School starts

Tomorrow is the beginning of school for all the kids except Louisa.

Carley will be working at Pony Express Elementary as a 2nd grade teacher. Caleb will be going to UVU. Jesse and Hyrum will be going to SLCC. Big Sigh. It just has been a verryy long summer while they tried to work and earn money and were only slightly successful.

Carley also retook her Praxis in Aug and feels much better about this one. She only missed passing last time by two points. So she should be fine.

Hyrum has earned enough to buy himself a truck. He hadn't gone 10 miles today when it quit and wouldn't start.

I had to chase Tinkerbelle today. She ran out and won't come to me. She made it to Sanders Circle where Ian helped chase her and wear her out. I guess I haven't taken her for a walk since we came home from Zion and she is letting me know.

Angel's Landing

I was happy that four of us made it to the top of Angel's Landing. Someday I hope Jesse will be able to do the hike as well. I felt badly that he missed the West Rim and Angel's Landing.

I just wanted to post the pictures of them at the top.

The West Rim Trail

Four of us took off from Lava Point Trailhead to hike the West Rim Trail. My first knowledge of this trail came when I was in Cedar City. We were hired to drive shuttle cars back for a group of BYU students. Among them was my cousin Ann. I distinctly remember her heading off down the trail saying they would be staying at Potato Hollow.

So many years later finally I could say I would be too. Well, not Potato Hollow, but I'd see it and get water there before heading up the hill to our campsite.

We left right after noon, sharing lunch with Louisa and Russ at the viewpoint. The boys took off and Carley and I hiked together. The boys had the tent and they were to set it up for us. We took our time and completely enjoyed the good weather, the great scenery and being able to hike. There is something primal about walking. It is good for the soul. We enjoyed the first view of the Zion backcountry and the mysterious canyons I'd never imagined before. Going down into Potato Hollow we met wildflowers and tall grasses. It was so beautiful.

Right after Potato Hollow we had to climb up and it was so hard for me. I had been hiking and walking to try to be ready for this hike, but not hard enough and this last hill about did me in. Finally we arrived. Our campsite was #6, the first one on the hill. I'm so glad we were able to get that climb out of the way. Hyrum and Caleb had created a leanto shelter, which needed some pine branches to be complete, but still looked cool. They stayed in the tent and played cards.

Just a little ways down the trail was the first view of the west rim canyons. These are truly magnificent. I was in awe. I sat there waiting for sunset, listening to the birds as they gathered for the night. The vista was incredible. After awhile the boys joined me. Sunset wasn't great, but it is a good time of night.

I had only brought a sheet to cover me, and the pad. Towards the middle of the night it got cold and it would have been nice to have something a little warmer. Then right after dawn broke so did the clouds. The rain came down for about half an hour. We stayed in the tent until it cleared a little, and then during a break we broke camp and headed off to see the sights.


I was glad we'd spent some time the night before looking out at the views as in the morning the mist and clouds and rain obscured them a little. As we walked it began to clear. Coming down off the rim was nice as well, because we had views into the main canyon, the Narrows, Orderville. The canyon looks so different from the top. There are a couple places that take your breath away.

It is a 13 mile hike. I hadn't slept well the night before, worried about all that could go wrong. I hadn't slept well that night due to being cold. I was tired and my body began to tell me I'd reached my limit. Problem was we had about 4 more miles to go. I suppose that is why I didn't react very fast when I took my pack off at the spring and accidently flung the camera into it. My heart sunk as well as I fished it out and let the water drain out of it.

We took lots of breaks on the way down. My legs were having a hard time moving. We loved! the views we had of Angel's Landing from the trail coming down. It is an amazing fin of rock. When we got there Russ was there and I was so proud of him for having made it to Scout's Landing. He decided he wanted to climb to the top. I kept looking at how high up I would have to climb and couldn't see me doing it. He and Carley took off and I lay there in limbo. I could hardly move. After about an hour I was able to get up and move away from the other people there, but I moved out of the shade as well, and didn't even think what being in the sun would do to me.

I'm proud that Russ made the hike, but he took FOUR hours to take that last 1 mile up and back. Meanwhile my legs baked. I paid for it for the next week as they swelled up and burned. I should have just gone down when I was ready after about 2 hrs, since I walked down on my own anyway. I could have let the kids at the bottom know how much time they had. I hope I have another chance to get to the top, but I need to make the climb to Observation Point as well, so that might be next.

I hobbled down the trail to the tram station and waited there for Russ. It was such a successful hike!

My camera bit the dust

Well actually my camera got accidently flung into Cabin Spring when I took my pack off to get some water. I looked around to see it sinking into the cold clear water. I couldn't put it in rice for a couple days and by then apparently it was too late.

I was hopeful that it hadn't done lasting damage, but new electronic stuff can't handle water like the old standbys did. I still remember the camera we had at Magic Mountain. Going on the log flume it got completely soaked, water poured out of it for a minute. Some of the pictures turned out a little water logged, but the camera kept on giving me more.

The pictures we'd taken up until the spring were not wiped out thank goodness. And Carley had Louisa's camera (because the Narrows hike wiped hers out), so we still got pictures, but I really liked that camera and I am very sad not to have it.

Kind of appropriate that the last picture was a close up of a burnt tree.

Zion Reunion

The plan to have all of us together for at least one day in Zion was realized. Hyrum was unable to come the first part of the trip and Jesse left early, but they were both there on Monday when we were able to hike the Narrows.


Being away from the responsibilities and needs of everyday life was wonderful. We were busy the whole time, even with a week we didn't do everything we had on our list. The three big events were attending Tarzan at Tuacahn, the one day hike of the Narrows, and the overnight hike of the West Rim and then finishing up with Angel's Landing.

We have our problems, and there are always ways that we could do better. But I am proud of my children. They are good people.