Well, it's time. I NEED to catch up. Whenever I have time (and by that I mean off the river and on my computer which is about 4 hours every 2 weeks .... OK it's more than that, I've always got it on when I'm at home... but it's usually for music or Hulu) I feel my blog breathing down my neck reminding me that I haven't posted forever so here goes. I'll try to be brief.
I've had an amazing few months! I've been able to do some great stuff during and in between my river trips. Every year the Grand Canyon River Guide Association sends a trip down the river called the Guide Training Seminar. Western sends 2 guides every year on it and it's a great chance to meet other guides and they bring a Geologist
(Peter Hontoon who I had a pretty big crush on... he'd always say things like "now this is some pretty sexy stuff!" and "this is what really gets me going!") and a botanist and a bunch of other people that I learned TONS from. It was great.
And one of the best parts is it was a really wet winter and a late spring so there were tons of wild flowers, including the Brittlebush.
It made the whole lower half of the canyon super yellow and it was so beautiful!!
And these are my favorite! They're called Ocotillo and to see them that green with the flower still on was a dream!Then I had two weeks off to play. Which sounds great, except that other people who I'd like to play with still do have real jobs and not everyone can just get out to play. I still was able to get in some good powder days (it was weird going from hot Grand Canyon to really good powder days) and a little bit of touring up on the Twin Peaks, and then the next day I went climbing in Little Cottonwood, I love that canyon!
At the end of that break I did a triathlon with some people from St. Mark's.
We had all signed up for it and I did like 2 bike rides, swam once and ran a couple times, and luckily it was just a sprint and I felt pretty good about it. My time was 1:31 and I almost died in the pool (which ironically I was the least worried about) but it was pretty fun to do.
Then the first trip of the year was great. So good to be down there when it's not super hot. And it was fun bc my old roomie, Erika who used to guide down here got to come as extra crew.
And it was great bc now the upper half of the canyon was on fire with Brittlebush
which incidentally I found out I'm somewhat allergic to and it took every ounce of will power I've got to not scratch my eyeballs out of my head!
I finally got a new camera after my lens broke on the Hell's Canyon trip last year and it has a great panoramic setting that if you can't tell, I'm pretty in love with it. Here's Havasu and Redwall
So, after that trip I had another week off and as per usual, I'd tried to plan a trip to Yosemite but it was bad timing for everyone else, so my friends, Kristina, Jason Tea and I threw together a trip to the White Rim. It's a trail that goes around the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. It's the doted line around the edge.
It's about 100 miles long and you bring a support vehicle and you camp for 1-3 nights. Since we didn't have a permit we had to go in that morning and get some cancellations. We took time to go to Mesa Arch, so we weren't first in line but it was worth it to get this amazing shot. If only we were getting married we'd be in luck for our engagements.
So, after getting turned down by a couple to share their campsite, even after Kristina asked so nicely if they wanted to have some new best friends, we had to do a little bit random of a route but it turned out great. We went down the Schaffer Trail
to Musselman Arch, 
then back up. It was about 16 miles, then down the Mineral Bottom trail on the other side.
until we got to our great first night's camp.
But let me back up and say a few words. Did you really look at that photo of the Schaffer Trail? It is ridiculously steep and it was great going down but I almost died going up and Kristina and Jason had no problem with it. I was pretty unmotivated after that and when we got to the 'hard scrabble' hill I was more then happy to volunteer as a spotter for Jason while he was driving his mom's Jeep.
Kristina plugged away and did great though. It was super steep and rocky in some places. I'd only been on a mtn bike once in the last year or so and .... blah blah blah, excuses, excuses. I was (am) out of shape. That's the bottom line.
But the next day I had an awakening experience. We all took turns driving the car and while I was driving I was listening to the song Life for Rent by Dido, and it says (are you ready? this is going to be deep...) " If my life is for rent and I don't look to buy, then I deserve nothing more than I get 'cause nothing I have is truly mine". And I realized that that is so important in life. If you're only willing to put in the bare minimum then you're only going to get the minimum back. If I'm a sissy and woss out of the hill before really even trying then really I shouldn't get to do the fun downhill (but in this situation that doesn't really work bc we had the car and could just shuttle up the hills). Oh, this isn't sounding nearly as earth shattering as it was to me at the time. And it's funny coming from me who happily doesn't have a mortgage and doesn't even pay rent for that matter since all my stuff is at my parent's for the summer. But maybe that's what I mean. I'm paying for experiences of life with my time and effort and I do want to make to effort to do all that I can to soak every drop of life out of this existence! .... wow is that making sense to anyone? It still really didn't help my quads work any better going up Murphy's Hogback but I think I had a little better attitude about it and my brain wasn't being quite so whiny.
We got some great riding in and some great views
There were tons of wildflower out that I was kicking myself for not having my plant book with me to identify, and a lot of cactus were blooming too.
That night it was super windy and I actually resorted to sleeping in the toilet. Well, not really the toilet but the port-a-potty. It actually didn't smell too bad, but the wind going through there was stirring up the chemical that they use to keep the smell down and I started coughing and decided maybe it wasn't such a great idea, but stayed in just with the door propped open a little. Seeing camp the next morning and the sand drifts that were filling in Jason and Kristina's eyes I still felt good about my decision.
The next day was more great riding with more great views and we came back around the Schaffer side and it was really fun. Every time I get on a bike I remember how much I love it and wish I had more time for it. On my way out of town when I was leaving Moab I did the Klondike Bluffs trail and that's a great ride too. The view from the top is amazing looking down at the Fiery Furnace.
OK, so that's all I've got time for right now. I have had a couple amazing days in between trips that I have spent down at our warehouse totally alone and it's been the first time in 7 ish weeks that I've spent more than half a day by myself and it's been a dream! I thought I'd get farther, and I'm sad that this always turns out to just be a trip log. I'd like to include a little more thought into it, but oh well, it's what it is. I'm leaving tomorrow for my first trip as a boatman. I've driven the whole Canyon a couple times but this will be the first time that it's my own boat and it's all my responsibility and I'm a little nervous but really excited, so I better get some sleep. I'll try not to be a stranger. I do have a full week off after this! so hopefully I'll make some more time. Good night!
