Stuff, Lot of It

In the search for places for people to die I took the guys running the show out to Land of the Skinny People and Thousand Eyes. I didn't realize all the stuff they had to carry to the filming location. They were talking about another movie about the making of The Canyon Lands and it would feature how many people died carrying equipment to the locations I had for them.

Linny's part has ballooned. Originally she was just going to have two scenes but it's been rewritten a couple times and she's turning into a memorable part of the movie. Didn't have nothing to do with me. They ask me if I wanted to be in the movie but the cameras look pretty expensive and I'd hate to break one of them.

Base Camp is busy. April of last year was the highest income month ever but this month will beat that and next month will beat this month and since the movie people have taken every room and part of Last Hurrah for most of May it will beat April. We're busy. Michelle is putting is memorable hours every day and there is constant traffic at the lodge.

Handlebar came through doing the Hayduke. Love Hayduke people.

Mother Nature dropped by a couple of times to show the movie people what they can expect in the way of sunsets in May.

The movie people did a lot of camera testing to include a drone with a camera on it.
Looking like a record year for Haydukers coming through as Veronica showed up last night and left this morning. I hope they all come through in the next few weeks because you don't want to be in the Grand Canyon for July or August.

Jax, Kobae, and Hayduke

It's pretty busy but Jax and I are getting quick hikes for an hour or so whenever we can.

What Kobae likes most. Arion came through Tuesday morning. The first guy to ever try doing the Hayduke in both directions and on top of that to end by winter. With just Tuesday and Wednesday to work with he had pushed through last night coming back from Needles doing 40 miles, much of it by the full moon. He didn't run across any of the Haydukers that had come through the last few days because while they had pulled off to spend the night he continued on with two hours sleep and forty miles left to do by midnight Wednesday. Michelle ask him if he wanted a granola bar and he said he was never eating granola again.

I took guests to town, dropped them in the river for the four hour kayak back. I went through Burger King and ran into Arion hiking his way into town on his last 40 miles. I pulled over, handed him the two cheeseburgers and said "I don't know if you're stomach will be able to handle these." He said "I'm eating them." His face lit up. Hope I'll run across him again someday. 1600 plus miles in the winter that we had this year is pretty special. When I got back to the lodge John showed up doing the Hayduke. Watered up and hit the road. 800 more miles to do before the heat of late May and June gets here.

I saw Kobae wandering around the yard out the office window and the next time I looked he was gone. After circling the lodge three times in larger circles trying to pick up a track I saw movement in his house and he was checking it out. Will still be a few weeks before he moves in as it usually is but he's thinking about it.

One more hike before the rain comes again.

Hayduke Trail

If you'd like to know more about the Hayduke Trail which is more GPS coordinates hike than a road of any sort, go here. It's pretty cool.

http://fiveacesmedia.net/hayduke-trail/

Some Stuff

Jax seems 100% back to himself though he's still a little wary of Michelle. Two more Haydukers showed up right when the first one left and while Sage continues on they spent the night, then leaving in the morning.

The ravens have finally broken through the cow's tough exterior and 20 or so of them are feasting every morning. Kobae has a new girlfriend.

It's rock and roll time on the side of the Anti-Cline. During the winter snow slightly melted, turned to ice, expanded while doing so, and pushed some rocks just far enough that they are ready to dance with gravity but the ice is still clinging to them keeping them from falling. Now with rising temps the ice melts, releases the rock and there are some monsters rolling down the side of the Anti-Cline.

I had guests follow me to Kane Creek to make sure they got out fine and got this from the top of Hurrah on the way back and ran across Melinda, one more Hayduker, but she didn't swing by the lodge to top off her water. 

Top of the Drive Way

The Rain/Kane Creek

It has rained all night. Sage left in the morning to continue her Hayduke Trail adventure and two more Haydukers showed up right after seeking shelter and moved in the room Sage had.

I have guests checking in and out and I'm not feeling good about what Kane Creek might look like. When the departing guests are packed I offer to go with them to Kane Creek. When we get there one SUV is deep in the mud not even making it to the creek. It's flush in the mud so the mud works as a suction cup almost. I put tow straps on it and the 2nd older two strap I had breaks, snaps free and takes out the lower light on the left front of my truck.

That Time Again

I always keep four tow straps in the truck. A week or so ago I let somebody use the two newest ones and never saw them again. When I went to town last Friday I bought two and it turned out to be the right decision. Only a few hours after I got back a guy walks up the driveway and he's high centered in the Dead End canyon so I pull him out but one of the older tow straps breaks.

Monday afternoon another guy comes up the driveway and shows me a picture of his issue and the background so I have a rough idea where he is. This one could be a little work.

The first two times it won't go. Then I pull up next to his bumper, shove it into reverse and crank it and he comes up ok. We get back right at dark.

Kane Creek

Tuesday I went to town for wood, gas, groceries, and various things needed around the lodge. On the way in I saw a lady with hiking sticks and that means Hayduke or Discovery. With a decent amount of water in Kane Creek I'm hoping I can get back just before she gets there to give her a ride across and that's exactly how it turned out. As I'm coming back "Sage" is just getting to Kane Creek. I pull up in the truck and say "Usually when I see a woman hiking I pull up and say hi little girl, want some candy, but in your case I'm saying, if you don't want to drown, get in." I take Sage across Kane Creek and she gets out to continue her Hayduke hike. In the rear view mirror I see a side by side coming up behind me on the other side of the creek. I go back and drive across. They can't decide whether to chance it or not. I show them the only route across and say I'll wait for them on the other side so that if they do get stuck I'll tow strap them across and that's all the encouragement they needed. A few hours after I get back to the lodge Sage shows up.

Monday: As It Is Suppose To Be

The last disc golfers left around 1pm and the front porch returned to normal with the dogs lazing in the sun. Jax and I emptied the coolers that we left around the course and picked up a few directional markers but there was almost no trash. As I Uber'ed players around to starting holes and bringing them back a few tipped me, all thanked and said it was a lifesaver, too many wanted to kiss me they were so tired, and a little girl gave me a dollar because she found two rocks she really liked and wanted to take them home. If I can figure out how to sell rocks I'll have this place paid off by the next tournament.

Day Two of Disc

On Saturday 100 players played both the original course and the new course and there were some tired puppies after 36 holes. Today was worse. "Only" 20 holes but it doesn't tell the story. Most of the day it was where as before you might have played the tee on #1 to the basket on #1, today was more like playing the tee on #1 all the way to the basket on #2 so while it was 20 holes, they were very long ones. After Jax and I hiked the course to see how it was going we spent the rest of the day being Uber taking players back and forth from the lodge out to their starting holes which were sometimes half a mile away or more. You can't have 100 players all start from the same hole. Just a sampling of the day in pictures.

It's Time

When Jax and I got back from town on Friday the third and final missing walkie talkie from the mountain lion incident a few months ago is sitting on the counter in the kitchen. No note, no explanation, it's just there.

It's Saturday morning, the sun is shining, though it went back and forth all day, it isn't raining. Jax who has seen very few people during the winter is starving for attention. He quickly realizes that everyone is coming to the window to register so he sits on the back of the couch in the window to make sure everyone pets him. If, you look in the dictionary under "attention slut" it just says "Jax".

It feels really good walking around the property and seeing everyone having such a good time and they should because I have to say every single one of them are good people. Really good. There's been a little tinge of excitement in the air for some playing for the first time both courses and even for the veterans who are going to taste virgin disc soil.

As the players are going out on the course one of them comes to me to tell me he locked his keys in his Subaru and do I have a coat hanger. I tell him to go play I'll take care of it. Over the years this has probably happened 20 times and I have become an expert of sorts breaking into vehicles with a coat hanger. For 30 minutes I pull on the handle, push the lock button forward, pressure the window button with the end of the hanger and 20 minutes later a player who is done joins me with another coat hanger and then another. We're dropping hangers and clothes pens and various tools we're using to break in inside the vehicles and finally after an hour and a half I feel bad as I have to go start picking up players who are done on the outer edges of the property with the side by side. I pass the guy who locked his keys in his car and apologize telling him I and others tried for a long time but couldn't get in. Between the twists and turns of the coat hangers and the non-cooperation of the Subaru collectively the three of us are 23 IQ points dumber than we were when we started.

I get back to the lodge and he asks me if I have anymore hangers and I have one left. He comes back about three minutes later and says "Got it first time. Thank you." I didn't tell the others.

Camping

With 18 new fairways for the 2nd disc golf course a lot of the camping is now in the flight path of discs heading for baskets so on Wednesday and Thursday Jax and I hiked around trying to find new places we could squeeze in a couple of vehicles. Hiking around the former sheep pen I was reminded of just what enough floods can do to a fence that was a little over five feet high.

Returning from Last Hurrah we run across four mule deer grazing.

Was a couple of pretty good days for Jax as his limp is gone and he seems to be close to 100%. Thursday night he just completely out of the blue starting running around the lodge like crazy jumping up on me.
On Friday Jax and I head to town and pick up some beer, water, and soda and put all three in a couple of coolers spread around the course so the players can periodically have refreshments while playing in a pretty physical disc hike that takes the whole day. As we go over Hurrah the rain hits Base Camp right behind us. It's been raining all week, it's suppose to take a two day break, Saturday and Sunday hopefully, and then it rains for another week.