Timpanogos Cave with Friends

Tommy, Jovie, Isaac, AJ

Todd, Aimee, Stacey, Jesse, Karin,

Jovie, Isaac, Tommy, AJ

White Rim Mountain Bike Through Canyonlands

We gathered up a dozen friends to check out the crazy stuff in Green River, then ride 100 miles through Canyonlands National Park on mountain bikes. It was awesome. 

"The Ratio"

"Elements"

Crystal Geyser

This cold water CO2 geyser erupted when we were there. How lucky! The water bubbled water up through this pipe and filled up this little pond and flowed over the travertine walls toward the river.

 We had dinner at Ray's Tavern and sat around the pool at River Terrace Inn. We met up the next morning at Holiday River Expedition's HQ. 

Steve, Pete, Dan, Nicole, Bryan, Todd, Aimee, Scott, Hank, Deb, Tim, Andy at the stop of Shafer Trail.

Todd and Aimee walked across Musselman Arch

Camp 1 at Gooseberry

 http://youtu.be/JHIdN7qjjEQ

Aimee, Nicole, Deb at White Crack

Todd on Diving Board Rock

Climbing!

A slot canyon at the end of Day 2

View from Burrows's tent on Day 3 at Candlestick.

Everybody made it! Bryan, Nicole, Tim, Hank, Deb, Andy, Ferg and Dave, Steve, Pete, Dan, Aimee, Todd, Scott

No one rode in the SAG wagon. Pete and Todd didn't walk any of it. Hank walked the littlest bit because he got caught in a microburst wind tunnel. Andy and Aimee didn't have rear suspension, and surely my bike was the heaviest. It was so fun.

Hardware Ranch for Elk Viewing + Hyrum Museum + Maddox

We took off an hour and a half later than we meant to, and we had to stop for donuts, and then back home to pick up our coats, mittens, and hats. So when you go, be more careful packing your car than we were. We were diverted off the freeway near Smith & Edwards so we had to drive 0 miles an hour through Perry until we got to Sardine Canyon. There were ten collisions involving 29 vehicles on I15 that morning (good thing we were late!), so they gave up and just closed the freeway, which made our drive about three hours long instead of one and a half. After Sardine Canyon, we turned up Blacksmith Fork and it was such a pretty drive! We saw lots of wild turkeys, snow flurries, and the Hyrum City Hydro Electric Plant that's been in service since 1931. 

 We arrived at the end of the paved road where the parking lot was full (but not too full) of snowmobiles because the mountains are full (but not too full) of snow. We checked out the sparse displays at the visitor's center and purchased our sleigh ride tickets. We hiked back down to the elk, and found that the sleighs have wheels instead of sleds. 

The cowboys and girls told us a lot of information about Hardware Ranch's elk feeding efforts which they've been doing since 1945 to encourage the elk to avoid the Cache Valley, which was their historical winter feeding ground. 

We stopped at the cool old cabins by the Hyrum Library and visited the museum too. We got an interesting personal tour by a history graduate student and the kids entered a drawing contest. They wrote their names and my phone number on their entries in their very own (slightly illegible) handwriting, so I'm not expecting a call. 

Since we'd only eaten donuts that day, we were starving.  So we took a break at Maddox in Perry which is the finest food establishment in far northern Utah. We had steak and burgers and we were quite full.

We headed home at the end of a nine-hour adventure and we liked it, although it's more worth it if you were to drive three hours round trip instead of four and a half. Of course, the little kids are good travelers and I like their company wherever we find ourselves.

Here's a movie of the trip: http://youtu.be/pRnlR5SnmvQ

Bison Roundup at Antelope Island

Riding a horse in the Bison Roundup at Antelope Island is on the Utah Bucket List, and I'm planning to do it next year, so I thought I'd go watch it this year to see how crazy that idea is. I told the kids that we were leaving at the crack of dawn for the adventure.

Jovie made up the following song for the occasion: What is a bison? How furry is it? Bison is pretty furry. Pretty furry doesn't mean pretty. It means furry.


It was a beautiful day with bright skies and no bugs. I think Antelope Island is so interesting and totally undeserving of its stinky/buggy reputation!

These guys were pretty close to the bison barns so they were going to miss out on all the roundup fun.

These little dots are bison just waiting for the cowboys to come and get 'em. There are about 750 bison on the island at the end of the season. After volunteer cowboys round them up and check them out, they set 500 of them back out on the island and sell the rest.

The first thing he wanted to do at the Garr Ranch was to "cross the log bridge". You must have good balance to do this trick!

Ikey took this tumbleweed all over the ranch. He stuck it in our tailgate so it could ride home with us.



Ikey took this photo of me doing a trick with my fingers in a little rock tunnel. Can you see them? Those are his fingers in the left side of the screen.



Those are my fingers in the shot of these cowboys hanging out by the lake. Bet you can see those!

The nicest volunteer ranger talked to us at the visitor's center. He offered to take us on a hike, but suggested that I needed to carry Jovie. I told him that she can hike anywhere, and he was worried, but she did it with no problem. He told me that he did student teaching in the Granite School District, which is where we live now, and he taught art, French and English at "the new Carbon High School" in 1960. Isn't that crazy? Mr. Powell was so nice and I told him to invite us to see his paintings in a gallery or at his house or something. I hope he calls us someday!

The kids insisted on doing this little hike twice. It was too sunny for smiles. There were seven bison lounging just off the trail. That made me think I should carry Jovie.

I think they're taking their squinting faces a little too far.

We ate a burger at the Island Bison Grill (not a Buffalo Burger: "Those are the WORST!") and the kids played in the sand for about an hour. We're coming back next year with more sand toys and we'd even consider taking a dip!

So, I think I will do the round up next year on a rented horse. Ikey said that I don't have any of the right clothes. That's the least of my worries probably.