Zions National Park

In case you were wondering if I haven't done enough hiking, you're right; I haven't. I am really falling in love with hiking and am grateful that I am living in a place that has so much wonderful hiking all around and the weather that makes it all possible to hike a lot more during than year.

I have been thinking I need to do more single stuff in the church and this was the week I started to act. I went to an institute class on Wed night and then Saturday was an all day hike in Zion's NP. So just to give you a small tasting of how tired I am right now I'll briefly describe my weekend to you. Friday after school I went out with some work friends for dinner, left them to join another friend at the temple for the 8 pm session. Arrived home around 10:30 and got everything ready for the hike. Woke up at 4:30 am and rendezvouxed at the speedway to carpool up to Zions at 6 am. Hiked all day and drove home, arriving at 9 pm. And it just happened to be welfare meeting at 7:30 am on Sunday with presidency meeting after that, then choir, church and then visits. It's now 6 pm and I'm wiped out, so much that I don't even want to cook dinner, I just want to go to bed and sleep.

Anyways. . . My hike was amazing. The whole time going up I was so excited to be doing this hike. I'be been wanting to do this hike for a long time. Jackie told me that I would be able to do this hike after doing so well in Sedona the previous week. I was hesitant, but decided I would try. The people I went with were very nice and there was no pressure to get up quickly. I hung out with a sister who it was her first time also, and we hiked up together. She did very well. The picture on the right is from the top and you can see how far away down really is.

Angel's Landing is a very steep hike with drop offs on both sides. There are 21 short but very steep switchbacks that are called Walter's Wiggles. At the end, chains are provided to help you climb the dificult inclines and help you to stay clear of drop offs. The view from the top is well worth the possible fear of falling to your death and the feeling of accomplishment is amazing. As I was hiking I had to sometimes put up my hands to act as blinders so my peripheral vision wouldn't scare me so much. But once I stopped moving I could look around and see how far up we actually were. On the way down it is much easier to run because it is so steep. You can see on the picture to the left that we had to walk out and across to reach the top.

Afterwards, we went to see Weeping Rock which was amazing and literally very cool. I'm sure once the summer comes and the plants are grown, it is an amazing sight. Apparantly water travels from the top of the mountain, through to the sandstone which is very pourous, moves horizontally until it seeps out and drips down. They said it takes 4000 years for the water to run its course. All in all it was a wonderful trip and hopefully the first of many more to come.

This guy Chris arranged monthly hikes and I think I'll start going to them. He has been doing these hikes for over a year, but I haven't gone because they have coincided with my Bruin Trailblazer group. But I haven't really done that since the Christmas break, so I'll start going with the SA group instead. He organizes everything, so that's one less thing for me to organize. :)

Tutrlehead Hike

Saturday was our November hike with the Bruin Trailblazers. We actually split up into two groups to accommodate the different skill levels in our group. I should have chosen the other hike!! I went on the Turtlehead hike, which is a very difficult hike (in my opinion). The trail is not clearly marked, basically just climb up where ever you want. Of course you have to go over giant boulders, around hills, and through washes to even think about climbing to the top. The bottom right picture shows the peak Turtlehead and you can see where it gets its name from. I didn't make it to the top, but got a good portion of the way up. And it was even more difficult coming down. That's where your whole body gets a work out because you have to use your arms, hands, and bottom to fall down (oh I mean get down) the mountain. Needless to say, I am sore from this hike. I haven't been working out as faithfully as I did in the summer, and boy are my muscels screaming at me now!!

North Peak Hike

Well, Saturday was another fun day of hiking. We met at Red Rock Visitor's Center at 9 am and did some 4-wheelin' and hikin'. I went with my fellow co-workers, the Bruin Trailblazers. This time there were only 14 of us, but 2 actually ended up on a different hike. Not quite sure how that happened, but they had fun nonetheless. Here's a picture of the group, minus the picture takers, Kaz and Will. If you're thinking that I can't even add because there's only 8 in the picture + 2 taking it, that doesn't really add up to 14 - well, we had 2 stay at the bottom and explore around there.

We've got pictured in the back Wyatt, Burden & Strobel. Then in the middle Jackson, Hoak, Nelson, & Katie and Poindexter in the front. This was a 2.6 mile hike there and back and not terribly steep. However, in my rush, I did get heat exposed and lost my color vision. It was like that song, "Dreamin in color and Livin in black and white" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus for you non-country listeners. So, I laid down on the ground and drank a lot of water. Here I am getting up.

The day was beautiful, not a cloud in sight and low to mid 70's temp. Just beautiful. Even with my little incident, it was wonderful. I felt so good after the hike and I felt so alive and active. For some reason I forget how good exercising really is. Anyways, here's a few shots of the beauty of Red Rock Canyon. Maybe when you come to visit me, we can go hiking!!

Cathedral Rock

For the first time since arriving in Vegas, I went hiking. It was so wonderful to be out and away from the city. Mount Charleston is beautiful in its own right. The trail ended at the top of this mamoth rock at an elevation of 8600 feet. The wind was blowing and kept us cool while the sun was out warming us. It was perfect hiking conditions. I loved seeing the Aspen trees and they were already changing colors in some parts of the mountain. There were 14 of us from school that went up. I created a little schedule of monthly hikes and invited the school teachers to come. We are called the Bruin Trailblazers. It was so much fun getting to know other teachers outside of school. We met at Brinley, then carpooled up. Some actually met us on the trail. There were cut out little chairs and resting points along the trail - so cute, I had to take a picture.