Winter in the Canyons

We got one more winter hike in before heading north for the Holidays and dental appointments.Rowan trying to keep his feet dry crossing Negro Bill

Early Sunset

We wish you a Merry Old School Christmas

Creed already posted this video on his blog but I had to put it on here as well. This video is Christmas at the Murdocks 1984, family friend Carl Nielson rented (yes rented ) a high tech device to record video of everyone at Christmas. Thanks Carl.

I am pretty sure this is the first time I have seen myself (at a younger age) on video. Any of you that know my son River will be laughing at how similar are mannerism are. He is an exact clone of my own nerdy self (at the age of 11, now of course I am super cool). I remember sticking to those old brown vinyl couches. It does bring back good memories of Christmas, I hope my own kids remember thier Christmases as fondly as I remember mine. Now if we could only get some snow like we used to get back then.

Gothic Nightmare

Yesterday we went up and hiked the Fisher Towers trail with the boys. This trail is a rather popular trail so we usually only hike it in the winter. We only saw a few people there yesterday, one guy hauling loads to the base of the King Fisher route and two Australians.

Last time we hiked to the Towers it was so icy we did not get far. Yesterday we had only the wind to contend with. The area and its numerous towers and fins are quite strange and unique. The first person who climbed the towers (Huntley Ingalls) descibed the area this way "a pink, red and orange skyscraper city in nightmare Gothic". Good description

The boys at the base of the Ancient Art Tower with its fluted walls

Row and Ryder in front of Cottontail Tower

Backside of Ancient Art and King Fisher with the bizarre formation called the "Cobra" which actually has a route on it.

Row at the base of Ancient Art

Happy Holidays and Imminent Hard Drive Failure

Our main computer locked up a few weeks ago and gave us a screen that said "Imminent Hard Drive Failure". We took it in and the computer dude (not sure what they are called maybe technician but I like dude better) told us that it was gone and we would not be able to retrieve anything off of it. I am so frustrated that I have tried not to think what I actually lost. But it has made me realize how addicted I am to capturing "images". Images of places and landscapes and everything I experience. I still enjoy taking photos but I am not going to get so attached to them from now on and just try to enjoy the experience while it is happening.

River contemplating the water fall after a 3 hour soak

Over Thanksgiving we hiked up to the Fifth Water Hot Springs. I always forget how nice these springs are. I am pretty sure this where all Utah County scouts see their first nekked person of the opposite sex. Thanks Merel.

Gold Basin High Country

The day after we got back from Thanksgiving we headed up to Geyser Pass to do some conifer thinning. Not much snow yet.

Tree hunters, watch out Douglas Firs


Decorating the Tree
The tree fell over later that night , I think that it is becoming a tradition to redecorate the tree after it has fallen over.

Over the Thanksgiving break my Mom told me about being upset by a joke that she had heard at work. It went something like"Did you know they are ripping out the "Rose Garden" at the White House to plant a watermelon patch". And then I read about the same joke in an article in High Country News called "The persistence of bigotry, Western style"

Unfortunatley many of us have probably heard or been texted one of these racists jokes, or heard someone say "I can't belive you voted for a black man". So far, I have only heard them second hand. I know that the people sending them really don't consider themselves racist and just think they are being funny, but I think it really shows the underlying racial predjudices that many people in this country, the West and this State have.

If you hear one of these little comments don't stand by and let it pass, say something. Not that you have to make a scene but say something, don't let it continue unchallenged.

I remember returning from a winter backpacking trip in Escalante and stopping at the Aquarius Diner in Loa (maybe Bicknell I can't remember) and having the waiter/chef tell us he had moved from So. California to get away from all the n$%&rs. I was blown away that people actually still felt that way. Nobody said anything to the guy (he was pretty sketchy, but he did play the harmonica for us).

Old avalanche control footage from the documentary on KUED called "the Alta Experience". The clip shows Ed La Chapelle, considered to be one of the orignal avalanche researchers in North America, he did most of his work in Little Cottonwood. Notice the guy with the lit cigarette opening the explosives box, hardcore.

Our forecasters just started last week but we only have about 10 inches in the alpine, We need snow.

What price?

I am a bit late on this post but I wanted to say something anyway.

In October during our float down Desolation Canyon we drove out to the put in late at night and ended up getting lost in a maze of roads and oil wells. There has always been oil wells in in this area as long as I can remember, but now it looks like a city with all of the new development. The first night on the river we camped at mile 20 on a broad low water beach (see the picture at the top of the page). After we had unpacked and cooked dinner I kept thinking I was hearing a motor, maybe a distant plane or somebody with a motor on their raft? It was faint enough that I thought I was just hearing things. The next morning I woke up and could still hear it, an annoying little hum. That's when I realized what it was--oil wells just on top of the rim ,out of sight , but not quite out of hearing range.

As the end of the Bush era draws to a close, no less than 4 major BLM plans were signed or will be signed in the last few months of the administration, and with the chants of "Drill baby Drill" ringing out of the Republican National Convention it is no surprise that more emphasis would be put on producing domestic energy. However, when maps came out in November of parcels that were going to be auctioned off (some actually requiring drilling through Moab's aquifer, private property and others adjacent to Arches, Canyonlands and Dinosaur National Parks, and many other wilderness quality lands--see maps below) it caused quite a stir.

Obama's transistion staff actually mentioned the leasing a few days after the election. Problem is once they are leased there is not a lot a new administration can do about it.

As usual the hyperbole was in full tilt from both sides (the invite I received to a public meeting showed a drill rig on top of Delicate Arch). To be fair to BLM there are many more restrictions in place in the new plan then there has been in past plans and in recent weeks they have "deffered" a number of the very contoversial parcels.

Most people probably think that they own the property they live on, but you normally only own the surface rights. It is very rare for private property to include what lies below the surface- the mineral rights. Which is how you end up with leases in neighborhoods (see Parcel 225). The oil companies generally can't move in a put an oil well in your back yard but maybe your neighbors are willing to let them put it in their backyard.

I am not opposed to wisely using our resources and domestically producing some of what we consume, but as a society what are we willing to sacrifice to produce what would feed our consumption for a couple of days? Are people ok with hearing the constant whine of motors in some of our most remote wild country, are we willing to risk our drinking water sources?

I hope we are not that desperate.

Not that I am a fan of golfing but come on.

Hell Roaring Canyon

I heard about a Barrier Canyon pictograph panel in Hell Roaring Canyon a while ago, so today I went out to see if I could find it. Hell Roaring is a large canyon that runs into the Green River. A long time ago, before we were even married myself and Alina and my Dad and a bunch of family floated down the portion of the Green River where Hell Roaring Canyon enters the Green. At the confluence of the two canyons there is one of the most famous Denis Julien inscriptions. I have not been back into the canyon until today. To get to the pictograph panel you have two options; a sketchy downclimb involving a belly crawl and exposure or an old "tenuous" stock trail that is literally nailed into the cliff wall and is falling apart. I opted for the stock trail since I went in by myself.

You can see the old stock trail angling across the cliff face. You would have to be one crazy cowboy to push a herd down or up that trail.

This is a very faint part of the panel. I had to play around with the light a lot to be able to see it. By the shape of its horns it looks like it is a very fat antelope.

Interesting pictograph that seems to be emerging from the underworld


The main panel. The main figure is about 6 feet tall. It appears that a comet or something is on his left

A different view of the main panel showing the alcove where it is located and the Katchina Towers in the background

Wall Street

We have been trying to get out and climb with the kids over the last few weeks but the easy routes on Wall Street always have people on them, so we go hiking instead but yesterday finally they were open.

River in a crack

Wall Street

Row

Ridge

Ridge coming down

Crying Indian (or crying Italian?) Commercial

Everybody that grew up in the 70's remembers this commercial. The crying Indian really drove the point home. I was just showing it to my kids (which made me feel so old)on Youtube. I remember being so angry as a kid about all the pollution and that jackass that through his garbage out the window.

It is still a great commercial, but I was just reading a very interesting article in Orion magazine about some of the facts behind the Crying Indian. Turns out the Indian whose name was "Iron Eyes" Cody is really Italian (his real name is Espera Oscar DeCorti). The really intersting part is who was actually behind the add campaign. Check it out.

My Socialist Manifesto

With all the talk of "Socialism" being bantered about before the election and now all of the fear that the country is slowly descending into "Socialism" and my post a while ago about the seeming contradiction of many members of the church in their commitment to the Law of Consecration but their total fear of "Socialism", I did a little more research for my own benefit and found some interesting articles pertaining to the LDS church and socialist ideas.

I have been sent several videos and texts of talks that Ezra T. Benson gave pertaining to the United Order and the evils of "Socialism". It is interesting that he says that the students at BYU should avoid using goverment loans and grants to pay for their education, but I wonder if the church owned university followed his advice and did not accept federal money from Pell Grants and Student Loans?

Another interesting article was from Elder Romney which mainly expressed the differences he sees between the United Order/Law of Consecration and the worlds definition of "Socialism". He makes some good points/arguments about the differences and the similarities. He points out that the similarities are

"Both (1) deal with production and distribution of goods; (2) aim to promote the well-being of men by eliminating their economic inequalities; (3) envision the elimination of the selfish motives in private capitalistic industrial system."

I like that he agrees that the capitolistic industrial system promotes selfish motives.

And now for the differing view by the man who tried to institiute the United Order, Brigham Young. I found this Proclamation on the Economy on the "Mormons for Equality and Social Justice" website. Check it out for some differing views from others within the LDS Church.

This is one of my favorite parts from the Proclamation. I think I am going to have it crocheted and framed as a wall hanging and give it to my friends and family members for Christmas to hang next to the "Proclamation on the Family";)

"One of the great evils with which our own nation is menaced at the present time is the wonderful growth of wealth in the hands of a comparatively few individuals. The very liberties for which our fathers contended so steadfastly and courageously, and which they bequeathed to us as a priceless legacy, are endangered by the monstrous power which this accumulation of wealth gives to a few individuals and a few powerful corporations"

Some interesting scriptures from the Bible. It is also interesting to note that many of the ancient christians lived in what were essentially socialist communes. Which is one of the reasons the Empire felt threatned by them.

“For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” - 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” - Acts 2:44-45

After reading all of these articles it seems to me that the difference is simply in the way that the egalitiarian society was acheived. One, because of voluntary charity and compassion for others and managed by the Church and the other one mandated and managed by the State. The end goal was the same, a distribution of wealth and the establishment of an egalitarian society.

I am not arguing that a purely socialist political system where there is no private ownership of property is a good thing, I don't think it is and I agree that we need to be self-sufficient and that as a society we need to be wary of becoming beholden to the State. But I also think that there is a place for more socialist leaning ideas. Some of the ideas and policies that make this country so great like public lands, schools, and other policies that help those in need are essentially socialistic ideas. It is the clash of ideas between conflicting philosophies such as capitolism and socialism that has made this country work in my opinion. I think we do need to be wary of socialist programs that would slowly erode our freedoms but on the same hand we need to be just as wary of capitolist systems that would accumulate wealth into the hands of few indviduals or corprations.

Listen to Curtis

Interview with a local rancher about OHV use in the area

Mesa Arch/Aztec Butte/Lost kids

Last October I took the boys up to Island in the Sky and tried to hike into a ruin on Aztec Butte, the wind was howling and Ryder somehow got lost. It was actually kind of tense for a minute because it took awhile to find him and of course there are thousand foot cliffs all over the place up there. All of his brothers (and myself) were traumatized by the event. So today we went back up to finish the hike and get to the ruins.

On top of Aztec Butte looking into a fork of Taylor Canyon

The granaries on top of the butte. They are in a unique area, not sure if they were farming corn on the mesa top or harvesting native seeds, but this place is a long ways from the river and is one of only two ruins that I am aware of in Island in the Sky.


Mesa Arch, one of the most photographed Arches in Canyonlands, it is a pretty amazing location. The arch hangs out over a big drop into Buck Canyon. Right behind Ridges head is Monster and Washer Woman Towers and as usual the snowy La Sals in the far back.

The big drop below Mesa Arch. You can the see the arches shadow down below.

Hiking Biking

On Tuesday I had the day off, so I watched Ryder and worked on the house in the morning and climbed a slickrock dome I can see from my front window up on the Moab Rim in the afternoon. Finding a route up the dome was a little tricky but the view of town from the top was amazing. You can see the deep chasm of Mill Creek behind town and you can see our house on the left back behind the high school. I watched the kids walk home from school with the binoculars.
Before the family left on Sunday we got another short ride in and rode the practice loop on Slickrock. Photo is Tyler riding the rim of Abyss Canyon

I also took my Dad up to the TV Sheep (see photo), some interesting stylized bighorn sheep petroglyphs in Seven Mile Canyon.

Riding the Rim

The family came down this weekend to celebrate Mckells Birthday. We went out Saturday and rode the Lower Porcupine Singletrack, much more technical than my skills. I crashed violently into a tree within about 5 seconds of leaving the trailhead.

Todd and River looking over Castle Valley at sunset

Todd droppin it like its hot on the Porcupine rim

Tyler making one of the many "must make" turns on the rim

One day until the election and as much as I love politics and discussing politics, I will be glad to have this election over and done. It is amazing to me to watch us peacefully elect new leadership every four years. The campainging can and does get negative and petty ( and sometimes pathetic, i.e. "palling around with terrosits") but it is done peacefully with no bloodshed, pretty amazing if you look at how power has been transferred throughout history.



While I live in a state where my vote probably won't change the outcome in the direction I would like to see it go, I am excited to watch how the votes come in behind the Zion curtain, I think we are going to see the state get a little less red this year.



A couple of observations

-Why is the idea of "Socialism" so abhorrent? It has been used at the end of this election in almost as negative a tone as "Terroism". Isn't tithing just a form of redistribution of wealth? Wasn't the "United Order" instituted by the church based on the principles of the "Law Consecration" simply a form of Christian socialism? Yes, the United Order failed (just like all other socialist experiments) but its goal of creating an egalitarian society of no rich and no poor is not an evil idea, it is really the divine order for community. Just because we as humans can't get over our greed and jealousy or because dictators have used socialist ideas in the past to control people, does not mean that the idea of socialism is wrong or evil.

- How have the issues of abortion and gay marriage become the only moral issues that matter any more? I agree that they are moral issues however in my mind the issues facing us such as preemptive unjustified war, the growing gap between the rich and poor, figuring out how to provide health care to all citizens, etc... are just as much a moral issue, if not more. We need to expand are thinking of what constitutes a "moral issue"

So which ever way your political leanings take you, get out and vote tomorrow and remember that Democrats vote on Tuesday and Republicans vote on Wednesday.

Coming soon

I was trying to think of a way to segway from Nazi war criminals (last post) to powder skiing, but I am not creative enough.

With the high pressure stalled out right on top of the four corners and the amazing fall weather we are getting it is hard to start thinking about snow quite yet, but it is not far off. However with the last river trip of the year wrapped up I was watching ski videos on line and found this gem from the 70's. It is not the backcountry but Alta is a close second. Check out the guys star studded pants.

Alta always reminds me of skiing with my Dad, Creed, and Grandpa wearing levis and courderoy jackets.

Today on Radio West Doug Fabrezio interviewed Phil Donahue about his new documentary movie "Body of War" it sounds pretty interesting. One of the clips they played was Senator Byrd quoting Herman Goering a high ranking Nazi. who said this at the Nurenburg trials

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Serenity Now

Myself, River, Ridge and the Scouts went up and camped in Arches over the weekend and hiked into some petroglyphs I had not yet been to. Why do all 12 years old boys have to be so annoying?

Sunset in Devils Garden

Sunrise in Devils Garden

Happy shiny people holding hands

A herd of elk

The new trail around the fallen Wall Arch. You can see where the arch used to be in the background

Here is the photo that Colin Powell referenced in his endorsement of Obama this week. Seems like a lot of people in this state were quite upset with the predjudice Romney recieved when running earlier this year but don't have much of a problem with all of the the insinuation that Obama is a muslim and is therefore not fit for public office.

Fall Float

We made a quick low water run down Desolation and Gray Canyons over the last four days and proved that if you wake up and get on the river and pull on your oars all day long until dusk you can make it down the 84 miles from Sand Wash to Swaseys Beach in four days in low water. Next time we need to take 6 days.

I grew up running this river and have taken my boys down it almost every other year since river was a year old, but we had never floated it in the Fall. The weather was perfect (except for an hour or two on the last day when we got some rain), the cottonwoods were changing, bighorn sheep were down low along the river, massive beaches were exposed all along the river and we only saw a couple of other groups.

The rapids were all smaller than at high water except for 3 Fords which had some big waves and a steep entry and the new and improved Joe Hutch Rapid.

River marking his territory at the first camp

Leaving Deso and entering Grays

Morning below Rock Creek

Fall Float Part II

Mile 20 beach camp
Firewater Canyon
Floating in the morning
The photo is blurry but you can see the size of the boulders and debris that the storms in August pushed down Joe Hutch Canyon. The rapid is now a very steep drop with nice sharp rocks at the bottom. It will be interesting to see what high water does to the rapid next spring. It may become the biggest rapid on Deso.