Zion National Park

Two weekends ago we visited Zion National Park in Utah. We were visiting Las Vegas and since gambling doesn’t hold that much interest for us we drove to Zion National Park and spent most of the day there.

As Barb said, more than once, “When you see it you understand why they made certain areas National Parks.” Zion has a resemblance to Yosemite in that what Barb said about it also applies, “Meh. Maybe I’m getting spoiled but one stunning view looks pretty much like another.”

Yup. That pretty much describes Zion. It’s not surprising the park gets over a million visitors per year.

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This was on our drive to Zion Canyon. I think it might have actually been in Arizona. We crossed the Northwest corner of it on our way.

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Another picture that probably is in Arizona.

You just expect to see Wiley Coyote and Road Runner zip by you any moment. Is the dust in the picture below from them?

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Again, probably in Arizona or outside the park near St. George Utah.

It’s beautiful to visit but Barb and agree there is no way we would want to live there. We like the tree covered mountains, rivers, and lakes too much to spend much time away.

The rest of the pictures are from inside the park and I’ll mostly let them speak for themselves.

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Close up of the upper right corner of the picture above it. Notice the size of the trees to get a clue as to the scale.

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There were some people climbing the cliffs. A small group of people were pointing at someone on this cliff. I couldn’t really see it so I took a picture with my telephoto lens, then zoomed in on the spot they were point at then asked them if this was what they were looking at:

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Yup. Just as I thought. It was just a rock formation.

 

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I sweat easily

It doesn’t take much to cause me to break out into a sweat. A tiny bit of exercise and I start sweating. Even the spices in the mildest spaghetti sauce will cause my forehead to start sweating.

It turns out my fear of heights triggers an increased heart rate and sweat—just from looking at this picture I took when I was in Yosemite last month:

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Update: Here is a cropped version of the same picture:

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Visualize where his center of gravity is versus his right foot. He’s taking a picture so he isn’t using much more than his proprioception and ears to maintain his balance.

Now give me a towel to wipe the sweat off.


I had to look away after taking the picture. It made me way too uncomfortable.

Barb wanted to look over a similar edge about 50 yards away. When she got within about eight feet I asked her to stop. It was making me too uncomfortable. She got down on her hands and knees and continued. As she got to within about two feet I again asked her to stop. She stretched out and looked over to my extreme discomfort. She pulled back and said, “That’s a long way down.”

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I don’t know why she is smiling unless for some bizarre reason she likes my sweat.

Do you believe in mermaids?

Today Barb L. and I went to Flaming Geyser State Park (Washington State). This was the “stomping grounds” of Ted Bundy and The Green River Killer. In fact the Green River runs right through the park:

Map picture

As we were entering the park I told Barb L. the story of when Barb S. her mom, and I came to the park about 30 years ago. Barb’s mom, Joy, used to tell the story of that visit. Some guy started talking to Barb and quickly left when Barb said that her husband was “just over there taking a nap”. Joy thought the guy was acting strange and she was very suspicious. She would point out that Barb S. looked a lot like the victims of Ted Bundy and her recollection of the guy at the park was consistent with Ted Bundy.

It was sort of a strange feeling as Barb L. and I pulled in and parked. There, just a couple hundred feet away, was “The Green River” so famous for all the women killed and dumped near or in it.

We shrugged off the feeling and found the trail to the flaming geyser. It’s not much. For a while when hole was drilled (coal exploration), back around 1900, the flame would be as high as five or six feet. Now it’s about five or six inches (see also the picture associated with this tweet):

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We found a geocache nearby. It was the first one I had looked for in a long time.

We then found the trail that went into the woods a couple hundred yards to the “bubbling geyser”. If you looked closely you could see bubbles coming up through the water. We hung around for a few minutes then some guy showed up on the trail above us with his dog and just stood there. I figured he was waiting for us to leave so I suggested we go because we really came for a hike, not to stand around and talk.

We hiked up the little hill to the trail where the guy and the dog were. The dog really wanted to approach us but the man had him on a leash and held him close. I slowly reached out my hand and let the dog sniff it. The guy started talking to us and told us a little about his dog. Then asked if we had been down the trail by the river to the Indian hieroglyphics. We told him no but that sounded interesting. He gave us directions then asked, “Do you believe in mermaids?” We smiled, and said no. He then started telling us stories about Indian paintings of people with big fins for feet and a hand coming out of fisherman’s nets and taking a swipe at the fisherman. “I believe”, he told us. As Barb and I started edging on down the trail he started talking about the UFOs (see also this tweet).

We strolled on down the trail in the direction of where the hieroglyphics might be. The guy and his dog passed us and disappeared on ahead. We found the trail near the river and followed it for a while in the proper direction until it petered out in thick brush and trees. We decided we weren’t so interested that we wanted to push through the brush. Then the voice of Mermaid Believer came to us, invisible through the brush ahead of us, “The river’s too high. You can’t get there easily now.”

Okay then. Time to head back out. We walked back toward the picnic area with Barb checking to make sure she had her knife with her. I told her, “And you know how to use my gun if need be and I’m not able to do so.”

We went back to the picnic area and there was Mermaid Believer again. He was a couple hundred feet away on the other side of the picnic area moving parallel to us. We went back to the car and I got out my telephoto lens and camera and managed to take just one picture of him before he ducked behind what we believe was his vehicle:

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That was interesting.

We found another trail and went on up the trail with Barb telling me “women raped and killed while hiking in the woods” stories from the knife class she took last weekend.

Our trail made a loop and we arrived back in the picnic area 20 or 30 minutes later. Mermaid Believer, his dog, and his pickup were gone.

I have just one question for you… “Do you believe in mermaids?”

Snoqualmie Falls

Barb L. and I went for a short drive and a hike today. The main attraction was Snoqualmie Falls:

The weather was warm and with snow still in the mountains the water flow was on the high side of normal.

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And when we went on our hike I open carried. No one noticed or if they did they did not seem to care.

Super moss!

On November 11th Barb L. and I went on a hike to Wallace Falls. As usual it was an interesting hike. The falls are very pretty. The elevation gain is 1200 feet which is noticeable but not extreme. The trail starts out very wide and easy but gradually gets more difficult. Plan on spending about a half day to get in, enjoy the view, and back out. It takes about two hours each direction. A little than that getting in and a little less getting out if you don’t spend too much time resting and admiring the view. Take water (we didn’t and were sorry) and perhaps a snack.

On the way out my left knee started aching (from old tennis injuries) and it required some ibuprofen for a few days afterward.

This is in the Cascades and the area gets a lot of rainfall. I took some pictures of the moss to which Barb exclaimed, “Super Moss!” Yeah, I guess you could say that:

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The trail goes beyond the upper falls but hikers are strongly cautioned to be prepared if you continue:

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There were of course other interesting things to take pictures of:

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Middle Falls

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Upper Falls

Hiking in the Cascades

I had originally planned other activities but the weather forecast said “0% chance of precipitation” for a few hours today. The forecast beyond that looks a lot like rain until the end of time.

With a few seconds of conversation Barb L. agreed to go on a hike with me and suggested a place she had been a few years earlier. I got a little winded climbing up to the top of the waterfalls but it was more than worth the effort:

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It reminded me a lot of another hike I went on five years ago and told the gist of the story to Barb as we hiked. This is not Missouri.

Hiking on Mount Hood

Yesterday Barb and I went on a hike on Mount Hood. Some of the details are on my Twitter feed herehere, here, here, here, here, here, and here. A few of the pictures:


Impressive mountain but not as pretty as Mount Rainer where we spent our anniversary a few years ago.


Yes, I was open carrying the entire way. No one said anything but Barb said some people were looking.


We got as high as 7000 feet. I could have gone further but Barb had some tight muscles and was tired.


Some people were carrying skis and snow boards. We didn’t actually see anyone come down the mountain on them though.


 Mount Jefferson in the background is almost 50 miles away.
Even without Barb in the picture it was a nice view.


 Lots of interesting plant life at the higher altitudes.
It appeared there had been larger trees here at one time.

Quote of the day–Chuck Bloom

As a strong supporter of the country’s National Parks System, I just don’t see a logical reason why anyone would want to carry a concealed weapon into such naturally beautiful places like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Grand Teton or any of the national parks.

Is someone seriously afraid of being accosted or robbed by Old Faithful or El Capitan? Are there criminals hiding out in the Petrified Forest?

These places should be off limits to such practices because of the presence of children. Just because you have the right to pack heat on a vacation doesn’t mean you should.

Chuck Bloom
Plano, Texas
… but what about the children?
August 21, 2009
[A extraordinary clear example of scrambled thinking on the gun issue. Perhaps the reason he doesn’t see a logical reason for carrying a gun in the national parks is because he is severely logic impaired.

What does being “a strong supporter of the country’s National Parks System” or their natural beauty have to do with concluding there is no “logical reason” to carry a concealed weapon?

Even his straw-men of “being accosted or robbed by Old Faithful or El Capitan” is extraordinarily weak.

Criminal do their thing where they have the opportunity, means, and high probability of accomplishing their goal. If their thing involves robbing or hurting people the remote location and disarmed status of their victims in the remote parks can be good hunting grounds. One does not have life insurance for only when their risk is high, such as when traveling by car. They have life insurance for all occasions. And so it is with carrying defensive tools. If you knew you were going to be attacked you wouldn’t go there. But you don’t know so you carry defensive tools wherever and whenever you can. And not all of the threats are human:


Sign in Glacier National Park


Bear in Glacier National Park.

And finally, “because of the presence of children”? Come on, can any anti-gun person offer a plausible defense for that statement? Do children not need to be defended against violent attacks? Is it better to let them be injured or killed than for them to see a bear get shot? Is it better for them to see their mother raped and/or killed than to see the attacker stopped in his tracks by a gun in the hands of his or her parents?

I actually did use my gun while hiking through a state park with my kids several years ago. There was a rattlesnake near the edge of the trail. It was a threat both to us and other hikers that perhaps would not have seen and avoided it. From a safe distance I put a 9mm FMJ bullet through it’s head. The kids did not seem to have suffered any short or long term adverse effects from the use of the gun in their presence. They even seemed relieved after the threat was neutralized.–Joe]

I must be getting old

Barb, Kim, son-in-law Caleb, and I went boat camping over the weekend. We left Friday morning and got back yesterday.

After setting up camp on Friday we noticed some rocks up on the opposite side of the lake that we thought would be a nice place to hike and take some pictures. Here is an aerial view. In the picture below, on the upper right, you can see the rocks:


View from our campsite.

On Saturday morning we packed up our cameras, some water, and walkie-talkies. Barb said it looked like too tough of a climb and stayed with our old dogs who would have to been carried (little lap sitters, they are more like cats than dogs anyway). We took the boat across the lake and found a sandy beach to tie the boat up to:


Kim ready to hop off the boat for our hike up the hill.

On the way up the hill we found at least two sets of bones from deer that had been considered food by some other animals (photos by Kim):

It was steep, there was no trail except for occasional game trails, and I had to stop, rest, and drink some water a few times. But it was a nice view when we got to the top (photo by Kim): 


Caleb inspects the edge.


View from the top.

We called back to camp and told Barb we had made it and asked that she come out of the trees near the tents to where we could see her. It was about a half mile away but I used a telephoto lens (300 mm) and took her picture:


Barb (upper left quadrant in blue) near our campsite from 1/2 mile away.

That was all nice and good, but then there was this bird that started circling us:




It was a Turkey Vulture. None of us had ever heard of vultures in Idaho and certainly not this far north in Idaho. But there it was. Circling and getting pretty darned close.

We took some more pictures of the view:


Elk Creek on Dworshak reservoir.


Kim and Caleb from the top of the Rocky Cliff.

We then noticed there were five vultures circling us. I could only get four in the frame at once. It was all a bit surreal–almost like in the cartoons except we weren’t in the desert and we didn’t feel like we were near death:


Vultures circling us.

Reading about them on Wikipedia, I discovered they are one of the few birds that forage for food by smell. We were probably more than a little smelly from the climb up the hill but I don’t think we smelled dead so I have to conclude Xenia has the better hypothesis. I must be getting old.

A walk in the snow

Both in January of 2007 and 2008 our group at work took the day off (with pay) to go to Stevens Pass to ski (all expenses paid–including transportation and two meals). Those not interested in downhill skiing could snowshoe or cross country ski. Both times I took my own snowshoes (rentals would have been covered but I would rather take my own) and opted for the hike through the trees instead of the downhill adventure my knee surgeon (after the second surgery) advised me to never take up. Even though snowshoes were recommended I found my size 14 boots were more than adequate for the packed trails. It was a very nice hike and I kept wanting to take Barb up there. Yesterday I finally got around to it. She agreed, it was a very nice place to go hiking. Below are some pictures:

Here is what it looked like in January when I went with the people from work:

Although there was less snow on the trees it was sunny and nicer weather when Barb and I went.

Not Missouri

In August of 2006 Barb and I spent a week in Missouri and Kansas. I’d spent a little time in that area of the country on business 20 years ago but Barb hadn’t been there before. In addition to taking in the local claims to fame we expected to do some of the usual things we do in the northwest–hike in the wood. We were disappointed in that regard.

The part of Kansas we were in, essentially, didn’t have any woods and we didn’t even look for a place to hike. Missouri was a little better but from our perspective it was very odd. There just weren’t any trails to speak of. And the ones we found were just “blah”. We did do a little bit of hiking and thought we understood part of the reason people didn’t do much hiking.

  1. The humidity made it uncomfortable.
  2. It just wasn’t that interesting compared to what we were used to.
  3. It’s flat. The highest altitude in Missiouri is 1772 ft and the lowest is 230 ft for a difference of only 1542 ft over the entire state.

On October 28th of this year we, after spending most of the day in bed, went for a hike toward Wallace Falls near Gold Bar Washington. We got off much too late and had to turn around before we reached the falls so we could get back to the car before dark. We were pleased with what we saw and decided to try it again and get an earlier start. On November 11th we started our hike a little after 10:00 AM and made it all the way to the upper falls.

We were leaning against the rail taking in the beauty of the upper falls and I said, “You know we aren’t in Missouri don’t you?” Barb laughed and knew exactly what I was talking about even though it had been over a year since we had been in Missouri.

A few days later I told our son James about it, including the background about our time in Kansas and Missouri. He responded with something his friend Tucker had said numerous times, “Kansas is flatter than a pancake–they’ve done tests.”

Here are a few pictures to show you what I’m talking about. It’s definitely not Missouri.

Vacation pictures

Thursday night we left the Huffman-Scott compound in the care of Caleb, Kim, and Xenia and headed to Missoula Montana. The next morning we went on a walk along the Clark Fork River:

We continued on to our time share condo in Columbia Falls and today went hiking in Glacier National Park. We hiked to Avalanche Lake. It is stunningly beautiful country. But it is also Grizzly bear country. And of course operational firearms are “illegal” in National Parks. I put illegal in quotes because the people that enacted and enforce that “law” are in violation of 18 USC 242. I’m hoping the Parker/Heller case will be a stepping stone to fixing that issue.

It’s a small world. Over two miles off the road up a rocky hiking trail, at the edge of Avalanche Lake, we had the couple on the left offer to take our picture together. We agreed (picture above this one) and we took a picture of them together with their camera for them. We talked a bit and Barb asked where they were from. “Idaho”, they said. “Where in Idaho?” we asked. “Troy”, was the reply that shocked us. Troy is about ten miles from Moscow where Barb and I have our home. It turns out that Barb works with one of their friends and knows several of the people they know.

There is a loop at the bottom of the trail, about 1/2 of a mile long, that is suitable for wheelchair bound people. Some of it is almost artistic in layout.

We are still in Columbia Falls at our condo. No easy Internet connection. I’m sitting in the lobby of the lodge to get a connection. Blogging will be light for a few more days.

Weekend in Orofino–day two

We got up a little earlier on Sunday and drove up the Lochsa river:

We stopped to watch the rafters going through the white water:

Even though it was raining we hiked up the trail to Jerry Johnson Hotsprings:

We expected that because of the rain we would be the only ones there.  There were six people in the first pool and eight in the second.  We sat in the first pool for several hours and talked and talked to a couple from Montanna that come to the springs several times a year.  People came and went but mostly came and about 17:30 there must have been 15 people in the pool and standing around.  The other couple, Marty and Cheryl, invited us back to their camper for dinner.  We hiked back down the trail with them:

We ate with them and talked and talked and finally about 22:00 we left on our two hour drive back to Orofino and our motel room.

Anniversary weekend

About 18:30 on August 19th (Friday night) Barb and I decided to go to the B-23 bomber that crash landed on Loon Lake and slid into the forest in 1943 for our 29th wedding anniversary.  We threw some stuff in the Jeep and drove to Riggins expecting to find a motel in either Whitebird or Riggins.  There were none.  The fire fighters had taken what the tourist hadn’t.  We ended up finding an open spot in a campground just off the Salmon river about 12:30 AM on Saturday morning and slept in the Jeep.  After waking at about 6:30 we drove about 50 miles, mostly on one-lane roads, to Chinook campground.  We hiked ten miles round trip from Chinook Campground to the crash site and back to replace a missing geocache (B-23).  Barb had not been there before and was very impressed with the site.  The pictures are here.

On the way out we figured we should go through McCall to improve our chances of finding a motel.  We arrived back at the Jeep about 18:00 tired and sore.  From the Chinook Campground it took us only an hour to reach McCall. Again, the motels were all full except for a luxury suite for $225/night.  We drove to New Meadows.  Again, all full.  We called several motels in Grangeville.  Again, all full.  We drove north, dirty, tired, and getting hungry.  At Pinehurst we found a motel with a Vacancy sign.  We rang the bell and waited, and waited.  Finally a man appeared to tell us his “No” sign was broken.  We drove to Riggins and found a motel with two rooms available.  We were thrilled!  We showered and went to dinner.  It was about 20:40 when we walked into the restaurant.  Except for the cook and the waitress we had the place entirely to ourselves.  Riggins appears to close up early on Saturday nights.  It was great food and we went to bed tired and very happy.  It was a great day in the woods and one of our best anniversaries yet.

Visit to Teakean Butte and the Taj Mahal

Barb and I approached the butte from three different sides without luck.  Barb commented that this was a Ry type adventure.  Those that know Ry will understand.  We had driven by a driveway with a name I recognized as a Boomershooter so we turned around and went to ask his advice.  Jim told us we couldn’t get to the top without crossing some private property that did not belong to him.  He suggested we walk most of the way to the top on his property so we accepted his offer.  Elevation wise we were within about 600 feet before we turned around and came back.

Pictures are here.  The weather was just a bit unsettled but pleasant enough for a hike.  It made for some nice cloud pictures.  If you know what to look for in the first four pictures you can see the Boomershoot site. 

We went on to the Taj Mahal to test the new mix.  The material did not turn into a solid mass like some of the previous mixes had.  It was just slightly caked however.  Overall it looked good:

Another really good sign was that the small sample I had left out had not spontaneously combusted when it was exposed to sunlight for a week:

Next I fired a shot from the .22 that should have hit with a velocity of about 1170 fps.  It did not detonate the target but it did tip it over.  I loaded the high velocity ammo and shot it three times on the edge.  It did not detonate.  I put the target upright and it then detonated on the first shot.  Estimated target velocity–1540 fps.  The edge hits were going through three layers of cardboard so I suppose it’s possible that the extra cardboard slowed down the little 38 grain pellets enough to cause the failures.  At this time I am pleased with the new mix and packaging.  It’s rare that we will ever store things more than a week and if it still detonates with a 38 grain bullet at 1540 fps that is probably good enough.  In another couple of weeks I’ll do the final tests.

We stopped by the new shooting positions we created last fall and looked at the grass Ry had planted.  It seems to be doing well.  In another six weeks (Boomershoot 2005) I expect it will be usable.

Busy weekend

Saturday we went for a hike near Helmer.  Xenia put on her elf ears and her corset and other clothes to make her look like an elf.  Just to bug her I keep telling her she the pointy ears made her look like a Vulcan.  It was a nice walk and I took lots of pictures of my little Vulcan.

Sunday I shot in a Lewiston Pistol Club IPSC match.  The results aren’t out yet but I suspect I won.  I did very well in two stages and “pretty good” in the other two.  Some of my biggest competitors had problems in one or more stages and probably put themselves out of the running.  I took lots of pictures and put them on the web.  In the rifle match I came in last though.  I really need to practice IPSC rifle stuff a LOT more.  I can start by doing dry firing a bunch.  There were a lot of people at the match and it wasn’t organized as well as it could have been and it ran very late.

When I got home from the IPSC match Barb and I went for a walk.  When we came back I started working on cleaning out the garage which I was supposed to do much earlier.  I just barely started when Kim called and said she was coming over to say hi and her friend Spunky wanted to play a game of chess with me.  They came over and I stomped on the poor kid.  He said he couldn’t get very many people to play him and none of them were very good players.  I thought maybe he knew how to play but I knew it was going to be a push over after he made his very first move (he moved his knight to king’s rook three).  As I told Xenia I could only think of about two other moves that would have been worse for a first move.  He was very polite and seemed to be a nice enough kid.  He said it was the first time he had a good game since he played his science teacher.  I told him I was home on weekends and I would be glad to play him again.  If he comes back I’ll give him some pointers after the game.

Xenia and I put finished off getting all recycling stuff to the center then went to a move, Alien vs. Predator.  The best thing about the movie was the line in the preview, “Whoever wins, we loose.”  It wasn’t a bad movie.  It just wasn’t that good.  It wasn’t entirely consistent with the other Alien movies which bugged me some.  But I did like what they did with one female character.  She is putting a pistol in her holster and the lead character in the movie asks, in a disapproving voice, if she thinks she is going to need that (they think they are just going to visit a pyramid site under the Antarctic ice cap).  The woman with the pistol says something like, “I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.  Just like condoms.”  Very cool. Handguns portrayed as a protective tool.  Of course she does need it – but against the alien beasts and the predators it doesn’t do much good.

Today Barb and I are going for a hike on Kamiak Butte.  Maybe look for a geocache.

Hot springs on the Lewis and Clark trail

Sunday Barb and I dropped Xenia off at Ross Point Camp where our little witch risked being burned at the stake or being drown.  We continuted on to Missoula where we spent the night.  Monday we hiked around Lolo Hot Springs then continued on to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs.  It is about a mile from the road and it was a nice walk through the woods to it.  We took a few pictures with my new digital camera which generally turned out well.