Politcal Quote/Thoughts for the Day

I told myself that I was going to remain calm and cool and objective during this presidential race. That I wan't going to go flying off the handle with spit flying out of my mouth, waving my arms wildly blaming the Republicans for everything wrong with the country like I am sometimes prone to do. I continue my vow to remain objective as I am beholden to neither party but I am throwing the calm and cool part out the door. What is going on?

How does being a moose hunter or being able to see Russia from a part of your state qualify anybody for being VP? I still like some of what McCain has done in the past,he has worked across party lines, he actually does belive the evidence that Global Warming is at least partly caused by human activity, he has actually supported wilderness bills in the past. But all I am hearing now is the same right wing rhetoric we have heard for the last 8 years. and then he goes to a NASCAR Race today just to top things off! (sorry Julie)

I love what Garrison Keillor had to say in his opinion piece today. Here is a small pice of it you can find the rest at Salon.com called "Bush with Big Hair"

"So the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves."

How exactly are these "maverick" reformers going to change thier own party that has driven this country into the ground over the last 8 years? Sounds like the same old @#$% to me.

Climbing Haystack and Foraging

This morning the older boys and I, set off up the mountain with several objectives; to summit Haystack Peak, find some elk for the hunt next month, and to forage for berries (chokecherries, raspberries, strawberries and currants).

We did make it up to Haystack at 11,641 feet, however, we saw no elk (but quite a few signs). We were also a few weeks late for the strawberries, but found lots of currants. If you have ever tried to pick currants you know how vicious the thorns are, so we only got a couple bags full.

I was laughing at myself on the way up as I tried teaching life lessons the whole time, saying things like, "Life is like climbing a mountain, son". Am I really that Dad already?

River and Ridge on the summit

Summit ridge with the Moab Rim , Canyonlands and Arches in the background

River contemplating the descent with the Paradox Valley and the already snow capped San Juans in the back.

Alpine recliner. Mt Waas and Mill Creek Peak in the back

9/11

This morning I woke up at 6 AM to put American flags out on lawns for Patriots Day, apparently the scouts changed the time so nobody was there at 6, which gave me some time to think about 9/11 and what it means to me.

I had just started work in the Winnemucca BLM office the day before on September 10. Alina and the kids had not moved to Winnemucca yet, and were still in Springville helping take care of my father who had just suffered his aneurysm. I woke up in a hotel room by myself and turned on the TV and just sat there in shock until Alina called on the phone to ask if I was watching what was going on.

I went to work and they had locked the office, everybody knows that the BLM Office in Winnemucca is a very strategic target so it had to be shut down.

So I went to the only place I truly feel at home, the wilderness. I went up into the Santa Rosa Mountains Wilderness and hiked and thought. Thought about the same things everybody was thinking; Who would do this? Why would they do it? What inspires such evil in humans that they would willingly kill themselves and other humans that they did not even know? How do divine ideas and principles like those taught by Christ and Mohamed get twisted and used as justification for mass murder?

The events of 9/11 were completely unjustified and pure evil and those that perpetrated them should be brought to justice, no problem there. I am not exclusively a pacifist. Sometimes and in some circumstances aggression is warranted.

Now for the part that has been bothering me for 7 years. The politicization of 9/11. It seems as long as you can link something with 9/11 it justifies any action you want to take. Drill every square inch of public lands, no problem, we have to stop importing foreign oil from those people who blew up the World Trade Centers (if we drilled every square inch of the continent it would not stop us from having to import foreign oil). Torture prisoners and hold them without charging them, we have to get information from them to stop another 9/11 (Never mind that we have become exactly what we despise, I thought only the bad guys use torture?), invade and occupy Iraq, they had to have a something to do with 9/11 (Nope, absolutely nothing. But over 40% of Americans still believe there is a direct link).

As I watched the Republican National Convention and saw once again pictures of the towers waved in front of everybody to scare them into voting "for a President who knows how to win the war", I was disgusted.

Honor the dead, honor the county and the ideals it is based upon, and make sure you carefully consider your vote this November.

Long live the Red, White and Blue

Rowans Tree

Rowan trees I found in the Abajos the other day, also known as Mountain Ash. The tree was very important in Celtic Druid rituals. So if you ever need to keep a witch or an evil spirit away just find a Rowan.

Westwater

We floated Westwater Canyon yesterday. We put on as the sun was going down on Friday evening and floated in the dark for a couple of hours to camp at Upper Cougar Bar. My favorite camp on this section was Lower Cougar Bar, big white beach against the black rocks of Westwater, but high water this year removed the beach and Lower Couger Bar no longer exists. The River giveth and and the River taketh away, it will be back some day.

Everybody had good runs with some kayakers taking some swims, just to make things more exciting.



Bird, fish, beef and corn grilling

Paul going through the hole at Skull and me and Nate avoiding it

Bridges

Kachina Natural Bridge

White Canyon had been flowing from the rains the night before. I had forgotten that there is a relatively famous petroglyph panel at the base of this natural bridge. The panel has what appears to be a smiling brontosaurus, just like the kind Fred Flintstone rides at work. Young Earth Creationists (people who belive the Earth is 5,000 years old) site this petroglyph as proof that dinosouars and men lived together thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Earth cannot be older than 5,000 years old. Makes sense, there really is not other explanation. The cottonwoods and the bridge were sublime, if I were an Anasazi I would live right underneath it and raise my family and some of them did.

Getting down into White canyon on the ladders. Notice the little pocket of Douglas Firs tucked away into the nice shady north facing alcove.

I also did not know that the "Lightning House" ruin (my name) was in upper White Canyon. We unexpectedly ran into it near Kachina Bridge. I had seen lots of photos of it before but did not know of it's location. It is actually called "Conical Ruin" because of it's unusual construction, but the water marks in the back remind me of lightning striking the house.

Hangin with Teddy

Teddy and Me
Teddy and Muir

Whatever happened to Presidents like TR? I would probably vote Republican if they could muster up another candidate like Teddy. He was a true visionary. He was able to realize that uncontrolled use of our resources for cooperate gain was not good for the land or the country. He set aside vast tracts of the landscape to be managed for the people not for corporate gain. What a concept.

Fire update

The fire has pretty much run it's course and fortunatley only burnt the Pinhook Valley sign and not any campgrounds or cabins. Our campgrounds are up and running again.

Fire on the Mountain

We had a fire start in Castle Valley and burn up on to the mountain this afternoon (maybe last night with the lightning?). It has burned fast and as of about 6:00 it had burned up into the heavy timber of Miners Basin. We evacuated several of our campgrounds and have closed all the access roads into that portion of the Forest. I stole this photo off the blog of a Castle Valley resident.

We just drove up onto Sand Flats to see how much of the mountain had burned. It looks like most of Miners Basin had already burned. We are meeting in the morning to see what the damage is. Hopefully none of our campgrounds, historic cabins or other peoples cabins have burned.

Running from Lightning at Medicine Lake

Early out day at school so I took the boys to Medicine Lake (pond) a small little drop of water up at La Sal Pass that has an amazing amount of big fish for how small it is. South Mountain is in the background, the least visited part of the La Sals. We have spent a lot of time up there this summer trying to maintain our old trail system that has not seen maintainence for 15+ years. We did not get to fish long as a major monsoon thunderstorm moved in and started throwing lightning at the high peaks. Ridge is not real fond of lightning so we headed home.( I am afraid we scarred him for life in the San Juan thunderstorm a few years back).

Tuk reflected in Medicine Lake, pre storm

Big Meadows at La Sal Pass. Rowan made everybody line up according to age and height.

First Fish

Ridge finally caught his first fish tonight at Oowah Lake. He has been trying all summer and never gave up he was pretty excited. He let it go before we got photo documentation. If he looks a bit odd in the above photo it is because he got stung by a wasp just below his eye.

Left Fork

We made our semi annual pilgramage to the Left Fork last weekend. This section of river holds a lot of memories. It is the first place Dad took us backpacking. I still remember Creed wanting to carry all the heavy stuff, so we gave it to him and he ended up crying about a mile down the trail, and then we had to unload everything and redistribute the weight. Seems like I still have to do that every time we go out. Taking my boys out to places that I experienced at a young age with my Dad and brothers (and sisters) is one of my favorite things. Hopefully there will always be wild places for generations of Murdocks to go to.

Creed and I backpacking Old School on the Left Fork with the Springville All-Stars hat and signature Murdock bowl cut

Grandpa and the next generation, notice the frame pack and pink ski pole and I am pretty sure he is still wearing some form of Springville sports hat

Bagels for breakfast

Brothers on a Rock

More Left Fork

Left Fork Brown
Ty casting from a log

Ty giving a fish a ride down a waterfall

Ridge tempting fate on a log

Monsoons and Oowah

Monsoon season is in full swing on the Plateau. We had significant rains over the last week but none of them really hit town. All around lightning and rain were falling but Moab itself seemed to miss most of it. Arches got hit really hard on Monday so we went up after work and watched Courthouse Wash flood and hiked around the Windows with the Europeans. We did.nt know that Wall Arch had fallen until the next day.

Friday we went up tp Oowah Lake. I still am not sure how it got its name. River started catching fish before I even had my pole together.

Flipping canoes and climbing Tuk

Tyler, Bre, Todd, Ashley and Mckell came down to visit over the weekend. We took the canoes and kayak out on the River and ended up swimming in Whites Rapid. We ran through the biggest waves just to see what would happen.Everything I row or paddle now days is self bailing and I think that I forgot that canoes are not.We filled up with water pretty quick and with no floatation to displace the water we ended up slowly rolling over. You can see the whole sequence on the Moab Action Photos webpage.

We also climbed Tukinikivatz, the third highest peak in the La Sals (12, 482 ft.) and the most recognizeable.

Todd and Ashley climbing the last steep section of the summit ridge with Mount Peale in the background

Prayer flags on the summit with Ty (curly Mullet) and Todd (President Van Buren)