The Return of Elvis

Hurrah Evening Video

Hurrah Evening

Nightly Ritual

Memorial Weekend

Around the Island

Breakfast at Tiffanys

River Departure

The Moenkopi of Hurrah: (Day One)

The Moenkopi is always hard to hike in. First the way water runs off it makes it develop into overhangs. Sometimes you can get up an overhang, but getting down them is a whole new experience. Second, it always seems like it's going to hold your boot or hand but it rarely does and is probably the most dicey soil to explore in out here. It does however create some interesting rock formations.

Time is Coming

Over the last week or so Kobae has began wandering the property. I don't think it will be long before we head off on our all day hikes.

Evening in the Canyonlands

Desert Willow

The first flower blooms on the Desert Willow on May 10th and the tree looks like this.

On May 14th the main Desert Willow has a few more flowers here and there and the two other Desert Willows Linny and I planted a couple years ago have begun to emerge with slightly different colors.

Today, May 20th, ten days after the first bud bloomed the tree looks like this.

Good Day for Kobae

Happy Birthday Best Friend

It was yesterday and though we talked I forgot to post my usual yearly tribute to my best friend. Happy Birthday Linster.

Raining and Kobae Don't Care

Kobae Carrier

Last year there were multiple hiking situations where I had to pick Kobae up and turn him around to get back to the lodge or hike back, get the truck or jeep, and lift him up in the back. To keep from being on Ibuprophen for the rest of my life, this year I have a trailer with a ramp I intent to push him up and bring him back with the trailer attached to one of the side by sides. Kobae is starting to wander around the yard more and more so I think test day is not too far away. 

What Kobae Likes Most

I Saw a Ghost

It's 6pm Sunday evening, 37 hours since I found the body in the road. I've told a few campers and disc golfers hanging around the lodge but the general consensus of my story seems to be it was early, I was tired, and if it really happened, how come I didn't take a picture? A Subaru Outback comes up the driveway. This time of year I get 20 to 40 disc golfers on a weekend and usually we exchange greetings and some times first names but I get so many I'm not going to remember most. Five disc golfers come to the porch and before they pay I ask if they are playing disc golf or also looking for a spot to camp? One says "We already have a camping spot at Pritchett Canyon." Now I look at each of them individually. To the tallest one I say "Do I look familiar to you?" He says "You were in my dream the other night. You gave me a ride." I say "You were sleeping in the road." He says "I thought it was a dream." I say "A minute after I dropped you off at Pritchett Canyon a car blew around that corner. They wouldn't have been able to stop in time." He says "Was a bad night. I went for a run but got tired and fell down." I look at his shirt, it says "I SAW A GHOST" I thought "We both have."

There's a Body in the Road, Pt 2

There's a Body in the Road

It's 4:45 Saturday morning. My goal is to be in the river at King's Bottom, just this side of Moab, river mile marker 60 and get out at Base Camp, river mile marker 45. I thought that the almost full moon would give me that little bit of light I needed to get in the river before the sun came up but I slightly misjudged it and the moon set 20 minutes ago. It's dark and nothing but. As I round the road under the Tombstones I barely see what looks like a black trash bag in the road. I swerve to miss it and do so by about two feet. I pull over to pick up the trash bag and put it in the back of the truck and it's a black rain jacket, with a body in it, not moving. I put a head lamp on the body and speak twice. There's no movement. Would somebody really jump off the Tombstones in the dark? I nudge the body twice with my foot. The body says "What?" I say "You're in the road. I almost ran over you." The body says "What?" I say "Get out of the road. Two feet this way and you'd be dead." The body stands up. Male, maybe 20, tall, drunk. I say "Get in the truck. I'll take you where you need to be." The body tries to get in my side." I send the body around to the passenger side. We drive a few hundred feet and he says "I'm camped in there for sure." I pull into a parking area on the left side. There's no one there. I hit the blacktop and start towards town. The body yells "Stop." I do. He gets out and walks into Pritchet Canyon singing loud. It's 5:30 when I get in the river.

The Ups Have Returned

Has it been five or six years that Who's Up, What's Up, and Little Up have been on the porch to make sure we never have scorpions again. Well in all the confusion I sort of lost track myself. For that kind of insurance to make sure they stay on the porches all that is necessary is to feed them flies occasionally. Fly swatter well spent.

Kobae Does Yoga

Camera Curious

Morning