Well, one of the signs of a good blogger has surely has to be consistency. I this regard, I have failed. My little digi-cam is no longer operational so I have been reluctant to post without photos. But the sun is bright an a new day is shining, so... here we go. Last thursday morning Dalt and I headed up Alexander Basin in Millcreek. The climb to Gobblers knob was very direct, yet quite pleasant. Dalt was good enough to get a few shots of some flowers. We were up and back in 3 hrs. 3,200 ft and 2.2 miles one way. The shock absorbers are a little sore still after the decent. We ran into a trio of golden girls on our way down.As for the rest of the summer we have been really busy. I'll give a run down and try to post some photos later.
- May. Memorial weekend: Anderson Cove at Pineview. Mangrums (including Alli's boyfriend-in-law and nephews) and Flandros. We took Gary and Sue's boat, bikes and tents. The highlight of the weekend was the drunken red-neck family riot next to our camp at 1:00 am. Goodthing Flandro didn't have it loaded.
- June. Mindy's B-day weekend: Westgate Resort at the Canyons. Just our little family and a fun weekend of hangin out at the pool and playing a bit of tennis.
- June. Dunyon Family camp-out: Dunyon Property in Big Cottonwood. Well no other Dunyons but Janis and my family came (shame shame) but it was great fun nonetheless. We hiked around, cooked dinner and enjoyed our surroundings. Mindy, mom, and Ava went home around 9:30 pm. Talin and Elle fell asleep out in front of the fire. We were up early and down to play 7s by 9:00 am.
- June. Troop 1068 back-pack trip: Big Cotonwood Canyon-Millcreek divide. Desolation Lake via Bear Trap Fork, Dog Lake, Circle-All peak and out via Butlers Fork. We then went up canyon to the Dunyon property and scoured the plat for signs of natural springs. It was a fun trip for the boys. We hiked over 15 miles and endured sporatic rain throughout the trip. I joined the party late Thursday night. Dispite intermitten showers throughout the day I just put my tarp beneath me and went to sleep without a tent. When the rain started I thought it would be short, so I just wrapped up in my tarp taco style. Big mistake. The rain didn't stop and after about 2 hours my feet were wet. I endured, after a few more hours I was completely wet. It turned out to be a real tough night. As hypothermia set in I tried to monitor my physio. Soon the shaking become uncontrollable and I flet my self getting stupid. So in the dark of night, soaking wet, I crawled out of my bag, emptied the water out of my shoes and started to move. For awhile I was in a real bad place. Then after I was able to get moving a bit faster and get my wits about me. A few minutes later I heard a birds song, which meant two things (1) the rain was stopping and (2) morning was on the way. With renewed mental ability, I was finally able to find some tinder and get a fire going. I hadn't felt such joy in awhile. It took me the whole day to dry out my gear. However, we still had one night to go and the skys threatened all day. We hiked most of the day and got to our next camp spot around 4:00 pm. I spent the next 6 hours constructing a tarp shelter and sleeping area, complete with a water drainage system and pine bow sleeping pad, in preparation for another rainy night. Around 9:00 pm we got a call from the valley that the storm was raging in. For about 30 minutes it rained hard and blew 20-30 mph. The shelter stood, the clouds cleared and I enjoyed an undisturbed 10 hour slumber. A great experience.
- July. 4th weekend: Ryan Morgan's Cabin at Flaming Gorge. Morgan's family (including Judy, Rich, Diane, Chandler, Rachael, Ryan and Shanna). Great weekend. Boating on the lake, cruising around on the four-wheeler, and hangin out at the cabin. Tons of wild-life and great scenery. The highlight of the trip was either the fun night of fire-works in Dutch John or the fun family time on the boat. I think the kids are FINALLY getting over me dumping them off the SUPER-MABLE last year.
- July. Iverson Family trip: Sweetwater at Bear Lake. All Iversons. This is about the fifth straight year of this trip and it is always fun. Bike rides, beach trips, boating, and condo life. It was all very fun and great to see the kids gaining confidence. On Saturday I got the hall-pass and headed up to Jackson Hole for the Teton 10's. (shout out to Clint for letting me score his FJ for the drive). The tournament was great, Haggis downed all that came before us. 35-0, 31-7, and 35-5. Pretty consistent performance.
- The rest of the summer has been filled with swim lessons, bike and long-board rides in the neighborhood, and boating trips to the dam. Couldn't ask for much more.
