Grand Canyon Widforss Trail (Fall 2006)

This is the view from the end of the 5 mile Widforss Trail, which is located on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The trail is relatively flat as it meanders through a beautiful forest. The South Rim can be seen more than 10 miles in the distant horizon.

Angels Landing (Sep 2006)

For a Fall family activity, Sasha decided she really wanted to hike up Angels Landing in Zion. Here are the girls on the Walter's Wiggles section. There are 21 wiggles in all.






















Sasha and Kim looking up into the sun on the steepest portion of the trail. Chains can be used for aid. Many people have fallen 2000' to their death in this area, but not us.


















Dave happy to be on top.

















Sasha and Kim at the summit.

Parunaweap Canyon in Zion (Fall 2006)

Hiking this difficult 4 miles up a canyon past the Checkerboard Mesa, across endless slickrock, and down a steep crack gets you access to the upper portion of the East Fork of the Virgin River. This area is known as the Barracks, and resembles the popular Narrows, but has very few people visit this canyon due to its remoteness. Notice the silver 'sheen' on the wall above the water. There is a series of waterfalls downstream from this point.

North Guardian Peak in Zion (Aug 2006)

This is a nice cool hike high up in Zion National Park. Once on top of the peak you can look straight down into the Subway's canyon! Notice the South Guardian Peak in the upper right corner. It's almost a replica of the North Guardian.



















A ponderosa pine tree growing straight out of the rock on top!













The subway is way down below.

Tuckup Shaman Pictographs (Aug 2006)

This large panel of pictographs and petroglyphs is located in the Grand Canyon's remote Tuckup Canyon drainage off of the north rim. The drive out there from St George is on a long and rough dirt road. This panel is preserved due to it being in a protected alcove, and is believed to date back more than 5000 years ago. Backpackers who sleep near the panel vow that they never will do that again in their life, because they hear and feel things (ghosts?) during the long miserable night long.

Kanarraville Canyon (Aug 2006)

The family hiked up Kanarraville Canyon a couple of miles to this beautiful waterfall spot, where it's impossible to proceed unless you climb up the makeshift log ladder. This is a very narrow canyon that should be avoided in flash flood times. Thunder clouds moved in, and we moved out quickly.













A shot of Brooke and Sasha a year ealrier, when we did this hike the first time.

Grand Canyon Raft Trip with Brooke (June 2006)

This was my second trip down the river. The first one I did with Stephanie in June 2004. Now it was Brooke's turn, and she was unsure about the whole ordeal. Once school was out, I think she would have rather spent some times relaxing and playing with her friends. So here it was three days after school let out, and we got up very early to drive to Marble Canyon, where the Hatch River Rafting warehouse was. This is where we met our group. They drove us 10 miles to the put-in at Lee's Ferry, and the fun began.




We stopped here on some neat Supai ledges with beautiful and calm green-blue waters for our scenery. Brooke was amazed at how beautiful the water and the canyon was.








This is a nasty hole in House Rock Rapids. We stopped here to go hike up Rider Canyon. Brooke fell in a huge quick sand/ mud hole, and was covered with warm gooey mud up to her chest. She lost one of her sandals, and despite our guideBen looking forever, he never found it. When we got back to the boat, we witnessed a private raft hitting the rapid here and flipping. We ended up helping them flip back over before proceeding down canyon.






This is Vasey's Paradise, which is a spring springing from a cave much like Thunder River. There's a lot of poison ivy in the area, so we didn't get too close. I have backpacked down to this spot, and it's very serene.
















We spent a lunch here in the Redwall Cavern. This is an enormous cave-like area that is large than a football field!













What a beautiful campsite at North Canyon! Brooke can be seen off in the distance, bathing in the river.











After a couple of day, Dave and Brooke are in the zone--one with the canyon here during a hike to this beautiful waterfall in North Canyon.
















Calm reflective waters before getting to Nankoweap Canyon.












Brooke's favorite view of the river is from 700 feet above, next to the Nankoweap ruins.












Brooke cooling off in a waterfall in Clear Creek Canyon. Our weather in the canyon consisted of 95 degree days and 70 degree nights! Some nights were cooler and some days were a little warmer.







The Powell Plateau from our 'ledges' campsite below the Bass Canyon. This was Brooke's favorite place to camp.













The two of us posing in front of Elves Chasm, just before we jumped in, swam behind the rocks, climbed up, and jumped down 10 feet into the deep, cool waters!
















A group photo in the part of the canyon know as 'Conquistidor Aisle'.












We were in the canyon during the New Moon, so the stars were incredible. This is a time exposure pointing up from our camp site at Upset Rapids.








Brooke swimming in the warm turquoise waters of Havasu Creek. This place, as well as the entire trip, was paradise on earth!











Brooke's number one favorite spot in the Grand Canyon--Deer Creek Falls!

Thunder River and Deer Creek in Grand Canyon (May 2006)

This was Kim and my 17th anniversary trip for 3 nights and 4 days into the depth of the Grand Canyon, backpacking for almost 30 miles, experiencing some of the best parts of the canyon. We camped two nights in Tapeats Creek area, and one night in Deer Creek. Total distance was 10 miles day one; 3 miles day two; 6 miles day three; and 9 miles day four. Rim elevation is 7200' and the river is around 2000'. Dave accidently left about 1/3 of the food home and in the truck, so we rationed and lived on fewer calories. What a great weight loss program!













Thunder River cascading down. This river drops 1500' in one mile, and is the world's shortest river, and the only river that drains into a creek!















We can finally see our camp site down below at the left of the mouth of Tapeats Creek in the sandy area. Boaters are not allowed to camp here anymore, so we had it all to ourselves!








Our camp spot next to the river and Tapeats Creek.
















Sunrise hitting tops of the canyon from our Tapeats Creek camp site.
















The middle gorge is the narrowest part of the river through the Grand Canyon. On this day we hiked 5 miles from Tapeats to Deer Creek, with awesome views of the middle gorge.

















View of Deer Creek Falls from the river.





















Kim admiring the power of the water coming down Deer Creek Falls. We both swam in this cool water, as it felt good on a 90 degree day.















Dave at the mouth of Deer Creek Canyon above the waterfall and Colorado River.












King David sitting in the 'throne room'. Deer Spring gushing out behind him. This water was the best tasting water ever!

Taylor Creek (April 2006)

In the Kolob Fingers section of Zion, a 3 mile hike up Taylor Creek allows you to come to the double arch alcove, which has this unusual tree growing at the bottom.























Fingers of Kolob with blue sky and puffy clouds.

Parashant Canyon (Mar 2006)

Parashant Canyon in the Grand Canyon is one isolated spot! I have been down there twice. I went down there in late winter by myself, and was worried that if something happened to me, that my best bet would be to try to get to the river in order to get help from rafters.

To get there, I drove my truck down road #1063 south of Bundyville School, and parked at the top of the rim near the stock tank. The road down into the canyon is in absolutely terrible shape. I have heard some people mountain bike down. I wouldn't do it--it's too steep, rocky, and slow. I took my motorcycle the 20 or some odd miles down to the copper mine, and I won't ever do that again either--way too many washed out ruts and big boulders. I averaged only about 8 mph both ways, and was in first or second gear most of the time. It was painfully slow.

I knew I was close to the copper mine when I saw a lot of green rocks scattered on the ground. From the copper mine it's easy to scramble down the wash and get into the narrows. Parashant does have some nice, deep, redwall narrows that go on for miles, and it's a fairly decent walk down to the river, although it too is a long ways.








Looking straight up while in the narrows.









A view down canyon.

East Zion (Mar 2006)

The east side of Zion has many side canyons and washes that are worth exploring. Many take you up on interesting slickrock and views.



Here is a slickrock highway that seems to go up into space.















These mysterious petroglyphs appear to be two humans joined at the feet, upside down.



















Here are some humanoids riding on the back of a snake?

Snow Spring Break (Mar 2006)

This was our backyard in the middle of March during Spring Break.













A hike up Johnson Canyon revealed a redrock face appearing to be eating a snow-covered tree.