Hiking Club - Season 2

Ian and I reconvened our hiking club, and this year Miles is joining us.  We started with an easy hike inside of Red Butte Garden, it was just over 2 miles with an easy 387 foot ascent.  Here's the route we took:

View on Google Maps

The hills are covered with arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata). It was the perfect time to visit, since they are all in bloom.

We saw a lot of this little beauty, wild phlox (Phlox longifolia). 

Here is Ian at the deer gate.

Backside view

View of the valley.

Miscellaneous October Photos

 

 

Nigel

 

 

Ian and cousin Samuel

 

Lisette and cousin Andrew

 

Ian of Arabia

 

 Lisette and Miles with friends in chemistry class

 

Saffy and Ian

Farewell to Summer



Sunday we hopped in the van and drove up Millcreek Canyon to see the fall leaves.  Melinda and I had gone up the previous week just by ourselves but we wanted the kids to see the colors.

 

 

It's hard to believe summer is over already.  Two weeks ago it was pleasantly cool in the canyon, but last week it was almost freezing; it was only 1 degree Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit).  There was ice forming on rocks in the stream already.

 

 

Ian is in the 11 year old scouts this year.  I've really enjoyed going camping with him this year.  We camped in this same canyon just last month.  Earlier in the summer we camped in Big Cottonwood Canyon and in East Canyon.  We also had fun hiking.  We also did 9 hikes together during our weekly father and son hiking club.



 

Saffy braved the cold and although she had a warm coat she somehow came only in flip-flops.  Saffron started going to Liberty Girls club this year.  She really likes doing crafts and activities with the other girls.

 

Miles and Lisette are both doing chemistry this year with some of their friends with Melinda teaching.  Lisette is really enjoying her AP English class and somewhat tolerating her math class.  She has gotten very good at crocheting and she now has a head of natty dreadlocks. 

 

 



Things have been busy and I haven't done any blog posts for a while.  In September I started a new job.  It's hard to adjust, but I'm really glad to be working as part of a team and to be able to work with a lot of new technologies.  Plus the commute is under 10 minutes, so I've been able to come home for lunch most days, which is nice.

 

Melinda is sporting the latest in headwear fashion (it's actually a pair of Nigel's pants).  Melinda is staying busy homeschooling the kids.  She works really hard at their weekly chemistry class and their history and book club groups.  

 

 

What a handsome group! Just this year both Miles and Lisette have grown taller than their Mom.  Miles seems to have grown an inch just this past month.

Speaking of Miles, he just turned fourteen last month.  We had a fun birthday with him.  He planned what he wanted to do.  We went to Bruges Waffles and Frites and had real Belgian waffles and frites.  He wanted cookies instead of cake, so we made rose water cookies, which were very tasty.

 

He's been really busy working on making his own 3-D printer. There is an open source community that has plans, but you have to get all your own parts.  He's been working hard saving his money for well over a year and now he's buying all the parts and putting it together.  He has the frame already done, and he'll have more done soon as soon as the parts arrive by mail.  Here's a picture of a completed printer.

 

 

OK, that's all for now.  Maybe I won't wait as long for my next post, but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. 

Coyote Gulch

I spent four days last week hiking with some of my siblings in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  Tuesday morning we hiked into Coyote Gulch.  We were graced with cloud cover which made the hike so much more enjoyable.

I'm wearing my backpack which hasn't seen any action since the early 90's.

Ruth, Joy and James are modeling the latest fashions in backcountry wear.

Clair, our intrepid guide, leads the way.

After about three miles marching through sand and then over slick rock, we reach our destination.  Yes, we were up very high.

You want me to hike down where?

Seriously, are you nuts?!  Go down there?!  Do you want me to die?! Where's the elevator?

This is a view of what we climbed down.  Yes it was completely insane.  At the end James climbed back up and retrieved my pack for the final descent and I used a rope on the way down. Thanks again, James.  Aren't little brothers great?  It reminds me of how "I didn't apologize for when I was eight and I made my younger brother have to be my personal slave."

 We had a really sweet camping spot, right underneath Jacob Hamblin's Arch.  There was also a natural spring with cool clean water just a 100 feet away.

This is the other side of the arch.

This is one of the natural amphitheaters that was carved out by the river.

Notice the people the bottom?  The sandstone walls were massive.  It reminded me of walking between the skyscrapers in Chicago, shaded almost all day.

It was breathtakingly beautiful down there.  This is a popular destination, but we went at an unpopular time and were rewarded with complete solitude.

Scenes from Spring City

I just got back from a four day backpacking trip at Coyote Gulch with four of my siblings.  On our way there we passed through our old hometown of Spring City.  My family moved here in 1983.

This the view of Horseshoe Mountain from where we used to live.  We weren't actually in Spring City proper, but a mile or so out of town.

Our friends, the Sopers, renovated this beautiful house.  I think they're trying to sell it now.

They've been working on renovating this old school for years.  I remember we once had a Halloween activity where we sat in the foyer of the school and watched the original Night of the Living Dead.  Very creepy in that building with the peeling walls and eerie shadows.

I always loved this painted billboard.

Right next to the gas station is this monument where you can actually drink the spring water.

Here's the old Bishop's Storehouse.

I didn't appreciate how cool this chapel was while I attended there.  It's over a century old.

Here's one of the many restored homes.  Every may they have a historic home tour where you can go and see inside.

This is Joe Bennion's pottery shop.  They made a documentary about him and his life creating pottery for a living in the early 90's.

Forbes recently listed Spring City as one of the nation's prettiest towns.  I sure didn't think so growing up there as a teenager in the 80's, but driving through there I would agree, it is beautiful.