"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.

Skiing and Gardeneing

Today I woke up early and skied up to Laurel Ridge hoping for some good spring corn snow, but I found solid sheets of ice and death crust. While the valley below was basking in sun, the mountains stayed overcast all day and the snow never softened up. The snow up high is red colored from all of the wind the last couple of days blowing the sand up to the peaks. After skiing down the boys and I spent the rest of the day preparing our garden spot in the back yard and the sun was actually hot while we were doing it.

Hunting the Allosaurus

River, Rowan and I set out today to find a place called the "Mega Track" site. It is a slickrock valley north of Arches NP that has over 2,000 dinosaur tracks in it. After wandering around semi-lost (you're never really lost around Moab as long as you can see the La Sals) we finally stumbled in to the land of the lost.

We also found this strange striped layer of rock along a ridge on our hike back out, the boys called it "Tiger Ridge"

Ranger Trails

I found this old book in the archive section of the Moab library called "Ranger Trails" by John Riis. John was one of the first Rangers on what used to be called the La Sal National Forest, now called the Manti- La Sal. It is a very simply written book, but is was interesting to hear about the lives of the early Rangers. John was not Mormon and was one of the first to try and implement restrictions on forest uses. Good times in Southern Utah! He recieived a few death threats from some of the local ward members, but all said and done I think both sides ended up respecting each other. Up until the Forest Service was formed in 1907 it was pretty much a free for all on the forest. You could graze, mine and cut timber unrestricted and it was not an easy job to explain to locals why restrictions were needed. The job has definatley changed since the early 1900's, at least I have not received any death threats, yet.

The map above is from the inside cover of the book.

Blue Eyed Man

The days are getting long enough for after work/school exploring again so I took the younger boys out to look for a Barrier Canyon style pictograph we had heard about over the winter called the "Blue Eyed Man". After walking through a sea of tumbleweeds (called spikeys by the boys) and scaling a semi exposed slickrock ramp we found him. It is a pretty interesting panel. The main figures mouth is open in a rather eerie way and he actually does have blue eyes and some sort of blue tounge as well. There is also a snake figure that has some blue elements. I have seen a lot of green on pictographs down on Cedar Mesa, but never blue.

Back to the Slickrock

Driving back from Canada to Moab felt like I fast forwarded about 3 months. We went from glaciers and deep snow to redrock and sunshine (although we only have to drive 30 minutes and we're back into snow in the La Sals).

Feels like spring is in the air, the willows and cottonwoods have buds that are just getting ready to burst, birds that I haven't seen for months are showing back up in the area and tourists are calling wanting to know if they can get to the campsites and trailheads not realizing that we manage the mountain and it is still under deep snow.

Last weekend we made it out to the river (not in the river yet, just the beach) to collect iron with magnets from the beach sand for Rivers' science project and flew kites. You can also see that the beach is tamarisk free for now. Last year the beetles defoliated them and the BLM cut and burned a bunch around the campsites and beaches. Go beetles, bring back the beaches!


















Yesterday we hiked into lower Seven-Mile Canyon on an old stock trail that I hiked when I lived down here 14 years ago. It is a pretty amazing trail that the old timers built to get stock down into the canyon for water and it is still intact. It is hard to tell from the photo but the trail is pretty exposed, I am sure a few cows met a pretty harsh end falling off the edge.















And of course once down in the canyon the monkeys had to climb on every boulder we passed

BC trip

Here's a video from the trip to British Columbia.

You can see Creed's video from the trip here.

Selkirk Glaciers

Lunch in the sun on the Granite Glacier




Eric "Sondre" Mikkelsen on his 1860s solid wood handmade skis/bindings. Eric surprised everybody with his old school turns



Craig Childs making turns beneath an ice fall in the Adamants



Crossing the Granite Glacier


Selkirk Powder

Back from the Northland

Just got back today from our trip into the Northern Selkirk Mountains in big, beautiful, British Columbia. Eight straight days of skiing glaciers, climbing mountains, endless powder turns, and eating way too much food. Every day ended with a flaming hot sauna surrounded by some of the wildest most amazing country on the continent.

We drove up to Golden B.C. spent the night and woke up the next morning to find the heliport. The helicopter transported us and our gear into the Fairy Meadows Hut. The hut was built back in the 50's as a base camp for climbing and skiing. It's been remodeled over the years and is now one of the best backcountry ski huts in Canada.

Here's the summary of the week:

It took five helicopter loads to get the whole group and gear in to the hut and then it flew away and left us in silence for 7 days. The first day we spent unpacking food and gear and made a couple of runs on the slopes right out the backdoor of the hut.

Second day: It was clear with blue skies and we made it up and over the Friendship Col and into the alpine. We skied across the Gothic ice field, up the shoulder of Sentinel Peak, made a long run off Sentinel, and then skied over to the Fria Col for views of Mount Sir Sanford the highest in the Selkirks.

Third day: It was clear again and we skied out onto the Granite Glacier and almost to its head directly beneath the high Adamant Peaks. Good snow, more crevasses, and we saw a large ice fall off of Austerity Peak? onto the glacier. Watching house sized chunks of ice rip down a mountain always makes you feel small, insignificant and fragile.

Fourth day: We skied up the Granite Glacier to Pioneer Pass and skied off an apron coming of the West Face of Sentinel Peak. Good snow and more ice falls.

Fifth day: We skied the trees and slopes around the hut. Weather started moving in.

Sixth day: It was windy with some new snow, skied up to Pioneer Pass again and skied the glacier in perfect snow conditions. Perfect day skiing in amazing terrain.

Seventh day: We tried to get over the Friendship Col and summit Sentinel, but we were turned back by unstable snow and wind loading. Skied the the slopes around the hut the rest of the day.

Eighth day: Fly day, a foot of light new snow fell overnight. We cleaned the hut, packed the gear and carried it to the helipad. We then made runs in deep snow all morning until the helicopter arrived and we flew out.

Over all we had great weather and conditions. There were only two casualties--one eye gash from jumping off a cliff and one slice across the nose by a ski edge after a face plant.

I'm trying to figure out how I can move the family up to British Columbia to spend next winter in one of the huts.

Here are a few shots I took, I will put more on later.















Headed up the Granite Glacier with the Adamants in the background











Creed skiing off the shoulder of Sentinel Peak on the Gothic icefield with the Canadian Rockies in the background. Mount Robson the highest point in the Rockies is the big peak on the left side of the photo.












Turns off of Sentinel Peak and the Gothic icefield. I think the tiny black dots are Creed, Craig and Eric















Sunny turns on the Granite Glacier beneath the "Stickle"

Valentine

This is Brian's lover, Alina. I've hacked into his blog, on this Valentines Day, to give him a virtual card. (Because I love you, and love to embarrass you.)












TUNED IN

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
George Washington Carver (1864 - 1943)

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

SUCCESSFUL

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Herman Cain

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

PATIENT

If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.
Hal Borland (1900 - 1978)

STRONG

The first prerequisite of an advanced being is a sense of humor.
Richard Bach (1936 - )

HUMOROUS

BRIGHT

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Between whom there is hearty truth, there is love; and in proportion to our truthfulness and confidence in one another, our lives are divine and miraculous, and answer to our ideal. . . . Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.

What is the singing of birds, or any natural sound, compared with the voice of one we love?
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

LIVING IN MELODY

41 inches in 72 hours and other stuff

Last weekend we ended up getting 41 inches of snow in 72 hours in the La Sals and almost nothing in town, it was almost an all time record for the La Sals . The plows still have not got up to the trailhead as they are still digging Monticello out.

This has been the first weekend with the sun out and relative warmth in a while. And as much as I love deep powder and winter, a little warm sun did get me thinking about sitting on warm slickrock, green cottonwood leaves, and boats drifting down the river. But before I let myself dream to much about spring I quickly snapped out of it to start thinking about the upcoming trip to British Columbia. Once we get back from the north maybe I will start thinking about spring again.

I took this photo yesterday from up on Poison Spider Mesa, it is hard to take a bad photo of the La Sals, but I really like this perspective with all the Navajo sandstone fins in the foreground. The fins are in the "Behind the Rocks" Wilderness Study Area (WSA). A very hard area to get around in even though it is right next to town. Between the mesa top and the fins is where the Colorado flows. The big peaks in the back are Tukinikivatz (supposedly a Ute word meaning where the sun lingers last, which it does) and Mellenthin (named after an early Forest Ranger shot by a draft dodger hiding out on the mountain). The ski shots from my last post were taken between the two high peaks on Laurel Ridge.
















MLK day we hiked back up to the tunnel in the unnamed side canyon of Courthouse Wash . The kids now call it the "Worm Hole". It is an interesting natural formation.

The mighty Colorado frozen over a couple of weeks ago. People have been walking across it to access climbs on the other side of the river. Hard to belive that is the same river we float and swim in all summer in the blistering heat.

La Sal Face Shots

We are providing a Level I Avalanche Class this weekend in the La Sals so I was out playing in the snow today. We were forecast to get 3-4 inches last night but ended up closer to 18 inches of super nice niceness (as Todd would say ). The skiing was superb.

The class headed into the hills, yes we even let snowboarders come. We are equal opportunity




















and Dave skiing the goods

Hap, Hap, Happy Birthday to my Luvva

Happy Birthday Alina,
I tried to post this on the Wild Murdocks Blog but it would not let me so this will have to do.
I just wanted to wish you Happy Birthday and let you know how much I love an appreciate you (in as public a forum as possible). You are the greatest companion and friend I could ever ask for and my life (and many others) are full because of you. Thanks for all you do.

Bikes and Rock Art

Anyone who knows me knows that I have long made fun of mountain bikers/sprocket heads. However, mainly to get in shape for our upcoming British Columbia ski trip, I started biking some of the trails and have actually really started to enjoy it. I will not be purchasing any spandex or Lycra in the near future, and I would much rather be skiing, rafting, hiking or on the back of a horse, but I now know why so many people come here with bikes strapped on top of their vehicles. The best part is that I am usually so worried about dieing or breaking my neck, that I don't even realize how much of a work out it is.


Tyler crossing frozen Kane Creek on the Amasa Back Trail





















River on the Bar M Trail at the very head of Courthouse Wash.





















The Owl Man Panel. The Man in the panel is about five feet tall. All panels have a story behind them, but this is one where you just know there is some significant event being portrayed. You can also see the Birthing Panel from this site and several other significant rock art sites.

Ancient Turns

This is where it all began. Pure Skiing. Climbing mountains and skiing back down. No lifts, no motors, just some sticks strapped on your feet, some snow, and a mountain.