The Ugliest Cars...According to Matt

Ok...for the lack of better blogging material I've decided to quickly enlighten everyone on the ugliest cars on the road today (despite your own personal opinions):

#3 - The Hummer. Notice I didn't say HMMV (Highly Mobile, Multi-Wheeled, Vehicle) - this is what the military drives around and actually looks cool. What we've got on the consumer market today (as seen below) looks like a bloated whale only meant to flounder down Hollywood Blvd or Park Ave - can these things even go off-road?? Definitely a huge let-down from the "real deal."

#2 - The Aztec. What can I say about this thing? Who came up with the rear-end on this! U-G-L-Y

#1 - And now for the ugliest car on the road....the Scion! I hope I don't offend too many liberals, but this thing is UGLY!! You'll never convince me that this thing is "hip" or "trendy" - it's just UGLY.


Now that we've been so grieved to look at the top 3 offenders of the road, let's look at my dream vehicle...

The Jeep Cherokee
(not the Grand Cherokee, mind you)
Everybody say, "Ooooooo, Ahhhhhh."

It's a thing of beauty sporting its roof rack and off-road lift kit. This is a manly man's car. 'Nuff said. Oh, wait! I own one of these! Ok, so it needs a little money thrown at it to look like this. Maybe one of these days...

Meet Macy!

Well, I finally caved in and decided to get a dog for the family - actually I was really excited to get one, too! We "adopted" Macy (apparently you never use the word "bought" around pet lovers - big no-no as I found out) this Saturday from the "Adopt a Rescue Dog" program outside a local Petsmart store. She won our hearts immediately with her affection and gentleness with the girls. Her kennel-given name was "Marian" but we didn't think that was a good fit. She's some sort of Shepherd mix: not sure if she's got German Shepherd in her or maybe Dutch Shepherd - it's hard to tell. Any thoughts from the dog experts??

More to come on Macy later, but we wanted to get the pictures out for everyone to see. She has been a little slow in eating her new food, but once she gets adjusted to the new environment, we think she'll come around.

Zion Getaway

The guys in our church had been talking all summer about a guys' getaway.  Well, we finally made it happen.  Over the weekend of Sept. 27th, we all got kitchen passes and drove to Zion National Park, just northeast of St. George, UT, to enjoy some camping and hiking.

Angels' Landing Summit - Top Row (left to right): Neal, Mike, Alexander

Bottom: Myself, Sean, and Triston

Half of the guys in our group - the young whipper-snappers (Me, Triston, and Alexander) envisioned a woodsy, off-the-beaten-trail camp location.  The elders in our group had something a little more "homey" in mind.  Little did the young guys know that what they had in mind was a location next to showers, potties, a swimming pool (complete with wine and cheese sampling), picnic tables, and barbecue grills.  In fact, they were so excited about this location that they were willing to pay $40-some for it!  Down the road was a similar BLM campground, nice sandy ground, no fee, plenty of space to get away from other campers, etc...but no!  We camped in the $40 spot with neighbors within spitting distance (see picture below).  The elders won the day and trumped our desires for a somewhat-real camping experience.  I'm not bitter, but I DO think it's important to clarify what we mean by "camping" next time : )

Our Campsite

After we set-up camp, the first hike we decided on was Angels' Landing in the middle of the park.  The only way to get to the trailhead was to commute there via park bus.  This really was a spectacular hike (not that physically challenging, compared to a '14er hike) - especially once you made it to the half-way point and saw this vista.  The sheer cliff face on Angels' Landing's North side was spectacular!

Angels' Landing Summit taken from the Half-way Point

(Path goes up the Right Side)

The final pitch was an awesome hike!  It was sloping sandstone, so slippery and steep that the park has installed chain-link along the way for stability.

Mike and Triston on the Final Ridge to the Top 

We were up there at sunset - beautiful, breathtaking views.

Angels' Landing Panorama Looking South

The next day we hiked what was called the "Narrows."  This hike can be done one of two ways.  You can catch a shuttle all the way to the top and hike down the Narrows (a river that cuts through these incredible sandstone canyons) if you want a full 8 hours of hiking.  OR, you can start at the park-side and hike up, turning around when you've had enough.  We opted for the second option.  

Let me just say that this a VERY UNIQUE trail - unlike any other hike I've done.  There's really no elevation gain, but having to walk through a river 85% of the time, over slick river rock, takes more effort than you'd think.  The canyon walls were AMAZING!  I felt like a complete dwarf walking beside them.  I'd say the canyon walls towered, at times, thousands of feet above us!

The Narrows

More Narrows - A Golden Glow in the Canyon Half-Light

"In the Cleft of the Rock"

The Lord is my rock, my fortress

and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I

take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold.

I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I am saved from my enemies.

(Psalm 18:2,3)

One strange thing I've noticed on our trips to Bryce Canyon and Zion is that I feel like I'm a foreigner in my own country.  The majority of the park visitors are European.  I've even had a chance to practice my German skills (which aren't that spectacular anymore).  Where are all the Americans??  Too lazy to get off their sofas and enjoy God's creation?  Get outdoors, America!

We left Sunday night after our Narrows hike, and drove back to Vegas - arriving around 9:00.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel in St. George for some eats and I asked, "What are your vegetarian options?"... DUMB question.  "Do you have any beer?"...DUMB question #2.  Again, I'm a stranger in a strange land - an alien in this world : )  

What an awesome time we had!  It's starting to get cool here in the desert, so I think our winter expeditions will consist of Red Rock Park hiking, here in Vegas.  It was great getting away with the church guys and having some "male bonding."  No we didn't have to drink beer to have fun; the sweet fellowship of other Christians and the brotherhood we have in Jesus were enough to make this trip one I'll never forget.

Castle Peak / Conundrum Peak Hike (#18 and #19)

What an amazing summer for hiking! A couple weeks after our journey up Shavano and Tabegauche, Graham and I decided to attempt Castle and Conundrum Peaks - another dynamic duo in the Elk Range that are both doable in one day. These two peaks are accessed from the Castle Peak Trailhead just south of Aspen. We arrived in Aspen on Sep 20th, about 5:30 am after having left Graham's house in Grand Junction at 3:30. Castle Creek road took us from Aspen's west side to Forest Road 102. If you remember from my last blog, Animal (a pet name for my '98 Jeep Cherokee) didn't get a workout on the last fourteener expedition, but today was different! This was an awesome Jeep trail complete with a nice river crossing. I was a little worried about the river since I'd read a trip report on 14ers.com about a Jeep Commander getting stuck in the same spot. I made sure to keep my speed up as I crossed, and we made it over, no problems. Graham got a pic that I "photo-shopped" a little to re-live the event.

My Jeep Crossing Castle Creek (Sep '08)

You can take this jeep trail all the way to 12,800', but the 14'er purest likes to hike at least 3000' of elevation to call it a complete climb. If you look close, you can see somebody drove it all the way to the top and parked their truck there.

Castle Jeep Trail - Parking at 12,800' (Far Left)

In that spirit, we parked as close to 11k' as we could estimate (a GPS or altimeter would have been nice here) and hiked the rest of the way. What a beautiful hike! To top it off, somebody had placed a cross on one particular switchback around 12,000'. What a great way to start a day of hiking - a reminder that God was with us and watching over our every step.

Praise the Lord!

We made it to the end of the jeep trail (12.8k) and were faced with a decision: continue directly into Montezuma Basin via the standard "Northeast Ridge Trail" or try the variation to the Northeast Ridge route. The variation takes you directly up the ridge all the way from the 12.8k parking. This piqued our interest as the terrain looked more challenging and guaranteed fewer crowds. The variation is seen behind Graham in this picture. Gerry Roach (author of Colorado's Fourteeners Guidebook) suggested staying south of the Buttress (the large rock seen just right of Graham's head).

Graham and the Northeast Ridge Variation Route

The route around the buttress was alot of fun! It required several pitches of hand-over-hand scrambling with the snow making footing somewhat tricky in spots. It was an exciting change from the standard, flat-trail hiking.

Matt on Castle Peak's Northeast Ridge

Once you make it to the intersection of where the variation and the standard route meet, you get a breathtaking view of Castle's summit and the saddle between Castle and Conundrum. The rest of the trail from here to Castle's summit was both mine and Graham's favorite part of the hike.

Graham and Castle Peak in the Background

Castle Peak (left) and the Ridge between Castle and Conundrum (right)

We met some neat people on top of Castle, but it was starting to get frigid! There were some snow flurries beginning and it was only 10:00! The weather improved as we hiked from Castle to Conundrum, and we were encouraged that the clouds approaching from the west were relatively moisture-less and NOT building like a typical thunderhead. We ate some lunch on top, swapped some stories with the other 4 or so people that were there, and started over to Conundrum. The picture below was taken by an electrical engineer who lived in Evergreen.

Graham and I on Top of Castle Peak (14,265')

The ridge over to Conundrum was a little tricky because a thin glaze of snow made the rocks very slippery. The views were great to the west (you could see the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, Pyramid, and Capitol Peaks - all 14ers). We hiked the majority of the ridge with the electrical engineer (I think his name was Shawn). The traverse to Conundrum took us about 45 minutes. The summit of Conundrum was fairly tiny compared to most but the view was, again - INCREDIBLE! Being on the mountain top totally restores my soul - a Rocky Mountain "high" I don't get from anything else. And being with my Brother makes it all the more awesome!

Graham on Conundrum Peak (14,060') with Castle Peak in the Background

There were two options for getting down off the peaks - one was to hike the ridge back to Castle Peak and descend via the route we came up. The much more interesting option, though, was the one we opted for. This involved hiking down to the low point of the saddle between the two peaks and descending a large snow field that drops you into the heart of Montezuma Basin. Unfortunately, I didn't come prepared to glissade (a technique of dawning snow pants, and sliding down a snow slope - oodles of fun!) This is best accomplished with waterproof pants (which I didn't have) and an ice axe for braking action (another tool I didn't have).

The Snow Slope above Montezuma Basin

There's an amazing alpine lake in the middle of the basin that looks like it's collapsing from erosion.

Montezuma Basin Lake

After a fun hike/slide down the snow slope, we started walking around the outer perimeter of the lake. This was when I got the next thrill of an already great day. All of a sudden I collapsed up to my armpits in a snow hole! What a blast! I know...I wouldn't be saying the same thing if it had been 20 feet deep; but I definitely felt like more of a mountaineer after this day was over!

Up to my Armpits in Fun!

From this point we descended another large snow slope which spit us back out at the 12,800' parking area. We hiked the jeep trail the rest of the way to our car at 11k' and called it a day. I must say that the one disappointment of the day was the jeep trail hike back down. Because you can drive up so far, alot of non-hiking types were tearing up and down the trail with their four-wheelers, motorcycles, and 4-wheel drive vehicles. It sort-of ruined the serenity of it all - having to listen to the obnoxious noise and breathe the nasty exhaust. Yeah, I'm sure it's fun if you're the one riding, but have a little consideration for the peace of the high country, huh!?

After we were off the mountain, we found a little pub in downtown Carbondale and chowed down some Nachos and beer - a pretty tasty combo after a long day of hiking, don't ya think? We drove McClure Pass back over to Delta and then on to Montrose where we met our families for a deli dinner. What a day! Thanks God! And thanks Graham for the camaraderie! This year's 14'er window has pretty much closed, but I can't wait for next summer when we can do it all again on another undiscovered peak!


COMING SOON: 27-28 Sept, Zion National Park, Camping Expedition