For my day off today, I spent six hours riding the trails above the Alpine Loop with Curtis and Olin. It felt so great to spend another perfect late-summer day outside! Being outdoors seems to lubricate the heart and the cooler, dry air feels so much sweeter in my lungs.

We stopped to chat with mountain bikers and cute trail runners and I got to wondering how many moose and cougars we miss as we speed along with our eyes glued to the trail. Then a few minutes later, a giant bull and cow moose ran across the trail about 20′ in front of Curtis. Continue Reading »

is the most wonderful time of the year, no matter what any old holiday music may claim!

It’s warm and cool. The days are still relatively long. There’s SO MUCH to do!

The only problem I’ve ever had with autumn is dreading its eventual end – but this year, happily, I’m not feeling that.

Every month during the summer, the resource rangers at Timp Cave put up their nets along the American Fork River and catch bats as they swoop down for a drink before setting off to hunt for  the night.

<– Cami examines a bat after extracting it from the net.

I went up tonight for some pizza and to check out the action. It was pretty cool! We caught about 20 right around dusk, then one or two later on. They took various measurements, then marked their head with a green marker to make sure we didn’t measure the same bat twice. When releasing them, they’d record their chatter to compare the “dialect” to bats from this or other areas. Maybe you’ve heard of the same thing happening with whales and other mammals. Continue Reading »

A week ago I went to Bear Lake for the annual family reunion and had a fantastic time. Here’s a shot on the back ladder of the Coco Bandera that shows off the amazingly blue water, glowing under my sailboat.

The first night, I took 5 nieces and nephews on the boat as we motored across a flat, calm lake from the marina to the beach near the condos, then we slept on the boat. It was maybe the last night of the Perseids meteor shower, and one nephew, on his birthday, counted 122 falling stars. Many were brilliant and long. Two nieces saw their first ever falling stars. Continue Reading »

involves driving three miles up stunning American Fork Canyon, then hiking a mile and a half and over 1,000 feet to the “office.”

<– climbing carefully below The Great Heart of Timpanogos to retrieve some fallen sunglasses with the snake stick.

The office consists of the tiny “employees only” room and our private lunch bench outside with dazzling canyon views; plus Hansen, Middle and Timpanogos Caves, where I’ll be leading tours until the cave closes for the season in October.

That’s right, I work inside Mount Timpanogos! I’m now officially a National Park Ranger – hat, badge and all. I expect to enjoy it immensely.

Success! –>

Yesterday my search and rescue pager went off for a river rescue at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. Information streamed in over the radio as I headed up the canyon as to where the nine-year-old girl could be, and SAR units, together with Sundance and Provo Fire Departments, were deployed along the swift river.

When the girl had slipped into the river near Bridal Veil Falls – where the river is narrow and fast, and the river trail is always full of mothers strolling with young children – her uncles and cousins responded immediately. At least three people went into the river after her, running downstream for an opening in the brush, then jumping in, only to find that the current had already swept her by or barely able to get a hold of her – but not a good enough hold to win the tug of war with 440 cubic feet per second of water – that’s 27,500 pounds per second – rushing past. Continue Reading »

Over the July 4th weekend, I headed up to Logan to ride with my dad and brother and hang with the fam.

As I drove into Cache Valley, I again noticed how much I love it. It’s not just a mental thing due to its beautiful mountains and trees, and it’s more than nostalgia. There’s an actual physical sensation that strikes you as you drop out of the canyon, and you can’t help feeling how open and warm the place is. Sometimes it doesn’t strike me till I walk into a store. Sometimes I watch for it and sometimes it takes me by surprise. It’s nice to know that many other people have the exact same reaction. I’m grateful that I moved there when young and did most of my growing up among the awesome friends I was lucky to grow up with. Continue Reading »

While spending three days in Government Camp and Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood’s southern flanks for the 50th anniversary annual meeting of the Mountain Rescue Association (our SAR team is one of about a hundred teams that belong to the MRA and I’m the Intermountain Region chair) I skipped one morning activity and climbed the volcano instead.

I’m glad I did! I took the ski lift up 2 miles and 2,000 feet, then went another 2 miles and 2,500 feet to the top. There were some semi-steep sections where crampons and axe came in handy, and the views from the top of the surprisingly-steep north side and five or six other volcanoes in the distance were stunning.

< A climber walks along Hogsback Ridge with the lush Oregon forest beyond. Continue Reading »

Rim to Rim. 23 miles. 14 down, 9 up. About 7,000′ deep. Temps ranged from 55 with monsoon-like rain to 105, but sometimes with a breeze and it didn’t feel that bad. I was surprised how much water and green is found along the trails. I sure wanted to spend more time in the water!

And the Colorado…incredible! I really wanted to stop there longer, climb down to a beach and stay for hours, but the whole ascent loomed before us and the day wasn’t getting any cooler.

Later on it got cooler, though! When the downpour began. Before the rain, I was dunking my cap in the stream at every crossing and pouring cold water down my back. When it began above Indian Gardens, it felt refreshing. By the time we reached 3 mile House, we were well chilled and the place was packed tight by everyone who hadn’t brought rain gear. We pulled ours out and headed up again. Continue Reading »

Friday night I went camping with the scouts in the dunes – Little Sahara, about an hour southwest of here – and had a surprisingly good time (considering that we couldn’t bring motorcycles).

We drove to a secluded camping area Friday afternoon, played flies up, hiked around and enjoyed the golden sand against the dusky sky, had long-jumping contents down the dunes, made dinner, and never stopped moving until, as the saying goes, somebody lost an eye.

Not actually lost, of course. When night fell, we set up the steal the flag course using little glow sticks as the midline marker and brighter sticks for the flags. There was no moon and you could barely see others walking or crawling around. Continue Reading »