Friends under the arch

Trace Wilkenson, Alley Lundberg & Jordan Cook hustled up to the arch. I leave the parking lot much earlier than these "young uns' and arrive at the arch much later. Was fun having Trace and Jordan visit.

Jeremy & Jaden Peterson at arch

Even though my nephew in law Jeremy doesn't like heights, he over came his anxieties to hike to the arch. His son Jaden had no such concerns and led his dad around the bowl to the center of the arch for their picture to be taken. Jaden like it so much he had his Dad take him back a second time the next day.

The story of the Dead headless bloated Beaver

This river trip turned out to be the most entertaining experience of the week. Dane was determined to float the river despite it running so high. Life preservers were a must and along with 7 inner tubes he lashed together, his sister Alexandra, brother Torrin, wife Katelyn, friends Brady Bruce, Dave and Rachel Forte went 12 miles upstream and launched in. The plan was Susie and I would pick them up at the bridge in Moab and return them to their truck upstream. At the appointed hour, we were at the bridge with Reid and Heidi Stewart but none of the intrepid floaters were.

Suspecting that some may want to disembark early, I drove slowly up the road paralleling the river watching for them. About four miles up we saw them. They made a strong effort to get to our side of the river and everyone but Dane and Brady quickly got out with lots of excited yelling to tell their story.

Seems that within the first mile or so of their float, they were trapped in a large whirlpool for over an hour. Even a commercial tourist boat was in it for 45 minutes and couldn't offer help. Within this whirlpool was a lot of flotsam and debris, including one large, dead bloated, headless beaver.

The best reconstruction of varied accounts: this is what we know. The boated headless beaver and katelyn had an extended closeup encounter with each other while in the whirlpool. Some accounts have Dane pushing his new bride into the beaver while other accounts say he was trying to push her out of the way of the beaver. Who knows the truth, but one thing for sure, the beaver, missing patches of fur along with it's head, whirled chest to chest with Katy. Despite her best efforts to get away the beaver followed and continually bumped up against her. There was screaming, crying, a touch of anger, disbelief, and a healthy dose of "ickiness" to the whole event and after all was said and done, this is what we know:
1- Katelyn does not like dancing with dead beavers.
2-Dane floated the last hour of the river without his wife.
3-Everyone witnessed the same event but has different accounts.
4-Dane and katelyn made up by that night. Ohhh, young love. My advice to them was one I learned from my father years ago. Nothing...I stayed completely out of it.

It can not be said at a time like this that a good time was had by all. It can be said however that by that night everyone was laughing in retelling the events of the day. Memories that will last a lifetime.

Near Warner Lake

Cool temps in the day made for a great ride up into the Aspens. This is the LaSal mountain range in the late morning on a ride we did the day Bryan and Ken left. The forests are very different than any riding we do in Arizona. Beautiful in the Summer, the trails traverse a variety of landscapes. All inspiring and worth every effort to do them.

Above the tree line on the lasal mountains

Bryan, Ken and I had one of the most gratifying rides of our lives as we ascended through three distinct forests on this trail. We started near the cabin and rode through scrub oak and cedar trees up through pine trees, and finally through aspen forests so thick that at times we were riding in tunnels of aspen foliage. We broke out above the tree line in these mountain meadows and had views of the Moab rim to the South, castle valley to the North and the LaSal mountain range to the East. Great views, friends and memories.

slick rock overlook

Longtime riding buddy Bryan Miley came up from Phoenix and rode with Ken and I. Bryan has been riding for years and probably logged more miles on a dirt bike with me than any other person. Short on stature, he is long on skill and has never seen a trail he isn't willing to try. We have been places together that few have ever traveled on our DRZ400s. We both enjoy a trail with technical portions and a bit of the unknown. There is a certain level of anxiety that we both enjoy, and to date we have been fortunate to always make it back home in one piece. Bryan suffered a broken collar bone last year on the bike but strangely enough it was on a trail that we have done a hundred times and not in a particularly hard spot. He was going fast however on a single track trail and went head over heels breaking his collar bone. His tolerance of pain is legendary amongst his friends, so when he said he needed a few minutes to gather himself, I knew he must be hurting. Sure enough, after a few minutes of "gathering" himself, his collar bone was in two distinct parts. The specific point in the trail was far too narrow for anything other than a dirt bike to negotiate so he walked out of rough terrain about a mile while I went back to retrieve his truck. Lot of fun times with Bryan.

Ken at slick rock

Our friend Ken McGinnis met us at the cabin and we rode dirt bikes for a couple of days. Slick rock is always a nice warm up ride, so the afternoon he and friend Bryan Miley showed up we spent the evening hours on slick rock. Here Ken is at the Moab over look vista point. Ken is a great rider and he is up to try almost any trail. This sense of fearlessness came in handy when we did porcupine a day later.

cabin at sunset

With evening clouds over canyon lands and arches national park, each sunset
was spectacular. This particular evening as we returned from the castle valley
overlook, the sun was right behind the cabin and the sky looked like it was on
fire. Due to the late snows this past Winter, the wildflowers are abundant. The
half mile lane into the cabin was lined with different colored flowers. Susie
counted over 20 varieties on the path. Blue, red, yellow, violet, white, pink,
etc. and their ability to not only hang onto life with such little water ,
but to bloom big and beautiful is really amazing. Sunups and Sunsets are
unrivaled at the cabin. Each is distinct yet all are beyond
description. They seem to last a little longer up on the mesa as
the view is above the valley floor.

Alley & Katelyn at overlook

Two of the nicest most active girls you will ever meet. Alley and Katelyn are always up for adventure and this past was no exception. Both left the parking lot much later than me on the way to delicate arch and both beat me up to it. Katelyn ran past me on the trail and I believe ran the whole way up. By the time I got there she was ready to come back down. Alley has run it before. Here they are at the overlook enjoying the sunset before we head back to the cabin for dinner. As I recall we had salad, Bratwursts, root beer milk shakes and some of Susie's cinnamon rolls.

Susie & the last of 6 kids

Torrin and his mom Susie at the overlook. Each evening we try to get over to this spot in order to watch Nature put on a show with a sunset over the mountains, valley, monumants and it never disappoints. We have never had a guest, friend or visitor go to the overlook and be disappointed. We consider it one of God's greatest gifts to us all. A scene straight from Heaven.

speak no evil hear none see none

Katy Susie and Alley on top of the Castle Valley overlook Rock imitating the famous monkeys. These three girls along with Brady Bruce hiked a lot of miles on this trip. Nearly every morning they were up at sunup and on the trails.

Newly weds

katelyn and Dane Lundberg entertained us all with their different takes on life. Having just married a couple months ago they still find some areas of difference. katy likes to hike a lot, Dane not so much, katy doesn't like floating the river with dead beavers that attack her, Dane thinks it quite funny. One thing they always agree on is the consistent beauty of the castle valley overlook. This was after a storm passed through and left some beautiful clean looking points along the ridges.

Hells Revenge

This past week we had a sort of mini family reunion at the cabin. Dane & Katelyn invited friends Brady, Dave & Rachel Forte, Alexandra invited her friend Jordan, Trace Wilkenson, along with Torrin, my friends Ken McGinnis and Bryan Miley, Susie and me. We had a great week. We road the ranger, hiked, floated the river, dirt biked and watched movies at night.

Finns N Things on Polaris Ranger

The days were warm and the nights were cool. With some sunscreen and a Polaris 4 x 4 we did Finns N Things trail near slick rock and the cabin. The ranger was able to do this with no problem and was much more agile that when
we take the Tacoma. Here Susie poses with her kids Dane, Torrin, Alley, Katy and Friend Brady. We followed in the Tacoma and met at this spot in the trail. With lots of "S" curves we would see them coming down one portion while we were going up the other. This was a lot of fun and everyone that visits the cabin should experience this trial.