Friday Morning

The vacation is over. I haven't had any guests since Sunday or so and got a lot of hiking and administrative stuff done during that time but four check ins today and since Michelle never made it back I got some cleaning to do. I remember when I moved out here thirteen years ago and quit working at the facilities thinking I was so happy I wouldn't have to do major cleaning again. That was thousands of rooms and hundreds of hogans and houses ago.

I was going to sleep each night looking out my bedroom window at Jupiter to the right, Milky Way in the middle, and Saturn a little to the left. Jupiter is almost out of the window when I lay my head down now and the Milky Way has moved right along with it. Saturn is still middle of the window.

With the blinds open the natural light wakes me. I can make a mental note before going to sleep as to how much light I was to wake me up and it works. No matter what though I wake with the first song birds singing at the feeding areas. I haven't seen a hawk in over a month. Once the ravens got the numbers on them they ganged up and went around killing them. Most are buried in our wildlife cemetery with just a rock for a headstone. The ravens still create havoc now and then. They've learned how to lift trash can lids so all my vulnerable ones have bunji cords strapping them down and you can't leave trash in the back of a truck over night if you're going to town so I do pick up early in the morning around the property before heading out. They've abandoned nests in The Fingers so I'm a bit of a pain in their side as well. Never imagined though that they would become an ally in keeping the song birds safe in their feeding areas.

Can see Four Fingers and a Thumb sticking up over the Anti-Cline out in the Dripping Springs area from behind the main house.

Thursday

Jax and I headed out thinking we were going to get an hour and a half hike in before the sun hit but then the cloud cover got thick so we just kept going and squeezed three hours into it.

We found a high spot to enjoy the view and for half an hour the three of us just set there watching the every changing shine and shadows. Jax, me, and the fly that sat next to us.

As we approached The Fingers I saw fresh deer tracks and heard a couple rocks roll down back in the canyons so we didn't enter. Jax doesn't mean any harm he's just so excited to have somebody to play with but they don't get it so it always winds up with the deer or big horn running and there's no point in putting them through that so we kept going.

I saw the familiar light blue boat coming up the river of Moab Jett. Hardest working people on the river and who I had the movie people use for shuttling people back and forth that had fear of heights over Hurrah Pass. There were plenty of them.

Caveman Ranch or Tangri-La is still vacant. I see a security guy driving around occasionally. They've gone from asking $8 million to $6.5 million. Still 5 million or so too high and it will take a quarter to half a million to get it habitable before you can go into business. I'm waiting.

The teepee is down up above. I saw the Special Forces guys up there recently that use to rent from me so I expect they've cut a deal with Doug to use his place for training and teaching.

Later in the day Kobae ate and then took off to the north to go hiking which is a no-no. Too much thicket and tamarisk. I'd lose him in there so we did our usual fight with me trying to turn him around and finally he got mad and headed back to the lodge.

Killing Time and a Glove

Splaining it to Jax

Kobae Dinner

Jax at the Beach

Monday Evening Kobae is Warming Up

After his meal Kobae started wandering the property. Sometime in the next day or two he'll head up the hill or down the driveway and we'll be off on an hour or so hike. Almost always an issue getting him to turn around and get back before dark.

Monte Cristo Mine Complex

Monday morning I drove over Hurrah to the Monte Cristo Mine Complex in the Kane Creek Anti-Cline. I'd noticed a couple times on the way to town that the slope was so steep that the sun didn't hit most of the mining trails until after 10am so for Jax's benefit until he gets a hair cut that's where we went and got in three good hours of hiking and mostly climbing.

I was pretty amazed and how much the roads and areas around the mines had deteriorated since the last time I spent a few days over here.

The flat top area across the valley and on top is called Hatch Point and sometimes the whole area on top of the Anti-Cline is called Hatch Point.

Almost Time

Kobae has began wandering around the lodge after he eats. Soon, any day, we'll be heading off to hike until it gets dark. The earliest he ever started his hiking was a couple years ago on Aug 22nd and the latest September 4th. All the contents of the three backpacks I had disappeared while the movie people were here but I've had enough left that I've managed to put together one pretty complete backpack though I did have to order a new folding put together chair and a hail proof umbrella but I've squeezed it all in there and I'm ready for my friend.

Michelle called to say the reason she hadn't returned to Base Camp yet was that somebody stole her Jeep but that it had been found in the parking lot of the Kearns Police Station. They spilled a shake on the front seat and left some McDonalds fish sandwich wrappers in it. Everything else appeared to be fine.

I ask her if she'd left the keys in it and she said "Maybe." She did. You can do that at Base Camp and you can do that in Moab and there was a time when you could do it in Salt Lake. I remember being young and going to the store with my mom. She'd leave the keys in the car, put presents in the car and then go back inside to get more Christmas stuff leaving the doors unlocked and windows down with keys in it and never a problem. Not anymore.

No Birds Singing

Jax and I started up Hurrah but towards the first turn and the drop offs I hadn't heard a single bird noise in half an hour so we cut back into a creek bed not far from Skinny People and returned to the lodge just in case something did happen or was about to happen. I've hiked thousands of times out here and never had a single time that I didn't hear birds singing somewhere. We got back and sat on the porch for half an hour or so. None of the little people were talking. We went inside, ate, read, napped, came back out and everything was normal.