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 »

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.

Anyway, here’s the trailer for your enjoyment.

Judging by the titles of three recent blog posts, it seems that tis the season for goodbyes.

Last night I dropped by my Swiss friend Nathalie’s good bye party. I first met Nath 12 years ago when she came to stay with a family friend who happened to live in my neighborhood and we built one of those bonds that will keep us good friends forever. 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 »

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 »