Hava Hava Supai

Well this adventure starts off in Orem Utah. We (Brett, Hannah, Tom, Rob, and I) left the apartment of Brett around 4 in the afternoon. The drive was long and was made longer by the use of energy drinks (which i hate) and a little lack of scenery. But we soldiered on. We stopped on St. George and bought some 5 hr energy for the hike down.

We cruised down through Vegas and made our way to the Supai reservation. we arrived at the parking lot around 2:30 or 2:45 in the morning and there were people in the parking lots sleeping.

We then drank our 5 hr energy and headed on down the 11 mile trail. It was really easy going. I think that i took 2 swallows of water the whole 11 miles because it was all on a slight decline. We arrived at the Supai village at 5 in the morning in time to register at the travel office.

Then we hiked into the camping area. Because we knew that we had to be tired due to the lack of sleep we sat around for a while and tried to get some rest. This didn't really happen, seeing as I was loaded with 5 hr energy. So we all decided to go check out some of the falls. we hiked over to Havasu falls and swam around in the clear blue water. It has changed a lot since the flood, but it is still really cool. By the end of the first night we had driven for 11 hrs and hiked 11 miles. By the second night we hadn't slept for 36 hrs. So when night fell lets just say we were pretty tired.

We awoke the next morning and continued the adventure of swimming in cold water and jumping in water falls. It was way awesome. We were then joined by Brett's sister and brother-in-law.

Our adventure was coming to a close, but not without a struggle. We (Rob, Tom, and I) left camp at about 8 o'clock. The sun had gone down, but it was still rather hot. So we embarked and had some fun hiking out. But we were not as lucky as we were coming in. We walked up the never ending river bed, and rested at the bottom of the mountainous switchbacks which led to the parking lot. At the bottom Rob and i said that we were not going to rest on the steep switchbacks, so we left our comrade Tom. We walked forever. it was so annoying. The switchbacks never ended. We encountered a horse and some more people. And finally, out of water, we made it to the parking lot. It was tough going but we made it. We then sat by the car and were joined by Tom shortly after we "summited." So we headed to Vegas.

When we arrived in Vegas we were really early in the morning. So we pulled into a church parking lot and tried to sleep. We were in the grass but the sprinklers came on, so Rob and Tom moved to the parking lot, and i tried to sleep in the car. The car was way to hot, so i went and tested the grass, but it was still wet, so i slept on the concrete. it was rather uncomfortable, but i hadn't slept in a while.

Then we went to the breakfast buffet at the MGM grand and boy was it good. maybe because we had eaten freeze dried foods for a while. Then we visited my good friend Spencer Noorda and watched some tv and showered for the first time in 4 days.

And we started off for home and we arrived after taking turns driving probably every 30 miles or so.

And so ends our trip, our vacation, our adventure to one of the most beautiful places i have been in a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SJkY418xA this is a video Tom put together for this trip

A Small Adventure (Reggae) Tuesday

Well this particular adventure day was not well documented with a camera that has picture capabilities. There are a few videos on Andy's blog (the link is on the blog) giving a small glimpse into what happened on this particular day.
It started with a plan to hit up the escape buttress and have some fun up there. We made our way to the buttress and saw that there was very little shade to be had. so we unpacked our gear played the harmonica and got ready for the climb.
Andy led the climb, and while he was up there he had stuck his and in a pocket and a bird flew out of the same pocket he, only moments earlier, had his hand in. Thus startling Andy, and myself, but also leaving smiles on our faces.
We retreated to the shade to cool off a bit, sing some reggae songs and eat some banana chips.
Then it was my turn. We had tied our shirts into ninja masks/turbins, and continued climbing. It was rather miserable and I spent a lot of time on the wall. About mid climb there was a loud noise behind Andy, and then a rock tumbled down the hill. Both of us stopped and looked around, but found nothing. Who knows what it was, it could have been an evil spirit come to take our souls, or a grizzly bear, or maybe even a giant that lives ontop of the climb and doesn't want intruders.
After this we called it a day. Andy to mow his yard, and me to finish my louis lamour book that I was captured by.
This was but a small adventure. There will be more to report soon.

Jeff Explaining His Crash

More Rain

Well it seems that every adventure chronicled in the captains log has to do with some precipatation. This is mostly due to the fact that Utah has played a horrible trick on us all.
So this day started like most adventure tuesdays start, with some good old fashioned rock climbing. We (Brett, Andy, and myself) went up AF canyon to the membrane wall, it was there that we climbed, and had a rather good time at it. We dicided to call it a day when we noticed that the weather was planning to block out the sun, and bring the precipatation that seems to accompany all adventures now-a-days. We returned to Andy's and we sat and ate some sandwiches. We then decided to continue our adventure with some mountain biking. Now an adventure just isn't an adventure without some misery and pain, and today was no different.
We drove to the trail head at the top of the alpine loop, where we met up with Whitney and Jeff, and we got all pumped up to ride the muddy, miserably wet trail.
So the ride started, and it was all going quite well, enjoying the rain and the fun of riding a mountain bike. As we went along Brett thought that he would slice his leg open, so he looked hardcore, and then Andy completly worked over his derailer. I don't know what happened, but he messed it up pretty well. But we can't have that be the most hardcore thing that happens. So Jeff, with his brakes that kept sticking, went down a slimy downhill, and at the bottom turfed it hard. Now i didn't see this, but i heard the UFF that was emitted from his mouth. He ended up bending his rim, scraping his elbow, and possibly fracturing his hip. We being the nice people we are, left Jeff to carry his bike down the rest of the trail.
To finish the trip we loaded the bikes into the trucks and went to sundance to wash our bikes off, and to grab some tea. All in all, another awesome adventure for adventure tuesday.

Miserably Happy

This adventure, most like all other adventures, begins with a simple phone call. It came very "spur of the moment," as it should. I am currently on 3 hours of sleep due to this particular spur of the moment phone call. It came from a good friend of mine Andy Earl. Now Andy and I have had quite a few adventures together, and this would be no different. The phone call went something like this;
Andy: "Hey man, whats up?"
Me: "Nothing, just getting off work"
Andy: "Do you have skis or a snowboard or something?"
Me: "Yes"
Andy: "Do you want to hike up pfiefferhorn and snowboard down?"
Me: "Yes"
and that is how it all started. I then went to his place of work and we talked about what we were to do for our adventure. We spoke of the weather conditions (terrible), and what we needed to bring (anything that we didn't care getting wet, and whatever would make this a miserable night). We had both talked of how this adventure will suck, but would be a good tale to tell, so i tell it now. I am saddened to report, that out comrade and faithful friend Brett Olsen was unable to accompany us on this adventure.
So we started off as soon as possible, which was late, like usual. We readied our gear that weighed close to 70 lbs. each due to snowboards, boots, tents and other essentials.

















And we prepared to head off in the rain, mud and possible snow. Mind you this is at about 12:00 a.m.We begin the hike thinking that we would reach the way point, Red Pines Lake, in a short period of time. This proved to be a more daunting task than expected.
So in the rain and snow we hiked for a good 2 hours, and then found ourselves on a snowy hillside just looking for a place to camp and rest our tired legs. we found a spot and laid pine branches down to add as a buffer between us and the snow because we had no pads (this adds to the adventure).
So we made some tea, and settled into bed, at 3 am. That whole night, and into the morning we were met with some rather friendly rain storms, who insist on getting everything wet. So i awoke quite early due to drinking too much water and tea the night before, and came out and surveyed the area, and needless to say, the conditions weren't what we had anticipated. We then went ahead and looked around, and strapped on our snowboards and played around a bit.
As we tired out we decided to head back down the mountain. This was accompanied by some more rain and mud and wet clothing. We were not able to summit on this trip, but we did get some rather good pictures from it, and some great adventure tale of the time we almost conquered the rainy pfiefferhorn.