My Aching Feet!

The picture above is my aching feet after hiking for three days. I washed my feet with wipes two times while hiking out and they were still really dirty when I finished. Both years I have done this hike my feet have been so swollen afterwards. It took a good two days for the swelling to come down. I don't know if it is because I drank so much water or because I hiked 10 miles with a 40 pound pack.

Below is another picture I took of the grand canyon. Don't worry I hiked my nice new camera in there with me. I didn't buy the insurance on that camera for nothing. It is going on every trip I take.

A WEEKEND IN PARADISE

Due to the perfect timing of Pioneer Day in Utah I was able to go with some friends to Havasupai again this summer. I love this place and after two summers of going I still have not seen all there is to see. For those of you who don't know Havasupai is an Indian Villaga in the grand Canyon that claims to have water as amazing as Hawaii. I have not been to Hawaii to compare but hope to accomplish that after I graduate from grad school. The first picture is a view of the beautiful grand canyon at the start of the switch backs.

I went with Amber Ellis, Brett Alldridge, and a bunch of Ambers family. They were all great company and we had so much fun. Below is Brett and myself about 5 miles into our hike. Notice we are still smiling that is because there are still 5 more to go. Once at camp we took a nap and then we were ready to hike, swim, and play and we put our happy faces back on.

Havasu Falls is my favorite water fall ever and I really wanted a good picture of it to blow up and put in my new house. Oh, yea I am buying a townhouse. I have not really told anyone but I sign tomorrow. Am I ready for a lifetime of debt, no are you ever? But I am really excited to have my own place to decorate.

For some reason I think it is hilarious taht they have to helliopter the portable toilets in every week. They do the dirty job on Thursdays and so you can see the toilets are flying away. Hope no one is inside.

In order to see Mooney falls there is a crazy hike down the side of a mountain. This is the sign that they have hanging right before you risk your life. I think it is funny because everyone that goes climbs down but hey you were warned. The pictures of Mooney Falls don't really do it justice. It is a beautiful and powrful 200ft waterfall that is a must see. The trip was a blast and I am so gad I was able to go. Amber brought a waterproof camera and so more pictures will be coming!!

Last but not least we stopped at Hoover Dam to take some pictures. I am only posting this picture because when we crossed the dam the first time at 2am I dared Amber to ask the guard if they were gaurding Megatron. Well she did not think that it would be funny but her Dad did it and it was hilarious. I am sure the guard has heard that before but hey he kinda laughed and everyone in the car was busting up so I think it was worth it.

ANTELOPE ISLAND BY MOONLIGHT

Every year there is a bike ride on Antelope Island from 10pm to midnight called the Antelope Island By Moonlight Ride. This year my cousin Katie and her friends, Cyndee & Camille, were doing the ride and invited me to come. I was a little hesitant because I am not used to staying up that late and I did not want to pay the money. But in the end I agreed and had a great time. We got out to Antelope Island just in time to watch the beautiful sunset.

Once there we hung around until 10pm and then the ride began. I rode my mountain bike for this one and we rode with head lamps 11 miles out to a ranch on the island. At the ranch we had some fruit and granola bars and then we turned around and rode back. I was actully really nervous to ride in the dark but it was really fun. There was a full moon as well so it was really beautiful outside. There were over 1000 riders and so it was really fun to watch all the lights on the rode as we peddled along.

My only complaints were that the drive out to Antelope Isaland was really stinky and the t-shirt they gave us was really ugly. Other then that it was GREAT!! I was however extremely tired on Saturday and really did not do anything productive. Going to bed at 2 am just does not cut it for me anymore. We all had fun and feel like we will consider making it a yearly tradition.

SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

The softball team I play on won the tournament this week. We have taken second to the same team the past three years, but not this year. It was great!!!

My Hike Today!!!

Today I hiked with my backpacking pack on so I can start to prepare for Havasupai next week. My hike was really nice I went with my neighbor Nichole and we did a little hike up the American Fork Canyon. On our way back the highlight of the hike was seeing Mr. Moose. We had to go around him and get pretty close I was a little nervous. There were these teenage boys in the lake fishing and I said, "Do you think it is safe to go around." They replied, "There is only one moose we have not seen a baby so it should be fine." I then said, "If I die please report it so my parents know." One of the boys said, "Don't worry we have our video camera on in case it does attack." Oh good I will be famous after I die from a moose attack. The good news is that I did not die and the moose did not attack. It was sure fun to see one though.

Biking Fun

This week I barely squeeked in my 100 miles on my road bike. Come Friday I had only been on one 20 mile ride. Yikes!! I was still active doing other things but I hadn't road biked much, mind you I road my mountain bike a ton but that does not count towards my goal. On Friday I considered calling the goal off but then I decided I could suck it up and do some major biking. Friday I biked 54 miles and today I biked 27 miles and so I got my 100 mile goal. As if I had not biked enough the past two days I was bored, and doing homework was not really sounding very fun, so I talked Nichole into mountian biking with me and we biked up big springs. Big springs is where I snowshoe all winter long. It was the first time I have taken this bike off road and it was AWESOME. The bike was great and I really like it a lot more than my last mountain bike. Both my road bike and mountain bikes have frames specifically designed for women and I really like that. They are designed for shorter torsos and longer legs which is exactly what I have.

MORE THAN WE BARGAINED FOR!!!

On Saturday innocently enough three white, single, girls, head up onto Mt. Timpanogos at 6am in the morning (I might add we began the hike with a word of prayer and asking for protection). We have all hiked the mountain numerous times before. In fact last year we hiked it on July 3rd and this year we waited until July 5th. The day started off beautifully and it was very enjoyable.
And then two hours into our hike we ran into this. An ice field. However, there were footprints of previous hikers and so we did what others had done and crossed the field. Cautious yes but not really worried about how dangerous these little fields of ice can be.
The higher we hiked the more of these little ice fields, or glaciers, we ran into to. But like the hikers that had gone before we continued on our journey in hopes of summiting the mountain. We even noticed that there were ski marks on a number of the ice fields and we wondered how they stopped before running into the rocks below.
There were three especially dangerous ice fields. One that did not end by running into rocks it dropped off a cliff instead. Yikes!! Two the one that we had to climb up and realized the only way down would be to climb backwards in our previous tracks. And third the picture below the glacier that is very thin in the middle and has a waterfall running underneath it. We choose to get our feet wet instead of hiking across this one. And so we were becoming a little nervous but we were doing well and had thus far had avoided injury.
However it seemed that we were not destined to make it to the top of Timpanogos on this particular day. I crosssed an ice field that actually seemed pretty safe, and then Amber crossed the field. Now it was Julieannes turn and she stepped in the same places we did but one of the footings slipped away and Julieanne went with it. Probably one of the scariest things I have ever seen. Amber and I had to watch her slide twenty yards down the glacier and crash into the rocks while we stood quite helplessly on the dry ground above. Julieanne, although scrapped up, was fortunate enough to avoid serious injury. A miracle. While she sat on the bottom of the slide and got composure Amber and I noticed that her tracks resembled all those we had seen earlier, you know the ski tracks. Turns out no one was skiing down these ice fields they had experienced the same terror as we had. At that point we decided it was time to call the hike and wait until a later date to summit the mountain. The only problem was that now we had to cross back over all the ice fields again (10-15 approximately) including the three fields that had been really scary. It was a long hike back to the bottom and I was extremely tense and nervous. How are you not a little nervous after witnessing a friend slide and crash?

I was mostly frustrated with the fact that I had put myself in such a dangerous perdicament. I consider myself a cautious person and I found myself in a situation that was more then desireable. It felt so great to finally cross the last ice field and enjoy the last few miles of the hike. Lots of other people were on the mountain on Saturday, some that felt like they wouldn't stop until the top. I am so grateful we had the sense to turn around and that we were protected on our little journey. Had I known the entire time that those tracks in the snow were not from skiis I really do not believe that we would have gone as far as we did. Thankfully we are all safe and below are some of the beuatiful things we were able to see. It was actually an amazing day to be on the mountain and the landscape and flowers were amazing.
I learned that I will not hike timp again until the snow the snow on the back of the mountain has melted or if I do I will turn around at the first ice field before anyone gets hurt.

11 ways to tell if someone bikes alot!

So this is a picture of my mountain bike my new mode of transportation. I have been trying to bike everywhere I go unless I absolutely need to drive (for example: Kayaking, hiking, after dark, & chruch). So far so good.
11. They wince in pain whenever they sit on their bike because their bum is constantly sore.

10. There are bugs all over the frame of your bike. Similar to what happens to your windshield. Unfortunately it usually means there are dead bugs on you as well. See my frame below, so sad and honeslty who has time to wash your bike?

9. The person can strategically park their bike so that it will be in the shade after class when they will be riding home.

8. They have good self-esteem. In Utah it is an unwritten rule that when you seem someone biking or running you honk. Not really but I would say I average a minimum of two honks a ride. Man I must be HOT!!

7. Helmet hair. Not so attractive need I say more?

6. They are sweaty in class because it is 100 degrees outside and they are crazy enough to bike there instead of drive. This also means they have to coordinate their outfits so they don't look sweaty. It is a little challenging.

5. They are fit becasue on top of everything else they do each day they are also biking 5-20 miles extra as transportation. Which fortunately means they can eat more as well and who does not want that.

4. They have more money then their friends because they buy less gas.

3. Their legs are muscular because they are biking soooo much (they aren't afraid to show them off in spandex).

2. They have the best parking spot at BYU. They can personally park in front of every building on campus. Hey even the teachers and administrators can't do that. But who knows maybe the football coach can.

1. They have the sweetest tan line ever and might choose to swim with their shorts on occasionally so people don't look at them weird.

I really just wanted to show off my AWESOME tan line. I call it the biker tan. It happens every year and I think it is hilarious.