Luke's Corner of the Universe

01-24-10  -  Bad Canyon and Eagle Peak - Death Valley, California.

A few of us went to do Bad Canyon in Death Valley.  The problem was Death Valley had recently received large amounts of rain.  Since it is winter the higher elevations saw this as snow.  Dante's View, where the route to Bad Canyon begins, was closed to snow and ice.  Rick had been wanting to explore a possible route up from Bad Water road which would ascend the ridge between Bad and Hades canyons.  Turns out to be a nice straight forward route but includes and elevation gain of over 4000 feet in about 3 miles with no trails.

Ron, Rick and Brett on the approach to Bad Canyon with a great view of the Bad Water salt flats in the background.

A look back along the ridge we have been hiking up.

Brett, Rick and Luke near the top of the ascent to the Hades Fault before dropping into Bad Canyon.

On the way out to meet Rick, Ron, Brett and I stopped by Eagle Mountain to climb up to the peak.  Eagle Peak is similar to Lone Mountain here in Las Vegas in that it sits by itself with flat land all the way around it.  Eagle Peak is huge compared to Lone Mountain though.  From the top you can see the flat desert stretching out in both directions and you are high enough to enjoy the shadows of clouds on the ground below.  After getting to the peak, we traversed about 0.4 miles south along the ridge at the top.  Finding our way down proved to be interesting.  The drainage we started down cliffed out, so we went up over a ridge to the next drainage which then cliffed, then we went over to the next drainage which cliffed out and so on until we got back to the flat desert below.

Luke, Brett and Ron on Eagle Peak.

Luke on Eagle Peak with cloud shadows on the desert floor below.

Looking back at Eagle Peak after traversing the ridge to the south.

Ron and Brett at a window we found aong the traverse of the ridge. We dubbed it, The Eye of the Eagle, since it looks like an eye and is on Eagle Mountain.

01-16-10  -  Trip to Bryce Canyon, Utah.  Ski and snow shoe.

Britta invited a group of us to join her at Bryce Canyon for some Cross country skiing and snow shoeing. 

The first day we went skiing on the trails near Ruby's Inn where we were staying for the weekend.  I enjoyed the day and can see why people would like to cross country ski on a regular basis.  I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  The snow conditions were not great but did give me a taste.  With better snow conditions and more experience I know my travel would be a lot easier and more fun.  But even so I am not sure I will continue to enjoy this sport.  It feels a little too out of control for my tastes.
Luke at the Bryce Canyon Rim on a cross country ski route.

Snow shoeing on the other hand was great.  On day two we went up to Yovimpa Point and snow shoed the Bristle Cone Loop trail.  On the trail where it was packed down was fun but seemed too much like a regular hike.

Group picture in Bryce Canyon.

After the Bristle Cone trail, I left the group and went for a snow shoe out into a burnt forest area with no trails.  I really enjoyed the in the middle of nowhere feeling of no trails and wide open flats of snow in the forest!  The only thing missing was a goal / destination.
Looking back at part of Luke's path through the burnt forest.
Now this is what I want more of!
Luke on a solo snow shoe trip.

On a future visit to Bryce Canyon for winter activities I will look for a snow shoe destination with long untraveled sections to cross.

On the way back, Beth, Dave and I went through Zion and hiked the Canyon Overlook trail with snow before eating at Oscar's and going our separate ways for the ride home.
Checkerboard Mesa covered in snow.
Luke, Beth and Dave at the end of the Canyon Overlook trail.

I decided to check out Snow Canyon State Park, just outside of St. George Utah on the way back.  While there I hiked the Johnson Canyon Trail.
Luke on the Johnson Canyon Trail.
Johnson Arch on the Johnson Canyon trail in Snow Canyon.

12-27-09  -  Climbing Birdland.  Red Rock, Nevada.

In the past, all I have done is a little sport climbing.  Jesse took me out for a trad route to get me introduced.  The route he chose was Birdland which has a rating of 5.7+.  It starts out feeling the same as a sport route (especially since Jesse was leading) but soon becomes quite different.  As you get up a few pitches into the route your whole perspective on things changes.  You start realizing you are WAY the hell up there.  It is exciting but does make it seem more intense.

Along the route I had a few moments of fear before quickly getting a grip and continuing on up.  I am not sure if I want a little more of this in my life or a lot more.  But I will say, "Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?!"

If you wish to see pictures from the day check out the picture gallery for Birdland 12-27-09.
Luke at the top of pitch 5 of Birdland.

12-06-09  -  Play day at Cannibal Crag near Red Rock, Nevada.

We had planned to go out to Death Valley and explore a couple canyons but decided it was too cold an too far of a drive for that weekend.  Instead we went out to Cannibal Crag in Calico Basin to play with some ideas.  After playing with ascending and the 2 point pull rappel system, we played on a climbing route before heading home.
Luke climbing at Cannibal Crag. Red Rock, Nevada.

11-20-09 thru 11-28-09  -  Thanks Giving week.

I took Thanks giving week off and went to visit a friend and family for a vacation.

The first stop was Indianapolis (or Brownsburg) Indiana to visit Jenna, her son and her dad.  I had not seen them for quite some time and it was good to have the chance to visit.

While there I saw a tree with some very odd fruit on it.  The fruit was a little larger than softball sized.  It was yellowish and softball sized.  The texture of the outside reminded me of a brain, so I called it brain fruit.  After looking around on the web I found the fruit is from a tree called the Bois D'Arc and the fruit is goes by many names like Horse Apples, Osage Orange and Hedge Ball.  There is a good description of it on Blurtit.com.

Here I am holding my first "Horse Apple".

While in Indiana, Jenna, Nicco and I drove down to Kentucky to check out the Lost River Cave.  It is a cave with water running through it.  They have dammed up a portion of the water to be able to take people on a boat guided tour through a portion of the cave.  The cave is huge.  It runs over 7 miles under the city and has 4 points where you could exit around the city.  Then we drove over to let Nicco see Dinosaur World.

Here is a picture of Jenna and I while waiting to go on the tour in the Lost River Cave.


This is one of a few Blue Holes near the cave.  A Blue Hole is a hole where the underground river comes above ground and looks more like a water filled hole.  The blue color is from lime deposits in the water.  If you want to see how beautiful lime can make water look for some pictures of Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon.


Here is the entrance to the Lost River Cave.


Luke posing in a dinosaur head at Dinosaur World.


Luke pretending to be eaten, or maybe trainning a new pet.

Next it was off to Dallas Fort Worth (or Keller) Texas to visit my sister and family over Thanks Giving.  Hanging out with family for a few days was fun.  Playing games, eating Thanksgiving goodies and just hanging out kept things interesting. With a house full of 5 kids and 3 adults (including me) it was non stop noise.


My niece Kaitlyn enjoying her 1st birthday cake.


Family Picture.
Mike holding Joshua, Renee and Luke in the upper row.
Robert holding Kaitlyn, Michael and Justin on the lower row.

Vacation is great, but after a week it is good to be back home sleeping in my own bed with my dog.  :) 

11-14-09  -  Spry Canyon Zion, Utah.

Ron, Jesse, Dave and I went to check out Spry Canyon.  Very fun canyon but care needs to be taken not to get the ropes stuck at some of the rappels.  While in there we got snow and hail for a short time.  Yup, it was chilly.

Ok back to the rope sticking part.  The morning we got there we stopped for coffee and I was happy to share a new technique I was working on to get the rope past these trouble spots with very little wear on ropes or sandstone.  I explained I wanted to try it out in this canyon since I was working on it because of what I had read about it.

While in the canyon we got to rap 5 which would be a great place to try it.  The ropes were set before I got there so I left it alone and went on down.  We did have a little trouble but not too big of a deal.  When we got to rap 6 the ropes were set up before I got there as well.  This was a perfect opportunity to try it out.  Ron and Jesse were already down leaving Dave and I at the top.  I wanted to set up my new idea but ultimately did not.  I did not want others getting impatient while I re rigged a rap that was already set up.  So the idea never got set up.  I am disappointed I did not just take the time to do it.

Now comes the stupid part.  After Dave went down I set the rope with a biner block and moved the knot (we were using two ropes) beyond any possible catch points.  I did not make the powerful cognitive leap to see that a biner would have more difficulty pulling over the catch points than the rope knot.  Ok it get's worse.  Not only did I add a biner block to the problem I also set the pull rope in the deepest, narrowest, nastiest rope groove around.  There is no way on earth a biner was going to pull through that! 

When we went to pull the ropes Sure enough they were stuck!  Long story short we needed to ascend back up the rope to fix things.  Ron volunteered and I agreed knowing he had a bit more experience do it than I do.  It was my screw up and I probably should have been the one to go up.  But that's not how it worked out.

While Ron was ascending we each tried a to find other routes to the top, to no avail.  It cost us about 1.5 hours of time to get things fixed.

Lesson 1:   Don't try to pull a biner through a deep nasty rope groove.
Lesson 2:   If you want to try to do something right, do not feel pressured to just hurry up and go with the flow.

Here is a picture of the rope groove and the pull rope.  Guess who took the picture before going over the edge and still didn't realize what the issue would be?  yup, Me.  the rope on the right is the pull side.  It is hard to make out in the picture but at the top by the tree is a biner block waiting to be pulled down that groove.  Oooops.

Looking up the top of Rap 6 in Spry Canyon at a bad set up for rope pull.

11-08-09  -  Kayak Black Canyon, Nevada / Arizona Border.

This section of the Colorado River was my playground for a few years.  Skip set up a trip for a group of 13 of us to kayak down the river from the dam.  It was nice enjoying this area I used as a playground for a while with friends.  We went to the hot springs, thermal cave, Boy Scout Canyon, relaxed on the river and checked out Emerald Cave.

Group picture of us near the Thermal Cave.

11-06-09  -  Back pack to Arizona Hot Springs, Arizona.

The ladder at the springs was in ok shape the week before when I hiked in but had fallen apart over the next week.  The ladder was able to be used but did give us some concern.  That is a good place to camp in cooler months!

10-31-09  -  Hike to Arizona Hot Springs, Arizona.

A group of friends were going to camp at the hot springs the following week.  I volunteered to hike in the week prior and check the route in from the top and look at the condition of the ladder.  On the way out I met some people that showed me a bypass trail that took considerable time off the hike out.  On the way in I saw a group of almost 30 Big Horn Sheep all together.  I got a picture of 22 in one shot.  See the picture below.

You gotta count close but there are 22 Big Horn Sheep in one picture.

10-01-09  -  Mystery Canyon Zion, Utah.

Jesse contacted me from the contact page on my web site.  He was a climber type and had tried some canyoneering routes because of what he saw on my web site.  After exchanging some emails and working out our schedules we got together to do Mystery Canyon.  I think I found a new canyon buddy.  :)

09-01-09  -  Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), California and Nevada.

About 4 years ago Ed, Jose and I did a 110 mile stretch of the 165 mile TRT over 11 days.  Jose dropped out early since his shoes were killing him.  Ed and I wanted to continue when we were done but I had a job interview I had to be at in the next day or so.  After all these year Jose was headed back to get more of it done.  I joined him and Ben.  We started from where we started the last time but went the opposite direction.  This allowed me to finally back pack the loop.  Woo hoo!

Luke, Ben and Jose on a bench overlook on the TRT.

08-30-09  -  Pine Creek Canyon Zion, Utah.

Kristen and her daughters wanted to do some canyoneering so it was off to do Pine Creek Canyon again.  This is a fun canyon to take newbies through.  There is the cathedral, water, bouldering, a long free hang rappel, tight narrow sections and to top it all off the approach is almost nil.

08-22-09  -  Telephone Canyon Zion, Utah.

Ron and I went to get Telephone Canyon out of the way.  We both looked at it like "Getting it out of the way".  We were both very pleasantly surprised with how awesome this canyon was.  Both have put it on our repeat list.

08-16-09  -  Echo Canyon Zion, Utah.

Ron, Bonnie and I went to check out lower Echo Canyon on the next day.  They both liked Das Boot better but I would have to go with Echo.  I would like to go back with a water proof stereo and crank some music in the echo chamber one day.

05-25-09  -  Yosemite National Park, California.

Beth's second year dragging us to Yosemite!  Good times.  Hiking, bike riding and enjoy company at camp.  On the way back we stopped at the Rhyolite Ghost town.  Below is a fun pic of Dave and I on the Glacier Point trail and a group picture from Rhyolite.

 
Dave trying to throw me off the cliff (er uh I mean Save Me).


Julie, Marc, Beth, Dave, Jorge, Luke and Barbie at Rhyolite.

04-18-09  -  Coffin Canyon at Death Valley California.

I went on a solo hike to explore a new route into Coffin Canyon. the route goes right next to a closure area (Copper Canyon) that the rangers take very seriously.  On the way out I saw a ranger pull up to my vehicle and check it out then get back in her truck and wait while I hiked about a mile of alluvial fan back to the road. 

When I got there I got everything but the strip search.  I was told not to go to my vehicle.  She searched through both my GPS units, looked at all the pictures on my camera and searched my back pack.  She even opened a can of mixed nuts I was carrying to see if I had smuggled some fossils back in the can.  The picture below is of me laying on the side of the road.  A highway patrolman came up to assist.  You can see him standing next to the the rangers truck.  See the outdoors can be exciting when there is a brush with the law.

Luke on the side of the road waiting for the ranger and Highway Patrolman to be finished so he can go get some chow.

9-28-08  -  Attempt to do Benson Canyon near Brian Head Utah.

Chris emailed me from the contact form on my web site a month or so ago. When Imlay Canyon fell though because of cancelations I decided to contact him and see if he wanted to do Benson Canyon with me.  He, Sarah and Aeon joined me. 

While on my way to meet them Sunday morning I noticed it looked stormy out.  After checking the weather on phone I was in doubt the canyon would work out.  But though it was worth a try.

When we all got near Benson Canyon it looked like it could rain any time.  By the time we found the top and were ready to go in it was beginning to rain.  We decided it might not be safe to drop into the canyon so we hiked in about 0.6 miles to see what it was like.  This was a gorgeous  forest area.  The changing colors of the Aspen trees and the rain made it even better.

Sarah ready to hike into Benson Canyon.


Aspens changing color added to the scenery.

After turning back for the truck I fell behind a little to take some pictures.  As I got closer I heard Sarah asking if Chris had checked for anything odd on my web site.  I asked what was going on and was told they were jokingly talking about trust issues.  Since this was the first time they had met me they said I could be a serial killer or something.  As we hiked on a lot of joking was done around that subject.

When we went past a stream, Sarah said it would be a good spot for a group photo.  I joked about how I liked to take a picture with my victims before killing them.  As we took the picture Aeon acted as though he was going to bludgeon me over the head with a stick.  What makes the picture funny is the jokes that led up to it.  To top it off Aeon does not only have the stick raised over my head, he has his other fist clenched and his face looks like he is really happy with what he is about to do.

The stream with no one there.


From left to right, Luke, Aeon, Sarah and Chris.
Notice how everyone looks happy and blissfully unaware. But Aeon looks like he is about to do some very bad thing.


Aspens.

After getting back to the truck we drove to the lake (not sure it is big enough to call a lake) to look around then to the Boy Scout Camp near by to check it out.

Looking across the lake.


A salamander by the lake.

Then we went down to the lower trailhead for Benson Creek.  We hiked about 0.5 miles up the trail to the bottom of the final rappel for the route we were supposed to do that day.  After hiking back to the truck we drove home and planned to come back soon to do the route.

Luke under the water fall at the bottom of the final rap for Benson Canyon.


Distant view of the final rap.


Caterpillar.

9-6-08  -  Car camping trip in Zion National Park.
And Keyhole Canyon (once in daylight and once at night).

Lisa set up a car camping trip for a group of us.  I drove up Friday night and had a "Murder Burger" at Oscars Bar and Grill in Springdale just outside the park.  I had been craving a Murder Burger for a few weeks and kept bugging coworkers with my obsession of it.

Saturday some of us checked out a few miles of the East Rim Trail in the morning.  After the hike we went back to camp for lunch and to meet others showing up then.

Good Frog?? Bad Frog?? Which is it?


A great view from the hike.


Looking down into Jolley Gulch.


Dead Tree.

Late evening 5 of us wet through Keyhole Canyon.  Check out the pictures from that evening in Keyhole or get a better idea of what the canyon is like by checking out my trip report and beta for Keyhole Canyon.  While in Keyhole a group wanted to pass us.  Since I had all newbies with me, we let them pass so we did not slow them up too much.  I have since been in contact with the leader of that group.  He is going to be introducing me to some canyons in Arizona at a later date.

Starting up the wash to get to Keyhole Canyon.


Group picture after exiting the canyon.

After returning to camp we did a pot luck dinner and dried out by the fire.  I went back into Keyhole later that night with Marc.  Keyhole takes on a whole new feel in the dark.  The light reflecting off the water and dancing on the walls adds a lot.

Sunday I decided just to drive home fairly early in the day and enjoy a little weekend home time for a change.

8-8-08  -  Car camping at the San Onofre State Beach.

I went to the San Onofre State Beach with friends for some car camping.  It was a birthday celebration for 3 of them.  We drove down Friday set up camp and went out for pizza.  At first I wasn't sure if I would like the camping there because everyone was packed in pretty close.  But as the night went on the party like atmosphere of the place made it all worth while.  I would like to do more of this style camping when in the mood for socializing.

Saturday we went for a stroll on the beach below camp to get the morning started.

San Onofre State Beach below the camp grounds.


Walking along the beach with Bailey's and coffee is a nice way to get the morning started.

Next we drove to La Jolla Cove (south) to rent kayaks.  We were not allowed to kayak into the caves to look around with out a guide but found out we were allowed to swim in.  So while kayaking we got in the water and swam in to look around.  The are had a lot of sea lions that did not seem to mind the crowds of people much.  We also paddled out to some kelp beds then sat and watched / hung out next to a group of sea lions relaxing in the water a long way off shore.

Playing in the kelp beds in La Jolla Cove.

After kayaking we enjoyed playing and sleeping at the beach.  I got pretty sun burned.  Part of the sun burn was from driving with no shirt on.  The seat belt left a white stripe across my chest.  I ended up looking like a diver down flag.

Here is my diver down flag impersonation.

Sunday we played in the water at the beach below our camp site then packed up to drive home.

Check out my killer pony tail.
We found a piece of sea weed that looked pretty good as a hair extension for me. It even gives me a little extra hair in front and a low Mohawk along the top.  "Party on Dude".