With a new camera, I was really excited to head back to rephotograph some of the most beautiful areas I've been in. The trip got off to a great start when I pulled into the Coal Pits Wash Trailhead to camp, and while driving around to see if anyone else was camped there, I inadvertently drove into a section that had experienced flooding since I'd been there last, and there was a fresh 2 feet of sand deposited. After I hit a dead end I tried to turn around, and couldn't back out. I tried all kinds of things to get out, but ended up going off into the dark to find long straight branches to drive on. After an hour of trying the branch method, I had made it 30 ft backwards. Then I noticed a 18" hill I'd have to climb up, and knew I couldn't do it as my wheels were already frequently slipping on top of the branches instead of gripping them. So I called AAA. The tow truck was on it's way from Zion back to his shop, and I was on the way, so it didn't take long for him to show up, drive down a ways, and get stuck. He stopped short of the real sand, but was in a huge flat bed loading tow truck. He used a shovel to clear out enough sand so he was on firm ground to get going back out. I asked if I could borrow the shovel for the night, and he flat out refused. So disappointed, I camped out in the back of my stuck truck. I planned on flagging someone down the next morning, but when morning came, I decided to work out some ideas I had while trying to sleep. The problem was my rear end is too light, with a slip differential, so because there was a lean to the right side, the left wheel was slipping, so I dug out the left side a bit so it could get more weight, and with a little rocking, rolled back. Then the next step was to get my truck back far enough that I could get my truck headed straight, because I had much better driving in the sand when going forward than back. I had to push my truck with one foot while laying on the gas with the other, then I had to back up to make my final turn to get straight, then I got going, and laid on the gas, and off I went. Free!!! It was a good feeling.
Starting out on the trail, the weather was cool, but quickly warmed up. I found it odd that I was passing everyone on the trail, even though I had a full pack on. I guess I don't realize how much progress I've made in the fitness area over the years. I was surprised when I started climbing above Scout's Lookout, and there were still tons of people coming up that way. It wasn't until I got above Scout's Lookout that I broke the camera out.
After 3-4,000 feet of climbing, I made it onto the West Rim Mesa, and saw what happened with the fires this summer. The fires from the summer before made the mesa pretty ugly, but the fires from this summer finished everything off. The Telephone Canyon Trail was closed - it was part of the loop I wanted to do up there. I was disappointed with that. The weather up top was alright. There was some wind, but not much. When I made it to my campsite, I could see the clouds moving in, and the wind picked up...big time. I chose to set my tent up right next to a fallen tree that was almost as tall as my tent in case any trees decided to blow over. Two blew over while I was camped there, but not next to my tent, fortunately. I was able to get some amazing photos when the clouds were moving off of the horizon, and the sun was coming through. It made the whole trip worthwhile.
Then it got cold. Really cold. The next morning I stayed in my sleeping bag forever, but finally got the guts to get out, and throw everything in my pack. I didn't even restuff anything in their stuff sacks. Once I got onto the trail, the wind pretty much stopped. It was pretty isolated to where I was camped.
The rest of the trip was uneventful until I was closing in on Scout's Lookout, and there were six California Condors flying all over the area around Angel's Landing. I started taking photos of them, when all of a sudden, one came straight at me. I got an okay photo of it, then it buzzed my head and circled back to join the others. Condors aren't typically found in Zion, so it was a pretty cool occurrance.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Little Wild Horse Canyon - Bell Canyon
I just got back from the San Rafael Swell - was planning on doing 4 canyons, Little Wild Horse, Bell, Ding & Dang, but only got to do the first two. There was some nasty looking weather rolling in after I got out of LWHC, so I had lunch, and waited to see if things would clear up, but they never did.
Unfortunately I started into the canyons about the same time as a group of 10 prattling high schoolers. And so it was like, well...I don't think I can accurately portray 4 conversations going on at the same time about inane babble. I'm not even going to try. When the canyons split, I went up Bell which coincidentally wasn't where the high schoolers went. Bell went by pretty quickly. LWHC took longer, but since I went the direction most people don't I ended up waiting in the narrow section for huge groups of families consisting of usually 2 adults, and 10 kids between the ages of 4 & 6. It was weird.
These seem to be canyons that most people have done, and are insanely easy to get through, but that's the kind of thing I was looking for this weekend, so it was nice.
I got to use my new Canon S5IS on its first trip, which I love!
View photos from this trip
Unfortunately I started into the canyons about the same time as a group of 10 prattling high schoolers. And so it was like, well...I don't think I can accurately portray 4 conversations going on at the same time about inane babble. I'm not even going to try. When the canyons split, I went up Bell which coincidentally wasn't where the high schoolers went. Bell went by pretty quickly. LWHC took longer, but since I went the direction most people don't I ended up waiting in the narrow section for huge groups of families consisting of usually 2 adults, and 10 kids between the ages of 4 & 6. It was weird.
These seem to be canyons that most people have done, and are insanely easy to get through, but that's the kind of thing I was looking for this weekend, so it was nice.
I got to use my new Canon S5IS on its first trip, which I love!
View photos from this trip
Monday, October 8, 2007
Wet Beaver Creek
Sure it sounds like a strip club in Tijuana, but it was a lot funner. Well, I'm guessing it's a lot more fun. In comparing Tijuana to the Creek - both were pretty hellish. The Creek was more on the fun side of hellish things. Having never been to a strip club, I really wouldn't know how that compares though. I wonder what the google searches hitting this post will be like. No, I really don't want to know. The creek was seriously fun though once I accepted a few things.
It started out with a drive from Ogden to the Sedona area. A serious dust storm closed down I-15 on the way, forcing a long detour through some tiny towns. That added some time to the trip, then getting stuck in a drive-thru line at Wendy's in Beaver for 25 minutes was even better! In total, it was over 11 hours. I spent the night in Flagstaff at a crummy hotel between I-40 and a very active railroad line which required the train to toot its horn at every intersection.
Completely exhausted, I started the backpacking trip. I had little planning for this trip, and didn't know the first 12 miles or so would be dry except for some big disgusting ponds that I don't think would be safe to drink no matter how much it was purified. So I had 1 gallon for the first day and a half. Crossing the open desert was long and boring. Nothing to talk about.
Day 2 we dropped down into a canyon that would connect us with Wet Beaver Creek. It was pretty cool. We had some down climbs, and scrambles down the sides of dryfalls between 10-30 ft drops. It was really sweet.
Middle of day 2 we hit Wet Beaver Creek - except it was completely dry, which was expected. A spring fuels the waters flow further downstream, filling all the deep cold pools we would be swimming over the next two days. I dreaded getting into the first pool, wondering if my pack would float with my water reservoirs inflated with air, and my dry bag inflated as much as possible, and float it did! Since the water was fresh from a spring, it was very cold.
I tried holding the pack out in front of me, pushing off a large rock and kicking, but after the initial inertia wore off, I went nowhere, then the wind blew me back to the start of the swim. I started swimming with one hand going too, and started moving. The next pool was definitely warmer, but that's only because being wet in the wind was much colder than being cold in the water. The next few miles were mainly boulder hopping down the creek. Looking at the GPS, we had barely covered any of the creek section. Our campsite was pretty sweet though - one of the best in the canyon with wide open spaces, plenty of sand to camp on, protection from flooding, and trees to tie lines between to hang stuff to dry. My tent was outside of a dry sack so I had to dry it off - I basically set it up hanging from the line - pretty funny looking. 
My camera had gotten wet enough that it wouldn't work, so I don't have any pictures.
Day 3 was supposed to be our final day, but as the day wore on, it became clear that wasn't going to happen. With the inevitability of swimming pools, the wind, lowering temperatures as the sun dropped behind the canyon walls, and complex terrain to navigate in the dark, it just didn't seem like a good idea. Back to the morning though, it was endless boulder hopping. It just never ended. Just boulder after boulder. Sometimes there were no boulders to hop though, so it was into the trees to thrash our way through. Sometimes we had to hop boulders on the banks, and sometimes hop boulders while thrashing through the trees! Eventually though, the pools came back. Looking at the GPS we were only half way through the canyon, and we were 1/2 way through the final scheduled day. It just seemed like we were stuck in a horrible time warp. At one point I was convinced our exit was just around every corner, and was getting disappointed every time. Eventually when the sun was getting low I had crossed a pool, and I couldn't take it any more. I was hungry, wet, cold, and didn't want to face the canyon anymore. We had no chance of making it out that night - at least not safely, and the area had a fairly decent campsite. There were a few flat spots on slickrock. I had a slab just the right size for my tent, but had a drop off onto rock of about 2.5 feet on 3 sides. With the wind gusts, it made for a tense night at times.
Early on day 4, we headed out. The sun was barely lighting the cliffs above, not quite reaching the pools. The first pool we hit was right around the corner from camp, which was a huge disappointment. I wanted to warm up a bit by boulder hopping first, but got thrown right into the swimming. There was no way around it, the water was cold. I didn't wear a shirt cause I would've just been colder for longer with it on since it would take much, much longer to dry than bare skin. The wind was seriously gusting as I got out of the first pool. I froze. The second pool was right after the first, and was still cold, but not that bad. Then the 3rd pool was right after that, and the water was starting to feel warm - physically warm. It was weird, cause I knew it was just as cold as the first, but it was definitely warmer than being in the wind. Earlier the previous day I got tired of taking off my pack to swim the pools, so I left it on, and started swimming on my back. It made it super easy to go from hopping to swimming and back. I can't remember how many pools I swam after that. It just all started blending together. I just knew I couldn't stop or I'd freeze. I still didn't know when I'd hit the trail leading out of the canyon. The banks got easier to get through, and the pools no longer required swimming. Sometime later a canyon appeared on the South side of the Creek and I knew I was there.
I was so happy to find a trail that I started heading up a good climb for a 1/4 mile only to realize that I was going up the wrong side. So back to the creek and up the other side I was on my way out. The last 4 miles flew by, and I was glad to get back to my truck so I could call everyone who was already worried we didn't check in the night before.
It was hard dealing with a never ending canyon, and some tough terrain that required a considerable amount of time to negotiate, and to just start enjoy the hopping, and the swimming of long pools of freezing water I have a huge range of feelings about this trip, but overall I think it was fun. I don't know if I'd do it again, but I definitely want to do more of the same - as long as the pools are fairly clean, you know, no stanky funk.
Only 3 good photos before the camera stopped working, so I'm just showing them in this post.
View photos from this trip
It started out with a drive from Ogden to the Sedona area. A serious dust storm closed down I-15 on the way, forcing a long detour through some tiny towns. That added some time to the trip, then getting stuck in a drive-thru line at Wendy's in Beaver for 25 minutes was even better! In total, it was over 11 hours. I spent the night in Flagstaff at a crummy hotel between I-40 and a very active railroad line which required the train to toot its horn at every intersection.
Completely exhausted, I started the backpacking trip. I had little planning for this trip, and didn't know the first 12 miles or so would be dry except for some big disgusting ponds that I don't think would be safe to drink no matter how much it was purified. So I had 1 gallon for the first day and a half. Crossing the open desert was long and boring. Nothing to talk about.
Day 2 we dropped down into a canyon that would connect us with Wet Beaver Creek. It was pretty cool. We had some down climbs, and scrambles down the sides of dryfalls between 10-30 ft drops. It was really sweet.
Middle of day 2 we hit Wet Beaver Creek - except it was completely dry, which was expected. A spring fuels the waters flow further downstream, filling all the deep cold pools we would be swimming over the next two days. I dreaded getting into the first pool, wondering if my pack would float with my water reservoirs inflated with air, and my dry bag inflated as much as possible, and float it did! Since the water was fresh from a spring, it was very cold.
I tried holding the pack out in front of me, pushing off a large rock and kicking, but after the initial inertia wore off, I went nowhere, then the wind blew me back to the start of the swim. I started swimming with one hand going too, and started moving. The next pool was definitely warmer, but that's only because being wet in the wind was much colder than being cold in the water. The next few miles were mainly boulder hopping down the creek. Looking at the GPS, we had barely covered any of the creek section. Our campsite was pretty sweet though - one of the best in the canyon with wide open spaces, plenty of sand to camp on, protection from flooding, and trees to tie lines between to hang stuff to dry. My tent was outside of a dry sack so I had to dry it off - I basically set it up hanging from the line - pretty funny looking. My camera had gotten wet enough that it wouldn't work, so I don't have any pictures.Day 3 was supposed to be our final day, but as the day wore on, it became clear that wasn't going to happen. With the inevitability of swimming pools, the wind, lowering temperatures as the sun dropped behind the canyon walls, and complex terrain to navigate in the dark, it just didn't seem like a good idea. Back to the morning though, it was endless boulder hopping. It just never ended. Just boulder after boulder. Sometimes there were no boulders to hop though, so it was into the trees to thrash our way through. Sometimes we had to hop boulders on the banks, and sometimes hop boulders while thrashing through the trees! Eventually though, the pools came back. Looking at the GPS we were only half way through the canyon, and we were 1/2 way through the final scheduled day. It just seemed like we were stuck in a horrible time warp. At one point I was convinced our exit was just around every corner, and was getting disappointed every time. Eventually when the sun was getting low I had crossed a pool, and I couldn't take it any more. I was hungry, wet, cold, and didn't want to face the canyon anymore. We had no chance of making it out that night - at least not safely, and the area had a fairly decent campsite. There were a few flat spots on slickrock. I had a slab just the right size for my tent, but had a drop off onto rock of about 2.5 feet on 3 sides. With the wind gusts, it made for a tense night at times.
Early on day 4, we headed out. The sun was barely lighting the cliffs above, not quite reaching the pools. The first pool we hit was right around the corner from camp, which was a huge disappointment. I wanted to warm up a bit by boulder hopping first, but got thrown right into the swimming. There was no way around it, the water was cold. I didn't wear a shirt cause I would've just been colder for longer with it on since it would take much, much longer to dry than bare skin. The wind was seriously gusting as I got out of the first pool. I froze. The second pool was right after the first, and was still cold, but not that bad. Then the 3rd pool was right after that, and the water was starting to feel warm - physically warm. It was weird, cause I knew it was just as cold as the first, but it was definitely warmer than being in the wind. Earlier the previous day I got tired of taking off my pack to swim the pools, so I left it on, and started swimming on my back. It made it super easy to go from hopping to swimming and back. I can't remember how many pools I swam after that. It just all started blending together. I just knew I couldn't stop or I'd freeze. I still didn't know when I'd hit the trail leading out of the canyon. The banks got easier to get through, and the pools no longer required swimming. Sometime later a canyon appeared on the South side of the Creek and I knew I was there.
I was so happy to find a trail that I started heading up a good climb for a 1/4 mile only to realize that I was going up the wrong side. So back to the creek and up the other side I was on my way out. The last 4 miles flew by, and I was glad to get back to my truck so I could call everyone who was already worried we didn't check in the night before.
It was hard dealing with a never ending canyon, and some tough terrain that required a considerable amount of time to negotiate, and to just start enjoy the hopping, and the swimming of long pools of freezing water I have a huge range of feelings about this trip, but overall I think it was fun. I don't know if I'd do it again, but I definitely want to do more of the same - as long as the pools are fairly clean, you know, no stanky funk.
Only 3 good photos before the camera stopped working, so I'm just showing them in this post.
View photos from this trip
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Channel Islands Dive Trip
It all started a little after 11 pm on a Tuesday night. I drove off to pick up a friend, then head to the dive shop to load all our gear up onto a bus. Then we were off into the night. Our driver was kind of skittish, but excelled at driving straight. As soon as corners came up it was one jerky move after another, each one jarring me awake. On the stretch of freeway between Cedar City & St. George it was like he was dodging squirrels on the freeway. Fortunately we got a new driver in St. George, and it was super easy to sleep while she was at the wheel. We stopped in Primm for breakfast where we dined to the sounds of jackhammers. That afternoon we arrived in the Santa Barbara harbor and loaded our stuff on the boat then went out to eat. We had 6 hours to kill before we left.
Overnight we headed to Catalina Island for our first dive. By morning we'd been travelling for 36 hours. We spent most of our trip off Catalina due to a storm making for rough water around the Channel Islands. That morning I hopped into the ocean for the first time. As many times as I'd been to the coasts, I'd never been in the water. All I can say is that ocean water tastes much saltier than I thought it would be. It was pretty cool to dive in that area since there is a ton of kelp to swim through, and there are tons of starfish and urchins. I only saw two horned sharks, which don't really look like sharks, and are really small, so nothing too exciting.
The boat had 3 levels, the lower being the bunks - which are basically coffins w/ a drape on the side stacked 3 high. The main level had the galley w/ the kitchen, and tables along both sides, and the diving deck. The top level was central ops for boat operation and staff quarters, with a deck to lounge on. I really didn't know what I was in for living on a small boat with close to 40 people and it rained half the time so we couldn't only occupy half of the boat, and my only escape was the water. I went a little crazy.
The last day we finally made it to an actual Channel Island - Santa Cruz, and the diving was 10x better. So many colors of urchins everywhere, same as starfish plus we had a sea lion and a seal swim around us, but only had two dives. En route between dive sites there we took the boat into what I believe was the world's largest sea cave and took the boat about 100 feet in. On the ride back to Santa Barbara we saw two blue whales fairly close, and off in the distance a killer whale.
The ride back was mainly through the night, full of restless sleep due to several army movies a few guys wanted to watch, so it was all nice and peaceful, then *BOOM* I was awake again. I got home at 10 am. Would I do that trip again? Maybe - if I flew down, and didn't stay on a boat the whole time. For the next 3 days, my world wouldn't stop rocking back and forth.
View photos from this trip
Overnight we headed to Catalina Island for our first dive. By morning we'd been travelling for 36 hours. We spent most of our trip off Catalina due to a storm making for rough water around the Channel Islands. That morning I hopped into the ocean for the first time. As many times as I'd been to the coasts, I'd never been in the water. All I can say is that ocean water tastes much saltier than I thought it would be. It was pretty cool to dive in that area since there is a ton of kelp to swim through, and there are tons of starfish and urchins. I only saw two horned sharks, which don't really look like sharks, and are really small, so nothing too exciting.
The boat had 3 levels, the lower being the bunks - which are basically coffins w/ a drape on the side stacked 3 high. The main level had the galley w/ the kitchen, and tables along both sides, and the diving deck. The top level was central ops for boat operation and staff quarters, with a deck to lounge on. I really didn't know what I was in for living on a small boat with close to 40 people and it rained half the time so we couldn't only occupy half of the boat, and my only escape was the water. I went a little crazy.
The last day we finally made it to an actual Channel Island - Santa Cruz, and the diving was 10x better. So many colors of urchins everywhere, same as starfish plus we had a sea lion and a seal swim around us, but only had two dives. En route between dive sites there we took the boat into what I believe was the world's largest sea cave and took the boat about 100 feet in. On the ride back to Santa Barbara we saw two blue whales fairly close, and off in the distance a killer whale.
The ride back was mainly through the night, full of restless sleep due to several army movies a few guys wanted to watch, so it was all nice and peaceful, then *BOOM* I was awake again. I got home at 10 am. Would I do that trip again? Maybe - if I flew down, and didn't stay on a boat the whole time. For the next 3 days, my world wouldn't stop rocking back and forth.
View photos from this trip
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Highline Trail - East Fork Blacks Fork
I've always been compelled to stay in the desert & avoid the mountains when backpacking, but I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to get into the Uintas. The weather was supposed to be between 60/40 degrees the whole time, but that was way off. After a short detour down the wrong drainage to drop a car off - that being my fault, we made it to the East Fork Blacks Fork trailhead at dusk & stayed the night. It was close to freezing, and I was trying out a new Big Agnes 10° sleeping bag w/ the Big Agnes sleeping pad.
I was initially concerned about not getting enough insulation on the bottom side through the pad, but that was the last problem. The first thing I noticed was that to cinch things up tight and keep your head warm you have to stay flat on your back because the bag is fused to the pad, and the pad isn't going to move with your head, so it's either breathe into your bag and build up condensation and reduce warmth since it is down, or keep your head completely out of the bag so you can move around. The bag is cut generously enough that you can, with a couple weird movements get onto your side, which is nice, but I noticed quite quickly if my feet touched the tent, the insulation was lost and my feet froze, or if I crossed my arms over my chest, I lost insulation there, so basically I couldn't get comfortable at all. Then in the morning when I tried to sit up, I was reminded again that the pad was attached. Oh yea, and it takes some new skills to get your sleeping pad into your sleeping bag, but nothing detrimental. The 10° rating was a joke. I know they're always off, but this was excessively so. I wore thermals, and several layers of clothing while in the bag, and still froze even when the temperatures were above freezing - well, not just freezing, but uncontrollable shivering at times. When it dropped into the 20's one night, I just couldn't sleep at all. I had to focus on keeping everything in a perfect position for optimal insulation so I didn't completely freeze. I'm going to see if I can return it. I was excited to get it & try it out, but the limitations of movement, and terrible temperature rating made this a bad buy. With a different design I think the insulationless bottom concept could be much better.
Anyway, the Highline trail is pretty cool, getting into some very remote areas. It takes some time to get out of the forest and start seeing the beautiful vistas, and drainages while climbing over the passes. Spending a night close to 10,000 ft before starting out definitely helped with any altitude problems I've previously experienced, and I was definitely concerned with carrying a pack at that elevation. Carrying extra gear & clothes for the weather added more than a few pounds.
There is a lot of forest between the trailhead and Pigeon Milk Spring where you climb above treeline and start seeing some views to the South and West. Smoke from fires in the region were clouding up the view, but they were still great.
The climb up to Rocky Sea Pass from this side was fairly easy. Once on top the wind was just howling, and was pretty cold, but the views to the East were incredible. There are several small lakes at the bottom of the pass, and there's a great view of the trail ahead - if you can imagine it going through a ton of forest, dropping down to Rock Creek and climbing out the other side, and around the corner. Brinkley Lake is out of view from up there, but not technically that far away. The trial leads away from it before turning back northwards.
Brinkley Lake had a great view of the mountains to the North, and was a nice place to camp - there are many great sites to the East of the lake across the trail. We had some coyotes visit our camp that night, but I was knocked out w/ benadryl cause of allergies, so I didn't notice.
Day 2 we re-entered the forest, lost some elevation and gained a whole lot more. After doing the majority of the climbing, the trail leveled out and we were crossing large meadows for a while providing a nice change of scenery. I was hoping to see some more animals by this point, but it just wasn't happening. We rounded the corner, and hit Ledge Lake - there are some cool waterfalls coming down the cliffs. At this point we were approaching some new elevation highs, and I was noticing more than ever that I had to start breathing hard before moving just to get the oxygen in the blood up to decent levels.
Climbing Dead Horse Pass some nasty weather moved in, and I watched from a hundred feet below the pass as the downpour moved in. Turns out it was frozen stuff that was melting on impact. It moved on in 10 minutes, and didn't result in much of anything. There was one lightning strike. Big black clouds continued to move overhead so I didn't want to stick around on the pass for very long. The trail off the pass goes down a steep talus slope, with a narrow trail almost as steep as the slope itself cutting into it at an angle. The first step is the worst, hoping the whole time that you don't slip and slide off the cliff.
Dead Horse Lake was gorgeous to look down on as we descended, and the storm clouds were flying by overhead.
The camp at Dead Horse Lake had a two walled wind shelter built up a few hundred feet into the forest, w/ two benches and a fire pit, so we camped there. Elevation was 11,000 ft. That night was the coldest with temperatures dropping below 30°. I just couldn't sleep, and didn't want to take benadryl since it's effects seemed to be amplified at altitude, and I was paranoid enough being at elevation for so long. I don't know how I got out of the sleeping bag in the morning. At least I was mostly dressed to begin with since I would've completely frozen in the sleeping bag otherwise.
We were hitting Red Knob Pass that day. We had to drop down into a ravine where the temps dropped into the teens, one of the creeks was frozen over, and we were in those temps for so long without sun that my arms went numb. When I finally got into a sliver of sun I stayed there for about 20 minutes just enjoying it. The trail up Red Knob was nice and easy, just slow going to let my oxygen levels keep pace with consumption. Our high point was around the corner of Red Knob at 12,170 ft. I was feeling a little loopy and getting a headache, so I dropped down into the East Fork Blacks Fork drainage pretty quickly. At the bottom of the pass we decided to cut off a day from our trip and head out, accumulating over 15 miles. Ironically it was in the last 15 miles we saw the most animals. Mainly a ton of moose. The trail seems to never end. The last 3 miles just dragged on forever, but end they did.
Overall, there was over 8,000 ft elevation climbed, and over 33+ miles, could be over 35 - the gps batteries didn't last, so I'll never know for sure.
View photos from this trip
I was initially concerned about not getting enough insulation on the bottom side through the pad, but that was the last problem. The first thing I noticed was that to cinch things up tight and keep your head warm you have to stay flat on your back because the bag is fused to the pad, and the pad isn't going to move with your head, so it's either breathe into your bag and build up condensation and reduce warmth since it is down, or keep your head completely out of the bag so you can move around. The bag is cut generously enough that you can, with a couple weird movements get onto your side, which is nice, but I noticed quite quickly if my feet touched the tent, the insulation was lost and my feet froze, or if I crossed my arms over my chest, I lost insulation there, so basically I couldn't get comfortable at all. Then in the morning when I tried to sit up, I was reminded again that the pad was attached. Oh yea, and it takes some new skills to get your sleeping pad into your sleeping bag, but nothing detrimental. The 10° rating was a joke. I know they're always off, but this was excessively so. I wore thermals, and several layers of clothing while in the bag, and still froze even when the temperatures were above freezing - well, not just freezing, but uncontrollable shivering at times. When it dropped into the 20's one night, I just couldn't sleep at all. I had to focus on keeping everything in a perfect position for optimal insulation so I didn't completely freeze. I'm going to see if I can return it. I was excited to get it & try it out, but the limitations of movement, and terrible temperature rating made this a bad buy. With a different design I think the insulationless bottom concept could be much better.
Anyway, the Highline trail is pretty cool, getting into some very remote areas. It takes some time to get out of the forest and start seeing the beautiful vistas, and drainages while climbing over the passes. Spending a night close to 10,000 ft before starting out definitely helped with any altitude problems I've previously experienced, and I was definitely concerned with carrying a pack at that elevation. Carrying extra gear & clothes for the weather added more than a few pounds.
There is a lot of forest between the trailhead and Pigeon Milk Spring where you climb above treeline and start seeing some views to the South and West. Smoke from fires in the region were clouding up the view, but they were still great.
The climb up to Rocky Sea Pass from this side was fairly easy. Once on top the wind was just howling, and was pretty cold, but the views to the East were incredible. There are several small lakes at the bottom of the pass, and there's a great view of the trail ahead - if you can imagine it going through a ton of forest, dropping down to Rock Creek and climbing out the other side, and around the corner. Brinkley Lake is out of view from up there, but not technically that far away. The trial leads away from it before turning back northwards.
Brinkley Lake had a great view of the mountains to the North, and was a nice place to camp - there are many great sites to the East of the lake across the trail. We had some coyotes visit our camp that night, but I was knocked out w/ benadryl cause of allergies, so I didn't notice.
Day 2 we re-entered the forest, lost some elevation and gained a whole lot more. After doing the majority of the climbing, the trail leveled out and we were crossing large meadows for a while providing a nice change of scenery. I was hoping to see some more animals by this point, but it just wasn't happening. We rounded the corner, and hit Ledge Lake - there are some cool waterfalls coming down the cliffs. At this point we were approaching some new elevation highs, and I was noticing more than ever that I had to start breathing hard before moving just to get the oxygen in the blood up to decent levels.
Climbing Dead Horse Pass some nasty weather moved in, and I watched from a hundred feet below the pass as the downpour moved in. Turns out it was frozen stuff that was melting on impact. It moved on in 10 minutes, and didn't result in much of anything. There was one lightning strike. Big black clouds continued to move overhead so I didn't want to stick around on the pass for very long. The trail off the pass goes down a steep talus slope, with a narrow trail almost as steep as the slope itself cutting into it at an angle. The first step is the worst, hoping the whole time that you don't slip and slide off the cliff.
Dead Horse Lake was gorgeous to look down on as we descended, and the storm clouds were flying by overhead.
The camp at Dead Horse Lake had a two walled wind shelter built up a few hundred feet into the forest, w/ two benches and a fire pit, so we camped there. Elevation was 11,000 ft. That night was the coldest with temperatures dropping below 30°. I just couldn't sleep, and didn't want to take benadryl since it's effects seemed to be amplified at altitude, and I was paranoid enough being at elevation for so long. I don't know how I got out of the sleeping bag in the morning. At least I was mostly dressed to begin with since I would've completely frozen in the sleeping bag otherwise.
We were hitting Red Knob Pass that day. We had to drop down into a ravine where the temps dropped into the teens, one of the creeks was frozen over, and we were in those temps for so long without sun that my arms went numb. When I finally got into a sliver of sun I stayed there for about 20 minutes just enjoying it. The trail up Red Knob was nice and easy, just slow going to let my oxygen levels keep pace with consumption. Our high point was around the corner of Red Knob at 12,170 ft. I was feeling a little loopy and getting a headache, so I dropped down into the East Fork Blacks Fork drainage pretty quickly. At the bottom of the pass we decided to cut off a day from our trip and head out, accumulating over 15 miles. Ironically it was in the last 15 miles we saw the most animals. Mainly a ton of moose. The trail seems to never end. The last 3 miles just dragged on forever, but end they did.
Overall, there was over 8,000 ft elevation climbed, and over 33+ miles, could be over 35 - the gps batteries didn't last, so I'll never know for sure.
View photos from this trip
Monday, September 3, 2007
Concrete Counter Tops - Testing Complete
I finally finished my test slab using the recipe I developed for my bathroom countertops. I managed to get the glass in smaller chunks like I wanted by throwing it in a blender, but that resulted in glass that didn't settle as much when the concrete was vibrated, so there is much less glass exposed than in the test samples, so the counter tops will have that problem corrected. I'll also attempt to do some layering of the concrete so I can get slightly darker, natural looking layers in there. It's kind of an oxymoron to throw colored glass into something when you try and make it look like a natural stone. The surface feels really smooth and slick with the finish on it. It's so much nicer to use a mouse on too. In a couple weeks the glass will get much more reflective and shiny inside as the concrete cures more. I'm not sure why that happens, but I'm glad it does.
Now that I know there aren't issues with significant cracking (at least on the polished surface, the underside has some minor cracks, but that's mostly just in the soupy concrete that surfaced) I will mix up a new batch and pour my downstairs bathroom counter top, then make the mold for my upstairs counter top, and get that poured.
View photos of this project
Now that I know there aren't issues with significant cracking (at least on the polished surface, the underside has some minor cracks, but that's mostly just in the soupy concrete that surfaced) I will mix up a new batch and pour my downstairs bathroom counter top, then make the mold for my upstairs counter top, and get that poured.
View photos of this project
Monday, July 2, 2007
Zion Narrows - Zion National Park
So Brittany got permits to do the Narrows, and who am I to say no to a pre-arranged trip where all I have to do is show up? The temps were supposed to be some of the hottest of the summer so far, around 108. We took a shuttle to start the trip to make things easier, and it was pretty cheap.
I didn't know what to think of how things would be outside of the slot canyon sections - the upper portion of the trail are in a forest, walking along cow pasture, that looks like it's being primed for development, on a dirt road. Soon enough we're walking along the river, and the cliffs start working their way up into the sky. The heat of the day wasn't that bad up at that elevation, and as the day went on, the canyon produced more and more shade, plus walking along the river, things were naturally cooler.
The waterfall didn't disappoint. The water was pretty warm for a mountain stream, and the water was nice to play in.
Soon after, Deep Creek joined up and things got gnarlier. Well, not that much gnarlier, but the terrain got much rockier, making all the river crossings much slower.
Our campsite was at the mouth of Kolob Canyon. It was really nice. The temps didn't drop below 60, and there were hardly any bugs around.
The next day I was totally prepared to go for a dunking, but with enough route finding, all deep pools were avoided. Midway through the Narrows section, I hit my first day hiker, then another, and another. I stopped taking pictures at that point. Where the canyon widened up, the temps were in the 90's and I went swimming to cool off. The paved trail started shortly soon after, and within 15 minutes, I was at the Narrows trailhead, ready to chill in the shade with the air temps well in the 100's.
I'm kind of undecided whether I'd want to go through the painstaking river crossings again, I might to do one of the technical slot canyons which drop into the main canyon.
View photos from this trip
I didn't know what to think of how things would be outside of the slot canyon sections - the upper portion of the trail are in a forest, walking along cow pasture, that looks like it's being primed for development, on a dirt road. Soon enough we're walking along the river, and the cliffs start working their way up into the sky. The heat of the day wasn't that bad up at that elevation, and as the day went on, the canyon produced more and more shade, plus walking along the river, things were naturally cooler.
The waterfall didn't disappoint. The water was pretty warm for a mountain stream, and the water was nice to play in.
Soon after, Deep Creek joined up and things got gnarlier. Well, not that much gnarlier, but the terrain got much rockier, making all the river crossings much slower.
Our campsite was at the mouth of Kolob Canyon. It was really nice. The temps didn't drop below 60, and there were hardly any bugs around.
The next day I was totally prepared to go for a dunking, but with enough route finding, all deep pools were avoided. Midway through the Narrows section, I hit my first day hiker, then another, and another. I stopped taking pictures at that point. Where the canyon widened up, the temps were in the 90's and I went swimming to cool off. The paved trail started shortly soon after, and within 15 minutes, I was at the Narrows trailhead, ready to chill in the shade with the air temps well in the 100's.
I'm kind of undecided whether I'd want to go through the painstaking river crossings again, I might to do one of the technical slot canyons which drop into the main canyon.
View photos from this trip
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