Wednesday, February 28, 2018

The Rock Garden

On Wednesday Linny, Jax, and I spent two hours in the Rock Garden.




Tuesday Hiking with Linny & Jax

Two things over the weekend. When we checked in the hotel before going to the hockey game I wandered around the room for a minute or two trying to find where the cooler was that I could get water out of. Linny explained that you can drink sink water in the city. You can at the lodge but it's pretty salty.

When we were walking over to Applebee's to eat we were walking through the parking lot and I saw a big surprise pop up on Linny's face. She said "Wait, Ford makes cars too? I thought they only made trucks." In fairness she's probably never seen a Ford car at the lodge.








My Best Friend

Linny will be turning 15 in May. I can't believe it. While I was in Salt Lake both Linny and her mom mentioned she will be having her quinceanera party celebrating the Latin tradition of a woman going from childhood to adulthood. Apparently it's pretty expensive. In the $10,000 plus range I've been told. They were interested in how much I wanted to chip in. I said to Linny

Me: "White girls don't have that party."
Linny: "They have a sweet sixteen party."
Me: " Right. How much is that? Five girls come sleep over and they have a pillow fight."
Linny: "Did you see that on TV?"
Me: "Yes."

Apparently I have a distorted view of how that works. So, in the end, I told Linny I wasn't chipping in. However, I need help at the lodge. She can come work at the lodge and continue her educational experience with an online school which she was doing in Salt Lake anyway and saving me the four hours of driving her to school and back and me back here and back, twice a day. Any money she makes goes towards her 15th party and I might match it, but she has to earn it.

On Sunday Linny moved back into the lodge.

By Monday she was out working on the property. I showed her some places where the last rain had washed away the road and to get a shovel and fill them in. Linny took off in the truck and Jax and I went hiking. It didn't all go as planned but to her credit Linny also got herself out of trouble with no help from me.
By sundown Linny was making pretty good progress filling in the holes and her work ethic was back to normal just like she'd never left here.


Sunday, February 25, 2018

The Day of Saturday

On Saturday Linny and I drove around and visited a couple of the indoor soccer facilities in Ogden and Woods Cross and then on Saturday night we went to the hockey game. Wichita Thunder and Utah Grizzlies. Both teams tried hard to lose. Utah has a 1 goal lead with a minute to go and one of their guys lost his temper and got a penalty. Since Wichita was down by a goal with a minute to do they had nothing to lose by yanking their keeper and putting in an extra attacker so it was a 6 on 4, and with about eight seconds left they scored and tied the game. Then only four seconds later before going into overtime Wichita got a penalty so played the first two minutes of overtime a man short and at the end of overtime it was still tied. So each team picks three shooters. Utah's first guy scored and nobody else did on either side. So we didn't see a lot of goals, but we saw enough, and we did see a lot of fights, and in the end the Utah goalie had to stop their last guy from scoring to win the game and he did. 

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Friday Night with My Best Friend

On Friday night we saw a whole bunch of this. Three power play goals, two short handed goals, and two breakaways. The other team took their goalie out and replaced him like it was his fault?

The Water Tanks Hike

On Wednesday we were filling the water tanks at Last Hurrah and so got to hike above looking for big horn and coming back to check the gauges to make sure the water levels were fine.





Between Rain Bursts

On Tuesday Jax and I got a short hike in between down pours.


Sunday, February 18, 2018

Sunday Evening



Middle of February

Both the lodge and Last Hurrah are completely full. Unbelievable.

Two Guys from Tennessee

Came to play disc golf.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Jess and Monkey

On Wednesday it was kind of cold out but Jax and I were hiking out towards the Wind Caves and then back on the cliff road above the river. Just as we're going through the Base Camp gate we see a vehicle go by on the way towards Chicken Corner. We hike a little over the hill and I can see it turning around in the distance. I say "Are you lost?" She says "No, I lost my cat. I left him behind. When I got out to take a picture I think he took off and I just noticed that he was gone." I said "On this side of Hurrah?" She says "Yes." I say "Jax has a good nose and I'm a good tracker you want us to go with you?" She says "No. He's a good cat he'll stay there until I get back."

Jax and I continue you on our hike and just before we get ready to turn on to the Cliff trail she comes pulling up, with her cat, and her dog. She's a geologist from Australia and her name is Jess. We talk for a minute and I give her directions to the Wind Caves and Chicken Corner and tell her she's free to swing by later and give her direction to the lodge. Just before dark, Jess, Monkee, and I forgot the cat's name come to the lodge. I put them up in Linny's room and we enjoy the dog to dog to cat confused interaction. We laughed all night telling stories of being in the boonies. Michelle joined us off an on while decorating.

In the morning I take her out to Jackson Hole to see a place that Linda and I visited a couple weeks ago since it has the most widely varied geology in a small area. Finally during out hike Jax and Monkee decided they liked each other and while we looked at rocks we were constantly surrounded by this.

Jess, from Australia, with Jax and Monkee. Anyone that tours and hikes with their dog and cat, is alright with me.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Short Hike

Wind was blowing and it was a little cold out there but Jax and I got about three miles in.



Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Cleaning Up

Johnny got the boat house all cleaned up so got to do something with that. To include the Moab Yacht Club sign.

Got both of the Base Camp hogans (mud huts) ready to go.

Jax and I got a little hiking in.

Sun Breaking Through


Monday Short Hike

Rained most of the day off and on but we did manage to sneak out between squalls and get a little hiking in. Then Nena showed up from Jeep and we spent a couple hours plotting out the trails around the property for the Jeep Safari unveiling.



Monday, February 12, 2018

A Good Day

Saturday it rained off and on all day so I worked on finishing my tax return. On Sunday though it was incredible outside so Jax and I walked all the way up Hurrah Pass and most of the way down the other side.







Friday, February 9, 2018

Four Fingers and a Thumb

Today Jax and I went exploring in the Four Fingers and a Thumb area. You won't find it on a map, it's something we have given a name because of the way it looked to us. You also won't find Three Guys on a Roller Coaster, Land of the Skinny People, Two Trains or a bunch of others either.

It's an area I haven't spent much time in over the years but with about a month to go before my free time dwindles dramatically I'm making the most of it.

We found some neat stuff. Some finger canyons that went a long ways back. You ever head into one of those out here and you don't see any tracks going in or out, especially two towed big horn tracks it means there's no other way out. We found a Christmas tree, yes growing, never seen one of those out here before. Sometimes at high elevations but never around here. We found odd shaped rocks, indented patterns, small caves and natural bridges.

There was an eerie fifteen minutes in pictures four and five. Jax is always exploring and climbing things but when we got close to the area directly under Four Fingers and a Thumb it felt wrong and he stopped. It wasn't just that somebody or something was watching us, that we could both feel, it was that whatever was watching us was evil. Jax and I stared into the cliffs and ledges for ten minutes and could not detect what was watching us or where it might be but it was there. We tried to walk away a couple times but as soon as we did we could feel it staring right through the back of our heads. We looked at each other hoping the other one had the answer but neither of us did. When we finally gave up and walked away for what I thought was the last time we both had the intense feeling that we were being watched again and as I turned my head I saw Jax turning his head. For five more minutes we watched for something watching us but it never revealed.

Shortly after that we came to several long and deep finger canyons going way back, narrow, one way out canyons, but they felt fine, and we went all the way to the back of all of them.