has made it as long as it has.

Here is the official press release for the collapse of Wall arch:


Wall arch collapses

Places I want to see/hike

This is going to be a constantly updated list I'll add to and check off when I do it. I'm going to post the link to the right under my profile. This is going to be a quick list off the top of my head, so watch for stuff to be added later.

UTAH

Escalante
- Coyote Gulch
- Hole in the Rock (I want to drive to the end and hike through it to Powell)
- Brimstone Canyon
- Egypt 3 Canyon

San Rafael Swell
- Eardley canyon (the whole thing, not just a portion of it)
- Lower Eardley Canyon potholes (tech rappel)
- Little Wild Horse/Bell Canyon loop
- Crack/Chute Canyon loop
- Dang Canyon (Did Ding already, so I want to go up Dang and complete the loop)
- ATV the behind the reef road
- Upper Chute Canyon/Lower Baptist Draw (tech rappel)
- Lower & Upper Black Box Canyon
- Segers Hole (tech rappel)
- Miners Hollow/Quandry Canyon (tech rappel)
- North Fork Iron Wash (tech rappel)

Zions/WAY Southern UT (not sure what to call this area)
- Buckskin gulch
- Zions Narrows
- North Rim Zions to Grotto area

Cedar Mesa
- Don't know enough of it specifically, but I'll post more later once I start the research

Canyonlands
- Island in the Sky
- The Maze
- Needles

Capital Reef
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Bryce Canyon
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Western Uintas
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Eastern Uintas
- Kings Peak (someday, when I'm in shape)

Wasatch Front
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The Spell of the Desert

Maybe it's because I'm reading "the Spell of the Sensuous" right now, or because I have a baby inside of me, that I feel even more in touch with the universe and therefore, with myself. It reminds me of reading Geertz, makes me feel more alive, and brings me back to that place where I can evaluate better how I see things. It seems like lately we hear a lot about our impact on nature, but there is still a lack of discussion about nature's impact on us. But having once lived outside of the ordinary, I don't believe you can ever return to life as it was before and be the same. So spending a weekend in the desert was just what I needed to feel rejuvenated and like I"m still myself even when I'm living a pretty ordinary life.

The great thing about this trip was that we hiked a ton! The thing is it feels so good to me to be exhausted, to deserve that warm campfire meal and to crash when I lay down. We estimated our hiking to be about 6 miles on both Friday and Saturday. It wasn't much more than what I usually get in at the gym in the morning, but of course all the climbing over rocks and elevation changes made it feel like quite the workout (not during, but afterwards), but I felt so strong afterwards from doing it, tired, but empowered. And being outside makes all the difference to me, makes me feel so much healthier.

Check out the HB's trip report here. I'm glad we were able to try some new things in the area too, there's nothing like having the whole canyon to yourselves!

Saturday night in the San Rafael Swell I dreamt that I killed a mountain lion. Only a few days earlier in the week last week I'd dreamt that I killed a lion. Pregnancy may just up the ante of crazy dreams, but they're not uncommon for me, especially that time of year that I start spending more time outside. I remember the summer I did my dig down by Escalante, each morning we'd tell our dreams around the water bucket, brushing our teeth. I welcome crazy dreams. In the mountain lion one, it was as if the mountain lion had a jaw like an alligators--only one side can shut so I was straddling the lion, holding the jaw open so it couldn't bite me and finally just cracked it back so far that it killed the animal. I'm not into killing animals or anything so I thought it was pretty interesting. Some info below about what that could mean, and in addition, I happen to be a Leo (born on the last day of that sign) and my baby girl will be one too!

LION/LIONESS - The power of our physical strength, of our temper, of our emotions or sexuality; love that has become anger through jealousy or pain; leadership; ones father or fatherhood, or mother if it is a lioness; an image of the father/mother God; leadership; watchfulness or guardianship; self assertion or boasting because of the power of the lions roar. The story of Androcles and the lion shows how the pain felt by our 'animal' life process, if tended by the conscious personality, brings a loving relationship between conscious and unconscious.

As an astrological sign, the lion is the sign of Leo, a 'Fixed' 'Fire' sign. In the dream of a person born with the sun in Leo, the lion may represent their basic character. It is said to be the heart of the Zodiac. In it all the activities of Aries have been concentrated and given purpose, permanence, passion and a certain nobility. It is the Royal Sign denoting Love, the Ruler of Life. Subjects of this sign are said to be proudly 'faithful' and scorn what is weak, small-minded, or mean. It is the sign of the Sun - the physical and also the Divine Sun. In terms of human evolution the sign of Leo represents rulership of the animal kingdom, to become a dominant creature, expressing the best of the instinctive and natural within human nature. Thus in The Witch and The Wardrobe, the greatest strength and unifying influence is the lion. But there is a step beyond this into independent awareness where one recognises oneself not only as the powerful and creative universal animal life, but as an individual human being as well.

Going camping this weekend.....

As a follow up to one of my earlier blogs I'm so stoked for camping this weekend. We're taking Russ and Randa and we're going to do some hikes I've never done before. I'm so envious of people that get out to the desert every weekend and explore some canyon that 99.9% of the worlds population never get to see.

I was on a website for canyoneering and found this quote that I think sums up why I much prefer the desert now, to the mountains or any other place.

The knowledge that refuge is available, when and if needed, makes the silent inferno of the desert more easily bearable. Mountains complement desert as desert complements city, as wilderness complements and completes civilization.

--Edward Abbey

I REALLY love the outdoors

And more and more, I LOVE the desert. Before I met Alene, I couldn't give a rats behind about the desert. I thought it was ugly and worthless and for all I could care, they could do all their nuclear testing and garbage dumping there as much as possible. It's amazing how much a little influence of the one you love will do. My perspective is totally changed and now I'm in love.

So much in love, in fact, that recently something has weighed heavily on my mind: What do I REALLY love (besides my wife and my family). For a LONG time, I've always loved the game of Football. Not just watching it, but breaking it down, learning new techniques, new strategies, etc. Right out of HS I was coaching JV Football and at that time, found it to be my "calling" in life for the most part. I coached for 3 or so years, then moved to Utah and could not get back into it for many years because of work commitments. Then a buddy of mine was coaching a little league team and asked me to help out, which actually worked around my schedule. I finally got back into what I loved the most: coaching.

Anyway, I spent 3 years coaching the same group of kids, then moved on with them to the HS last year. I had a BLAST doing it, but something was a little different. I always wanted to be a coach that could "mold" players and influence them. I almost wanted to "save" the ones that needed saving and encourage the ones that needed encouraging. I think my viewpoint was like a fresh missionary going out to preach the gospel, I thought I could convert everyone I talked to. The truth is, I found I can't and it really gets to me deep inside. For some that don't know, some of the kids I worked with since they were 12, have recently been in trouble with the law and it eats at me so much.

What eats at me is that I REALLY cared about these kids so much, but they don't seem to really care that I care about them. I feel so distant from a lot of them, even during the season. I don't know if they're just afraid to let an "older" person get close to them or what. Sure, I yelled at them a lot and expected nothing but the best from them...but I don't know. It seems they just didn't really care that I cared, so why should I care??? Now that is what is troubling. I coach not only because I care, but I also just LOVE the game, but part of that Love comes from being able to give and care...it's a rock and a hard place kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, I know a good amount of the players also cared that I cared, but the ones that didn't....I don't know, it just bothered me.

This isn't about recognition. I don't care what anyone else thinks but the kids I coach. Honestly, I don't care about limelight, or looking like a "good guy". I just really wanted them to know that I wasn't just a coach, but a friend, and I don't think some of them got that.

Which is where my mind wrestles almost daily recently. Being that I'm loving the outdoors more and more, I often question why I spend a good portion of the outdoor season doing something that doesn't quite give off a return I thought I could get out of it? The Fall time is a GREAT time for camping and hiking, yet from August to mid-November, I spend every weekday and every weekend coaching. I guess because I love it, but if I'm loving the idea of camping and hiking more....am I going to give up on coaching soon? I just don't know...

It's almost like you have to choose one over the other. That goes for sports in general. Caiden is coming of the age where he can start playing serious organized sports. He plays baseball in the spring and will likely play tackle football this fall. Both require weekends (games) and weeknights (practice), which is a huge sacrifice to things that I'm starting to like more (hiking and camping).

How do other people do it? Especially if they love outdoors? Do they just not let their kids play sports? I can't imagine if Caiden becomes good enough at baseball, that if he wanted to play competition baseball (early teens), which takes up a TON Of time with travel to other states, etc. It would be so hard to tell him "no" if it didn't work out for what we wanted to do.

I don't know the answer to all of this. I guess we just see how everything goes and react to it. Just, as I think more and more.....sometimes I see myself just leaving my first love (coaching football) behind completely and taking up my second love (hiking/camping) and doing it for the rest of my life. I want to explore every inch of the desert in UT. There are so many things I'd love to get into. I want to explore technical canyons via rappel and go places hardly any people either dare to go, or just don't know about. I know I just need to be patient because I know I could accomplish this in my lifetime, even with my first love (football). Still, sometimes I just want to make exploring my life....I know if I did, for my families sake, things would be more relaxed and we would have more control. With the team sports and all that, you really have no control over anything (they set the schedule, the practice times, etc.)

Hmmmmmmmm, man this is tough.

Green River Bible Church

Several years ago I was having a series of apocalyptic dreams. Each of them featured the world ending in different ways, or just the knowledge of being on the brink of the end of the world. One such dream featured an old, dilapidated, wooden church in the middle of an open field. Already having a penchant for ruined and abandoned buildings, I've added wooden churches to my picture-must-be-taken-of repertoire. So, far from the highlight of my weekend trip, but an interesting addition to the experience was our one-night stay in Green River, Utah. And in town, the Green River Bible Church stood there, a little ghostly.

Check out the HB's coverage of our Horseshoe canyon adventure on his blog here. Usually we're camping in the San Rafael Swell area, but late-February seemed a little too chilly and we booked a hotel in town instead. I've stopped at the edge of town plenty of times for gas, but never actually visited or driven through (just about 2 minutes to get down Main Street from end to end). I honestly hope it stays as hopeless as it is, because I don't want it to be touristy, but it did make me just a little sad that the town felt so empty.

As far as the canyon goes, it was incredible, and I will re-iterate Tyler--it was a perfect day, I can't imagine a better one. My previous trip to Horseshoe Canyon was with my archaeology field school group in Escalante. We went there to hike the canyon on a Saturday sometime in June and it was hot as hell. I loved it then too, but until I went on this weekend, I didn't even know that water ran through there, I'm sure it's all dried up by then. It really was just perfect.

I'm so excited

Tomorrow Alene and I are heading down to get a hotel in Green River and head over to Horseshoe canyon, which is part of Canyonlands national park. We are going to see the largest petroglyph rock art in all of the U.S. dating back before the Fremont Indians (7000-9000 BCE).

Alene has already been there, but I'm just excited to be getting away from this crappy weather and getting out on a hike. I'm excited to see the canyon and to try to feel what it must have been like 9000 to 11,000 years ago for the people that lived there.

Here is a picture of what we're going to see, what is called the "Great Gallery".

Scouting Memories

With Caiden starting up with the Scouting program, I've dug up some old memories in my brain about some of the best times I had as a scout. By far, my favorite was going to Camp Winton, which was in the vicinity of where I lived, but far enough out to make it a good 2 hour drive to get to (maybe even 3 hrs??) It was located in the high Sierra Nevadas and along a lonely highway (Hwy 88).

Camp Winton was located on the South Eastern edge of Lower Bear River Reservoir. Across the reservoir (on the North side) was an LDS owned girls camp called Camp Ritchie, which I recall my mom spending a lot of summers there when she worked with the Young Women's.

The Camp generally ran for a week. We arrived on a Saturday and loaded whatever we couldn't carry on our backs, into a boat (you could only access the camp via boat or on foot). They would then drive us to a trailhead for the "GASP" 1.5 mile hike into the camp (when I first went to the camp at 13, I thought that was a LONG hike). We were required to pack in as much as we could, while the boat took our extra provisions like food, cooler, etc.

The camp was fun. There had to be 300 plus scouts there at a time. Each troop was assigned a campground, which was usually on the side of the mountain (which reached up from the shore of the lake). There were a bunch of merit badges we could work on through out the week. I remember taking water skiing, wilderness survival, astronomy, basket weaving (yes, basket weaving), archery, canoeing, and many others that aren't coming to mind.

I have great memories too. Even though it was the hot summer, the nights got cold. For our last night of wilderness survival we were taken out away from our camps to a desolate spot (about a mile away) with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We could not bring food, or a sleeping bag. They fed us a small meal and then we had to partner up and build a shelter out of the surroundings. A guy from my ward, Sean Smith, was my partner. I remember stumbling upon an already built, but half torn down shelter someone else had made and adding to it for our shelter (yes, we cheated). The thing had tons of room inside and we thought we were so smart (you know, because lots of room means you'll be cozy). Later that night, we understood what they meant when we were taught to make it really tight-fitting. We were both SOOOOO cold. Our teeth were chattering all night and Sean said I was saying something about me wanting my mommy. I don't remember that, but I remember him making the suggestion that we should rub our bodies together for warmth. I was desperate, but I was also a little homophobic, so I pretended like I didn't hear him. Nevertheless, we made it through the night.

Another great memory was an over-night trip our troop made to the upper reservoir (it was above the lower reservoir, dammed up). We got some canoes and loaded food and our sleeping bags in and canoed up to the foot of the dam. From there we carried our stuff to the top via a trail, then went back down and carried our canoes to the top. We then canoed out to an island on the upper reservoir to set up camp. It was seriously awesome. We spent some time taking the canoes over to the Western shore of the upper reservoir and hiking up a dry fall and across the top. It was here that I think I had my first real brush with death. I remember climbing up a steep rock face above the falls, but the further I got, the steeper it became and I knew I wasn't going to make it up and I could feel my body wanting to slide back down. If I had slid, I know my momentum would be too hard to stop and I would have for sure gone over the edge of the dry fall. Of course as a 13 year old you're embarrassed to admit you need help, so I just kind of attached myself to the rock, like a spider but eventually I started to slide and I yelled at my buddy Sean for help. I just remember feeling his arm reach out and grab me and pull me into the upper water run-off ditch and like that, I was still alive. I remember looking back at the cliff face I almost fell off and it was a good 60' tall. That would have sucked to have ended my life that way.

Here is a picture of the Lower Reservoir


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Here is a picture of the Upper Reservoir


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This is a place I can't wait to take my wife to

It's lake Tahoe, but specifically, this area is on the western shore and it's called Emerald Bay. Not sure if you can see it, but there is a "Vikings Castle" on that little island you can see out there. A boat will take you out to the island and you can tour the old castle. I'm pretty sure real vikings didn't build it, but it's an older, authentic castle that someone built a long time ago.


Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place to visit with so much to do.