Adventures with water....

One of my favorite people left last week. Her name is Gwen and her and her husband and her headed back to South Carolina this past week. As a result of her departure, I am now almost all mornings, and that means 7:30. I'm sure everyone knows how well I do with mornings. But in honor of her leaving we decided to have a photo shoot in the gift shop with these "AWESOME" hippie jackets that we sell. They're sooooo unattractive! These are some of the women of the gift shop/other departments above and below, you will find our version of Native American Charlie's Angels. We sell a lot of fake weapons in the gift shop, so we have spears, obsidian knives, hatchets, stone hatchety things and some arrows. It was quite entertaining. But now Gwen is gone. Bobbie, (the woman next to me in the below picture) leaves in a week. Dolly, the Spanish one has to have surgery so will be gone for two weeks, and someone was just fired. Therefore, we are about to be very understaffed!

Other than that, on my last two days off, my friend Dash and I went to Lake Powell via what's known as the Burr Trail Road, which cuts through the southern part of Capitol Reef National Park. This road cut straight through the Grand Staircase, and was actually paved, but also crossed through what's known as the "waterpocket fold" (the part of Capitol Reef we went through.

In this part of Capitol Reef, you could see a much broader variety of rock formations but also the colors of the strata in the cliffs was much more diverse. It was also much warmer than it is here at Bryce. Finally we arrived in Bullfrog at Lake Powell and went swimming and then exploring. My car did some very successful off-roading to check out some of the "primitive" (as they were

called) areas of Lake Powell. After a nice dinner (not employee dining room food) we had a fire and hiked down to the lake under an almost-full moon.

The next day, we traveled back through Capitol Reef and went hiking along a side-road called Upper Muley Twist. I could only make it so far back in my car, so we had to hike the remaining 2.5 miles of the road. We saw some natural arches, lots of wild flowers, and lots of beautiful cliffs. Once we reached the end of the road however, the sky was black in the distance.

We thought we had time to hike this half a mile overlook of the canyon, which provided us with the view above, but when we got there and looked back, the sky had surprisingly gotten blacker. Originally we had thought it was heading past us, but there was no avoiding it now, the entire sky was black. We began a quick hike back and out of nowhere, huge raindrops combined with pea-sized hail poured down upon us. It hit so hard that I thought the strong winds around us had blown debris into me, but then I glanced down and saw huge water droplets on my clothes. We began a run for a cave ahead of us, and within seconds were pretty much drenched. We got to the cave just in time, but after only a couple minutes water began pouring down the roof of the shelter on to us, so we had to run back out in the weather to keep from getting drenched that way.

I was really worried that my car wouldn't make it out, especially since the road we were hiking on looked like the picture above. I was completely nervous about driving down the road and out of the canyon, but we survived, completely drenched and cold. All in all, it was a surprising and amazing experience to be in a small flash flood. It was terrifying and shocking, and I definitely can't imagine being in and surviving a large flash flood. Afterwards we tried to do a few hikes, but dark clouds continued forming in the distance making us relatively nervous. The trip was amazing though and we experienced some amazing nature, and some phenomenal places. It was well worth it, and yes I understand the danger level involved. But we're o.k., so I can't help but view the craziness, the force, and the uniqueness of it, as a truly unique and awesome experience.

The Narrows...

Tuesday I traveled to Zion for the first time and hiked what's called, "The Narrows". There's a lot of construction leading into Zion, so it seemed like it took forever and the narrows actually starts at the end of the scenic drive, which is closed off to private vehicles. So I had to go to the visitor center and then take a shuttle up, which had a recorded tape informing me on the sights in the park. It started with fake bird noises... I was slightly annoyed, but also excited of course.

I finally got to the top of the park and began hiking aroun 4 pm. The whole "trail" is about five miles round-trip. The first mile is on a paved path following the virgin river, the last 1.5 miles is actually in the river. Therefore I find it applicable and very crucial that I state I bathed (at least my legs) in the virgin river. I also find the importance of this fact somewhat obscure and am still deciding the effects this bath sha'll metaphorically have on my life. Hahaha.

Anyways, the hike up started relatively open, but you're hiking against the current which made the trip up feel rediculously long and it was only a mile and a half. But you do zig-zag across the river a bunch to the banks (if there are any). That way you have less of a chance of falling into a hole in the river deeper than you expected. I didn't actually get my shorts wet, and I brought my chacos, so I felt quite prepared. It was very nice as well to put my dry tennis-shoes back on after the hike as well. Some people did it in jeans or such and so many people were wearing tennis-shoes, boots, or some other rediculous footwear.

The canyon narrowed the further up I hiked, or rather, creek-walked. It was so cool to see the canyon shooting straight up on either side above me. The major problem was that these walls also blocked out a lot of the light coming in, so further up the canyon it was like permanently dusk feeling, which gave me an "I need my glasses" headache. But the hike was amazing. There were cliff gardens clingings to the canyon walls in some places where water was spritzing out of it. The canyon view was so limiting too which kind of confused the mind a bit, as if you were trying to find your way out of a maze, but it was well worth it.

It took me a lot less time to hike out than in. The whole trip took me 2.5 hours which maintains my average of 2 miles per hour, but most of that was fighting the current upstream. It only felt like 30 minutes or so to actually hike out of the canyon. The shuttle driver on the way back down was awesome (for the tourists). She was perky and sweet and stopped at least seven times on the way back down so the tourists on the bus could take pictures of mule deer on the side of the road. Now, this annoys me anyways, but I was extra tired from hiking. If only there were some chipmunks or squirrels she could have stopped for as well. haha.

When I returned to my car I quickly discovered that I had left my lights on after driving through the Zion tunnel and my battery was of course... dead. So after brief panic, I got ahold of my big brother who calmed me and helped me get a lovely Lithuanian family to jump my car. Ultimately it was a wonderful trip... way too hot, as they are at about 4,000 feet less than Bryce Canyon, but the Narrows were AWESOME! Although, I'm still unsure if it was hiking or creek-walking. Hmmmm.....

Small Adventures Everywhere!

After finally catching up on sleep from Vegas, on my last days off, a few of us from Bryce went on a hike called Lower Calf Creek Falls, which is about an hour away. The hike was through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and was absolutely gorgeous. There isn't a lot of water flowing about this part of the country, so it was really nice to see, and surprising after the hike and following a very small stream with three or fish in it total, to find such a big waterfall at the end.

Becky, commonly referred to as "Georgia" here, and I decided for some unknown rediculous reason that it would be in our best interest to go for a swim in the freezing cold water. Our muscles were pretty sore afterwards, and poor Becky (also my suite-mate, in that our rooms share a bathroom with eachother) is still coughing into all hours of the night. I'm quite fond of the abilities revealed over the years by my own immune system as the only thing that seems to make me sick is the food in the Employee Dining Room.

In some places along the hike, the indian paintbrush was four or five feet tall at least. It was absolutely beautiful combined with the green and purple combination expressed by the cacti this time of year. In my true fashion, I forgot my glasses (as I left them in Megan's purse from our Vegas trip), but fortunately the petroglyphs on the canyon walls across the valley were big enough that I didn't even need my glasses.

The whole trip was wonderful and much warmer than up here in Bryce Canyon. We were all regretting wearing long pants, but we survived. Round trip, the trail was about six miles, and consisted mostly of sand and loose rock. It was fairly level however which made it much easier to do. Round trip, including swimming, the hike took us about three hours. There was a sign at the beginning however that cautioned people to make sure they had enough time as it often takes four hours to really do. We were quite confused as this would be hiking about 1.5 per hour... Isn't that slow? On average a human will hike 2 miles per hour, but that also includes elevation gain and such. Hmmmm.....

If you're ever in this area though, Lower Calf Creek Falls is a phenomenal hike to do, and you have to at least see Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There is an Upper Calf Creek Falls which looks amazing in pictures, however may be slightly more strenuous. Then there is also an Upper Upper Calf Creek Falls, which supposedly has a natural waterslide or something like that. They are all adventures on my list.

For some unkown reason, my boss has developed the notion that I am just as cheerful and hardworking at 7:30 am as I am when I wake up at noon. It's been a struggle. But one of the nice things about the morning shift is that I get off at four. As a result, my friend Dash and I decided to go exploring in the backcountry last Thursday afternoon. So we drove down Cottonwood Road looking for a place called the Grosvenor Arch. We didn't find the arch, but although I thought he was joking at first, we did end up driving all the way to Page, Arizona. This dirt, and well-rutted road, drove straight through the heart of the Grand Staircase (I'm abbreviating that as it's getting tiring typing let alone thinking the entire name of that monument which takes up something like 1.7 million acres or some such number).

Along the way we found this really cool slot canyon which we took a mini twenty minute hike down into. They are just amazing. The walls slide almost completely straight up and parallel to eachother and they're narrow places where water has surged through over time. Truly amazing and immense geologic features.

The wild flowers, just like this entire area were absolutely beautiful. Dash's four runner was parked in front of these cliffs in the picture below with the indian paintbrush and yellow flowers framing it. I think I should pitch the idea to Toyota as a location showing the rediculously awesome places your four-runner can take you. It was shocking and the below picture was taken right across the road from the slot canyon above.

After a while, the canyon opened up a bit, and you had what can only be described right now as rolling cliffs. They would just jut out from nowhere and fade into the distance, just to have another crop up into it's place. Absolutely shocking, and since it was not a well maintained road, we had the backcountry to ourselves. This area is one of the great great places in our world. Supposedly the Grand Staircase is one of the ultimate last places to actually be mapped in the United States, and I can understand because of the sheer vastness, diversity and uniqueness of the whole monument.

The whole trip was well worth it. We stopped for Mexican Food in Arizona, and I had my first real margarita in a very long time, as they are relatively unheard of here. There's actually a place nearby that supposedly makes wine margaritas as such few places in Utah serve hard liquor let alone any liquor. I also got to pick up a six-pack of Mirror Pond which I miss terribly. I am branching out and trying other beers, but it just makes my Oregon beers taste so much better each time I drink them. It was also really nice not to eat in the employee dining room, which just pains me to even think about right now... it's not the most enjoyable experience. Anyways, today is my friday and the world is full of so many places. I may go back into the Grand Staircase, I may finally go to Zion, I may do so many many things. The options are almost too numerous. Until next we meet...

The girls come to Bryce.... and VEGAS!

To start, I know it's been a while, but as the post indicates I was in Vegas and it's hard to find time to blog when you get no sleep. But to begin my story with the above picture. I finally caught a chipmunk in the gift shop. You can see it pressed up against the right corner of the box.... It was quite the triumphant moment for myself and don't worry he was happily let free a few miles away, with the hope that he wouldn't make it back very soon.

But now to the real story. Megan, Felice and Katie ventured down to visit me last week. They got here Tuesday evening just in time for dinner and a ery quick tour. The next day we got up and went hiking. I took them for about 2.5 miles along the rim. The above picture is a shot from Bryce Point. The day was perfect and aside from mini yoga-on-the-rim detours that Felice kept taking it was uneventful but absolutely beautiful.

Here are some pictures of the yoga-ing as we progressed along the trail. They almost skipped the trip to Bryce and were considering just having me meet them in Vegas, but all were very happy they made the trip to see this gorgeous area. I was stoked too, because Felice in particular has never really seen much of this country. She's been all around the world, but hasn't spent much time here. Granted I had never seen this place before this summer, but I do admit, southern Utah is absolutely and completely beautiful.

Out of everywhere any of us have been, there's nowhere like Bryce Canyon, and it was fun getting to show off my temporary home. Especially since both Megan and Katie also got to experience glacier with me.

After a quick lunch in the employee dining room, we went on another hike below the rim, on the Navaho loop trail. I had never been on this one, so it was fun for all of us (not that the other wasn't fun, but rather it was new and thus exciting.) So, we traveled down into the canyon, which is amazing, except of course that you always have to hike back up. This is our mermaid picture below. Some French visitors told us that we look like mermaids on a rock as they took our photo.

The Navaho Loop Trail traverses through what are known as slot canyons, or rather narrow canyons, that water largely shaped. They are all over here in Utah, and absolutely beautiful and kind of mysterious as you don't know what's around the bend, what you will find, where they will go, and what lies within them. Also, they are not the best place to be in a rain storm.

After our beautiful hike on Navaho loop, we connected to Queens Garden and posed for some pictures at the tunnels over the trail and headed out for a driving tour of the park, where I took them to several of the viewpoints in the park. Finally I exhausted them and we all headed back for naps, showers, and karaoke preparation.

I took the girls to the Big Fish Saloon, the only bar within an hour of Bryce. Here we had some pitchers, some appetizers and sang, "I come from a land down under," "The Pina Colada Song," "Paradise by the dashboard lights", "My Way" by limp biskit, and Carrie Underwood's angry "if she catches you cheating" song. It was a lot of fun. There was dancing, laughing, hanging out by the bon fire out back and some great stories. The next morning we left for Vegas. I took them through Cedar Breaks National Monument on the way and we stopped for Thai Food (Thankfully!) on the way, as of course i was suffering withdrawals. Finally we arrived in Vegas with glazed over looks.

There are far too many shiny things in Vegas, none of us knew what to look at or where. Our first stop after the hotel was Margaritaville, where I had a very disappointing margarita, but got to watch a girl in a bathing suit slide down a volcano and into a giant margarita pitcher.... interesting entertainment. We also had to get our picture taken with some street folks, so we chose a large man in a silver bikini... why not? Elvis and Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Carribean were just so cliche.

That first night, Katie, Meg and I went to see "Thunder from Down Under", the australian men's version of Chip N' Dales! Yes, it was a show where men dance around and take their clothes off, but they never got fully naked, and I forgot my glasses anyways. But it was entertaining and there were a lot of brides-to-be that were pulled up on stage and danced around. The audience was also mostly women, and we were all laughing, cheering and it was overall a super fun time. The show was at the Excalibur, which was only like 4 casinos away from the Mirage, which is where we were staying. However, we were completely unaware that four casinos took up about a mile and a half of the strip, which took a while to walk to. Poor Meg was in heels too.

After the show, we walked back, watched the water show at the Bellagio, checked out the insides of some casinos and landed at Treasure Island. We did head to bed early however, (by that I mean 3). The next day began at the pool and then lunch. This was followed by an insanely hot trek to Circus Circus where we entered, the adventuredome and rode a roller coaster, which was so much fun that afterwards, we took a taxi to New York New York and rode that roller coaster.

New York New York was one of my favorites of the casinos as it is so decked out and is built to immitate the New York Skyline. They have a bridge, classic looking apartment buildings, skyscrapers and of course the roller coaster. It was immense and took up at least two city blocks... IT WAS CRAZY! After this we headed back, stopped to watch the water show at the Bellagio and a beer. Then we went to get ready for Cirque Du Soleil: Love (the Beatles version), which was amazing!

The show was a lot of fun and just incredible... You must really have an imagination in order to choreograph, do the costume design or simply be a part of any Cirque Du Soleil show. It was amazing again. We stopped before the show at the "Revolution" bar, which was the themed bar to go along with the show.Afterwards we stopped for pizza, then went back to Revolution for what must have been almost 3 hours of dancing. Once we were danced out, Meg, Katie and I went and sat in front of the fountain at Caesar's Palace Forum Shops. Here we met a nice security gaurd who let us borrow his hat, some republicans from Texas who gave me $40 in Casino Chips, and many other funny characters who we danced with, talked to, and entertained. Afterwards, after becoming suddenly $40 richer, I went and cashed in my chips and bought the girls a round. I then put a dollar in the slot machine and gained a dollar, and figure I'd stop there at a 100% profit.

Finally we ended the night drinking our cocktails in front of the Venetian, which has boats and waterways and buildings that are supposed to immitate Venice. It was cool because in Vegas you can just walk around with liquor in your hands in any possible form. It really fuels the alcoholism that comes from being in Vegas. Finally we trekked back to the Mirage at 5:45 in the morning which was really 6:45 my time. I then crashed only to get up two hours later to drive back to work, which I still arrive 15 minutes late for. The adventure was epic, and long, thus the reasoning behind how long it took me to post this. I'm pretty sure my stories will be endless however. More on hiking and life since I've been back soon!

Cedar Breaks and Fairyland...

I started my days off with a trip to Cedar Breaks national monument (after a brief stint in Cedar City, where I found THAI FOOD!) It was absolutely amazing, and I've been having a month full of withdrawals. Anyways, Cedar Breaks is absolutely gorgeous, complete with more canyons and lots of forest. The place is located alongside highway 14, which I have decided, if I have ot live in Utah, that's where I'm going! The area was beautiful, but a very small place with only a couple hikes.

I did one hike to a place called Alpine Pond, some of the few water I have seen since I have arrived in this very very dry state. I paused momentarily for pictures and was immediately eaten by mosquitoes, so unfortunately I moved on quickly. But the vistas and the view points were absolutely amazing and the drive was incredibly beautiful. It's a must see if you make it to this area.

That night it was a full moon and a friend and I went for a moonlit hike along the rim under the full moon. It was so amazingly bright, allthough we made it back around 5:30 in the morning and I definitely slept until three in the afternoon to make up for it. When I did finally emerge from bed I went for.... another hike! I hiked this 8.4 mile loop called fairyland loop. It was gorgeous and much more wooded than a lot of the other hikes through the hoodoos. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous, lots of indian paintbrush, one of my favorites.

I am glad I finally got back out on a hike in this park, although their aren't many to choose from and one of the most daunting parts of hiking here is the fact that once you go down, you're always going to have to hike back out of the canyon. Not only are you regaining elevation, but the uphill takes FOREVER. But, if I do say so, it's totally worth it.

We just lost an employee in the gift shop, as she got a job with the school district (something she has been trying to get for several years). As a result, my manager has redone the schedule and put me on mornings two days a week, which means I get there at 7:30 in the mornings... I'm so not a morning person. The other day on my 15 minute break, I actually fell asleep on a jacket in the back room... We've been really slow as well now that all the Utah schools have or are about to restart. the last week has consisted of mostly Europeans who just have a harder time carrying on conversations with us, which also makes the day go much slower.

The stars here are totally amazing and there is absolutely no light pollution. It's amazing what you can see outside of the city and away from all the people, especially now that we are starting to slow down. Having spent the last four years in Eugene, I needed a few stars, and hopefully some snow later in the season.

Other than that, it's pretty much the same. I am stoked to say, Megan, Katie and Felice arrive in two days for some epic adventures including VEGAS! My boss was kind enough to give me three days off which is very exciting. I promise we'll only cause a little bit of trouble.

Grand and other Adventures!

I made it to the Grand Canyon, North Rim this week on my days off. Drove down there after work on Monday and pitched my tent in the dark again, only to discover that I had pitched it in a reserved site, so had to pack it back up and move to another site. It was a little silly, but the trip was way more than worth it. I was surprised by the prevalence of forested meadows leading for 100 or so miles up to the Grand Canyon. It was so gorgeous and very much reminded me of home (which in this case I mean north eastern Oregon and the wallowa and umatilla national wilderness areas!)

For some unkown reason I woke up at seven the next morning ready to go, so packed up all of my gear and headed the 18 miles further to the park. There was a herd of buffalo that greeted me just past the entrance. I got out and began my trek to the rim, and continued to pass older "RV'r" types, and realized I was up much too early and was now hanging out with the retired folks. Only later was it made aware to me that Arizona didn't believe in daylight savings time, so it was actually 6:30 as I was cruising around the sites.

The sites were absolutely amazing. It's hard to explain the Grand Canyon with words or a picture, as it is with most of the beautiful places in our world. The pictures almost look doctored, but the area is so massive and so indescript in it's quietude. At the north rim there is this .25 mile trail to an overlook, with canyon's sweeping away on either side of it. Along this route there was a sweet elderly man perched upon a rock overlooking the canyon, making watercolor pastel paintings of the rock formations. Apparently, the north rim is way better than the south rim because it is in fact 1,000 feet higher than the south rim, and there are far less people at the north rim.

After wandering about the lodge area, I turned around and drove the cape royal overlook road, which sports glimpses of the Colorado river. Being able to see the river coupled with the backcountry permit I got to hike the canyon to the Colorado in October made me very excited, and I walked around smiling (maybe somewhat awkwardly) for quite a while. After four hours of exploring the canyon, I headed back to Bryce.

I took the long way home, east and north through Page, Arizona, where I stopped at Wal-mart as otherwise the nearest shopping, or major conveniences from Bryce are about 1.5 hours away. Here I was very excited to find some Mirror Pond Pale Ale, as (no offense to Utah) it's 3.2% alcohol beers, just aren't that great. I was spoiled in the beer market back home. After this I circled back west by the southern tip of Lake Powell, and then along the southern side of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and back to Bryce.

Wednesday night is Karaoke night at the "local" pub. A big group of staffers drove into Panguitch (30+ miles away, and also the town with the closest bar) to the Big Fish Saloon. When I first pulled up and entered, the bar gave me the impression of something along the lines of the Longbranch in Weston, OR, meeting a truck stop. It was sparse, slightly unclean, with a baseball cap collection lining the walls, a couple pool tables and of course the locals. But, I soon warmed up to the experience once the karaoke, dancing, and pool playing started. No I did not sing karaoke, but I just don't have my brother's vocal skills or lack of stage fright. That, and I know that I am capable of only about three notes, the rest of the time, my voice refuses to satisfy what would be considered acceptable singing quality standards.

As for the job... well, it's working retail in a bowtie, hmmmm...... It's alright. The women I work with are hysterical. They are mostly 50+ and retired from all over. The assistant manager is from Spain and has lived like thirteen different lives. She was a criminologist for ten years, lived all over the world, has numerable kids that she has fostered over the years and she is a minority business owner (being Spanish and a woman). The others are from all over the United States and just have the most entertaining personalities and really make working fun. The staff in general here is very pleasant and I've spent many a night up, BS'ing with the retired men of the area as they drink their night caps. I love all the stories that I get to hear from all over, with all the different personalities. It's been quite entertaining, and I have made many friends. Even the bartender at the Big Fish asked if I'd like to play monopoly sometime... It's been entertaining.

On the other note, this place has had over a 100% turnover rate. Each day, the employee dining room is coupled with gossip about the newest firing, the newest person who showed up and left, or the newest person who didn't even bother to show up. There are something like 27 original employees still here, of 150 positions. The general manager, the food and beverage director, the gift shop manager, and the dining room manager have all been replaced since the beginning of the season. It's been quite the experience, and the drama is just beginning to unfold. It's actually satisfying my love of gossip magazines (as I can't get them here), as long as I don't become a part of the gossip. So I try to remain swiss-like and friendly with everyone.... We sha'll see what the rest of the season unfolds, as I know it will include many shirts in the gift shop that I must then refold.... SO EXCITING!