On my cross-country drive to go camping in Utah, I stopped to catch a Kansas City Royals game. Since I was a little kid, I always liked the Royals because George Brett was my favorite player. Their ballpark is kinda lame, but it was a great game (they won), and a beautiful day for a ball game.
After the ballgame, I drove southwest across Kansas and into Oklahoma, where I hiked the highest point, Black Mesa. It is an ancient volcano in a valley full of them. Although many in the vicinity are taller, and in fact Black Mesa itself crosses the border into New Mexico and is taller on that said, the point in Oklahoma that is the tallest is 4,973 feet. The little white spot below is my truck.
From Oklahoma, I traveled west into New Mexico. I drove through several lush, green mountain valleys -- not exactly how you'd picture New Mexico, but I was surprised at how green all of the west was on this trip. Must have been the cool spring and late snows this year. The high point in New Mexico is Wheeler Peak, which is where Taos Ski Valley is located.
At 13,161 feet, it's significantly higher than Black Mesa, but a fairly easy hike actually. I didn't cheat and take the ski lift, for the record. This view shows the mountains and part of the ski area below Wheeler Peak. The treeline is about 12,000 feet, so the very top of the mountain is fairly bare, but mostly I hiked in the trees.
As I left Taos and headed west, I crossed a part of an Indian reservation. I noticed this little LDS chapel, comprised of a double-wide with vinyl siding and a small steeple. It made me smile so I took a picture.
I drove north from New Mexico into Colorado, through Alamosa and up into the mountains near Buena Vista and Leadville. There I embarked on one of the most physically challenging hikes of my life. The parking lot for Mt. Elbert, the highest mountain in Colorado and second highest in the continental U.S., is at 10,000 feet. From the parking lot, you hike 4.6 miles one way to reach the summit at 14,443 feet. This picture is at a fork in the trail at approximately 11,000 feet.
This picture is at about 13,000 feet, above the treeline. This is looking back down the trail.
After 4 1/2 hours of hiking, I reached the summit. I was exhausted and short of breath in the thin alpine air. My house is at 1,200 feet elevation, so I'm not used to high elevation air, and after three days of hiking in it, I was really sucking wind on top of Mt. Elbert. It was windy at the top, and about 40 degrees. The picture was taken by a man from Pennsylvania who I hiked a portion of the trail with.
Here is the view from the top. The snow was pretty prevalent, but the trail was clear, so I did not have to cross any of it to reach the summit.
The hike down was fairly uneventful, though I did develop a bit of an elevation cough on the decent, and was very tired when I reached my truck. On the way down, I met an older couple that had reached the summit before me. They had run out of water and were suffering from cramping and dehydration. I had felt prompted when I left that morning to take along some extra water, and was glad I had even though it added extra weight to my pack, because I had some and was able to share with them to aid their decent as well. When I got to my truck, I drove west to Green River, Utah where I spent the night. The next morning I met up with my mom, dad, brother and his family in Price, Utah. We drove up into the mountains past Joe's Valley Reservoir in the Manti-LaSalle National Forest. My parents have been there before, but I had never camped there. Above the lake are many excellent ATV trails and several smaller lakes.
This little lake is Pete's Hole. We rode there on our first day. Mike's kids (Coryne and Shane) found a Huck Finn style raft and ventured onto it, but not too far out.
On the trail between our camp and Pete's Hole, we found this waterfall, fed mostly by snow melting in the higher elevations.
We rode the four-wheelers all the way to the top of the mountain. This is the sign at the top, just over 10,000 feet in elevation. You can drive down the other side to Manti and Ephraim, Utah.
My dad had pretty good luck at Pete's Hole. Here are four of the six trout he caught. Mike caught two others, and they were very tasty -- if you like trout.
On Thursday evening, we rode down from our camp to the reservoir to meet my sister Tiffany and her family. This is her son Cameron, chillin by the camp fire.
The kids rolled an ice cream making ball around at camp.
One evening, Mike decided that the kids would enjoy a zip line. He has an oil field truck with a winch on the back, so he hooked one end to a tree and then backed up to another tree and stretched the cable across. Then he rigged a seat and sent the kids zipping.
My sister's daughter Meghan got her chin split camping last year, so she was a little paranoid at first, but Meghan rode just fine and the kids were having a blast.
On Friday, we took the four-wheelers to explore the mountains more. The kids would get done with one ride and immediately want to go on another one. Me and my mom took Meghan on a long ride and she eventually fell asleep, so I had to hold her with one hand and drive with the other.
On Saturday afternoon, tired, dirty and ready for a good bed and a shower, we broke camp and headed home. It took us about two and a half hours to drive home from Joe's Valley. I hadn't been through Spanish Fork Canyon for many years, so it was good to be home in the mountains again. We emptied the motor home and got a few things situated Saturday night, then went to bed. On Sunday, we kept things pretty low key. I attended church at the retirement branch where my parents serve. After church we relaxed and then went to visit my Grandma North at my Aunt Maurine and Uncle Rex's house in West Valley City. We didn't do any fireworks, and it was a fine way to spend Independence Day.
Joanne decided that they needed to be two-tone paint, so this is one with the center panel painted and masked.
Here is the door drying after the second tone paint was applied to the outer frame, but still masked.
The first door installed to the left of the movie screen. It takes some getting used to, because I've been looking at the cubby hole with plastic kids bowling pins in it for years. Now I can't see them any more.
The right cabinet is larger and required double doors. The first one is installed here.
Now with both. Around the time I was mounting the doors, Grandma Fails came from Utah for a visit.
Saturday afternoon we were invited to go swimming at the Bergmann's house (they're in our ward). We played a lot of basketball in the pool. Grandma came and swam with us.
On Saturday, I officiated a wedding for the son of our high priest group leader. It was at his sister's house in the country just outside Washington, PA. This was the sunset from the lawn where we did the wedding. It rained hard the day of the wedding, and we were delayed, but eventually it cleared up and the sun came out.
While I was at the wedding, Joanne was at the airport fetching Aunt Jennifer. The girls have been keeping Jennifer and Grandma busy playing games, including Twister.
