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.