Dark Canyon

Well, we came, we saw, we conquered! Another great trip and another great adventure. As previously posted, the trip started out on a high note at 5 a.m. and continued on climbing. We had some difficulty picking a location for our latest adventure because we couldn't decide if we wanted to do a desert or forest setting. Turns out we got both-- and so much more! Jeff and I were at Kirkham's in Salt Lake looking for supplies and just happened to notice a short description of the Dark Canyon Wilderness in Southern Utah. After some www research, we decided that was the place for us! Dark Canyon, termed "Utah's Grand Canyon," is located in the extreme southeastern part of Utah, near Blanding.

It was about a 7 hour drive and it was a great trip to break in the new truck. We were a little concerned about winter weather, but our timing was great and we got in behind the storm, so our roads were really good overall. We pulled into Montecello to find 6 inches of fresh pow pow and blowing winds. We had to stop for a map and tried the BLM and Visitor's Center before finally having success at the Forest Service station. I guess "success" is a strong word because ol' "Cleatus" wasn't much help at all. "Hermmm, I guess you could try goin' up thar. Nobuddies been up thar in weeks, but, uh, it might be opened up. Hermmm." Thanks, Cleatus. "Is there a map we could have or buy?" asked Jeff. "Hermmm, well, ya can't buy one because there's nobuddy here to take yer money." (That was a head scratcher because there were at least 5 human beings there in the office, but I guess the "special someone" who takes money was out that day.) But Cleatus was gracious enough to give us an old map of the area and pointed us out the best road to the trail head. (See above left.)

Well, Cleatus also told us that there'd be 8 inches of fresh pow in Blanding, but there wasn't. The roads were great and we took a beautiful trip through the desert on a winding dirt road as we approached the summit to the trail head. We did hit snow at the pass, one foot of fresh to be exact, but the truck ate that up for lunch and spit it out the tailpipe. It was gnarly. And we were pleasantly surprised to find "Butts Point!" Don't believe me? Check out the pic on el righto! (That's Spanish for "the righto.") See? Didn't believe me did you? Yeah, we've been to Butts Point.

When we reached the trail head, we signed up at the sign-in sheet. We were again surprised here to see how far away most groups had come to hike Dark Canyon! There was Ohio, North Carolina, New York... And everyone we had mentioned our trip to before we left had never heard of it before. There was even someone from Butte, Montana! Representin' the MT! Word. So of course we had a pre-hike shot and then set off.

We somehow missed (or forgotten) lunch in all our excitement and anticipation and I think that came back to bite us as we only made it two hours in the first afternoon before stopping for the night. The hike was beautiful, though. A couple inches of snow, aspens, pines, rocks, riverbeds, and red soil. We passed a couple of caves and overhangs before finally spotting a decent sized cave that was above the trail. We thought this looked rather inviting, so we climbed up to it... only to see that it was twenty feet off the valley floor! There was a nice overhang under the cave, however, and that served as our first campsite. The wind was really blowing for several hours after we arrived, but slowed down during dinner and was nonexistent during the night. This was without a doubt the best night's sleep I've ever had outdoors! Why? Can you say go to sleep at 6:30 p.m. and wake up at 8:00 a.m.? Yeah. I rockstarred that night's sleep. Steezy. So I woke up super refreshed and ready to rock n' roll!

Day 2 started off really well. We hiked for about an hour or so and I noticed what looked like a ruin up on the east canyon wall and sure enough, we had found our first Anasazi ruin of the trip. We threw down our packs and started climbing up the rocks toward the ruin. It looked impossible at first, but we found the way as we got closer to the top. It was in pristine condition and was absolutely amazing. The first picture at the top of this post is of this ruin. It's just so amazing to see a piece of history like that and know that this was someone's home. And what a view! It was just awesome. Jeff got some really amazing pics of this ruin. It was the one he had most wanted to see and we were super stoked to have not only found it, but been able to climb to it and even sit inside it. The construction alone was breathtaking to say the least. These people really knew what they were doing! It was awesome. And the coolest part was seeing their fingerprints in the clay as they assembled the walls. Being able to put my own fingers in these prints just gave me the chills. It was amazing.

We got our packs back on and forged on. Now it is important to note that we were planning on going 10 miles at least this day and I really think we would've done it too... had we not run into the marshes. We reached the Cherry Canyon trail 10 minutes after the first ruin and then our trail became all but impossible to follow with all of the criss-crossing game trails and snow and marsh grass. We were never lost, but we definitely lost the trail for hours and hours. Cleatus' map wasn't as helpful as we had thought, being old, and we spent most of the day guessing at where we were. We started running low on water at this point as well and had to stop to collect icicles and snow in our bottles, hoping the sun would melt it as we hiked. Pretty much the only good thing that came out of these hours of trudging was finding the second Anasazi ruin above us on the canyon wall. Too bad we didn't have time to stop and check it out. We pushed ourselves extremely hard for how discouraged we were and actually found a couple frozen pools of water that we were able to boil to refill our bottles. (This picture pretty much sums up the day.) We finally made it through the longest 3-4 miles of my life and reached the narrow canyon again. We thought we had made it to the eastern turn, but somehow we continued going north and north and north... Yeah. Around 4:30 we were exhausted and settled for the next decent campsite that we could find... which was an actual campsite. Haha. So we set up a shelter, completely bewildered as to where the heck we were. We called this place "Camp Discouragement." We didn't even bother taking a picture, although it was a nice shelter and campsite. However, I was successful at starting the fire with flint and steel, so the day wasn't a complete failure. In fact, I was pretty stoked on that.

We realized before falling asleep that we'd never make the full 40 mile loop after our slow progression that day. We awoke the next morning, ate breakfast, and started back out the winding narrow canyon. The good thing was that we were able to enjoy this part a lot more than the day before since we weren't as discouraged. We were again low on water after only having a drip waterfall to "fill" our bottles the night before, so we were happy to stop at our waterhole when we reached it. We had an early lunch and Jeff experienced his best meal of the trip: Easy Mac. Who knew Easy Mac could be soooo good? He was super stoked on that. We found the trail and realized that we weren't too far off the day before, but we definitely took the more difficult route. The great thing about retracing your trail is that it's not nearly as long the second time! We made good time and when we saw the second ruin, we decided to investigate and explore it this time. And what a good thing we did! It wasn't in as good of condition because part of a wall had collapsed with erosion, but we found pictographs above it on the cave wall! And the spirit and feeling that surrounded this ruin where so much stronger than the first! It was a very sacred and special experience being there on this holy ground. You could just feel the spirit of the Anasazi people and that this was a sacred spot for them.

We got back to our packs and continued on. Even though we had found a trail, there were so many other trails that it was hard to know whether or not we were on THE trail. So yeah, we spent another hour or more walking through the marshes trying to forge our way back to Cherry Canyon. By the time we finally made it, we passed out on the ground at the foot of the sign to rest before making our final accent up to a cave we had seen on the first day that would become our camp for night 3. We made decent time up to our destination and the cave turned out to be our favorite campsite of the trip. We knew we were only 1 1/2 hours at most from the truck, and our spirits were a lot higher at the prospects of a short hike in the morning. We had a great Halloween in the cave and even had some candy to share. We also stayed up later that night than any other on the trip: 9:00! Haha. It was a great site though. We melted more snow and ate most of the rest of our rations. The cave was nice and warm from our fire and we slept great. I miss that cave already. We'll call that place "Camp Steez."

With the time change, we woke up early the next morning and got out an hour earlier than normal. The last leg of the hike was a tough one as we already had 20 miles on our legs and backs in only 3 days, but we made it out. The truck was a very welcome site to say the least. It was also a delight to have gallon jugs of water waiting for us as well... water we didn't need to boil or filter or that we didn't have to feel guilty about taking more than 3 swallows of. The snow was all gone on the pass and we drove out on clear roads. Seeing the trail head sign again was strange because we had just been there a few days before, but we'd gone through so much to get back there. And we'll probably never be back there ever again...

Well, it was an amazing trip. Like I said, we really pushed ourselves to our limits on this trip. Whether it was the lack of water, the grueling hikes, the lost trails, or the disappointment of not getting where we wanted to be, this hike really tested our strengths. This was definately the toughest and most physically and mentally demanding hike I've ever done before. But we did it! The country literally was wilderness, but it was incredible to be out there. There was sign of elk, mountain lion, deer, and more everywhere! It had about every type of terrain imaginable and it was great to experience it all in one trip. And it was just amazing to see the Anasazi ruins. It's good to be back home now and have things like a toilet and clean water at our convenience again, but everything was put back into perspective once again. In the second "Jurassic Park" film, there's a part of the movie where they're walking through the jungle and the group leader recounts a story of a man who hiked Mt. Everest alone and without oxygen. When the rescue team found him, he was barely alive and nearly frozen. When they got him down to base camp they asked him, "Why did you go up there to die?!" He looked at them and said, "I didn't. I went up there to LIVE." That's how I feel about the outdoors as well.

Round Lake Hike

This past weekend, Jeff and I went on our latest adventure. We found a trail head to some lakes on our way up to a security job and decided to give it a shot. This trail head led up to three different lakes, Round, Sand, and Fish Lake. By our calculations, it would be about 3 miles to the first, 5 total. It turned out to be a little more aggressive than we thought, though, for only being 3 miles. It was a 2,000 foot raise in elevation and just about straight uphill and rocky the whole way! But the forest was amazing! And as for the projected 50% + chances of rain... didn't happen. So it was a beautiful weekend to go. We also used this as a chance to sharpen up our wilderness survival skills, taking no matches, limited food, and using only basic supplies in our packs. Overall, it was super ill. At right, this would be my best hardcore "Doc Ivory" pose. Oh yeah. Gnarly.

Afternoon 1! Afternoon 1! Fun for everyone on afternoon 1!
Typical Jeff and Jake pose pre-hike in the aspen grove. As the
old saying goes, “If you look good, you ARE good!” Word.

Morning 2! How 'bout you? Jeff eating food! Morning 2!

This would be the shelter we threw together the first night.

Everything there when we stopped was wet, but we still

managed to start a fire without matches using our flints. It

actually turned out to be a pretty good spot. Dinner: Mac &

Cheese for Jeff, Beef Stew for me. Thank goodness for

JetBoils and Mountain Home meals! Oatmeal for breakfast.

Morning 2! Morning 2! Didn't see a moose on Morning 2!

Another view of our camp at breakfast time just before

heading back on on the trail. And they said it would rain...

Jake Olsen, spokesman for JetBoil.

Jeff Treft*, wilderness man. This outfit can be
yours as well for the mere price of just $11 at
your local DI store, or online at www.di.com.
*Not to be confused with Bear Grylls

Quick group shot on the way up.

Yep, whole trail looked like this: uphill, muddy, and rocky!

Jeff is smiling because this is the only flat part of the hike.

Group log shot over rocky stream.

And this is Round Lake! It was such a
beautiful place to camp and we had the
whole thing to ourselves. We decided to
skip the last climb to the other two lakes
so we could spend the whole day here.
Well worth it for sure! What a view…

Let the shelter construction begin!

Jeff bringing in another log for the shelter.

Starting to take shape...

Success! Living like kings!

A mighty fine campsite if I do say
so myself! And another no-match
fire. This is what it’s all about!

Jeff, at home in the wilderness.

This would be my canoe I whittled for Jeremy.

Morning 3! Look at me! Morning 3!
Look out for the tree! Morning 3! I’d
much rather be… Forever in blue jeans!
Morning 3! Coming back down the
mountain. tB with love. Represent. 4eva.

JetBoil

So while I was on my hike/camping trip to Havasupi, Jeff introduced me to the JetBoil camping stove. All I can say is "WOW!" Having grown up on Boy Scout trips and having to wait half an hour to boil water, this stove blew me AWAY! The package claims to boil two cups of water in under 2 minutes and it DOES. Absolutely amazing. And the best part is that it's super light-weight, fits entirely inside itself (gas and all), and is so easy to use. It's so incredible to be able to boil water so quickly, immediately pull it off the heat and be able to hold the cup in your hand without getting burned! Even as I'm writing this I still can't believe it. It's so perfect for backpacking, camping, and to put inside a 72 hour emergency kit. And the fuel is super cheap! Only $4 each and they last a whopping 45 minutes running at the highest level. Pair this baby with a Mountain Home meal, and you got yourself a feast away from home without breaking a sweat. Definately check it out! I promise you'll be amazing!!

Havasupi

The first weekend in June I was able to take a trip to Arizona to the Havasupi Indian reservation. What an amazing place! There's a ten mile hike into the village through the Grand Canyon that's absolutely amazing with all of the red rock and high cliffs. Once we got into the village (about 2 1/2 hours of hiking), it was a real shock because it took me back to my first area I served at while in Brazil on my mission. It looked so similar and even smelled the same! Kinda trippy, but definitely cool.

From the village, it's another 2 miles or so to the campground. Just before dropping into the campground, you see this! (See the pic upper left) AWESOME! The water is so blue! There are lime deposits in the water that give it such a cool color and it continues the entire way down the canyon like that. Being the beginning of June, it wasn't nearly as hot as I thought it would be. That made for cooler swimming, but was excellent for hiking. The campground was a little crowded, but we found a good secluded spot in the shade. And the natural spring was perfect for quenching thirst and refilling water packs. We saw about 4 different sets of falls in all. My favorite had to be Mooney Falls (on right). It was such a trip to see so much water and greenery in a dessert setting like that. Absolutely breathtaking for sure. And the descent down to the base of Mooney Falls is gnarly! Definitely worth the hike in! And special props to Jeff for taking such amazing pictures. Thanks, bro!

Every time I'm able to get out in the outdoors and see a new place is such a great experience. Just blows my mind to see all of the beautiful creations made at God's hand for us to enjoy. Getting out this trip was also bittersweet. I missed Amber and Jeremy so much! It was the longest I've ever been away from them at one time. I remember sitting on that rock and thinking that even though I was in such an amazing location, I really missed them. Kinda puts it all into perspective. I'm so blessed to have Amber and Jeremy in my life. I don't know what I'd do without them! Only thing left to say from the trip is that the hike out isn't too bad... until you reach the last climb up to the canyon rim! Jeff and I definitely felt like Frodo and Sam climbing Mount Doom. It was intense. So be sure to save a last boost of energy and a chocolate chip Clif bar for the final ascent! And sing some Neil Diamond and Bonny Tyler. It helps, trust me.