Last week was declared National Search and Rescue Week by the US Senate. We kicked it off Sunday night with an exciting rescue just outside Timpanogos Cave National Monument up American Fork Canyon.
Three men in their 20’s went hiking up the extremely steep, rocky, precarious AF canyon, then decided to hike back down. They downclimbed a 200′ cliff that was a big mistake for two reasons: they could have fallen to their deaths, and once they reached the bottom, they couldn’t get down the next 200′.
So they called 911. Good call. It’s easier to walk people out than carry them.
We got paged out around 7:30 p.m. I was assigned team leader for the top team, and I picked three other members of the Singletrack Special Team – Bryan, Jake and David. This was partially because Jake is a ranger and read in the manual this week that certified motorcycle riders from another agency can use the NPS motorcycles in an emergency. Continue Reading »
I went for a walk up the street late tonight as I often do for some fresh air and to mull things over. The trees are in bloom, filling the night air with their deliciously sweet scents. I could almost taste the fruit that won’t appear until July or August. A light breeze rustled their new leaves with a sound that I had forgotten over the winter. Mule deer strolled down the road a block ahead of me.
After staring out over the valley for a while, at the black hole cut in the center of all the lights by the lake, the red radio antenna lights flashing atop Lake Mountain, and the aircraft fading in and out of the low clouds, I turned around and headed toward home.
A few rain drops sprinkled on my forehead accompanied by a gust of cool breeze and the dusty smell that often precedes a downpour.
I walked outside this morning and enjoyed the refreshing sensations of the first day of autumn.
The sky was filled with high, dark clouds spreading an even, muted, shadowless light; a stiff breeze tousled my hair; and a few rain drops darkened the ground.
With a few pleasantly warm days behind us, this cold front reminded me of the reprieve from summer’s heat that usually arrives sometime in September. Its cool slap in the face has a way of waking you up from the stupor of sizzling August afternoons and making you feel ALIVE again.
It reminded me of a cool summer I spent in a wood-framed tent, running the climbing program at a scout camp near West Yellowstone.
Every morning we walked quickly through the brisk air alongside a clear stream to an outdoor shower, breakfast, and flag ceremony. Snow-white weasels with black-tipped tails sometimes trotted along the trail before us. Continue Reading »
Day before yesterday I decided I should drive to California and climb Mount Whitney. Immediately.
Whitney is 14,500′ tall and the highest point in the US outside of Alaska. A significant portion of book three of my Christmas fiction trilogy happens there and as I reached that point in writing the book, I realized that I needed to know the mountain first hand to continue writing.
So this trip is really just a research project.
We leave Sunday afternoon, if all goes according to plan. Back Wednesday or Thursday. I’ll let ya know how it goes….
The thing I learned a long time ago about climbing big mountains is that it’s not always fun while you’re doing it.
It’s not until later, perhaps from the highway below driving away, when all the suffering from cold and fatigue and dehydration is over, when your sore feet don’t have to take another step toward some distant destination, when your hips and shoulders can forget about your 45-pound pack grinding its weight into your skin and bones, when the air is so thick in your lungs that you can say long sentences or take a long drink of water without pausing for breath, or sometimes weeks later when you’ve fully recovered mentally and emotionally, that the best rewards arrive.
That’s when the entire ordeal – suffering and all – become glorious! And beautiful. And deeply, deeply satisfying. That’s when you realize how much the suffering and effort and dogged determination to reach the top has made you grow, and how much of a better person you are for the experience.
This is good to remember when in the midst of difficulties. Good to remember that trails and trials don’t last forever. That there will be rest, and everything will be okay again. Good to remember to never give up, but keep plodding along until you reach your destination. The trail along the way may be beautiful, but you can’t stay there forever. The conditions may be extremely uncomfortable, but they don’t last, either. You may need to pause to catch your breath or regain your strength, but the more steadily you keep placing one foot in front of the other, the sooner you will find rest, whether at base camp, advanced base camp, a brief pause on the summit, or finally home again, safe and sound, with comforts you couldn’t have even comprehended in the midst of your suffering.
When the going gets tough, remember. Remember this moment to later look back on with awe and inspiration to know that you persevered, and gratitude that it’s over!
I finally deleted 20 GB of data from my computer so I’d have space to finish editing a video from climbing Cerro el Plomo in the Chilean Andes last year just in time to give it to my Dad for Christmas.
My favorite spot in the film is when I’m standing on top of the nearly-18,000′ mountain. I had been climbing alone for hours. The daily snow storm was blowing in from the nearby ocean. I have never felt more exhausted in my life. I wanted to lay down and never move again. 100′ of elevation below the top, I was wishing desperately I would get nauseous and throw up so I could diagnose altitude sickness and have to turn back. What I like about it is the way I say “I’m TIRED.” Yes, I was tired, but even though it took so much mentally to even step over a 4′-high pile of rocks, I was far from finished! I could have gone on in that very difficult state for much, much farther had it been necessary.
Well, it’s all finished. I finished writing The Perfect Gift. I laid out the book interiors in InDesign. I designed the covers. I sent them to the printer.
Now it’s time to get the word out. If you have a blog and want to really help me out, I’d be very grateful if you would write something about my ChristmasNovels.com or FreeChristmasBooks.com sites. All links to the site help move me up in search engine rankings, and that means more clicks, and that means more sales, and that means I can afford to write book three and buy you a nice Christmas gift! Continue Reading »
For the past several years, I’ve taken the motorcycle to Moab with my SST (search and rescue singletrack team) buddies and spent two or three days riding the endless slickrock and other trails in the area.
Every year’s a little different as we pick different areas to ride, bring different friends along, have different crashes, break downs, injuries and jokes. This year we spent less time on our traditional favorites Slickrock/ Hell’s Revenge/ Fins n Things and more time exploring, riding Moab Rim, Steel Bender and Behind the Rock. Continue Reading »
Today was my last day as a National Park Ranger at Timpanogos Cave, and it was a good one. I had four good tour groups who seemed to enjoy their tour and appreciate the wonders (a totally busy day means five tours), plus some time to chill with coworkers and chat with kids at the cave entrance.
I saw a few bats (very rare in the cave since we’re so loud, but the cave has been closed all week), took a few good photos on my final nostalgic walk through the cave after that last tour, then locked the cave doors and set the alarm for the last time. The sun was just setting all golden as I started down the trail with Josh and Monica. Continue Reading »
I forgot to post a link to this video I made of my nieces and nephews at Bear Lake this summer. Don’t expect a masterpiece – it was shot pretty quickly because there was too much sailing and eating and talking to do and because the kids’ patience wouldn’t last forever. But the kids love it and it’ll be great as they grow older to look back and laugh at.
When 14 year old cousins James Gough and Frank Johnson discovered Timpanogos Cave in 1913, they didn’t travel along the upper passage where tours go today. That area was very narrow and has been excavated to make it roomy enough for most visitors to get through without too much trouble (if you don’t count the unlucky ones responsible for naming the stalactite “13 Stitches”, formerly known as “12 Stitch”).
Instead, they took the lower passage, now off limits, and protected by such things as light sensors so we know if anyone goes out of bounds. The only chance to get down there is on special projects such as the one going on now where resource rangers are removing as much of the man-made junk as possible. Continue Reading »
It reminded me of a cool summer I spent in a wood-framed tent, running the climbing program at a scout camp near West Yellowstone. 
