Kanarra Falls

So day 3 of 4 off for us and the day dawned brilliantly sunny and crispy cold; perfect weather for another hiking adventure - this time to Kanarra Falls - about 15 miles south of town. Tag was busting a gut to get to ride in the back of the truck again - this is his new trick - he's a real Utah dog now! and enjoys every minute of his time back there. Given the time of year, I was surprised by how much water was still running, but what was running was icy cold; this however still didn't stop Taggy dog from plunging in and splashing around at every possible opportunity -he had so much fun. The nature of the trail to the falls prefers you to hike through water, so this trail is best done in the summer months for sure but it was possible to pass the water crossings and find other ways round when there were no stepping stones to make the water easily crossable. We thoroughly enjoyed this hike and never saw another person while we were there, it was perfect.

Snowy Hidden Haven Hike

After a miserable week of snow and cold cold weather, we took the first opportunity of a brilliantly sunny day (on our day off no less! yay!) to go for a hike up Parowan Canyon on a beautiful walk called Hidden Haven. I've hiked this trail several times before but never in the winter months and I was really pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the trail was at this time of year and not at all sparse and barren like I expected it to be. What was more surprising was how much snow was on the trail - a good 5 inches in some spots. We took Taggy dog and he had a blast. Seeing no other human footprints on the trail, we took a risk and let him off the leash. He walked like such a good dog the whole way, he'd run ahead for 20ft or more, we'd shout him, and he'd come running back. He was a really happy dog to have so much freedom, jumping and going crazy in the snow. Despite the icy cold water and chunks of ice, he was happy to take a dip and go splashing around. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather perfect - a crisp chill to the air but sunny enough to not make it nasty cold, and the walk proved a perfect activity for a Friday afternoon.

Road Trippin' California: Part 3 - Yosemite National Park

So after leaving Sacramento, the next stop on our loop back towards home was Yosemite National Park, about 3 hours south east of Sacramento. Wow!!! - that place is amazing! I so wished that we had of had a week to stay there and hike til we could hike no more! The possibilities for outdoor activities in Yosemite are endless. The place is so beautiful and we were blessed with perfect weather. Dogs are very limited as to the places you can take them in Yosemite so we left Tag in the truck and set off for a short 3 hour trip in the park; we rode the free bus to get a basic orientation of the park and then once back at the visitor center, we did a 90 minute round-trip hike to the Yosemite Falls which were flowing good for the time of year and were so pretty. The only downside to our time in Yosemite was the roadworks - they sucked. Yosemite's roads are narrow, very twisty and change in elevation a lot. They were tearing up the roads in the park like crazy. We must have sat in traffic jams for close to 2 hours which really cut into our time there so we decided to stay an extra night in the park and leave early the next morning. One thing I loved about Yosemite is that the majority of the larger trees are covered in this fluffy bright green moss which actually makes them look really attractive I thought. It is bizarre - it reminded me of parsley, lol! We visited the Mariposa Grove of Giant Redwoods in the south east corner of the park. For some reason, I find these giant trees quite magical and special and it felt a real treat to be standing among them, craning our necks to be able to look to the tops. They are insanely huge beyond belief. Their barks are weird - very spongy and soft which surprised me somewhat. Wade wanted to bring an acorn home and start one growing in our garden! I love that idea but we'll be long dead before the hundreds of years it takes for these beautiful trees to gain any real size.

Below - at the yosemite falls. So pretty.

The pinecones from the giant redwoods are huge! It shocked the heck out of us the first time we heard one fall from a tree - it makes quite the sound! Tag was obsessed with them and went crazy whenever they would fall from the tree - he loved us throwing them to him so he could catch them and bat them on the floor with his paws. That doggy had a blast at the campgrounds we stayed in Yosemite. Thankfully we didn't see any bears!
When we left Yosemite, it was pouring it down with rain heavy. We were hoping to stay one extra night to break up the 10 hour trip back home but the torrential rain made camping a very unappealing prospect so we just decided to motor on home. It was a long drive! We had so much fun on our roadtrip and saw so many wonderful and exciting things. I can't wait to see what the next adventure holds!

Road Trippin' California: Part 2 - Sacramento & San Francisco

A couple hours West of Lake Tahoe we finally arrive in Sacramento - the Capital City of California. We stayed here for 7 days with Wade's Dad and his wife Terri. We had so much fun; they are very fun and welcoming people and it was so nice to meet the whole family. Wade hadn't seen them for the best part of 8 years so there was lots to catch up on! We did manage some sight-seeing though!I really liked Sacramento; the downtown area is nice and relatively easy to navigate. The State Capitol building is beautiful, all bright white against the palm trees and hot sun. We walked in the building which is just as beautiful inside as it is out. The building is huge; we got to sit in the part where they make all the important decisions and we also walked by Arnold Schwarzenneggers office which was rather fun.. and no, he wasn't in office on that day, I found out that he doesn't even live in Sacramento, preferring to fly in by private jet every day... alright for some!

Old Town Sacramento is very quaint and nice. It has a lot of charm and was a pleasure to walk around. I was lucky enough to get to visit there twice - the first time we went in the afternoon and walked the area, browsing in all the stores (Evangelines is awesome and so fun!), and then the next night we went back there with all the family for a lovely meal at the Joe's Crab Shack, right on the river, it was so nice. We even got to see the Bridge raise to let a boat go under - quite the sight.. not the Golden Gate Bridge, a bridge that is painted Golden rather bizarrely that raises to let huge cargo ships go under.

Next stop on the tourist trail was San Francisco.... WOW!!! I was so excited to visit there; the city is beautiful and it was very rewarding to finally see the major landmarks I had previously seen pictures of.. the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fishermans Wharf and Lombard Street - that crazy squiggly street that has appeared in movies... let me tell you, it is a bitch to walk up! but very beautiful because of all the flowers in bloom.

We walked about 15 miles round San Francisco. Contrary to what I previously though, the Golden Gate Bridge is not right there in San Francisco, well it is, but it's not a quick walk away... try a 6 mile walk away! .. we perservered and walked to the middle section of the bridge which was quite an experience. I didn't know the bridge would be so noisy! They have these weird raised things on the bridge to slow the traffic down I guess, but it makes for a very noisy time of it on the bridge. The bridge is also very high and affords the most amazing views of the Bay. Clam Chowder in a sour-dough bread bowl from a fish market vendor for lunch and my San Francisco experience was complete. A long walk back to the boat for the hour ride back home and the perfect end to an awesome day. San Francisco is an amazing city and I can't wait to return there some day soon and explore more of what it has to offer.

Road Trippin' California: Part 1 - Hwy 50

When I googled 'Hwy 50', I was led to believe that it would be the loneliest road that we would ever travel on, given its name 'The Loneliest Highway'.. I think the road is wrongly named; yes there weren't that many cars but it was anything but lonely. It is a hell of a long drive from Cedar City to Sacramento, CA, so we decided to spread the 10 hour journey over a couple of days and so far, we have had a blast and seen some amazing things. The first day we travelled from Cedar City to Ely, NV, making a stop for a few hours at the gorgeous Lehman's Cave, a national monument in the Great Basin National Park. The tour was so cool and the cave was impressive like nothing I have ever seen before; I am so pleased that we made the stop. They estimate the cave is between 1 and 5 million years old and is still 'growing'. It is very cold and damp down there and the limestone stalagtites and stalagmites look almost fake, it is insane. The tour guide was very knowledgable and was full of all kinds of interesting information during our 1.5 hour tour underground. These pictures absolutely do not do the cave justice.

A short 90 minute trip from Lehman's Cave bought us to Cave Lake State Park just outside of Ely, NV. The State Park is an oasis in the middle of a whole lot of nothingness! It is a lovely place to spend the night for us and Taggy dog had so much fun on the walks and he even went swimming in the rather frigid lake water! We were very unprepared however for how very cold the weather would be that night - we woke in the morning to a thick layer of ice covering everything - it was cold! When the sun came up however it proved to be a really lovely day and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cave Lake.

After thawing out from Cave Lake, we drove a couple hours further down the road, through yet more miles of nothingness (seriously, you can look for miles and miles out of all the car windows and see NOTHING!!!... hard to believe but so true). Seeing the worlds supposedly largest 'shoe tree' was a real treat and quite a wonder in itself. This huge tree looms out of nowhere with hundreds of pairs of shoes thrown high up into its branches. An amazing sight and a beauty in itself, standing there baking in the hot sunshine. It's actually really difficult to get the shoes to stay in the tree. There are hundreds of pairs laying on the ground that have fallen off the tree, so there's plenty of opportunity to try and get a pair thrown up in the tree. Wade did really well and threw 2 pairs up there... me, it took about 10 tries but i finally made a pair stay!

A few more miles of nothingness and we arrive at the Middlegate Pony Express Station.. the only bar, sat in the middle of nowhere for hundreds of miles. This place has so much charm. It's a smallish dingy little establishment full of people passing through Highway 50 on their way to wherever. The beer was surprisingly very cheap and it was a realy nice place to spend an hour or so. The ceiling of the bar was covered full of dollar bills that people had written their name and date on. It was kinda cool.

Back on the road through more miles of nothingness and all of a sudden, out of nowhere looms this huge sand dune among all the scrub and bare mountain. It is quite the sight!

Finally at the end of Highway 50 we come to beautiful Lake Tahoe on the California / Nevada border. It is so beautiful; the campground we chose was gorgeous and had it's own dog beach so Tag was well happy to splash in the water and get long walks on the beach. The weather was beautiful and I wish we had of had longer to enjoy Lake Tahoe. I can't wait to go back some day. I was sad to be at the end of Highway 50, it was a far more enjoyable experience than I had been led to believe it would be. Depsite the hundreds of miles of nothingness, there were so many wonders to be seen and I am pleased I saw everything that we did. Next leg of the roadtrip takes us into California to Sacramento!

Sunday Shooting

A perfect sunny breezy Sunday in Cedar and with no other plans, we decided to head in to the relative middle of nowhere and practice our target shooting. Today was only the third time I've shot guns and I'm already loving it. Wade says that I have excellent potential because I am a blank canvas and have no bad habits. He's a really great teacher and I already am shooting what i'm aiming for - we set up beer bottles at up to 30 yds away and I was picking most of them off first try... it has nothing to do with beginners luck ;) I'm obviously Annie Oakley in the making! My gun of choice is the 22 pistol but for fun we took the semi-automatic AR-15 with a laser scope with 8 radicals (whatever the f**k that means) firing teflon ballistic bullets... Wade dictated that last part. That gun kicks a**!! It was far too heavy for me but the scope with the little red dot sight sure helps with accuracy - trouble was my arm was shaking too much from the strain of having to hold the gun steady in the breezy wind! We had such a fun afternoon, it made for a nice end to the weekend.

The beautiful place we like to call home :)
The kick-a** AR-15 - hence the goofy look on my face after seeing how powerful that thing is!

The rather more manageable 22.

Me and my own Range Master - the perfect teacher :)

Meet Tag!

So after weeks of back and forth deciding whether we wanted a dog or not, I went to visit the Iron County Animal Shelter yesterday and my heart broke after seeing all the dogs in there deserving of a good home. I fell in love with Taggart, a supposedly 3 year old Hound mix. He was the only one who wasn't barking; he just sat as good as gold in his cage, looking up at me with these big brown eyes, wagging his tail, patiently waiting to be shown some attention. 2 People had told me that he was a really good dog, and after telling them what I was looking for in a dog, they said he would be perfect for us. Wade went to the Shelter today and fell in love with him as quickly as I did, and we now have a dog! Meet Tag. He is full of fun and endless amounts of energy which makes us think that he is younger than the 3 years old we were told he was. As I'm writing this, he's been ours for about 5 hours and him and Wade already have a bond; he follows him round everywhere and I have a good feeling that he's going to be a really good companion for the both of us. We don't know his background/history - all we know is that he was found wandering Brianhead, the ski-resort area of our County. We took him for a walk this afternoon and he doesn't seem bothered by people or the other dogs we encountered on our walk. Welcome to the family Tag! We are so happy to have you with us.

18 Sept' 2010 - Angels Landing, Zion National Park

For a long time now I have had this desire to hike Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. We tried it a couple of months ago and decided to stop at Scout Lookout after a lady fell off of this trail the very same day that we were there! (about 7 people a year fall off the trail) Angels Landing is only a 5 mile round trip hike but you climb 1,500ft during that time and it is an extremely strenuous hike, not to be undertaken by the faint of heart of weak of mind ;) this hike pushes you to the limits - physically and mentally but it is worth every minute and I am so pleased that we did it. The hike up is exhausting to say the least; the last half mile or so being almost vertical climbing with only chains for support - it tests every muscle in your body. The views at the top however are insane! The weather was perfect and we sat on what felt like the very top of the world, catching our breath and having a snack; the feeling of having made it up there is indescribable; I was so proud of us. The journey down was a different story... after a physically exhausting climb up, my legs had turned to jelly and the fact that we were holding on to chains on the side of a near vertical rock had set in. We made it down in one piece and I have never been so relieved to be on flat, safe ground. What a day though.. one of the most rewarding days I have had in a really long time. If you haven't hiked Angels Landing, you gotta do it, its one of life's must do's!!!

Refrigerator Canyon - half way up the hike; the blast of cool air is a welcome break from the beating sun.

The final leg - almost to the top of Angels Landing! - pictures nowhere near do this justice - it is a lot steeper than it looks!!

Nearly there.... this is the view you can expect on the way up. In one part, the trail is 3ft wide with 1,200ft sheer vertical drops on both sides!!

View from the top - we made it!!

"Walter's Wiggles" switchbacks on the way back down with legs like jelly! This hike really takes it out of you!