October

This Fall has been long and glorious on the Colorado Plateau. The incredible weather allowed us to get out a lot. The last weekend on October, River and I did a long backpack trip into the Needles District of Canyonlands NP. This trip was too long for the whole family so just the two of us went. One of my greatest joys is watching my boys enjoy being in remote wild areas. I have been taking them with me since before they could walk and they are all becoming quite comfortable in the backcountry. River is packing most of his own gear now. The plan is that he will pack all my stuff by the time he is 16. This is Druid Arch in Elephant Canyon.

Old Grandpa Cottonwood in Lost Canyon. When it's my time to leave this Earth, I hope it is under a Cottonwood Tree.

Mid October we got one more river journey in. We floated Catatract Canyon, which I had never done. It was a great trip, good water level and no mishaps (aside from the groover). I finally got to see where the two Big Rivers come together. Thanks to the Newtons for showing us the runs. The photo above is our last camp at Imperial Rapid.

I started off the month by taking a short packtrip into the Dark Canyon Wilderness on our District. This was a work trip and I went in with horses to pick up my trail crew who had been in the wilderness for a week long trip finishing up some trail work and a campsite and exotic weed inventory that we completed for the entire wilderness this summer. While the majority of my time is spent in an office writing environmental analysis, attending public meetings, being confronted at public meetings, preparing budgets, planning, and other highly exciting tasks, I actually do get to get out in the field to see the areas we mange on a fairly regular basis. I also maintain a wilderness blog about the Dark Canyon Wilderness at wilderness.net , which is an amazing website on wilderness if you are interested. The photo is of my camp in Cherry Canyon.

Bloggin it up

Yes it is true, I have a blog. I figured that I make fun of everybody else's blogs, so it really wasn't fair unless I had one of my own that people could read and make fun of as well, so here you go. Besides, I am married to the blogging Queen and she set all of this up for me, so I have to make use of it. I always tell Alina that blogging seems like it is just one more opportunity to offend your family and friends, so here we go!

How do these things usually start? Something like, "This blog is dedicated to discussing post modern theology and how it affects the current global political atmosphere" (or something else to make me sound intelligent), or "This blog is dedicated to discussing all of the reasons that I am right and you are wrong" that sounds a little better, but I think this blog will focus on wilderness. Mainly my trips (and family trips) into it. Hopefully it does not turn into the "Hey look how cool I am am blog" but you never know. Also, it is a good way for fellow wilderness pilgrims (mainly my brothers) to get photos of past excursions. I also want to use it to document my employment of working with public wild lands (currently with the US Forest Service on the Moab/Monticello Ranger Districts), as most people have no clue as to what I really do (and probably don't really care). I will try and stay away from too many political rants that I often make, as I don't want anybody to have any future ammunition against me. So let the blogging begin.