The Mountain Won

All you need to know on this post is that I tried to climb a mountain.  I failed.  I'll try again.  My life is like that.  I try again, a lot.  If you want to know more, read on.

My friend, Roxane, and I planned to summit the Middle Teton this summer.  We were both available Tuesday and the forecast looked fine so we headed up to Jackson Monday afternoon.  When we checked the forecast again Monday night things had changed and it was iffy but we were there so we decided to hope for good weather and hike.

 We began at the trailhead at 4:30 am.  It was dark and we were worried about bear but we needed an early start for this big hike.  We had bear spray.  As we were hiking at one point I smelled a very strong scent of animal.  I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want to worry Roxane but later, when I told her about what I'd smelled, she said she smelled the same thing but didn't say anything because she didn't want to worry me.  She was pretty sure it was bear musk.  YIKES!

Here we are after a couple of hours of hiking near the meadow in Garnet Canyon.  You should be able to see some Tetons behind us but they were socked in with clouds.  It was about here that it started lightly snowing.

 I was excited to find this little flower, Grass-of-Parnassus, that I'd just seen in Sink Hollow last week with the Likin' Hikin' Ladies.

We hiked for quite a ways through this boulder field but it started to blow and snow hard.  We were slipping on the wet rocks and the visibility was low.  We knew we needed to abandon our summit attempt.

 I wasn't happy that we had to turn around but I value my life more than conquering the summit.

 On the way down the snow stopped and we enjoyed the views below but the Tetons above were still socked in.  They were buried in clouds all day so we knew we'd made the right decision to turn around.

The Tetons aren't going anywhere.  We'll try again.  I'm looking forward to spending another day with Roxane (and anyone else who wants to join us.)

Photographing the photographer

My son, Mark, recently entered a photograph in the Herald Journal Photography Contest.  His photograph was published, along with other favorites, in the Herald Journal last Sunday.  As I looked at his photo I remembered that I had been with him when he took the picture, in fact, I photographed him shooting the picture.  If I had used HDR, as Mark did, my colors would be truer to what it looked like, and I'd like mine almost as much as his.

Nanimal in Training

My family lovingly (I hope) calls me "Nanimal."  I think they call me this because I love to do a lot of different activities outdoors.  During our family vacation to Havasupai I was watching people jump off a waterfall, trying to get the courage to jump myself.  Karen followed her brothers to the edge of the falls and, without a moments hesitation, jumped.

That was the first time I heard them call her, "Nanimal in Training."  Since then when she wakeboards, water skies, hikes, bikes, runs or whatever, she is expected to be strong because she is a "Nanimal in Training."

So, being the family says she is in training we decided to start the training in earnest.  Last week we hiked the Wellsvilles end to end.

 She is strong and wore me out but we sure had a great time.

Today we did a mountain bike ride together (one of many we've done this summer).

 We had a fun, fun time together but I must admit, the Nanimal has been dethroned. Karen is much stronger, faster, better than me but I love her for sticking with me anyway.  I am happy to announce that Karen is the new "Nanimal."

It works

I found a new to me scripture I love-D&C 136:20  "If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication that your souls may be joyful."

It works!

I'm thankful for the gospel, temples, and the scriptures.

A new hike

A month and a half ago I lead the Likin' Hikin' Ladies on a hike I'd never been on and we kinda got lost.  I vowed to never take them on a hike I'd never been on again.  That means, if I want to learn a new hike, I need to take another strong hiker with me and we can explore the trail together.  If it's a good hike I'll take the Likin' Hikin' Ladies on it another time.

Today, my strong hiker was Lee.  She is a good friend and in great shape.  I knew that if we got lost she'd be okay to hike around with me until we found our way.

The  new trail?  Blind Hollow to Tony Grove.  Am I going to take the Likin' Hikin' Ladies on it?  YOU BET!  We absolutely loved this trail.  It had a lot of shade. We walked through meadows filled with wild flowers, Aspen Groves, along a ridge with canyon views and mountain vistas, past a small stream, and through a conifer forest.  We even saw a Golden Eagle fly by.

As we were hiking along we followed the directions from my Cache Trails book and also a map I had.  At one point, we had to take a turn.  We were pretty sure we were on the right trail but not positive.  We were thrilled, a mile or so later, to come upon the sign, pictured below, that pointed to Tony Grove, which is where we had parked our car and wanted to go.  Success!

In the picture below we are nearly to the end of the trail.  We had just come through the forest behind us on the mountain side.

Thanks to Lee for a fun hike.  We did about 8 miles in 4 hours.  Likin' Hikin' Ladies-we'll do this trail some time in the future.  It would be gorgeous in the fall.

Little man Big man

Cash and his daddy Jake at our recent family reunion.  I love these guys, as well as the photographer, my son Mark.

About Havasupai

Last week we had a fun family vacation.  I posted few pics on facebook and have had a lot of people ask me for details so I guess I'll share them here.  

I've wanted to see the Havasu Falls for years and so finally, this year, I did something about it.  In February I called the Supai Indian Reservation and reserved the camp site.  http://www.havasupaitribe.com/  

There are no online reservations, only phone.

Spring is the most popular time to go because it gets so hot in the summer.  Havasupai is a side canyon off the Grand Canyon so you can imagine how the mercury rises in July.

The Supai Indian Reservation is arguably the most remote village in the continental US.  For us we drove for 12 hours.  At one point we saw a sign that said,  "No Services Next 68 Miles."  We drove those 68 miles to the end of this desolate desert and there, at the end of the road, was a parking lot with 100 cars.  We parked there and began our 10 mile hike to the falls and campground. 

Here is Karen with 2 of the 3 stray dogs that followed us all the way to the village.

 Megan, my daughter in law of less than 1 month, got a quick breaking into our family with this backpacking trip.  She is a trooper and did great.

The village is so remote they use pack horses to get a lot of their supplies.  We saw a lot of pack horses and even saw the US mail pack horse train bringing the mail to the Supai village.

This is a cute little guy from the village that was on some kind of an errand in the canyon.

It was a long and tiring hike but, for me, the reward was well worth it.  

Before I saw the falls in person I thought the pictures must be doctored to enhance the color.   No, the water really is that blue.

These pictures are at the Havasu falls.

The pictures below are from the New Rock Falls.  These are new falls, created after the flash flood in 2008 changed the course of the river.

It's hard to see when the picture is so small, but Karen is giving a double peace sign as she jumps. 

And this is proof that even an old lady like me can take the plunge.

We loved these falls.  We all jumped at least once and had a great time.

The other falls we saw were the Mooney Falls. 

My family was not frightened by the steep descent to the base of the falls but I sure was.  I did it anyway and was glad I did.

The falls were like a natural water park.  We had a great time.  I would recommend this trip to everyone.  It's strenuous getting there and even more strenuous getting out but so worth it.  Some people, who don't want to hike, take a helicopter ride in for $89.00/person/each way.  One can also hire a pack horse for $94.00 each way to help carry some of the gear.  How ever you do it, the views are amazing and the fun? What can I say?  We loved it.

I hope I can return some day.