Catching Up

It's been a while since my last post. Time to catch up.

This Spring a pair of Robins built a nest in our playhouse and laid some eggs.


They hatched about two weeks later.


The chicks got big and two weeks after hatching they flew off.


We've been mountain biking - together, with friends and solo. I still hit the foothill trails but this time of year the high mountains are better.


Fun to get out with the guys now and then.


We had a family reunion at Palisades State Park. It's a nice place. The swimming and fishing were good.


I went with Todd S. to see his FPV (First Person View) quadcopter fly over Stewart Falls.




I did the MS-150 with some cyclists from work.


Two weeks ago I pedaled up Armstrong and the new Pinecone trail to the Crest. Wednesday I did a loop starting at Guardsman Pass going down Dead Tree (shown below), Apex and CMG to Mid Mountain then up Armstrong and Pinecone, and finally down Puke Hill and up Scott's Bypass.


Nice view from Dead Tree (Jupiter Lake below).


Yesterday Jolene and I did the Ridge / SFDC loop.


She went home while I took Timp Perimeter, Battle Creek, Curly Springs, Dry Canyon and BST back home.


The loose rock of upper Battle Creek.


Pretty good Summer so far.

Sometimes the Scientist, Sometimes the Rat

Yesterday someone left an open bag of chips in the break room. According to the unspoken but universally understood rule, this means they're free for the taking, Other treats have been shared in this manner so precedence has been established.

So I grabbed a handful and went back to my desk. I was craving salt and the first chip hit the spot so I ate another. And a few more. But then I became aware of another flavor. Something was off with these chips. They tasted soothing akin to stale but different.

Then the red and green colors of the chips brought on an awful suspicion.

Walking back to the break room, the coloring and design of the bag elevated the suspicion to realization.



The date code confirmed the alarming and mildly disgusting truth: 12/28/11

They were beyond stale and left an icky aftertaste that only got worse.

OK, first, I'm an idiot for not immediately recognizing the red and green chips for their obvious associated holiday.

Second, who puts out a bag of Christmas chips in June?  Could this person really be guileless? This person really didn't notice the chips expired last year, or knew they were expired but thought people might enjoy them anyway? I began to suspect that someone was performing an experiment to see if engineers would eat any food left out. (The answer is, yes.)

Today a coworker went for the bag and I called his attention to the coloring. He asked, really? I nodded and told him to check the date code. He thanked me for the warning and threw them in the trash.

Having been the lab rat, I'm on the lookout for this evil scientist.

Hike Across Grand Canyon, Part 2

The previous post covered the hike down from the north rim.

Leaving Phantom Ranch, two deer wandered along the trail ahead of us. They were as tame as dogs. Around a bend this third deer didn't care that we walked by so close we could have reached out and touched it.


A short distance further we crossed over the Colorado River on this suspension bridge.



Looking up the river with the suspension bridge in the foreground and second foot bridge (used mostly for the South Kaibab trail) in the background.



Looking down the Colorado. (To me the Vishnu Schist rock at the bottom of the canyon looks like the bowels of hell.)



It was past mid-day and quite hot so we took every opportunity to get wet. Here I am enjoying the first dunking.



Indian Garden was a welcome rest with shade, water and bathrooms. Only 4.9 miles to go.



Above Indian Garden looking back down the trail.



Then came the grueling part. Many, many switchbacks and hundreds of log steps.



 There are two rest stops, 3.0 and 1.5  miles from the rim. We stopped at both. I was getting tired.

But Mark seemed to be feeling fine, and annoyingly chipper, so we hid a rock in his pack that he discovered at the top.

Speaking of the top, here's the rim:



We checked into the Yavapai Lodge, showered, went out for dinner then crashed. When I got out of bed in the morning my legs were so sore I almost fell down. I hobbled around like I was 80. I don't think I've ever been so sore.

Mark and I were taking the 1:30 PM shuttle so we had time to check out some of the viewpoints, like this:



The shuttle back to the North Rim took 5 hours, but went pretty quick. We loaded up the car and drove home, I arrived around 1 AM.

Hiking across the Grand Canyon was a good experience. I really liked the North Rim. It's a long hike, but worth doing. And now I've seen the Grand Canyon for the first time.

Hike Across Grand Canyon, Part 1

Last week I hiked across the Grand Canyon, from the North Rim to the South Rim.

Mark and I drove down Thursday afternoon. We arrived just before dark, here's what the canyon looked like:



Mark's brother, Paul, drove in from Phoenix and arrived around midnight. We awoke at 4:30, packed up and started down the trail at 5:30 am. Here's the view from the top of the North Kaibab trail:



A little ways down three runners flew past us. Later we learned they were attempting to beat the rim-to-rim record of 3 hours 6 minutes. One of the three was the current record holder. (A new record was set.)

After over an hour of hiking there was still plenty of canyon below us.


Here's Mark and Paul going through the Supai Tunnel.



The trail is fantastic as it makes an improbable route through cliff bands and a very rugged and steep canyon.



The first bridge we crossed - took us from the left to right side of Bright Angel Canyon.



Still going down.  The trail hugs the base of the cliffs on the right.



Like this:



After passing Roaring Springs the canyon becomes a desert.



Ribbon Falls is a short side spur from the main trail and well worth seeing.



The canyon is open for a few miles after Cottonwood camp site then it narrows and meanders for a few miles:



And finally opens up at Phantom Ranch. We stopped for about an hour here to eat lunch, drink lemonade and rest our feet. The bottoms of my feet were tender and it felt really good to have my shoes off.  Even though I dreaded putting my shoes back on, my feet felt much better as we got hiking again.

Yes, it was hot at Phantom Ranch. I'm glad it was a relatively cool day, it had been 120 just a few days before.



Next post I'll talk about the hike up and out.

Bathroom Humor

No, this isn't potty humor. This is literally humor in a bathroom. Wait, come back, it's not gross. Hear me out.

Jolene and I are driving home Saturday and we stop in the Providence development south of Cedar City for dinner. Many restaurants there. Cafe Rio sounds good.

Before eating I pop into the bathroom. As I'm making water (name the movie) I look up at the toilet seat cover dispenser and see something scrawled there:



Free Sombrero.

I chuckled.

Then I remember I'm in a Mexican food restaurant and I chuckle some more.

Then I pictured myself wearing an ass gasket on my head and I chuckle again.

I went out and showed Jolene the photo and she laughed and I laughed with her.

So there, I like low brow humor. And puns too.

Birthday Gooseberry

Continuing the birthday festivities, Gooseberry was the destination for Saturday.

The wind was blowing pretty hard when we left the hotel but it was only breezy on the mesa.

We rode Cattle Grate, part of South Rim, Hidden Canyon, Bowls & Ledges, part of Windmill and the Practice Loop.





Bike Love





Micro air.







On Hidden Canyon I balked at a ramp ledge drop with a few rocks at the bottom. I chastised myself for my cowardice and tried again. When my front tire dropped off the ledge I grabbed the brakes and sent myself on a nice endo. Rookie mistake. Jolene watched in fright as my face headed for a rock. Somehow I got my arms up and blocked the blow. I was sure I'd broken or torn something. But as I lay there the systems all checked in with no red alerts of pain. Just scraped up forearms and bruises. I got off lucky.



Two days of good riding and sunshine in the bag. Loaded up the van and headed home with smiles on our faces.

Birthday JEM Loop

My birthday snuck up on me this year (trying to ignore how old I am does that). We decided to celebrate in St. George.

Jolene had never done the JEM / Hurricane Rim / Goulds loop so we did that after driving down Friday morning. We started at the bottom of Goulds and rode counterclockwise. The start of Goulds is ugly, but it gets better and I really like the upper part.





Lots of plants blooming in the desert. This cactus was particularly resplendent.



JEM was the highlight. Is there a faster, more fun, XC desert trail?



With it's ups and downs it may not have been best to ride Hurricane Rim last, but the views are good and I like the creativity of the route.



Went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Then had dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Jolene's brother and his wife. Not a bad way to celebrate a birthday.

But wait, there's still Saturday and Gooseberry Mesa. Next post.