Goshute Cave

Since we've had pretty good success at conquering all sorts of terrains on the ground, for our latest adventure, we decided we'd try conquering UNDER ground! A close friend, Dave, had been telling me for years about Goshute Cave, a cave in Nevada that he loved to go explore. It's a thermal cave, which made it perfect for winter camping. I'd always hoped to take this trip with him and we finally got the chance. Logically, theBRIGADE crew (Tim and PC) came along as well.

It was quite a drive to get out to the cave. We didn't leave until 6:30 p.m. since that was the earliest that Dave's son could get off work. We drove out to Wendover, grabbed a bite (or a smoothie), and headed out into the vast blackness that was the Nevada desert towards Ely. Being nighttime, you couldn't really tell how far we were going or what was passing us as we went. After an hour or so, we turned off the highway onto a paved road and started heading west again. Then we turned onto a dirt road that took us back north and out into the middle of the desert.

Thankfully, we had Dave to guide us as the turnoff to get to the cave was all but impossible to find without knowing where to look. The "road" finally led us to the foot of the mountains and we climbed up the washed out trail to finally come to a stop at a makeshift parking lot. The night was surprisingly warm and clear, perfect for hiking. We shouldered our packs and started for the trail.

The trail started out as a gradual incline, but soon became steeper as we went. It wasn't too bad of a hike at all. Although it was steep, it was short. It wasn't long until we found ourselves at the base of a rock face that Dave's son, Kurt, scampered up. He attached a climbing strap to a nearby tree and we took turns climbing up the rock face to the top.

At the top, we found ourselves on a shelf under a large rock overhang overlooking the valley below. Even though everything was dark below us, it was beautiful. We hugged the rock face on a narrow trail and found ourselves at the mouth of the cave! Just kneeling down in front of the opening you could feel the warm air escaping from the caverns inside. A final photo and in we went!

The narrow mouth opened into a large cavernous room that was extremely dusty! It had several opening leading off in various directions into the dark. There was a log book there as well, which of course we signed. tB reppin' in the NV. Harry Hatchet had also passed this way...

Dave led us around the passages to "The Bedroom," a large room with a soft sandy floor that was to be our sleeping quarters for the night. It was now after 11:30 p.m., but we were too excited to sleep. We made got our beds all set up and prepared our day (night) packs to go deeper into the cave. Dave and Kurt led the way and we found plenty to see and photograph!

It was about 3:00 a.m. when we finally crawled back into "The Bedroom", covered in dirt and grime but super stoked! We changed into fresh clothes, tooled up some snacks, and hunkered down for the night while Dave shared a scary caving story with us. It wasn't really that scary, but even if it had been it wouldn't have mattered. We were too exhausted to care.

We awoke the next morning and packed up our gear. Kind of funny how being in the dark of a cave kind of limits the time you spend poking around camp. We were ready in minutes and headed back to the mouth of the cave.

We emerged into the bright sun and got our first real glimpse of the valley below. It was a breathtaking sight. I couldn't help but appreciate being able to feel the wind on my face and being able to really see again. It felt quite refreshing after spending the last few hours in the dark cave. We climbed down the climbing strap in turn and made our way down the trail.

We made it back to the truck in no time and took off our packs. Back in the trucks, we made our way back across the desert valley, up the dirt road, and hit the pavement back to Wendover. This was such an awesome trip! I sure am glad we had guides down in the cave because we would have been lost without them. (Thanks Dave and Kurt!) Great adventure.

Paul's Temple Night

We were able to have a really special night out to go through the temple with my great friend Paul for the first time. Paul's always been an awesome guy from the first time I met him. He and Tim became fast friends through their ward at church and it wasn't long until Paul was backpacking through southern Utah with Jeff and I. Now a full-fledged member of theBRIGADE, Paul took his biggest step yet... going through the temple.

This is just my observation, and I hope it's not sharing anything too personal, but theBRIGADE crew took a trip to Grand Gulch last summer. After a couple of days, Jeff developed some lingering pain in his foot that just wasn't feeling any better. He asked for a Priesthood blessing and Tim and I were able to administer to him. This was prior to Paul receiving the Priesthood, so he just observed as the blessing took place. After we were finished, I felt very distinctly like something more than just helping Jeff had happened that night. The next day, Jeff's foot felt miraculously better. And looking back now, at least in my opinion, Paul was different from that day forward too.

Like I said in a previous post, 2011 was a huge year for theBRIGADE. Amber and I welcomed our second son, Tim got married to Tay, Jeff got married to Maren, and Paul received the Priesthood... and ended the year by going to the temple. And the best part was that we were all there to celebrate with him and honor the occasion.

We always talk a lot about being hardcore (which we are), snowboarding, backpacking, exploring, camping, surviving, and stuff. But truth be told, THIS is what theBRIGADE is really all about: bringing out the best in each other and progressing to be the best we can be. We've grown so close to each other and have created eternal bonds that can't be broken. Even though Paul isn't blood, he's still our brother. I'm so proud of him and so stoked that I could be a witness to the great man that he's become. Now let's go camping!

Bachelor Campout

Our homeboy Jeff is getting himself hitched and theBRIGADE decided we'd better get ourselves together for a bachelor party, which in tB terms means one thing: CAMPOUT! With all the wedding plans, various schedules, and commitments, we had a hard time finding a good weekend to go. In the end, we decided to just throw reason to the wind and go after the Priesthood Session of LDS General Conference.

Paul, Tim, Jeff, and I met up in white shirts and ties and enjoyed a fantastic Priesthood Sesh together. I still can't believe how tight our crew is. It's a big year for all of us, actually. Tim got married in June, I had the birth of our second child, Ammon, in August. Jeff is getting married in October, and Paul is receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood this month as well! Huge! It was just really cool to look down the row at the three closest and most trustworthy homies I have. It was a great experience to be there with these great men. Love these fellas!

After we'd been spiritually fed, we went back to my place and changed into our "business" clothes so we could go get lost for a few hours in the mountains! We decided to hit up Baer Canyon where I took the Scouts. It was a gorgeous night and it was great to be back together with the crew on the trail!

We ended up at the same camping spot that I stayed at with the Scouts and it was perfect. We all ate dinner up there and had plenty of candy and smores to feed most of Davis County. Haha. It was prime!

It was so warm that night that I slept on top of my sleeping bag! With the rain fly off, it was exquisite with a light, warm breeze blowing over us... until 1:00 a.m. when the rain started! Hahaha. It didn't last long, though. We had a great night!

Tim had to wake up early the next morning and hiked down by himself at 6:30 so he could make it into SLC for a Conference Sesh. We were up and going around 8:00 and enjoyed a nice hike down looking over the valley in the beautiful morning light.

Garage Karate

Geocaching

This week, Jeff and I started getting into geocaching. For those of you who don't know, geocaching is basically like a global treasure hunt. You can go to http://www.geocaching.com/, set up a free account, and start searching for GPS caches anywhere in the world. Some are really small, others are larger. In certain caches you can leave items or swap them for something else. All of them should have a log book where you can leave your name and date of when it was found. The idea is to do it discreetly and find as many as you can/want. There's even an awesome app for your iPhone/iPod/iPad that's excellent! Pretty sweet. Like I said, Jeff and I went out and found 4 in Farmington, and then I took Jeremy out with me on Saturday and we found two more by my house. It was really fun! I highly recommend getting into it. Look for us under "theBRIGADE" user name! Here's some pics of our findings:

**WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!**



Flag Rock

Today in Utah is the observed holiday of the 24th of July (since the 24th fell on a Sunday), my boss is out of town for the week, and Jeff is back from China which means... Perfect conditions to hike to Flag Rock in F-town! We left his house and started down the street and stopped at Woodland Park to look for a Geocache on the way and admire how the raspberry patch is coming on.

Hawk Rock

We made it up to the trail head and hiked up to the fire break road and took a breather and enjoyed the view. Further up the trail, we passed "Hawk Rock" which is freaking awesome! From there it was a pretty good climb with a lot of switchbacks, but we made it in good time. It was really muggy out today with the cloudy skies threatening rain, but once we got to the top and felt the wind blowing it felt amazing! And the view was breathtaking to be sure.

It was pretty cool to spend this Pioneer Day up here and catch a glimpse of what the valley looks like, similar to what the pioneers did when the came into the area over 100 years ago. That's one thing I really love about Utah is the rich pioneer heritage and that they still honor those people today. Pretty cool. (And who doesn't love another day of fireworks?!)

We hiked back down and found some ripe black berries near a stream that made for a nice treat on the way home. It was really great to be back on the trail with Jeff again. Feels good to get theBRIGADE back together. Awesome day!

theBREAKDOWN

As part of theBRIGADE crew's efforts for constant progression and innovation, we've created a new blog site for those interested in camping, backpacking, and improving their outdoor experience. We call it: theBREAKDOWN. The purpose of theBREAKDOWN is to share our insights and experiences on anything from gear to locations and everything in between. Jeff, Paul, and Jake will be updating the site soon with product reviews and photos, as well as contact info for any questions or thoughts you might have. We're excited to take this next step and hope you'll enjoy it as well! To get to theBREAKDOWN, click here or go to the following address:

http://www.tb-thebreakdown.blogspot.com/