Deseret Peak

On Thursday, Scott hiked to the top of Deseret Peak with his friends John Coloum and Mica. Deseret Peak is the highest peak in the Stansbury Mountain Range just west of Grantsville. The peak is 11,031 feet high.
The big picture is looking up at the peak about half way up the trail. We started to encounter snow at about this point and the snow made the journey very difficult. We totally lost the trail at times. The toughest part was when the trail went to switch backs up the steep mountain side, and the trail was completely hidden by tons of snow. We had to climb up the cliff, making our own way, through the snow. At times we would sink into the snow past our knees. Most of the time though, we were able to stay on top of the snow.
It turned out to be a great hike. My favorite part was down lower, were there wasn't a lot of snow and we were hiking through beautiful aspen and pine trees. From the top of the mountain, we could see the Wasatch Mountains to the east, and the Salt Lake and the salt flats to the north, and the Deep Creek Range to the west. You could see for ever.
I was also amazed at how little oxygen there was up on top. As we descended the mountain I seemed to get more and more energy the farther down I went.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!! This morning Scott woke up and Cole and Kennedy had cooked him the most amazing breakfast! We ate ginger bread waffles!!! YES!!! They were so good!! Nicole also go Scott an incredible gift basket. She made the gift basket of all sorts of intersting things Scott would love. Scott just finished his rum cake and real brewed ginger ale before posting.

Gardening!

Scott has been doing some Gardening. He is so proud of all of his plants. This year, the Bakers are not going to be using there backyard, so the have aloud Scott to plant in there back yard as well! We have got pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, raspberries , and blackberries! Soon we will be planting the Okra! I know that the pictures are kind of boring, but Scott is excited to go back and look at them some time.

Lagoon

This is Kennedy, The Vicster, and Nicole riding the Music Express, and the Tilt O Whirl at Lagoon. Scott is not on either ride because he would vomit if he rode them. Lagoon was great fun. Kennedy is finally getting to the age were she will try some grown up rides. I think next time she goes she will try the Wicked and the Colossus. Nicole and Scott did ride the Colossus 3 times. Nicole now wants a season pass. Scott thinks that a season pass would cause motion sickness, for more than one reason.

Hair Cut

The time has come. Scott's hair is all cut off now. No more mohawk (mullet) Nicole and Scott thought it would be fun last Sunday to take out the scissors and hack away. Nicole had a great time and giggled and giggled.
The hair looks kind of funny in this picture, but you get the point.

Escalante! Day 4

After rushing to get packed in the morning, one of the local outfitters came up in a big Suburban to pick us and a our gear up and take us back into town. We were all very sad to leave the cabin. It had been a wonderful place to stay. Once back in town, we got breakfast and waited for the news on the Charger. Luckily, the local mechanic was able to fix it. He did have to use Ford parts though. With the Charger back on the road, we were ready to head back home. We took our time leaving town, and had lunch with the Bakers on the banks of the Escalante River. On the way home we had to stop for more picture opportunities. Highway 12 has to be one of the most amazing highways in the world! After leaving the Escalante River canyons, you climb Boulder Mountian to enjoy some amazing over looks of the desert!

The Charger made it home great! Although all of us were very tired, we all made it home great as well! It will be a trip that we don't forget, and we are excited to visit that part of the state again. Here are some more photos from the trip!

Escalante! Day 3

Scott woke up early in the morning and went for a hike hoping to see lots of wildlife. He did see a buck, but he was really hoping to find a turkey. After the hike, Scott cooked french toast and eggs and bacon. It was a great breakfast, especially because of the day we had yesterday.
Now that the Bakers had unloaded there gear, we all decided to cram into the Toyota and go for an adventure. All together there was 6 of us. Kennedy, Nicole and Scott, as well as Isaac, Wendy, and John. Kennedy is small enough that here sitting on a lap was not a big deal. Our destination was Calf Creek, but on our way there we discovered Hells Backbone! It was amazing. Again, this area of the world is crazy. Every turn there is something new to discover. I can not do it justice with words. The bridge you see in one of the pictures, has enormous gorges on both sides of it. I think that the picture with Scott in it is of the West side, and the other picture is of the East side. They are actually separate canyons!
We made a stop in at the Anasazi State Park and saw ancient dwellings. We had lunch and set out for Calf Creek.



We had a very nice hike at Calf Creek. Because to this point Kennedy had givin the hikes all she had, she was not in the mood for another big hike. She was not up for the 6 mile round trip to the falls. So Kennedy and Scott and Nicole, took it easy while the Bakers continued on. While we were hanging out enjoying the canyon we happened to meet a very nice swiss man. He was traveling across the United States by bike. From New York to L.A.! He shared his story with us. He had a heart attack and survived and was inspired to take this amazing bicycle journey. Here is his web site that tracks his progress.
Notice that in the last picture, you can see an ancient Anasazi cliff dwelling high up on the cliff.

Escalante! Day 2

After a nice lazy morning enjoying the mountains, we headed out for our adventures in the desert. With lunch packed we headed out in the Charger for Hole in the Rock road. Our first stop was for lunch at Devils Garden! Because Scott forgot the can opener, we had peanut butter and applesauce sandwiches, not the tuna fish as planed. It tasted great though. Here is an arch we found at Devils Garden. We took tons of pictures! It was a very neat place to play. We climbed up hoo-doos and into narrows. Kennedy did not want to leave. This beat any playground she had ever been to.

We did convince Kennedy to get back in the car and we went to Dry Gulch, were the famous Spooky and Peek-a-boo narrows are! The hike was much more difficult than I had remembered! Kennedy and Nicole did awesome! Kennedy had the best attitude and hiked and hiked and climbed and hiked. She hiked to the point that I was worried she was getting heat exhaustion. Needless to say, she slept very good that night. I don't have words for how amazing these canyons are. You will just have to see them for yourself. We did find a lizard that had found its way into spooky, and was unable to get out. The canyon floor never sees the sun and the lizard had gotten to cold. We carried him out of the canyon and put him in the sun to regain his energy.



Hole in the Rock road was a great road driving to Devils Garden, but after we hit Kane County, on the way to Dry Gulch, the road fell apart! The washboard was like speed bumps lined up in the road! The charger started shaking so bad, that the rear view mirror fell off, Nicole kept having to put screws back in the dashboard as it was falling apart! As we pulled into Dry Gulch, the breaks fell apart. Literally. The back brake shook apart and the adjuster fell out and the brakes became completely useless. Because it was the back, the parking brake also was useless. Scott managed to drive the charger 30 miles back to Escalante. It was a very stressful ride back to town. With it being Saturday night, there was nobody in who would be willing to fix it until Monday morning.
So we were stuck in Escalante with all our gear at the cabin. It was about that time that the Bakers arrived! There tiny Toyota was completely full of stuff and there was no way that we would be able to ride in there car up to the cabin. We went out to eat at a lovely Mexican restaurant. There we met some very friendly locals who overheard our situation and offered to drive us up to our cabin!! So with the sun heading down, exhausted from our day, we hopped into there big Dodge truck and headed up the mountain.

Escalante! Day 1

We took a wonderful trip last weekend. Kennedy, Nicole and Scott loaded up the 68 Dodge Charger and headed out for the beautiful and amazing canyons of the Escalante.
The ride down went very quickly as we made stops as we pleased and we enjoyed having a broken speedometer in the charger. (Scott thought he was driving at about 75-80 mph, while in reality he was going 85-90 mph) We stopped in Bryce Canyon for a hike. The hike was called mossy cave. Kennedy loved it!
Scott reserved a cabin in the Dixie National Forest just north of the town of Escalante. The cabin was a couple miles off of Hells Back Bone Road. The cabin was beautiful. We were all surprised to find out how clean and well stocked it was. It had a fridge, stove, beds, cookware, a hot water heater, and a wood burning stove for heat! It was next to a very nice little stream and meadow!
Day one went very well and every one was having a great time!

Nicole and the Cows

While we all were up in Logan, we stopped to play with the cows! Mandy and Kennedy and Nicole and I. I love this picture of Nicole. We tried to get the cows to come close enough for us to pet them, but we were unsuccessful. Nicole did make friends with this one. She has a way with cows.

Mandy Visits from Vegas

Two weekends ago we were lucky enough to have Mandy come and visit us from Vegas!! It was great! I made her a room down stairs in the basement so she could have a nice bed and private place to go. She didn't like it near as much as a had anticipated as she was very scared of my basement. In this picture she is looking down in to the basement. She knows there are zombies down there. She was a good sport and slept down there anyways. Here is Mandy doing here indigenous dance of the dolphin she learned from her Colombian friends.
We took the charger up to Logan to visit mother. We went shooting with Tom and Lorna and it was great! Mandy tried very hard to throw the clay pigeons, but was never successful.