The Clark Club Dirt

2011-03-07T09:50:00.002-07:00

Now I have my own camera I'm gonna try starting to keep this update again.

Michelle & I went to St. George for a couple of days to go mountain biking. We biked almost 40 miles and did some really fun trails.

This first set of pictures are all from the Paradise Canyon ride.

Brian riding on the Paradise Rim.

Smooching at the top of Paradise Rim.

This is an overview of Santa Clara from the top of Paradise Rim. The green hills are in the background are the Barrell Roll & Rim trails we rode just before doing this ride.

Michelle riding on the Turtle Wall trail on the way up to Paradise Rim.

Michelle showing off some of the scenery on the Chuckwalla trail.

Michelle & Brian posing just off the Chuckwalla trail.

This next pictures are from our ride on the Zen trail:

Michelle riding a tricky section.

Brian standing near an overlook on the Zen trail. The trail down below in the background is the Bearclaw Poppy trail which we rode right before Zen.

Michelle sitting on top of the world.

Brian riding a kind of steep section on Zen.

Hiking & biking

2009-10-18T18:11:00.004-06:00

Hiking to Dead dog falls (Battle creek falls). While Brian & Krista went biking at Lambert Park, everyone else hiked up Battle Creek Canyon to the falls. This amazing hike is just 4 minutes from our house. The falls are about 3/4 mile up the trail.

Andrea, Scott & Michelle on the trail up

The boys in a little cave along the trail.

Grandma & the boys at the waterfall.

Adam, Todd & Scott playing on a rock.

A close up of Adam on the rock

The whole group at the waterfall: Scott, Grandma, Todd, Michelle, Andrea, Adam

Michelle & the boys in front of a stream along the trail.

We don't have any pictures of any of our bike rides. Michelle hasn't had the chance to get out, but I (Brian) went out with Darby, a friend from work, for a few minutes on Friday. Then I did a LOT of biking with the kids on Saturday. First, I was headed out to ride Saturday morning and Krista asked to go so we headed down to Lambert Park. We had a ton of fun and Krista did an amazing job of learning to ride on rocks.

I had figured out a new place to park that required less driving and had a nice trail to Lambert Park. On this new route there is a really cool 1/2 acre or so dirt bike park (it's an empty lot with lots of dirt hills). I thought the boys would love it. So while the girls went up to Salt Lake I took Adam, Scott & Todd there. Todd & Scott were in seventh heaven. Adam played in the dirt a bit but got bored quickly. There were people on dirt bikes doing 12 foot high jumps with 360s and all kinds of cool stuff. The other boys had SO much fun that Adam stayed with a babysitter and we went back again. Scott, Todd & I rode the access trail to Lambert Park and a little around the park and then went back to the dirt bike park.

I'm learning to ride clipless and having a tough time doing it with the scrapes on my knees to prove it. I definitely am seeing why I will like them once I get them figured out.

Happy Birthday Adam!

2009-10-18T17:50:00.002-06:00

Hey Blogspot just added a new option to do bigger pictures!!!

Adam turned 4 today. After Todd being birthdayzilla for his 4th birthday we were a little worried how Adam would act on his birthday. He was really good. It was fun to see the excitement and pure joy in his face with every present he opened.

Michelle asked Adam what he wanted for breakfast on his birthday and he said, "Rice Krispy Treats". So here's Adam getting ready to eat his birthday breakfast. (Oh the advantages of being a 4th child.)

Here's an example of the happiness Adam exhibited opening his presents as he checks out his doggy towel.

Adam was jumping on a trampoline just before he went to Smoking Apple for dinner. We picked him up on the way from the neighbor's house to find out that all he had was wet socks and no shoes. Since Brian was there to pick him up and Michelle wasn't Adam ended up at the restaurant as follows...

Adam loved his new Spidey Suit and slept in it overnight.

Adam had monster cupcakes for his birthday cake. Putting the candles in was serious business.

I (Brian) took Adam to Zurchers to pick out a pinata. I was worried that he would have difficulty picking something - and then finally pick something only to start crying on the way home that he wanted something else. However, on the way there he announced with conviction that he wanted a pirate ship pinata because he also had a lego pirate ship. I was relieved that it was going to be so easy. When we got to Zurchers they had an awesome pirate ship pinata. But... Adam was adamant that it needed to have pirates on it - which of course it didn't. So he decided he didn't want a pirate ship after all - fortunately he didn't freak out or anything. So then we went ALL through the store looking for a pinata that he wanted. We looked and looked and he kept turning everything down. Finally on the very last row I asked him if he wanted a birthday cake pinata, he said "sure". Even better he stayed happy with it and never changed his mind.

We couldn't find our usual plastic bat and used a broom handle instead. Here's Adam swinging away - he was laughing, giggling, & chortling the whole time. The cake pinata worked out great - it had 2 different compartments - Krista broke the first compartment open after everyone had had a turn at bat and then Adam got to take a 2nd turn to break the 2nd compartment open.

Here's cousin Kayla taking her turn at bat.

Adam loves balloons. So I thought it would be fun to have balloons at his party. Fortunately he's at least as happy with balloons that don't float as with helium balloons. So we bought a pack of 76 balloons and blew them up for his birthday party. The next day we were about to have the kids pop them but Adam didn't want them popped and was on a mission to save them. We decided to let them stick around another day or two. Here's Adam and Scott playing in them the next day.

The Haunted Railroad

2009-10-18T16:56:00.003-06:00

We went up to Vivian Park to take a ride on the Heber Creeper. It was a busy day so we barely made it in time for the 8:30 departure. We were the very last group to board - it took us a long time to get out of the house - there were 3 adult females in our house so the amoeba factor was going strong - that's what I call what happens when there is a large group (usually family) gets together and it takes FOREVER for the group to move. Example usage: They amoebaed to the front lawn for family pictures.

We decided to brave the cold and sit in a open car on the train. We couldn't hear the ghost stories they were telling over the intercom very well, but I think we had more fun that way - it was a little chilly but we weren't too cold. They did a good job and we had a lot of fun. On they way out they had panoramas for different ghost stories. Then on the way back all the spooks from the stories were on the train.

It was funny because the spooks all targeted Todd. Todd had a great time - one spook got him really good when she asked if he wanted to pet her (dead) kitty. He said yes, and when he went to pet it she had her hand in it and it attacked him with it. He jumped about a mile high and laughed his head off. Scott & I were watching and thought it was hilarious.

The sky was perfectly clear and the stars were stunning.

The whole family enjoying the train ride.

Scott standing.

Grandma & Andrea

A couple of spooks passing each other. The dead gunslinger on the right was really good - she had a great gunslingers swagger and hung out on our car for quite a while.

Hee Haws Preschool Fieldtrip

2009-10-18T11:53:00.003-06:00

Adam & I (Brian) went to Hee Haws for his preschool field trip. Adam was grinning and laughing the whole time.

Adam was pretty proud of himself for climbing up this tractor by himself - the best picture of the day.

Holy Cow!

Adam loved jumping on the hay trampoline

Sliding down the slide - Adam decided it was too scary to do more than once - it took him a long time to muster the courage to slide down this time.

Feeding the sheep

Adam asked me set him up on this hay bail and take his picture.

We tromped through a huge pumpkin patch where Adam got to pick out a pumpkin. He had to pick a small pumpkin so his choices were limited, but he was THRILLED with his green pumpkin.

Not part of the field trip, but here's a picture of Adam playing Rock Band at the Darby & Minola's house. I had no idea he was so excited to be taking his turn.

Fall Colors

2009-10-04T08:47:00.004-06:00

With the storm that came in Tuesday/Wednesday Michelle & I realized that our opportunity for riding bikes in fall colors was limited - it was now or never. So we juggled schedules (especially Michelle juggled her schedule) to make time for a couple of bike rides.

On Thursday we rode Big Springs Hollow. On the first time up Michelle absolutely kicked my butt. Apparently those spinning classes are really helping Michelle. I was panting the whole way up and she beat me by a couple of minutes. But I did finally make it the whole way without touching. The second lap I raised my seat and stayed with her better. It was a definite reminder that I need to get in better shape. But at the beginning of the summer I was staying in first gear and couldn't make it without several rests - so it was gratifying to see the improvement. On the 2nd lap we were running tight on time to get Krista & Scott to cross country - I think we made that 2nd lap in 40 minutes.

Big Springs was very pretty although a lot of the trees had already lost most of their leaves.

This is me just getting to the top on the first lap - I was about to die. Michelle was just hanging out at the top waiting for me. This was about the most out of breath I've ever been mountain biking.

A picture of a meadow on the way down.

Michelle riding through the leaves on the way down. It was really fun to ride through the fallen leaves.

A picture of us sitting on the trail just enjoying being together. Michelle especially loves this picture - I think she put it as her background on her computer.

This was one of the rare trees that still had all of its leaves so we stopped for a picture.

Brian riding through the leaves.

Then on Friday we rode the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that starts at Bridal Veil Falls. The leaves on this were absolutely perfect. This is an interesting trail because the first 1 1/2 miles is a really tough uphill that is rocky and steep - the last 1/4 mile is really steep - the rest isn't too bad. Then it flattens out for 3 plus miles. The trees were absolutely beautiful on the flat part.

Here's Michelle and I right where it flattens out. You can see the amazing fall colors in the background. Thanks to the guy from the other group of bikers for taking this picture for us.

This picture gives a small sense of how pretty the leaves were on the trail. There was lots and lots of color.

Michelle riding with the mountain ablaze with color in the background.

This picture was taken in the same spot as the one of Michelle above but looking down the mountain - you can a touch of the Provo Canyon highway in the upper left.

Autumn Hike

2009-10-03T21:12:00.003-06:00

We went hiking as a family for family home evening on Monday. We hiked from Summit Parking lot toward Aspen Grove. It was beautiful with lots of gold from the Aspen leaves changing colors. Adam fell asleep in the car so he was a little grumpy when we first started, but he had a great time once he woke up. He was heavy in the kid backpack - I'm thinking that may be his last hike riding in a backpack - by next year he will probably be too big.

We were racing daylight so we didn't get to hike all the way to Aspen Grove. We went down 50 minutes and then actually were faster hiking back up - about 40 minutes. Scott's friend Mita came with us. There is a ton of lush vegetation on this trail - it was very pretty.

Here's Brian & Adam at the beginning of the hike. Adam is still waking up and isn't too happy. I almost turned around and went took Adam back to the van because he was screaming/crying right in my ear, but he really wanted to be on the hike so he calmed down quickly - this was taken just after he calmed down.

Scott, Mita & Todd ran ahead and hid a little off the trail to hide from us. We started getting on their case for leaving the trail and then decided they were in a perfect spot for a photo. Shame on us...

Todd enjoying the hike down

Once we got to the bottom of where we had time to hike we finally started seeing colors from the oak tree. Here's Scott in one of his crazy poses with some colors in the background.

And here's Todd just a little further down the trail showing off the fall colors.

Again about the same spot showing off the scenery.

And here's Adam on the way back up, having the time of his life. He was laughing and playing a lot on the way up. He was especially happy to get to hold some twigs and leaves and harass me with them.

Fields of gold...

Brian & Michelle with Adam still waking up

Scott, Todd & Michelle

Michelle looking down at the valley.

Looking up through the Aspens

Todd, Scott & Mita in the vegetation.

Todd among the Aspens

Brian & Adam hiking along.

Pole Line Pass & BST

2009-09-27T16:39:00.001-06:00

This was a busy week so I only had time for 2 quick bike rides. The first ride was from Tibble Fork to Poleline Pass on the dirt road. The ride up was hot and the ride down was really cold. There were some pretty fall colors in a few places, but those pictures didn't turn out very good. Here's some other pictures. On Saturday Krista watched the boys for a bit while I rode from our house up to the top of the BST.

Lindon Elementary PTA Carnival- September 18, 2009

2009-09-20T18:35:00.002-06:00

Friday night our elementary school held their annual carnival and Bar-B-Que. Over all it was a success. Money was raised, but most importantly everyone had a blast. I (Michelle) was there for MANY hours, but it was all worth it when I watched many happy children running from booth to booth. Mr. Thealer put it best when he said, "It's work, but fun work because you're with great people that you enjoy!" We got some nasty weather towards the end, but it all turned out good.

Krista and her friend Megan and ShaLynn running the TP throw booth.

Adam had so much fun, I could never get him to stay still for a picture. This was the best we could do.

Scott's teacher Miss Chritiansen in the dunking booth. Scott was too cheap to use 3 whole tickets to try to dunk her

Brian helping kids build rockets at the Rocket Launch Booth

Brian being a good sport and getting in the dunking tank so that his boys could throw balls and dunk him. Thanks Rick and Cheri for setting up the tank in your driveway the next morning. Rick took his turn for his boys too!

Fire Station Field Trip September 17, 2009

2009-09-20T18:07:00.002-06:00

Adam and his friend Nathaniel Hassell at the Pleasant Grove Fire Station. They played a ball bouncing game, watched a safety movie, did a craft, and of course went into the station and saw the BIG truck. The truck is only 3 days old and is the biggest truck in the western US. He had so much fun, he never ate the lunch that I packed until dinner. Boys and Trucks!

3 Bike Rides

2009-09-20T11:03:00.006-06:00

Ride #1 - Provo Canyon

I (Brian) did this ride by myself. It was a quick high mile ride. I started at Provo Canyon and then rode up to Vivian Park on the Provo River Parkway. On the way back down I took the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) up to the overlook over Orem/Provo then back down to the mouth of Provo canyon. A quick 20 miles.

On the way up the BST there were a bunch of wild turkeys. There were big - maybe 18 inches tall and they weren't very smart at getting out of the way of my bike.

On the way down, there was a HUGE tarantula on the Provo River Parkway.

Ride #2 - Bonneville Shoreline Trail - PG to Orem

Michelle & I did a quick evening ride. We didn't get started until almost 7 so we were racing daylight. This was Michelle's first time riding this entire section of the BST. It is surprisingly difficult uphill, but was a lot of fun. We got off the trail with some daylight to spare and then rode home mostly on the Murdock canal and the bike trail in Lindon. It was getting pretty dark by the time we got home. Usually clouds go from West to East, but this time the clouds went East to West. A bunch of nasty rain clouds came out of the canyon. We only got rained on a little bit, but it was really weird to see the clouds do that.

Michelle getting ready to ride - the bikes are still on the trunk.

Michelle riding up the last nasty steep part as the sun gets close to setting. Michelle says if it looks like she is about to die, that is because she is about to die!

Ride #3 - Mill Canyon / Deer Creek South Fork

We had a fairly busy Saturday with pinewood derby cars and Michelle's Chino III ward reunion, but we found some time for a nice bike ride. It was longer drive and a shorter ride, but we had a fantastic time. This ride has a mix of asphalt, dirt road, and single track. The deer creek south fork downhill is still my favorite trail.

Brian just off the trail looking down on the Cascade Springs Road side of the Ridge 157 trail.

Michelle at the same spot as Brian above just facing the other direction.

The next 4 pictures are a panorama of pictures taken all standing in the same spot. This is the spot where the ridge 157 gets to the top so that you are an on the west side of the ridge instead of the east.

Facing West towards the entrance of American Fork canyon/ Tibble Fork.

Facing South towards Timp

Facing West looking down at some of the trees changing colors.

Facing South with a view of the trail we are about to ride down.

The one problem with this ride is that there were a LOT of muddy spots on the trail. We would walk or ride around them to avoid putting ruts in the trail. It was a pain - here's an example of one of the worse mud puddles in the middle of the trail.

The next 4 pictures are pictures of the ride down Deer Creek South Fork from Ridge 157. The mix of Aspens and Pine Trees is absolutely gorgeous.

Adam Stories

2009-09-13T09:49:00.005-06:00

#1
One evening last weekend I (Brian) was home alone with Adam. We went to get pizza at Little Caesar's. They gave Adam an orange balloon to his delight. Later in the evening we were in his room with Adam on his bed holding his balloon while I was digging through drawers looking for pajamas.

As he was standing there, he muttered something like "will it fly?". I answered " huh?". He answers "If I jump, will it fly?" I still don't know what he's driving at.

Suddenly while holding his balloon he jumps off his bed and lands on the floor. Dissapointed that the balloon didn't carry him into the air he simply said - "Oh darn" in a slightly quiet voice.

#2
This morning Adam came up to me with legos and asked,
"Dad, what do you want me to build for you? I'll build you anything you want."
Me: "A tower"
Adam: "No, I'm not building you a tower. I'll build you anything you want..."
Me: "How about a tower then?"
Adam: "No"
Me: "OK, how about a house?"
Adam: "I can't build a house."
Me: "OK, what can you build?"
Adam: "Um... I can build a boat"
Me: "OK, build me a boat"
Adam: "Do you want a vizzy boat?"
Me: "What's a vizzy boat?"
Adam: "Um...the kind you can put root beer on"
Me: "Oh, you're going to build me a fizzy boat"
Adam: "Yeah"
Me: "Yeah, I want a fizzy boat"
Adam: "OK, I'll build you a vizzy boat"

12 Hours Of Sundace and Other Bike Rides

2009-09-13T09:38:00.008-06:00

With the kids back in school Michelle is having a much harder time finding time to go biking - gone are the days where we could leave the kids in bed and head out biking. Now they have to be sent off to school. However we did have time to go for a quick evening ride from our house and up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. We made it almost to the highest point near Dry Canyon before we decided we'd better head back to get home before dark. Michelle was way stronger than me on this ride - she had to slow way down and wait for me to rest a couple of times.

The next week I (Brian) had the chance to ride the BST again by myself on the way to work.

Below is a ride I did last week. It's basically the Area 51 loop that I've done before, but I also added the Roller Coaster trail then back up the dirt rode and Betty to Area 51. I took a wrong turn and went the wrong way on Area 51 for a little while, but I was really glad I did because that part of the trail was really really fun to ride. Once I hit a steep part I knew for sure I was going the wrong way and turned around.

Last Saturday (Sept 5) Michelle and the kids were at the story telling festival all day so I took the opportunity to do a ton of bike riding. I got up early and started out on cascade springs road and rode the 252 loop counterclockwise. Just when I got to the stop it started to ran. Then it started to rain hard. Pretty soon the trail and my bike were a muddy mess. I was disappointed thinking that my long day of biking was going to have an abrupt halt. Pretty soon my tires were caked with mud so that they were super slippery. Between that and the muddy ground it didn't take much for me to wipe out. Fortunately I was going super slow and it didn't hurt much. By the time I got back to my car the rain had pretty much stopped so I thought I'd give it a try and ride some more. So then I rode up Cascade Springs Road then up a dirt road to 157, then followed it across and rode down 252. By the time I hit the dirt road the rain was stopped and by the time I hit 157 the mud was gone - yay! So the total ride made a nice figure 8 as seen in the picture below. I finished up at about 10 am and drove down to Sundance.

I got started riding at Sundance at about 11 am. I rode around Sundance until about 3pm. After riding around a bunch, I rode up the ski lift once.

Then on the way down it started to rain again. I tried to take the shortest route to my car and ended up on a dirt road with lots of loose rocks. Before I realized how bad the rocks were I was going too fast and out of control. For wrecking, I did a pretty good job - I jumped to the side so I landed on dirt instead of the rocks and landed on one foot. Unfortunately I put a knee down and banged it really hard. Between the rain and the hurt knee it was clearly time to be done. By the end of the day I had ridden somewhere around 32 miles with 4000+ feet vertical. I was supposed to go to the storytelling festival that evening, but my knee hurt bad enough and was stiff enough that I just stayed home with Adam.

The main reason I went to Sundance on 9/5 was because I was thinking about riding 12 hours of Sundance on 9/12. My friend from work, Darby, and I were talking about riding this as a team. However, when I went to work on Tuesday, Darby's bike frame was broken from his riding that weekend, so he wasn't able to do 12 hours of Sundance. I almost decided not to do it because my knee was pretty sore from my bike wreck. After hiking Timp on Monday it was really tight. I rode a little in front of our house on Tuesday night and my knee didn't feel good at all. I decided I would go for a quick ride on Wednesday and see how it felt. I did the Bonneville Shorline Trail noted above - it was about 1,000 feet vertical including the road up to the trail. My knee felt fine so I decided to register for the race.

I was nervous doing this race. I was well aware that I would be way way outclassed by the other people there. First of all, pretty much everyone out riding trails is already faster than me. Second, these are guys who race bikes all of the time. Third, this isn't your standard race - it's a long difficult race so only the more serious or crazy riders would be there. Having never done any race at all I was really nervous to do it, but I like the idea that there wasn't a finish line - you just ride as many laps as you can in 12 hours. I only slept a few hours the night before and got up at 4:30 to get ready and head to the race.

There's too much to tell about the race to even try. But a summary of things is

I had a lot of fun
People were really nice and supportive
Lots and lots of people passed me lots and lots of times
I rode 6 laps, 11.5 hours for a total of 48 miles and around 6000 feet vertical
I was dead last by a long ways. I think first place did 17 laps or so - 2nd to last probably did 8-9 laps. (Ok there was one lady, Brandi, whose partner didn't make it and ended up riding solo, who also did 6 laps, but she finished her 6th lap way before me.)
Me first 4 laps took me about 6 hours. My last 2 laps took 5 1/2 hours. It was an interesting experience to push my body to the limit. I didn't push so hard that it was torture, I just had to slow it down a lot once my body was tired.
I ended up with my race number being #1. Part of the trail went under the ski lift and there were some kids on the chair lift that were really impressed that I was #1.
I'm way less sore today than I expected.
My knee was stiff but did great.
My favorite trail section that I rode was Sherwood Forest. Archies loop, Boneyard, Switchback Alley, Speedtrap & Bobsled were really fun too.
Michelle came up to visit to support me. It was a great surprise. It really tickled me that she took the time to come up. She drug an unwilling Adam & Todd along with her. I saw her between laps 5 & 6 and hung out in the parking lot with them for a half hour. She had great timing - she only waited about 1/2 hour - that lap took me over 2 hours. Always it was exactly the time that I needed to stay and rest for a while before heading back out.
I had a great time & people were really nice, but I still felt like I was quite out of place. I had been considering trying out mountain bike racing, but this convinced me at least for now that I don't want to. It's because I think racing would take the things out of biking that I like the most - I just enjoy being out there and seeing how pretty things are and how fun it is to be riding. I don't want to worry about the racing aspect, although the social part of the racing aspect would be a lot of fun.
Will I do 12 hours of Sundance again next year? I don't know. I did enjoy it, and I might want to see how much I improve, and the people were super super nice and supportive, but on the other hand I think maybe I would rather just be out riding. I definitely want to do a 12 hour ride again and see how far I can go. I'm just not sure if I'd want to do it at a formal event like this. I definitely will be back to ride at Sundance again.

Here's a picture Michelle took of me riding around in the parking lot between laps 5&6. You can see Sundance in the background where the track was - that road on the left was the first part of the track - and it's a lot steeper than it look in the picture.

Hiking Timp

2009-09-13T09:37:00.009-06:00

For Labor Day we decided to hike Timp. Todd wanted to give it a try ever since he heard we saw a seven year old on top when we hiked it earlier this year. I had hurt my knee in a mountain bike crash on Saturday, but everyone was wanting to go so badly that I decided to suck it up and give it a try. Adam spent the night and day with Grandma & Grandpa.

Ben Crawford hiked Timp with us last year and he decided to come along with us again this year. Also, Scott decided to come last minute (he wasn't too sure about it after getting sick on the Timp hike last year and not liking the Baldy hike last month.) At first Ben wanted to leave at 2 am and we were game, but then he had a friend who was going to come with him and we decided to pick him up at 5 am instead. Ben's friend didn't end up able to come but we decided to stick with our 5 am plan.

By the time we got ready, we didn't get to Ben's house until 5:30. His house was dark and there was no sign of Ben. We tried knocking, and calling, and texting and gave up at about 5:40. Just as we were pulling away we got a text from Sheree that Ben was up now and getting ready. His alarm didn't go off, but he scrambled to get ready. In the end we got to Timpanookee at about 6:15. There wasn't any parking left at the trailhead so I dropped them off, had Ben carry my backpack and parked way down the road and high-tailed it to catch up with everyone. We were reunited on the trail at about 6:45.

For quite a while, things were uneventful. The kids made amazing time. For a long time, Michelle & Todd were way in front of us with. We weren't going nearly fast enough for Ben though. Our slower pace was driving him crazy. He would wait behind us sometimes and then hike fast/run to catch up. He was able to keep his sanity this way.

The weather was ideal - we pretty quickly shed our early morning layers. After a couple/three hours we made it to the approximate halfway point. There is a long rocky straight ridge that gets a little more steep. A couple of things happened here. 1) We got to the point where the sun made it high enough that it was shining on us. 2) We hit the switchbacks which were more steep than the hike so far. 3) Todd hit the point where he got tired.

Krista, Ben & I went ahead for a mile or so and then waited for the others. The others made amazing time and were only a few minutes behind us. By this point Todd was feeling really tired and looked quite pale. He said he was feeling sick. I told the others to go ahead and I'd wait with Todd and see what happened. Michelle would have preferred to stay behind but with my hurt knee she agreed to go ahead. Todd & I took it a lot slower at this point, but I was concerned that Michelle might be waiting for us at the meadow near Emerald Lake, so I pushed Todd to go as fast as he could with not feeling well.

When we made it to the start of the meadow and Michelle wasn't there we relaxed and slowly meandered up the meadow toward where the trail goes up to the saddle. Todd was feeling better, but he decided that he'd had enough so we ate lunch (which was grasshopper cookies and grapes, since Michelle had the other food in her backpack) and just relaxed in the meadow. It was pretty windy but we found a nice spot by some rocks that broke the wind. We had a great time relaxing and Todd had a blast on the rocks. This was a 12 mile round trip hike for Todd - not bad at all for a 7 year old! (We actually saw a 4 year old and a 2-3 year old that hiked all the way to the summit - amazing.)

In the mean time Michelle, Krista, Ben & Scott headed up to the summit. Scott made it! Scott making it to the summit was the highlight of the hike. He was so close last year and was so sick. But this year he made it and didn't get sick. Krista also met her Sunday School teacher - Brian Boyce at the top. Krista was rather shocked by Brother Boyce's claim that this was his 527th trip to the top when he signed the log book a few lines above us. Hummmm?! She was also disappointed that his grilled hamburgers were not waiting at the top as promised.

Finally, we were reunited in the meadow and began the long walk down. Michelle & I with our bad knees were slower than the kids - but they had to stop more. Between our bad knees and lots of breaks for the kids it took us almost as long to get down as up. Todd & I went ahead to get the van and met back in the parking lot. Those who went to the top finished the approximately 15 mile hike in about 10 hours.

We dropped Ben off and were heading straight to a labor day BBQ at Grandma & Grandpa Clark's that we were late for. However, Todd got car sick and maybe a little sick from the long hike and threw up in the car. So we headed home for a quick pit stop to clean up (and ironically everyone but Todd took a quick shower - ah to be seven and not care.) Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa's for a delicious dinner of steak & salmon.

Scott, Brian, Krista & Ben hiking up the trail - Michelle & Todd finally decided to wait for us to catch up with them.

Scott, Ben & Krista doing some kind of pose??? on the way down.

Ben, Scott & Krista on the way down.

The moon setting and the sun rising.

Brian, Todd & Krista resting near the halfway point. We are still in the shade for a few minutes, but about to get to the sun.

Krista signing the book in the "shack" at the summit.

Scott at the saddle with a mountain goat in the background.

The same shot of Scott at the saddle but you can see the summit in the background.

Scott signing the book at the summit. Way to go Scott!

Ben, Scott & Krista posing at the summit overlooking Utah Valley.

Todd hiking.

Krista, Scott, & Ben doing another pose at the top.

Krista, Michelle & Scott on top of the world.

Ben & Scott doing ??? next to the shack at the summit.

Timpanogos StoryTelling Festival

2009-09-13T09:36:00.006-06:00

Our family loves the Timpanogos Story Telling Festival. We go every year. It is always the first weekend in September. This year Scott's class went on a field trip to the festival the day before the public was permitted so I (Michelle) got an extra dose. The picture to the left is Scott listening with some of his friends in his class.

We attended Look Who's Talking on Thursday night. On Friday Night I took the boys to Bedtime Stories with Brian's sister Kristy and her kids. We then met Brian at the Scera Shell for My Favorite Stories while Krista went up to Shivers in the Night with some of her friends. I spent most of Saturday at the beautiful park in Provo Canyon enjoying the stories and then in the evening the kids and I met Kristy and Jason at Laughin' Night. Some of our favorite tellers of the weekend were Carmen Dedie, Bill Lepp, Donald Davis, and Bill Harley. We can't wait to go next year!

One of the highlights every year is the potters that come to help the kids make clay bowls and cups. Adam loved feeling his hands get messy on the clay!

Todd learned how to play the washboard and the kazoo in a workshop by Angela Loyd.

Multiple Bike Rides

2009-08-30T09:03:00.015-06:00

Our computer crashed last week so it took me a week to get everything reinstalled and up and working again. So no blog last week, but I'll play catch up today.

Here's the bike rides we did in the last couple of weeks:

Michelle and I are having mountain biking withdrawals because our bikes have been in the shop since Thursday morning.

Big Springs

Michelle & I went up biking to up Provo Canyon above Vivian Park at Big Spring Hollow. This is one of our favorite trails - Michelle says this is her favorite trail.

This was the coldest ride we've been on. I got my chance to try out my long sleeved biking shirt that I got for my birthday. Even with that it was really cold starting out - we had numb hands and numb feet - it's a good thing it started uphill.

I started out ahead going fast trying to warm up and then waiting for Michelle to catch up once it a while. When we got to the top of the ride, Michelle had made it the whole way without putting her foot down once!

Once we got to the bottom it had taken us under an hour (it's s short ride - less than 4 miles) so we decided to ride it again. This time I tried to match Michelle's feat of riding all the way up without stopping. I made it endurance wise, but I bounced off the trail on a rocky spot at one point and put a foot down. So Michelle has the distinction of being the only one in our family to ride up the Big Springs trail clean.

After we finished, I rode my bike downhill past Vivian Park, on the Provo River Parkway and to work. It was was definitely the easiest 11.5 miles I've ever ridden.

Michelle at the top of the loop after making the climb without stopping.

Michelle riding down the trail in the meadow.

Brian crossing a creek that comes down from the springs. It had rained the day before, but this was pretty much the only muddy spot on the trail.

Brian coming down the trail at the start of the meadow.

Michelle snaps a picture from the drivers seat of the car of Brian riding down the road to work

Tibble Fork Trail -

Michelle and I biked this last Saturday. We parked at a turnout where North Fork and South Fork split then biked up the road to Timpanookee Campground. The climb up the road was tough and not nearly as fun as on trails. (It also didn't help our egos any to have a bunch of road bikers whiz by us like we were standing still.)

At Timpanookee we got back on the trail. This was really fun for us because this was the first trail we mountain biked on together and where Michelle first fell in love with it. We hadn't been back to ride it until now. It was also interesting how much easier that trail was for us to navigate this time.

This was our first time riding down the Tibble Fork trail and I was a bit nervous because it's more technically advanced in some spots that what we are used to. It didn't help that we ran into a guy in a parking lot that told us he had several advanced rider friends who had broken different bones on that trail.

But when we got to the trail it was just fine - in fact it was a blast! I really really liked this trail. We did walk a couple of spots, but it was really fun! It's too bad that there isn't a more convenient way to get to it.

One of the flat, meadowy spot going down the Tibble Fork trail.

Michelle poses in front of pines during a rest stop coming up Pine Hollow trail.

PG to Orem Bonneville Shoreline Trail

This was a solo ride - I hope I can find my cell phone at some point so I can post pictures. This was an early morning ride up Battle Creek road across the BST and then up the dirt road at the mouth of Provo canyon. I had forgotten how fun this bench trail was - it's also nice because its a lot easier for me to do now than it used to be.

Betty, Area 51, Dry Canyon
This was another quick solo ride. This was my first time to ride up Lament on this loop. I'll probably almost always do it this way from now on.

Mud Springs Overlook
Michelle & I wanted to get a quick ride in before Pack Meeting on Tuesday. I went to to work early so I could get off early and we could go biking. We started biking at about 3:15 which we figured gave us an hour and a half to bike and be back for 6:00 Pack Meeting in plenty of time. So for the 2nd time in a week (previously the Tibble Fork ride) we were back on the same track near Timpanookee where Michelle did her first ride. Michelle had done a spin class at the gym the day before so her legs were really feeling it and she was having a hard time when we first started. But she did amazingly well especially considering here legs were already tired. We weren't sure what our plan was and decided on the Mud Springs trail and overlook partway through the ride.

After turning off the Mud Springs trail the trail to the overlook was a lot less used. At one point I thought we were close to the end and it was pretty rocky and steep, so we put our bikes down and walked the rest. This turned out to be a big mistake because it was a lot further to the end still and the trail was very rideable - so we probably lost 15 minutes by walking instead of riding.

After taking pictures at the overlook, Michelle looked at here watch and realized we only had 1 1/2 hours to get down the trail, drive home, and be to pack meeting (it was almost 4:30). Oops! So we hurried down the trail and drove home, getting home at 5:35. We ran around like chickens with our heads chopped off for a few minutes and I took the first car with the kids and go there just before 6 with flags & awards in tow - whew!

Looking down American Fork Canyon from the overlook.

Looking at Timp from the overlook.

Michelle and Brian at the overlook. It took us a few tries to take a picture of ourselves with Michelle's phone, but after missing our faces, turning off the phone, and accidentally taking video a couple of times we finally got it.

Aspen Grove to Mutual Dell

Another solo ride - this one was tough for me. The trail up from Aspen Grove to the Summit Parking lot was really steep. It branches off of the trail up to the Timp Summit, so when I asked the Ranger guy at the building which trail to follow to get to the Summit Trailhead parking lot it was kind of confusing because he thought I was talking about the Timp Summit and told me bikes weren't allowed. Eventually we understood each other and he told me where the trail branched off. I pushed my bike for the first part of the trail because it was loose rock next to a drop-off. After that the trail was steep enough it pushed me to my limit. The weird thing was that it never seemed super steep but it just consistently was steep and bumpy enough that it was really hard for me.

When I got to the Summit parking lot there was an elderly couple up there - Glen Smith & his wife. They were camping and Timpanookee and Glen's wife was dropping him off so that he could ride down. Instead of heading back to Aspen Grove I decided to ride down to Timpanookee with Glen. He was super nice and we had a great ride. At that point it was 6:15 pm and I needed to be to Mutual Dell for the ward chili cook-off dinner by 6:30 so I just biked down the main road and got there in plenty of time hoping that Michelle wouldn't mind driving me back to the Summit Parking lot after dinner where I could ride back to my car in Aspen Grove.

So after the dinner Michelle found rides home for all the kids but Adam and they drove me back up to the Summit Parking lot. At the top I found I couldn't get my bike back together because my rear brake pad had come off. An experienced cyclist who was up there was kind enough to look at it. He said it would require a bleed kit to fix, so Michelle ended up having to drive me down to Aspen Grove. Michelle took our bikes in on Friday morning to get my brake fixed and to get her bike tuned up. The shop was backed up and hasn't been able to fix them yet, so Michelle & I are both having mountain biking withdrawals. On Saturday night we actually went on a date to dinner - we haven't done that much since we started biking.

Education Week

2009-08-23T15:11:00.006-06:00

<Brian and I in a Folk Dancing class. I thought that Brian was joking when he said that he wanted to attend this class. We had so much fun!

This past week, Brian and I attended Education Week on the BYU campus. What and amazing, spiritual experience! I learned so much, or should I say I was reminded of so much. So often I forget important gospel principles and have to be reminded of the truth or of things that I should be doing. Some things that Brad Wilcox said touched my heart. He quoted 2 Nephi 25:23 "...for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." The scripture has a different meaning depending on what word we emphasize. Don't emphasise "after". Don't wait for grace. Christ will help us now. The light is not at the end of the tunnel. It is all around us. Don't emphasize "all". Perfectionists do this. If we berate ourselves we drive the spirit away. Any effort is accepted by God because he is more concerned with the offerer that the offering. Don't emphasize "can". What can any of us do without God. He used to tell the youth, "Give Christ an inch and He'll take you a mile." Now he tells them, "Look to Christ and he'll take you an inch and a mile." Don't emphasize "do". Works are important not for what they earn us, but for how they shape us. In the next life Christ will not send anyone away. Some will leave because they have not become the type of people that are comfortable in his presence. The word that we should emphasize is "WE", meaning us and Christ. Together we can be perfected. It is not about us filling the gap, it is about Christ filling us. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to be willing to be perfected.

The next day he spoke of the difference between justification and sanctification. Some ask, "Have you been saved by grace?" when the question should be, "Have you been changed by grace?".

That is just a drop in the bucket. What an amazing experience.

Hike Dry Canyon to Baldy on Timp - August 14

2009-08-16T10:30:00.008-06:00

After Krista, Michelle & I did our Timp hike, Michelle told the kids that we saw a 7 year old at the top of Timp. Todd has always been interested in hiking Timp but had planned to wait until he got a couple years older. But when he heard about the other 7 year old on Timp, he wanted to hike it this year.

So Michelle decided to take Todd out on a training/test hike. Krista wanted to come along and Scott decided it might be better than being stuck home alone babysitting Adam and decided to come along too. Adam stayed with the Naegle's while Michelle & the kids headed up Baldy with Brian at work. They started at about 1:15 pm.

After coming up Dry Canyon past the fork to Curly Springs a ways up the trail there was another split in the trail. Michelle decided to take the left trail marked by a cairn. Little did she know she had made a fateful decision. Instead of taking the quite steep and difficult hike up dry canyon to the pass behind Baldy, they had started up the really really steep front side of Baldy. No sissy hike for them! After some nasty switch backs - we're talking 45 degrees plus they hit a clearing with a primitive fire pit. Scott was tired and was ready for a rest. With Michelle's approval he decided to go sit on the rocks of the fire pit. He put his right hand on a rock and found out the hard way that the fire hadn't been out very long - he ended up with 2nd degree burns on all of his fingers on his hand. Fortunately they had a wrap along and pressed on.

This was one of those hikes where they thought they were almost to the top for a long long time. But after much perseverance, a bribe to Scott that he could pick anywhere he wanted for dinner, and some nasty rock scrambling they eventually got to the top of Baldy. Well not quite - this was the first summit. They headed for the second summit (I think this is where the dinner bribe came in.) The plan was to head down the easier back of Baldy trail, but from the 2nd summit they couldn't find a way to safely get to the 3rd summit which is where the back side trail connects to.

So they were faced with going back down the super steep trail they had come up - not a good thing when it's that steep, but it was the only choice. At this point morale dropped drastically. Todd maintained an amazing positive attitude the whole time and thoroughly enjoyed himself. But Scott was NOT happy and Michelle was rather concerned. (Going down really steep, gravely, rocky, scoot on your bum loose trail is never fun - add a burned hand and it gets to be downright miserable.) Krista saw that they were in a tough spot and made a very mature and appreciated decision to put on a good face and be a part of the solution and not the problem. So they began the slow and sometimes painful sojourn back down the mountain. Fortunately cell phone coverage is pretty good on the front side of Baldy and they were able to keep in contact with me as needed throughout the hike.

The arduous hike down was broken up with some happy moments. For one they saw horny toads. This is the first time I've know of someone seeing horny toads in Utah. They actually caught a couple and saw an enormous one that they didn't chase because it was too far out the the way. They also found a really cool feather that cheered Scott up considerably.

About 6 pm after a few calls from Michelle I decided I'd better head up and help them get down. I was somewhat concerned about being able to find them especially since Michelle's description of where they are was rather sketchy. After coming up the initial section of Dry Canyon and passing the first possible turn off trail I gave them a call. To my surprise Michelle asked if I was wearing an orange shirt which I said I was - even though they were quite far away that could see my bright orange shirt. Once I took the turnoff at the cairn onto the Baldy face trail, things got really really really steep. The switchback varied from maybe 25 degrees to 50 degrees. There were sections that it was quite difficult to hike up without falling - I was shaking my head in disbelief that they had actually hiked up this stuff.

A little later we could hear each other shouting. I thought we were pretty close together but found out we still had a ways to go. There were rain clouds coming in but fortunately they were to the north. After about 1 hour of fast hiking and drinking a full liter of water even though it was cold out I finally met up with them. As far up as we still were, I was concerned that we might not make it down before dark, but we actually made pretty good time. Not long after we were all together the rain clouds were heading our way. And pretty soon we were getting dumped on and I mean dumped on. (So for the 2nd night in a row here I was outside in a serious thunderstorm.) These raindrops were so big they actually hurt a little. Then a couple minutes later we started seeing thunder and lighting. Fortunately we had just got down low enough that we weren't quite as exposed to the lightning. And for the first time on the hike Todd got upset - he was quite afraid of being hit by lightning. My biggest concern was that the trails were about to get really slippery and muddy - not good for an already steep, slippery trail. Todd relaxed pretty quickly. Fortunately the rain didn't last long and the if anything the slightly damp trails were actually a little less slippery.

Finally we got back to the main trail. Hooray! It was unbelievable how excited we all were to be on a regular trail. About when we got back to the trail fork where you head into the bottom section of Dry Canyon it starting raining and lightening again. But at this point we didn't mind too much - other than being a bit cold. The trail was much less steep and with canyon cliffs on both sides we had very little exposure to lightning. We did end up with some muddy shoes though. So finally at a little after 8:00 pm a 6 hour 45 minute hike for them and a 2 hour hike for me we got to the parking lot with 45 minutes of daylight to spare. We drove home, grabbed Adam, took quick showers, and headed out to Scott's choice of dinner - Golden Corral getting there at a little after 9 pm.

Todd maintained an amazing attitude throughout an incredibly difficult hike. He passed the test with flying colors! So they plan is to do another training hike or two and then make an attempt at Timp.

All of the kids except Adam were asleep within about 3 minutes of when we got home from Golden Corral.

Scott, Krista & Todd at the split in the trail 1/2 mile up Dry Canyon.

A relatively flat spot on the steep Baldy face trail.

Scott & Todd at the summit overlooking Utah Valley.

Scott shows off a horny toad in is hand wrapped from the burn - good thing that had that bandage along.

On the way day after meeting up with Brian - Scott has recovered some of his good humor by this point.

Todd drenched from the rain with it starting to get dark near the parking lot.

Mountain Biking American Fork Canyon Road - Aug 13

2009-08-16T10:10:00.005-06:00

I found out Timp Cyclery does group rides on Thursdays at 5:30 pm so I thought I'd try out riding with them. There was rain threatening but I thought I'd head over anyway. When I got there no one was there - probably because of the weather. It had started to rain lightly, but I thought I would head up American Fork Canyon and see what happened - maybe the rain would be done by the time I got up there. I drove up to Tibble Fork through rain and it was drizzling a little when I got there. I almost didn't go biking but I decided to just head up the dirt road, American Fork Canyon Road, and see what happened. I figured I was going uphill so if it started raining I wouldn't get too cold. (You may see the hole in my logic already - eventually I would need to come back downhill.)

So I just headed up the road - I ended up going about 6 1/2 miles. Even though it was a dirt road and there was a lot of pickup truck, dune bug, atv traffic it was really beautiful. I only saw a lot of traffic maybe the first 1/2 of the trail up - after that it thinned out a lot. There was a creek that was near the road quite often that was really pretty, not to mention lots of green growth everywhere. I was also surprised by how much camping is available up there. There are several major campgrounds and then lots and lots of little campsites all along the road.

The cool part was that there was only 1 truck going up and I beat it! It started out ahead of me and I caught up with it at about mile 3 during a really rocky section and then passed it back on the way down. It's not that I went especially fast - I think I was going 4 miles an hour when I passed it. It's just that the road was really rocky and he was driving conservatively - we even talked for about 10 seconds when I passed them.

I just went straight up the road - I believe towards Dry Fork until I hit a section that was super super rocky and I decided I'd better head back. After I'd turned back for maybe 2 minutes the rain hit! And it hit hard! After going just a couple of minutes, I saw a gorgeous deer bounding through a field not far in front of me. I had been feeling a little unlucky in the wildlife department lately since I hadn't seen anything cool for a while other than the skunk we ran into.

The rain was nearly blinding especially once my glasses got soaked. Now back to the - I'll be going uphill so I won't be cold. The 6+ miles downhill in the soaking rain eventually got to be pretty cold. Although I have to admit it wasn't nearly as cold as I was afraid it was going to be when the rain hit. The rain eventually dropped off, but pretty soon the road got really muddy with streams running down and across it. I never thought riding a dirt road could be so fun!

A look at the dirt road I was riding down - this is about 2/3 of the way down.

A look at the beautiful creek that meandered next to the road for much of the ride. I actually took this photo standing in exactly the same spot that I took the picture of the muddy road from - I just turned a little left.

Here's me covered in rain & mud after the ride - notice the clean spot where I was wearing my hydration pack.

Demolition Derby- quality entertainment and new friends

2009-08-16T09:35:00.010-06:00

Brian and I took our family to the Demolition Derby in Spanish Fork. We all had a great time watching the cars crash into each other and rooting for our favorites. When the action slowed down we could entertain ourselves by watching the people around us. We even made a few new friends.

Scott takes a quick break from watching the action to pose for a picture.

An example of what we watched that kept my kids so riveted. I was so afraid that another car would hit #57 from behind and then #100 would flip over. They did have to stop the final round because one driver got smacked so hard that he passed out. There is a very strict rule that you cannot hit the driver side door.

I spent forever trying to be stealth and get pictures of these guys until we realized that the teeth and hair were fake. Then we just asked them for a shot and they posed for us. We are definitely dressing up next year.

We looked long and hard for a mullet, but this was all we could find. The guy is balding so I guess mullets are out of style even for WT. We don't know what to call this Melany. Maybe Amy S. has some ideas. Is it a thinullet- thining mullet?

Jordanelle Reservoir with the Huish's - Aug 10

2009-08-16T08:35:00.016-06:00

We spent the day with Jason & Kristy (Brian's sister) Huish and their kids Andrew, Kayla, & Brooklin. Jason's sister Haylee was also there for the first half of the day - happy birthday Haylee. (Sorry if "Haylee" is misspelled.)

Jason did all of the hard work of figuring out where to rent a boat, picking it up, etc.! Thanks Jason. We got up to Jordanelle at about 11:00 and then it was time for boating fun! Everyone loved being on the boat - Kayla was probably the most excited. She kept saying - "This is fun!" with a huge grin on her face.

Kayla, Adam, Todd, Andrew, Scott & Brian at the front of the boat just starting out our day on the lake.

Kayla and Adam excited to be out on the lake.

Krista and Scott were the first to jump in the water. Gotta love the looks on their faces as they anticipate the cold water.

Ahh - that wasn't so bad after all. (Or are they just pretending it's not too bad to trick the rest of us into joining them?)
***

Brian prepares to dive in with Scott & Krista while Adam & Kayla look on.

Krista on the wake board - this was impressive photography by Michelle, since Krista was up for about 3 seconds.

Andrew, Kristy, and Brooklyn enjoying the lake.

Jason shows us how it's done on the wake board.

Scott holds the orange flag - Scott took the first shift holding the flag. He was much better at it than me who had to be reminded to hold it up pretty much every time.

Brooklyn was getting a little grumpy - all she needed was a nap and then life was much better. Kristy hold Brooklyn. That's Jason on the wake board in the background.

Haylee relaxing on the back of the boat while Jason wake boards in the background.

Brian takes a turn knee boarding.

Scott on the knee board.

Aunt Kristy LOVES the cold water!! This is a shot from the 1 time she got in the water - the knee board was enough to draw her in.

Kritsy on the knee board while Scott, Andrew, and Todd look on.

Krista on the knee board.

Scott takes a turn driving the boat with a little assistance from Brian.

Adam takes his turn driving the boat. (e was much less willing to accept assistance from Brian than Scott was. Fortunately he was only interested in the steering wheel and didn't notice the throttle or we really could have had an adventure.

Scott & Michelle on the tube.

Another shot of Scott & Michelle on the tube.

Kayla & Scott getting ready to start.

Andrew & Scott posing. At this point Andrew & Scott were the only kids out. The rest were with Brian & Krista on the "beach".

Eventually I (Brian) got motion sick on the boat and spent a lot of the afternoon on the beach. Scott, Kristy, Andrew, Michelle, Krista, Adam, Todd, & Kayla all spent time some time on the beach. We went to the "picnic area" which had to be the worst beach in the world - it was rocky and then once you got about 6 inches deep in the water, the mud was like quicksand - our flip-flops kept getting stuck in the mud! Krista watched Adam & Kayla for a long time on the beach - Thanks Krista! She took them to the playground and had them making all kinds of "potions" in a sand bucket.

We also had tried out the "nuclear globe" I got from Bright Builders. Todd went the furthest in it - clear around the perimeter of the beach and back. Scott & Andrew had the most fun - they played in it together and had a blast. I also had fun swimming around the globe and spinning them. Adam had a scary experience where he tried to stick his head out of the hole in the globe to pose for a picture and got dumped straight into the lake - with his feet still in the globe. He popped up a few seconds later, but it scared him and us pretty good.

At 6:00 we brought the boat in. We spent the next 2 1/2 - 3 hours figuring out how to get the boat on the trailer right and cleaning it up to turn back in. We had a few mishaps but eventually got it ready to roll. Since the boat was late, the Clark's went to Heber to Dairy Keen to order for both the Clark's and Huish's. The Huish's finished getting the boat on the trailer and drove by Dairy Keen as we handed them their food.

Thanks Huish's for a fun day and all the work renting the boat!

Timp Foothills - Provo Canyon Racetrack - Aug 11

2009-08-16T08:02:00.004-06:00

Michelle & I went biking in Provo canyon. We started heading up Water Tower Road. At the water tower I turned around and watched Michelle biking up the dirt road and noticed something strange about her. After looking at her for a second I realized what it is and asked, "So were you going to wear a helmet today?" So we made a quick return to the car for her helmet and re-climbed that hill again.

We made our way up Water Tower Road and then dropped down onto the Race Track. After riding around on the track for a while I saw a skunk right on the path. It was waddling along the same direction we were going, so it was facing away from us. It stopped right in the path and raised it's tail. I yelled behind me to Michelle to stop and turn her bike around. I was hopeful that I was "out of range" for the spraying. The skunk and I sat there for about 15-20 seconds and then the skunk lowered it's tail and headed off the trail into the brush. We turned around and road back the other direction. I wish I would've had the presence of mind to get a picture! (Note the part on race track map that is NOT in dark red and you will see the section we avoided thanks to the skunk.)

After the racetrack we rode up Betty at bit and found Roller Coaster down. We really liked the Roller Coaster trail a lot, although we found the last part connecting back with Water Tower road to be quite steep - but we both rode it!

Brian overlooking Orem and Provo on Roller Coaster just before it heads down.

Michelle at the top of Roller Coaster looking toward Timp - you can see the start of Baldy on the Right.

Tepanyaki, Aug 8

2009-08-10T08:32:00.005-06:00

Brian's birthday tradition is that the whole family goes to Tepanyaki dinner. Grandma & Grandpa brought the boys who they had been watching while we hiked Timp and joined us for dinner. Our next door neighbor, Ling, was working so they took extra good care of us.

Timp Hike, Aspen Grove Side, Aug 8

2009-08-09T19:08:00.020-06:00

Brian, Michelle & Krista hiked Timp. Originally we were planning to hike the Timpanookee trail, but the young men and elder's quorom in our ward were having an activity to hike Timp the same day so we joined them. (Ironically, no young men showed up, so it was just 5 other men and us.) They wanted to hike the Aspen Grove trail so we went along with them. It wasn't too long before they left us in the dust.

Michelle had misgivings on going because the weather forecast was pretty ugly. The forecast was for 30% chance of rain and at the bottom of the hike there was a sign advising that there was a 70% chance of rain. We considered moving it to next weekend, but Brian just wanted to go for it so we did. Luckily we didn't get a drop of rain, but it was quite cold towards the top.

Krista didn't have a very good experience for a few reasons. 1st she was overly tired before we even started. 2nd she got elevation sickness. 3rd we left her at the cabin near Emerald Lake - she ended up being there alone for almost 3 hours and was really cold. 4th she was too picky to eat much of what we brought - she like the French toast and pineapple, but after those were gone a couple of hours into the hike, she wouldn't eat: sandwiches (they had mustard), trail mix type 1, trail mix type 2, yogurt, nor string cheese. (Dennis Patton gave her a Twinkie and she did eat a little trail mix.) So by the time we were heading down she basically had no energy because she hadn't eaten much of anything since about 10 am.

The view from the top was clouds. It would have been a bummer if that had been our first time to the top, but it was fun to hike through the clouds from the saddle to the top. The 1/2 mile hike over the snowfield was a surprise and a few slips in it made us even colder. We started hiking at 6:30 am and finished a little after 5 pm. We headed straight to Tepanyaki with huge appetites.

This sure is a beautiful hike! But the Timpanookee side is still my favorite.

Michelle, Krista, & Brian

Us at the beginning of the hike, That's Dennis Patton from looking on in the background.

Krista in front of some wildflowers.

The view down to Aspen Grove.

Brian enjoys the wildflowers just below Emerald Lake.

Krista & Michelle pose in the meadow below Emerald Lake.

This snow cave was awesome!

Relaxing for our 10:30 lunch break at Emerald Lake.

Emerald Lake.

One of the many waterfalls in the endless switchbacks.

Aren't the cute?

This picture doesn't quite capture how steep this section was. It's about 45 degrees about to merge with the Timpanookee trail just before the saddle.

Brian about to start crossing the snow field on the way up. This snow field was forever long and a major pain to cross. We both fell on it about 4 times. (Although Michelle's falls were a lot more spectacular than mine.)

The view from the top into Utah Valley. We've got to do something about the smog!

In the shed at the top of Timp.

On the switchbacks near the summit.

At the saddle about to hike into the fog. It was really cool to hike in the fog. Honestly it didn't really restrict sight much - you just couldn't see down the mountain at all.

Signing the log book at the summit.

A view of Emerald Lake at the summit. To the left of the lake is the cabin where Krista spent 3 hours shivering.

Michelle crossing the snowfield on the way back. She especially like the lit up mountain in the background.

Another view of Emerald Lake from the top with a few clouds. The interesting thing was how Timp was protecting this side from the clouds. The were rolling up on over the mountain keeping it clear down below.

Michelle walking under a waterfall. I accidentally deleted the picture of Krista & I under this fall :(

The results of Michelle's 4th fall in the snow. She actually had a layer of wet, the a layer of dirt, then a layer of snow on her. For some reason Michelle found the next 45 minutes or so of the hike to be very cold after this fall.

A view of below on the way down. This is probably the favorite part of my trail. This is between the switchbacks and the paved part of the trail.

A view up. The tough part of the hike is the hundreds of switchbacks to get up and over that ridge.

Hiking down through the pines on my favorite part of the trail. (I had lots of times to take pictures on the way down with Krista going slow from not eating.)

A shot of Krista & Michelle hiking along. If you look closely you can see how small of steps Krista was taking when she wasn't feeling well.

Another pretty view from the switchbacks.

Getting close to the end of the hike...

There were little streams crossing the trail or running down the trail all over the place. I thought this one might make a good photo.

The left side of the first waterfall on the trail - I think Scout Falls?

A picture of the first waterfall - Scout Falls?

Krista and Michelle hiking down towards Scout Falls?

A view of the paved part of the trail. I think they pave it to prevent erosion, but hiking on black top after a long hike is NOT pleasant - but the greenery sure is pretty.

Flow Rider at the Lindon Pool, Aug 6

2009-08-09T18:51:00.005-06:00

Michelle took the boys to Lindon Pool along with their cousins Andrew and Kayla. Scott, Todd, and Andrew had a blast on the Flow Rider while Adam & Kayla frolicked in the pool. (Andrew got cold on the flow rider and soon converted to the pool.

Timp Foothills, Aug 5

2009-08-09T17:56:00.005-06:00

This was a solo Mountain Bike ride by Brian on Wednesday morning. Michelle is going to spin class at the gym on Wednesday morning and is trying to get me to come along. But I refuse to ride a bike in the gym while the riding is good outside. So I got up early to ride - leaving the house about 6:45. I realized that I could combine my bike ride with my ride to work by going to the Timp foothills just above where I work. (This is called the long commute to work.)

So I started out with the 4.5 miles ride to work, and then rode up Cascade Dr to the water tower parking lot. By the time I did this I was already tired, but I was really happy that I made it up Cascade Drive without any breaks. From there I went up Betty. My plan was to find Roller Coaster and ride it down then decide whether I was going to do more or be done.

I had seen a turnoff on Betty that I thought was Roller Coaster, but after taking it realized that it was just an alternate way to ride Betty and looped back to Betty a little bit down the trail. So I decided maybe that was it for today and I would try another time. So I started riding Betty back toward Water Tower Road. I came across another trail and decided to check it out - I thought it was way to close to Water Tower Road to be any of the trails on the map. At first the trail started out quite easy - it lured me in. Eventually it got quite steep, but by then I had gone far enough I was committed to keep following it. Eventually it merged with Area 51. In looking at the map after, I'm 99% sure I went up Crank to get to Area 51.

I'd been on Area 51 before so I knew I was heading toward Dry Canyon. After riding down Area 51, I couldn't believe I realized it was really steep. It kinda freaked me out that I had ridden it. After that I went down the last 1/2 mile of Dry Canyon and on the BST back to to the parking lot, down Cascade Dr, and to work.

Lambert Park, Aug 4

2009-08-09T17:34:00.004-06:00

Michelle & I got up early to bike Lambert park - We started biking at 6:00 and were home before the kids woke up at 8:15.

I tried something new and parked at the south end of the park near the church and that worked out really well. We had parked at the rodeo grounds before this and this save a couple minutes driving each way.

We started out going up Flank, up Corksrew, then down Black Dog. Next we went up Zag and down Ziggy. We think Zag and Ziggy are the best trails for a beginner.

Then we took River across to the other side of the park, up Rodeo Up, then up our favorite climb - Middle Spring (Michelle's favorite trail) then down Rodeo Down (my favorite) - I like to call the first have a Rodeo Down - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Finally we came back across Middle to our car.

Michelle on the bridge on Rodeo Up.

Brian winding through the trees on Rodeo Up.

Thanksgiving Point, Water Fun, Aug3

2009-08-09T11:46:00.010-06:00

	Krista, Scott, Todd and our neighbors Ryland & Kelton on Thanksgivings Point's super long slip & slide.
Thanksgiving point had a HUGE waterfight hundreds of kids using sponges and squirt guns. Here Adam prepares a squirt gun for battle.
Brian thought he would sit out the water fight and stay dry, but Krista had different ideas. Here Krista drenches Brian with multiple sponges.
Krista winces as Brian smacks her with a sponge.
Brian retaliates chucking a sponge at Todd while Krista looks on with glee (plotting to sneak attack Brian from behind.)
Adam squirting a random arm. (Adam spent most of his time attacking Brian.)
Krista posing on the walkway near the water fight.
Todd tries his hand with an real fire hose while Adam and Ryland look on.
Adam takes his turn with the hose

Ride Around Timp - July 31st

2009-08-09T09:48:00.003-06:00

Michelle & I went for our first super long mountain bike ride - 21.5 miles! We started at the Summit parking lot at 6:30 am and finished at about 2 pm - 7.5 hours. We did this ride the day before we decided to start the blog so we don't have pictures.

The first part from Summit was downhill and cold. Once we started going uphill, we warmed up fast but had to walk our bikes up the loose,rocky trail most of the way until Julie Andrew's meadow. Then we got to bike a while, but ended up having to lift our bikes of 6 fallen trees - some were easy to get over and some were hard.

After the first 2 sections of single track were so difficult, we decided to ride on Timpanookee Road for a while, which was really fun. Once Timpanookee Road ended we rode the trail towards Baldy. This was really cool trail. For a lot of this trail we were in grasses that were anywhere from about 2 feet to 4 feet tall. A lot of time you could see where the trail was because of grass pushed aside, but you couldn't actually see the ground - I called this "faith" trail, because you couldn't actually see the ground you were riding on and just had to hope you didn't run into anything too crazy.

Finally we were working our way up the switchbacks to the pass behind Baldy. This part was brutal. Eventually we got near the end where the trail gives up on switchbacks and just goes straight up toward the pass. This part is about a quarter mile long and varies from about 30 degress to 50 degress up - it was a tough bike hike.

Once we made it to the top of the Baldy pass - yeah! it was time to head back downhill. The first part was so steep that we walked most of it. Then after a little ride, we were on a a trail about 5 inches wide with a nasty drop-off on the right so we walked for another mile or so until we got to Little Baldy. From that point we got to ride down on the Provo Canyon side until we got to the water tower. The 5 miles or so of downhill here was a blast!

Wanted: A fish attached to a hook attached to a pole that my boys are holding

2009-08-03T21:10:00.007-06:00

I have made this request to several avid fishermen. Last summer I tried to fulfill this dream that all boys have on my own. Finally, my brother-in-law Jason answered my plea. He knew a spot that they would be guaranteed to catch a fish, never mind the fact that the last time he was there he ran into a coiled, rattling snake. Perhaps that is why not many people fish this particular spot- I think he called it Diamond Fork. Well, sure enough they got their fish- they got 6! The down side- 27 mosquito bites between the two of them. I guess that means in my boys man vs. nature competition they lost 27 to 6, however by the looks on their faces they don't seem to realize that they aren't the victors. Check out the picture of Todd with his eye swelled up as a result of several of the nasty bites.

Silver Lake Hike (American Fork Canyon) - Aug 1, 2009

2009-08-02T11:36:00.038-06:00

Distance: 4.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 1400+

Difficulty: 7 of 10. It's pretty steep and rocky. The hike is short enough that it's not too bad, but its a pretty difficult hike for only being 2.2 miles up. (I may be thinking it's worse than it is because I carried Adam most of the way.)

Cliff Exposure: 3 of 10. There are a few drop-offs on the switch backs, but they aren't bad and the trail is plenty wide.

Trail Rating: 6 of 10. It's a pretty good hike, but not my favorite. The drive to the trail-head included over 3 miles of lousy, bumpy, rocky, narrow dirt road that dropped my opinion of the hike.

If you like a rocky trail you will love this trail, if you dislike rocky trails, you will hate this trail. (We had a lot of fun playing on the rocks on the trail - jumping off, scrambling up, etc.) You are hiking up a couple of really steep ridges, so it's a lot of fairly steep switchbacks with a lot of exposure to the sun. There are some areas where you are going through really pretty tress, but for a lot of the trail you are out in the desert with no shade. You also get to see a couple of waterfalls that are along the creek coming from Silver Lake, but the trail doesn't get close to the waterfals, so you just get a view from the distance.

Payoff Rating: 8 of 10. The lake at the top is in great. The lake water is crystal clear. The boulders are fun to jump off of into the lake (although it was only 6-8 feet deep so you have to be careful.) It's also fun to look down the ridge and see Silver Lake Flat below. (Of course it makes you wonder, why you didn't just stay down at Silver Lake Flat which is also a beautiful lake but without the hike.) The trail was heavily used on a Saturday, so if you are looking for privacy this isn't the best option. The lake is stocked for fishing - the people we talked to that were up there fishing that day didn't have much luck.

Best Part: Jumping off the boulders into the lake.

Worst Part: The drive there. The dirt road was really pretty miserable to drive on with a minivan.

Getting There: Head up American Fork Canyon until you get to the fork in the road. Take the left fork heading to Tibble Fork Reservoir. Once at Tibble Fork take the paved road headed north. You'll know your on the right road as it winds up high in the canyon with several switch backs. This road will take you to Sliver Flat Lake. Drive around Silver Flat Lake you will find a small parking area with outhouses. The trail head is to the north of the parking lot.

The Hike:
We started at Silver Lake Flat. The drive to Silver Lake Flat was pretty rough. The 3+ mile dirt road from Tibble Fork was really rough and rocky. Michelle didn't like driving next to those cliffs at all! We had our 9 year old neighbor, Winson, with us and he tossed his cookies during the drive up.

The trail started out super smooth and gradual. What a deception! It's just saving up so that it can be extra steep and rocky later. The first half mile is shaded and smooth with occasional patches of rock.

Of course we knew we needed to climb 1400 feet so that meant it had to get harder later. And it did. After crossing a bridge over a stream about 3/4 of a mile in the trail started getting quite rocky and steep. We came out of the forest, and we saw a ridge where we assumed the lake was above. This was true - sort of. Actually once you get over the first ridge, the lake is over a second ridge.

Eventually 2nd stream crossing where you could see a ridge above and it seemed like we were almost there. Not so - someone said they had read that the stream was the 1/2 way point - that sounds about right. However, it's probably only about 1/4 of the elevation gain - the hard part of the hike is coming up.

Next it's lots of switchbacks to get over the ridge. This part is pretty steep with very little shade. After you get over the first ridge, it gets really rocky until you get over the 2nd ridge and to the lake. At the top we were a little unsure of where to go - the trail splits all over the place. We decided to head across the front(left) and it was a good choice. The trail goes over a dam holding the water in the lake and we could hear but no see the waterfall below. This led us to a boulder that we had fun jumping off of.

Pictures of our hike:

	Todd, Scott & Adam hike near the beginning of the trail.
	Todd & Adam taking a break at the first creek crossing.
	Krista & Winson cross the first creek.
	Winson, Scott & Todd pose with Aspens in the background.
	Todd on the trail. You can see a hint of the type of rocks you encounter on the trail in the background.
	Krista at the 2nd creek crossing showing us her discovery of how to get across without getting wet using the rocks just above the tail. (This second crossing is about halfway to Silver Lake in distance, but the hard part of the trail is yet to come.)
	Michelle at the 2nd creek crossing.
	A look back of where we came from on the lower switchbacks.
	Krista & Brian with Adam poaching a free ride on Brian's back coming up the lower switchbacks.
	Winson & Scott near the top of the first ridge. (Winson put suncreen on his arms and face twice, "just to sure" before the hike. Then when it got steep he took his shirt off because he was hot and spent the rest of the time with no shirt. (Lucky for him, he never had to worry much about a sunburn.)
	Finally at the top, time to swim in the cold lake (I'm guessing 55 degrees.) Krista waded in first following by Scott then Brian. At this point Brian & Scott have gone all the way in but Krista has decided it is to cold to put her head under.
	Brian & Scott help to convince Krista to get all the way in.
	Adam hops in and poses with Scott. By this point Krista is swimming around. Todd & Winson join in shortly after. Michelle uses the excuse (lame) that she is the camera person and doesn't get in.
	Next we head over to the rocks to jump in. It was only 6-8 feet deep so we had to be a little careful. After he initial hesitation getting wet, Krista was the first to jump off the rock into the water. Scott prepares to jump in while the rest look on.
	Todd jumping in while Brian watches and Winson & Scott scramble up for another jump. Scott probably jumped off more than everyone else put together. Brian was the only one to dive in the shallow waters (including a little swim one time to rescue Scott's flip-flop that had come off during a jump and was out in the lake). Krista, Scott, Todd, Brian & Winson all took turns jumping in.

The whole family at the edge of Silver Lake just before heading back down the trail. (Winson is the photographer on this one.)

At one point on the way down, Adam decided he'd had enough of the current hiking stretch and was ready to ride in the backpack again. He and I were a bit behind the others because, of course, Adam was going at a slower pace than the rest. So it was time to go fast to make up time. While I was going along hopping off the many rocks on the trail to make it fun for him, he told me I was a duck. So I made a quacking noise which made him laugh hysterically. Then I jumped off a rock and he told me I was a jumping duck. So we spent the next 1/2 mile with me jumping off every rock and ledge making goofy quacking noises and with Adam laughing his head off the whole way. We finally caught up with the group at the first creek crossing. I quickly showed them the jumping duck thing with Adam laughing his head off. Pretty soon all the kids were right behind me jumping and quacking off every rock and root. A bit later we passed a family hiking up the trail while we were hiking down the trail quacking and jumping along. I'm sure they think we are insane, and they are probably right...