Capital Reef

Deb and I made a three day trip to Capital Reef National Park.  My friend and climbing partner, Andrew, has a home in the town of Torrey just outside of the Park.  He offered to let us stay at the house any time.  The drive takes us up over Cedar Mountain and on over to Bryce Canyon and then on down to the town of Escalante and past Calf Creek Falls up to Boulder Mountain and finally down into Torrey.  A very scenic and enjoyable drive.  We ate at a surprisingly good restaurant named Cafe Diablo where we sample grilled rattlesnake.  My memories of Capital Reef are from my teen years when my Dad took us backpacking in the area on a couple of occasions. It is a unique place.  Deb and I hiked several trails and canyoneered down Cassidy Arch Canyon.  The first rappel begins right next to Cassidy Arch and is a 160 foot drop into the slot canyon below.  We had considerable trouble pulling the ropes and we spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out how to do it.  Finally with a little luck and some free climbing on my part, we retrieved our ropes and continued on down the canyon.  It had seven rappels and it was a delightful canyon and very scenic.  It had no water for us to pass through, which made Deb happy. I did get my truck scratched from traveling down a rugged 4-wheel road on the 3rd day.  It was through some awesome canyons on the southern end of the Park.  We hiked up to Lower Calf Creek Falls on the way home.  It is a 6 mile hike and we did it in 2 1/2 hours.  One of the most beautiful spots in Utah.  I think Deb and I will continue to explore and enjoy the other National Parks in Utah from time to time.  Of course we stopped at Oscars on the way home through Zion for dinner.

Visit To The ER

We made a run to the lake for some wake boarding and wake-surfing.  Eric was finally out of school and Marty needed a break from the twins.  The water was good and we had some good runs.  On the way home one of the trailer tires blew and became flat.  As we changed the spare onto the trailer the lug wrench slipped and I cut my chin.  We then went down to the ER where I let Marty suture up my laceration on my chin.  Even Eric assisted in the procedure.  He did a good job.  My chin is sure sore though!

Baby Blessing

Our family gathered on a Sunday (May 19, 2013) to witness the "Baby Blessing" of the twins.  Colten & Carter were blessed by their father, Martin on a warm sunny day.  Marty was also one of the speakers in the sacrament meeting and did a great job.  We met after the meeting at Marty & Hailey's place.  It is such a joy to have those two little guys in the family!

Westwater

This past week I did a raft trip down Westwater Canyon on the Colorado River.  It was a three day adventure northeast of Moab, Utah.  My friend John Tully bought a 14 foot raft last year and has begun running rivers in the Western United States.  He invited me to go along and help him attempt his most ambitious float yet.  Westwater is a 17 mile stretch of the Colorado River and has some exciting whitewater rapids midway through the float that can be formidable. We spent the night on the river half way just before the rapids begin.  We had lousy weather and it rained hard during the night.  This did bump the river flow up for our run down the rapids.  We did have some periods of sun and so we still had a good time.  I took over the oars for some of the run.  I almost flipped the raft on the rapid named "Sock It To Me".  It was fun and challenging to raft a whitewater section of river with all of our gear lashed to the boat.  Usually I have hired river guides to take me down such stretches of river.  This past month I have started doing canyons in Zion and rock climbing around the area.  I even got Deb out on a multiple pitch climb at Red Rocks down by Vegas for my birthday.  Mountain biking and road biking often as well. I did my first 30 mile ride on my road bike just yesterday.   Lots of visits by Marty, Hailey & the twins.  Deb & I took Rebecca and Phil on his first backpacking trip up by the Vortex on a beautiful spring night and had some fun around the camp fire.  I did a trip to Joshua Tree with my climbing buddies.  This spring I have spent quite a few nights in a sleeping bag.  Nice!