Pasture Canyon

In sharing some pictures with Poppop, he commented that I never appeared in them.  It is true:  When you carry the camera, you're not often in the picture.  It makes it seem as though you never attended the event.  Well, today I have proof (above).  Actually, today I was flying solo.  The girls had to return to The Homestead for an art festival, so I went alone.  I hiked from the sand slide to the Dirty Devil and up Pasture Canyon.  It wasn't all that far as the crow flies, maybe six or eight miles, but the river crossing was cold and the sand traps were taxing.  I was tired when I got back to the truck.  Pictures here.

Robber's Roost

Today, we found the horse trail.  Or, EDO did; I was going the wrong way.  We reached the bottom of White Roost by 11:30a.  It was a short day and we needed to be out by 1:15p at the latest.  We hustled down river and rounded the corner with a view to the Middle Roost by 12:15p.  The White Fork and the Middle Fork join to form the main stem:  Robber's Roost Canyon.  It was in view.  We turned around.  VSO had a head start, but, with EDO, I half-ran upstream.  We reached GC2 at 1:15p!  Pictures here.

The White Roost

We left Hanksville at 10a.  We started down the White Roost at 11:30.  After a mile, we were rimmed out (above).  We hiked back to the plateau and spent the rest of the day trying to find a way into the canyon.  The rule is "don't go down what you can't get back up."  So, we failed.  There were a few places, but we might have been stuck.  At the end of the day, we scrambled up another narrow notch (below).  There was a reason that Butch and the Kid liked retreating to this country after doing a job.  More pictures here.

The Ark

Today it was the Ark.  Because the blocks at the top are so steep, I wasn't sure I could get up.  I've tried before, from Center Creek, but got rimmed out.  Today, I tried it from Bowery Creek.  I walked to Henderson Hill.  From there you can do it.  It was a little more than five miles round trip.  Twelve hundred vertical.  After yesterday, twenty-five hundred feet of vertical combined, my legs felt tired.

This One

I've been looking at this one for the last couple of weeks.  Or maybe it has been the last couple of years.  At any rate, I decided to try it today.  Here it is:  One thousand three hundred vertical feet; about three miles round trip.  I left the Chev by 3p and got back before full dark.

Quiet Wetland

Yesterday I made a long trudge up a very old road in one of the side drainages in Center Creek.  I had accidently discovered the road a year or two ago, but had not gone to the top because there was too much snow at the time.  There was very little snow yesterday, so I kept going up.  Eventually I lost all sign of the road (I doubt it has been used as a road for at least fifty years) and thrashed my way up a draw into the saddle.  There I found a perfect basin with a wetland that may have been a small lake many years ago.  It was beautiful, but I had to hurry down because darkness comes early in mid-November.

View from the Office

Earlier this week we had a burn planned for a ponderosa pine stand near Monticello, Utah.  The day was partly cloudy and cool, so I wasn't sure we'd get it.  But, after four or five hours of dragging fire through the woods, I think we achieved our objectives.

Run-Ride the WMU

EDO likes to run a loop at the Parowan Front WMU.  It is about seven miles long, so it is a good one for a Sunday when she has a little extra time.  Today, she invited me.  As I've mentioned, I can't run with her, so I ride the bike.  I guess I need one-a-them-go-pros, because it is difficult to ride and make pictures at the same time.  We finished in exactly one hour.