St George

Since the beginning of January, Bryce has been saying he wants 'sun' and warm weather. this was a daily occurrence... For valentines day, I came up with this smart idea to take Bryce to st. George. I would be able to give him what he had been asking for, for a month and a half. Welllllll to make a long story short... hot wire sucks! They really got me good. after hours, and I mean hours, of fighting with them over them booking a hotel room that wasn't even available, I was able to get my money back. I was really sad that I could not give Bryce what he had been asking for. My plan failed miserably! Since I had been on the phone 6+ hours fighting with hot wire I decided to tell Bryce what was up. I guess things work out better that we didn't go. The weekend we were scheduled to go was beyond busy. I had 3 people from work go down there and Bryce had a co-worker down there and it was so busy that they couldn't get in to eat at a restaurant. It was the first weekend that was nice down there in months, there was conventions and it was a holiday weekend. Fast forward 2 more weeks - I jumped on to hotels.com and saw a great deal for a hotel. This was on a Monday... I ho-hummed over it until Wednesday. I decided that it was the perfect weekend... a perfect 75 degrees, no conventions, no holidays and no pre-arranged plans for us. I went ahead and booked our hotel and got going on packing things. I had our bags to pack and went shopping for some 'snack' food to eat on the way down. Friday came and I could not get out of work fast enough. Bryce even got home 3 hours early from work. When I got home we threw our stuff in the car and headed south.

The drive down there was long. We had to stop and get gas and dinner. It was too dark to be able to see where the warmth had hit. The only thing we saw on our way down was snow. We got there about 830, checking in to our hotel and called it a night. We talked about all the things we could do and places I had picked out to eat. Our hotel package came with more than a continental breakfast. They had hash browns, eggs, french toast, doughnuts, bagels, waffles, fruit, all kinds of drinks and much more. I am not for sure if it was the fact that we were up super early or that it wasn't that great of a breakfast but I hardly ate anything. Bryce had eggs, hashbrown and a morning ritual of oatmeal. When were done we headed back to the room to change and get going for the day. With the warm weather - even at 8 in the morning, a light jacket was beyond warm enough for me. We changed , grabbed our water packs and snacks and headed across the street to grab stuff for lunch.

After we grabbed the few things we needed, we decided to head over to snow canyon. Neither of us have really been to st George so we were not for sure what we were in store for. When we got to snow canyon, we decided to drive to the top and work our way down. I did not expect to get to the top of the canyon 8 minutes later but we did. so we hit the parking lot at the top and what turned into 'I just want to see what is at that point over there' turned into us hiking 3 different trails. Did I mention that we did not pack sunscreen??? By this time it is almost 1 and there was nothing that we could do about it. Something that was only suppose to be a minute turned into 4 1/2 hour hike. By the time we made it back to the car, we were starving. and I was burned.

There was a small area in the canyon that had a few tables. We got there before the crowd. As soon and we starting eating - everyone showed up. after lunch we decided to head down the canyon to go grab some sunscreen for my already burned shoulders. As got towards the end there was a parking lot that Bryce wanted to check things out.... that 'check things out' turned into us hiking all the way back up the canyon to where we stopped before lunch. By this time I was already toast - so why rush. There is rock everywhere. tons of places to climb, all different kinds of trails. When we got back to the car it was 4 and we were hungry again. We decided to head back to the hotel, get cleaned up and head to an early dinner.

After dinner, we did a little window shopping, and by now my legs were sore. Neither of us had hiked that much in a long time. after about an hour of window shopping, we headed over to get dessert. By this time we had gotten so much sun that it was cold even though it was still 60 degrees outside. After ice cream, we headed back to the hotel with plans to hit the pool but the only thing I hit was the bed. I don't think I even remember getting in to bed.

The next morning, Bryce wanted to go to a dinosaur museum and go to a Mongolian BBQ place for lunch. I didn't think much of it so we took our time getting going. We headed over to breakfast, which was better but I only ate a bagel. We went back to our hotel room and packed up. When we checked out it was still really early and neither place was open. So we headed towards sand hallow to check it out for future trips. Only Bryce didn't stop at the exit... he kept going and before you know it we ended up at Zion's national park. It has been a really long time since I have been there that it doesn't even look like the same place. We drove up the 'non- senic' side through the tunnel to the east entrance and back down. Just before we went through the tunnel there was a hike. The board said that it was a mile round trip - when we got back to the car it was over a 2 mile hike round trip. This hike I did not like. We were on the side of the rock without anything to keep you from falling over a 300 foot drop. Who does that??? well apparently alot of people. over half way through - as we are walking along the cliff that is literally a half a foot to my left - we come around a bend to see a 'bridge' out of wood. Only the bridge has nothing below it but the drop off to the scary ravine. My first response was 'hell no!' and I told Bryce I would wait for him to finish... only the problem was - where I was at there was no where for people to pass. So I would have to go back down part of the pathway by myself on the side of a cliff or continue on. This is something really difficult for me. I have dreams of falling off cliffs and I can feel my body hitting the bottom - where ever the bottom is. It is horrible to feel/see that. Bryce almost lost his hand as I was crossing that bridge but I did it. eventually we got to this amazing lookout over Zions... was it worth it? yes. Would I do it again? Probably not. going back, there was this cloud of doom hanging over me. Had we not been hiking on a cliff I probably would have ran all the way back just so I could be done with it. again, Bryce almost lost a hand on the way back. I am surprised I didn't break it. Once we got back down we jumped in the car and headed through the tunnel. You are not allowed to stop in this tunnel. It is very narrow and very dark. Luckily we had no one behind us so we broke the rules and stopped a few time for pictures. only for a brief second though.

After the tunnel we then headed up the 'scenic' drive to check it out. By the time we were hungry again it was close to 3 so we headed out of Zions and found the only place open to eat. The place it is called 'wildcat willies'. Let me tell you that this is the best food I have ever had in my entire life. Bryce even agreed. It is about 1/2 mile before the entrance to Zion's and if you ever get a chance to stop... do it! I got this amazing salad and Bryce got a BBQ burger. For being a tourist place it was just the right price.  but if it was just in the city - it would have been overpriced. By the time we got done eating it was near 430 and we needed to head home. We got home just before 830 that night and we were already ready to go back. Once we hit beaver, it rained all the way home. we both already missed the sun. This trip was a much needed trip for both of us.

Overlooking zion's

This is the looking down on the long tunnel you have to drive through

The end of the trail...

I made it!!!!!

There is the bridge of death... it doesnt look like much but when you look down you are looking down into a 300 foot drop. ugh!

Driving through the tunnel looking out of the opening (see picture above)

This is about half way through the tunnel. It is almost 2 miles long.

Another look out of the opening of the tunnel. SOme amazing views, and I am glad we broke the rules :)

Snow canyons, our first trail... bryce with my car right behind him. It is the last 'trip' for my car since I am getting a new one!!!!

While bryce was exploring - I looked down and saw this lizard. He was black - I have never seen one blend in withe the black rock.

and he ran away from me - or so he thought.

Snow canyon - rock everywhere....

As I said - rock everywhere. You can literally spend all day running around on the rock.

Paiute Trip

Well it has been a while.... I have made a deal with myself to spend less time on the computer. I was spending my nearly non existent down time on the computer/Internet and then complaining that I have no time with Bryce. So I made a promise to myself to only spend 30 minutes a week on the computer. anyways, enough of that....

I am sitting in my purple room looking out the window, literally watching the gold colored leaves swirl around in the wind as the clouds are moving northwest in with a potential storm. I love fall. With that being said, I realize I am really behind on my blog posts. As I am watching the leaves fall off of the roof, I figure I would blog about our last fun,amazing, scary, sunny, wet trip to the Paiute. It was our last trip to wrap up our camping season and it was the most memorable yet.

Bryce and I headed down on a Friday morning to the Paiute, to get in some much needed down time to ourselves. I think this is our first 'camping' or 'outting' trip by ourselves this year. We had a plan. We were making that plan happen. We traveled through 10 different cities/towns and traveled nearly 300 miles of dirt/rock filled trails. We packed our camp up 5 times. We rearranged our gear 5 times. Friday was our first leg of the trip. We started in Marysvale. We always park at this little (uh, not so little?) place called Lizzie's and Charlies. We like to pay to keep our truck under a watchful eye. They are great at always accommodating us at a fair price. As soon as we got down there, we packed up our gear and headed North. Man oh mighty we had a ton of gear! We could feel the weight! We had to stop a few times to rearrange our weight. We headed north into Monroe and back up southeast to the Monroe loop. The views were amazing... from a great distance of the ledge. :) As we go to the top of the mountain and in to Monroe loop it became extremely cold. We stop and got out our 'winter gear' (we experienced all sorts of weather so we had to pack for all seasons) We continued on the Monroe loop and decided around 6 that it was time to find a place to hunker down for the night and make some dinner. We found this awesome little cove that was far enough off the road to have privacy but close enough to have help if we needed it. We were all alone... or so we thought. We had an elk as a visitor that hung out all night calling for a mate.  It made for a very long night but it is all in the adventure. We did sleep in a bit on Saturday morning because we were so exhausted from the long drive that we had made and no sleep.

We saw an amazing amount of wildlife. I have never seen so many dear in 4 days as I did on this trip.

you cant tell but I have no pants on... just thought I would share!

Our little cove, getting ready to leave for the day.

All ready to go.

We weren't for sure how much we were going to travel each day (weather permitting) so we had several back ups. On Friday we pulled the map out and decided which route we were going to take for our Saturday adventure and see how far we got. This was one of our longer days. We were up, and down and up and down and back and forth. In different cities and towns. We had amazing views. We had a really rough patch of trail before lunch. It took use about 2 hours to go 4 miles. After lunch we jumped back on the trail and just cruised. Covering as much ground as we could. We had to make another huge loop back in to marysvale to pick up our friends on Sunday morning. We also has to make sure we were in national forest and not BLM land so we could have a fire. We found another cute little cove off of the road on the very top of the mountain. We settled down at about 6 knowing we were only an hour drive from marysvale the next morning. We knew we would have enough time to make it back to meet our friends and take our time. We had a fire, talked, told stories and hung out. By the time the sun went down, we were back in our winter gear, standing in the fire to stay warm.... That was about to change....

Now before I continue on to Sunday I have to tell you, we were surrounded by cows. They were everywhere. At around 730 we heard a bell and all of the cows take off running to the east of us. like a stampede... only slow. Cows are slow. Right before it gets dark (around 830) we see this baby calf running west down this road. We are about 50 yards off the road. We know there are no cows down that way, they all went east. Right at the entrance to our cove the cow stops, looks at us and starts mooing. it was the cutest this ever! at the same time, sad, knowing that it was going the wrong way looking for its mama. I ALMOST made Bryce drive down to make sure it was ok. stupid, but cute.

Sunday:
5Am - we are both wide awake. Frozen, like a Popsicle. It was awful. Night 2 of no sleep. We were tired, cold, and frustrated. We did everything we could to warm up and nothing was working. Finally at 5:15 Bryce got up and built up our fire. I finally got out and was once again standing basically in the fire. We talked about our options and decided that if we left by 6 we would have enough time to get into marysvale, drive to richfield and get some warmer sleeping bags. Bryce ate breakfast and I packed. 6:05 we were on the road back to marsvale. I left out my sleeping back to lay over the top of us. We each had on 4 layers of clothing. It was so cold that our phone and GPS froze up and wouldn't work. We got back to marysvale in record time. We were flying. We packed our bags into the truck and left everything else and jumped on the highway 50 minutes to richfield. The only thing open was the walmart. We were SOL. They had no sleeping bags. awesome! so we headed over and decided we could sacrifice some of our other things to make room for a microfiber blanket and a few other necessary things. We had enough time to grab breakfast and head back to marsvale. We got there in enough time for me to shower and Bryce to repack before our friends arrived. We quickly switched our tires (some of the trails were 60 inch only and we were barely over 60 inches. Since our tires are off set to make us wider, we switched with brit and eddie to make them just under 60 inches. That also took us down to 58 inches) and on the road we went. We decided to head west then north this time to make a giant loop in to joseph and then back in to marysvale. We had no idea that they trail would take so long and by dinner time we were still 20 miles out of Joseph. We did not have time to make it to Joseph and back up on the mountain side to camp. We opted to find a camp spot and have some dinner. We were literally on the mountain side so anywhere you went you were on a down hill slop. After about an hour of running around we picked the best spot suitable and called it home for a mere 9 hours.

On our way to Joseph, our friends lost their extended rack. On a hill. It took some time to get everything reorganized.

look! A rzr Mohawk!

Good to go!

Our base camp for the night. There was cow poop everywhere. Luckily the boys took care of the dung for us.

Monday, we woke up with great rest. We finally were warm, got great sleep (except the people who were elk calling {maybe it was an elk???} all night long! we had a nice warm breakfast and then it was time to haul butt. We packed up in record time and hit the road to cover the 20 miles to Joseph, 10 back into marsyvale. Once there we restocked on water and took a trail that is familiar to Bryce and I. I am not for sure what 'number' the trail is but it is the best trail down there. (All the trails are labeled by numbers - Paiute is 01) It was on the west side of marysvale and our plan was to take that trail up to 01 then cover 01 down south. We were going to take a detour on a trail that takes you towards beaver to check out some 'ice caves'. We made the LONG drive to our detour and hit it somewhere around 330. It was about 40 minutes up the trail to the ice caves. We spent a ton of time at the ice caves, exploring and looking... oh and eating! Around 530 we decided that it was time to get back to the Paiute trail and find a place to camp. Brit and Eddie drove ahead of us. We had walkie talkies to keep in contact with each other. about 2 miles in to the trail, there was this uphill climb that was pretty rough. In order to make it up the hill we had to put our rzr in low. slowly we ascended up the hill. when we got to the top, we stopped to put it back into high. When we put the rzr in to high, something went terribly wrong!

We got up to 12,000 feet. it was FREEZING. It was a very stormy day

On top of the world! At the highest point on the trail at 12,000 feet

Bryce got a pic of me putting on my pants (see pic above in the tent) so I didn't want Brit to feel left out. sorry Brit!!!!

Where the hell are we?!?!?!?!?!

Are we there yet???

Inside the ice caves

Buddies!

I am shocked Eddie didn't get stuck! He did however, get a bit dirty!

The outside of the ice caves.

Our rzr barely moved. We sounded more like a 4-wheeler than a rzr. there is a big difference. We are trying to speed up but we cant. The more we move the worst we sound. To make matters worst, there was a storm coming in. We had stayed ahead of it the entire time. We were over an hour away from the Paiute, and we still had to find a place that we could camp and it was dinner time (not to mention I was completely freaked out that we were in bear country). Like most standard walkie talkies we had a page. I hit the page and we slowly descending. Luckily B and E were stopped on the trail to take pics. The patiently waited for us to catch up. We determined that something was indeed wrong and we could no longer drive our rzr. We were several hours away from the truck (at least 8) and we had to find camp, fast before it started down pouring. Driving with the machine on was not an option. We pulled out our towing straps and had them tow us. It wasn't working out so well, lucky us we were down hill. since that wasn't working out we basically were bumped down the hill. after debating, alot we finally found a place to camp. Our very first order of business was to have the guys set up a tarp between a couple of trees to park the rzr under. The girls were setting up tents. at this point, there was lightening everywhere. We barely got the tents up while I made dinner, and it started to down pour. Everything in our tent was getting wet. The rain was coming right through the material. Not to mention there was an inch of water creating a river right were our tent was sitting. We were cold and hungry. We basically just went to bed for the night. Bryce worked under the tarp trying to figure out our problem. After about and hour and a half, he finds it. A tube had cracked that feeds the oil into the top end of our engine. We talk about it and explore our options: to try to fix it and drive the rough terrain the rest of the way to the truck with the chance that we could break down anywhere or the boys drive B and E's rzr all the way back to the truck and come get us (we were a mile off the road where we could get the truck and trailer in perfectly). We had alot of things playing against us. We had the rain and mud. We had the chance of leaving and not being able to get the truck to where we get stuck, we have the weight.... B and E's rzr cannot haul our rzr plus their gear plus our gear plus us... so on and so forth. We all agree that it is best the boys leave and us girls hang back.

Being towed down the mountain side

This about sums up how I felt!

The next morning, we got up and made the boys breakfast, packed a cooler full of food and sent them on our way, as Brit and I stayed hunkered down in the tents and rain. I think besides us being broken down, the boys really enjoyed their time together while us girls could not stop giggling! We talked ALOT. We had lunch around noon and went back in the tent right after since it was still raining, although not near as hard as it was the night before. I told the boys, if I didn't hear back from them by 4 I would be calling for help. 4 was plenty of time to get within reception to send us a message to say they were running late or they were making the 2 hour drive back to us on the highway. Brit and I both fell asleep. I woke up knowing something wasn't quite right. I told Brit that and started to get on my shoes to walk down the trail to get reception. As soon as i got one shoe on I heard a truck. It was Bryce! Little did I know it was nearly 530. The minute he pulled up it started to downpour again. We literally through everything in the truck and got the rzr on the trailer. The road was closed (we didn't know that until they got back to us) and we had to take another hour and half detour on a dirt road that was extremely wet. We were sliding everywhere. By the time we got to beaver it was 830. We were all tired, wet, and hungry. For the first time in a very long time I did not fight eating McDonald's. Let me tell you, I don't know if I was just extremely hungry or if they really were that slow. It seemed like 30 minutes before we got food. I knew I wasn't going to make it to work the next day since we were 4 hours from home, it was 9, and everything was wet. After we filled our tummies we jumped on the road to make the 4 hour drive home. I have never been so happy as to see my house as I was that night. We got home just after 12:30, grab out backpacks, and went inside to take a quick shower and hit the bed. The next day we spent the entire day cleaning up the mess, drying everything out, and getting the 5 inches of mud off of our trailer. We also determined that we lost our entire engine. It was a sad day in the house, but it could have been alot worst. We could have been stuck without anyone to help us or anyone with us. it could have happened before B and E got up there. We could have continued on the trail and had to hike out to call for help. There are so many things that could have happened but at the end of the day, it is all worth the stories and the experience. We will never forget this trip. Brit and I will never forget the laughs... We will never forget ninja mole, or the squirrel that almost ate B's veejay jay... (seriously.. funniest story ever). I cannot forget to mention the accidental back handing of her boob (seriously! how do I get in these situations????) The boys will not forget the 8 hour trek back to the truck. They said the trail was pretty dang awesome. We will never forget the downpouring rain, the views, and the time we had together. It was all worth it in the end.

The boys getting the fire going for us before they left. A fire wouldn't be a fire without some fuel to get it going.

In between down pours. It felt very winter-esque. I loved the clouds and feeling the sense of their closeness. So close I felt like I could touch them.

Proof that us girls were hunkered down. Brit said I couldn't post the one of her actually smiling... but she didn't say anything about this one. This is how we spent most of our day.

A desk and A trip

It has been a while. I am always meaning to update on everything that is going on yet I just don't do it. This week has become somewhat busy and I figured I needed some down time. So why not put down some good happenings with us. In the early month of May I finally got my desk that I am waiting ever so patiently for. I have been very excited, and now that it is here I am even more excited. It fits in perfectly with the purple room.

In the middle of May, Bryce and I were invited to go with a big group to Moab. This was the first time for Old Silver to go out at all. Baby Hardman has been out before but not to Moab. We have been to Moab 3 times now and every single time we have been there, it has been something different and new to experience. I was a bit nervous to climb the very slick red rock but who better to do it with than a bunch of people that do it all the time.

A video our friend, eddie, made of the trip... Pretty cool if I do say so myself!

On our way down  we were doing really good until 40 miles outside of our camp. Our truck started to go. I am so glad we were on mostly flat roads. We would lose all power on our truck. Slowly but surely we made our way to camp. We didn't get there until late so we basically set up our bed and crashed.

The next morning we were up bright and early. Today's trip is going to be Kane's Creek. No worries - it is only 95 degrees! We were well prepared with sunscreen and 'mist'ers. For anyone who knows me I get heat stroke super easy and I fry like bacon! It is a great combination. The universe aligned for me this day. This trail had a ton of creek crossings to keep us all cool.

 

 

There is brit and eddie. Oh that wall of water...? That is us!

 

Friday morning we had our toughest trail of the day, behind the rocks. I was a bit nervous before we left. Ok I wanted to throw up. I hate cliffs and I am not a Adrenalin junky! This trail did not come off as bad as it seemed. I was expecting scary cliffs, holding on by one tired kind of thing... but if we rolled, at least it would be in to a giant rock! Bryce attempted a few of the obstacles like high dive and upchuck but after seeing me get so upset he backed off. The roller coaster was a thrill.... on my own two feet. We made it to white knuckle but the entire group was in agree-ance to not attempt that. We like our toys too much... so back up to roller coaster. for my own benefit I had to stay in the razor at least once. and this is what I got:









 

 

I didn't know what had happened until it was all over with. I expected to be all sorts of shaken up but I wasn't. Thinking back on it, it could have ended up bad. But it didn't. I can officially say I did it! I didn't get out and walk down the trail.

Saturday morning started early once again. We loaded up the razors and headed off to Fins N Things. This is what I figured we would be doing the entire time. Lots of slick rock, climbing up huge rocks and then back down them again. This trail was my least favorite. It was good but just not the best one that we did on our trip. This trail was also very short. The remainder of the group headed home after this trail while we stayed behind with our friends. We went back to camp, cleaned up and headed in to town for some good food, good laughs and SHOPPING!!!!! We spent 4 great hours on main street weaving our way in and out of shops and stopping for dinner. By the time we got back to camp, we were exhausted and we had to think about our way home and the truck problem... remember?

  Sunday we packed up and headed out. We first hit hole in the rock. It is this cool place that these dead people (they werent dead at the time) built a house inside a giant rock. I wish I had pictures of the inside but they don't allow it. It was very cool to see... not worth $6 to see a 2nd time. We then hit the road. 10 miles in to our trip, it was not looking good. I sent numerous text back and forth to my brother who was waiting for us to call him to come rescue us so we weren't stranded. Nice and easy... slow... all the way home, we took our dear sweet time. Bryce and I were on pins and needles the entire time. I just wanted to sleep but couldn't. Needless to say, we made it home! I have never been so happy to be home as I was at that moment. Bryce and I unloaded the bare minimum, showered and crashed. We were both so exhausted! It was a great trip and we had so much fun meeting new people and spending time with our friends. It is something that we would highly consider doing again.