"I talk so much and say so little."

Monday, July 12, 2010

Havasupai 2010

For lack of a more clever title, I guess it's time for the long-awaited post about my Havasupai adventure! I've been harassed plenty of times for paying to put my backpack on a mule, but this decision is what made the rest of the week so enjoyable! Last year, I carried my own pack and my hip couldn't take it. It was super hard to play for the rest of the week and nearly impossible to hike back out after it was all over.

The hike is about 12 miles down into the Grand Canyon, through the Havasupai Indian Reservation and into the very back of the campground. Then, our day hikes average around 5-7 miles round trip from our campsite, (the varience depends on where we end up and how many detours we take along the way.) We shoot for the best campsite, back from the trail and right above Mooney Falls. The hike from the rim is all desert and mostly out in the open. We left Idaho Falls at 5:30 am on Tuesday, drove through Las Vegas to Kingman, AZ and then on to the trailhead.

Day 1: Tuesday--the drive from Idaho Falls to the North Rim trailhead.

(chilling at a gas station in Kingman--the last civilization)

stopped for our "last meal" at Cracker Barrel and lingered in the rocking chairs

and then drove another 2 hours on windy, dirt roads to the parking lot at the trail head. We had a WINDY night's sleep in the car and in the dirt before we started hiking around 4 am.

Day 2: Wednesday--hike down into the canyon, set up camp, and play at Havasu Falls.

We needed to get down into the canyon before the sun started glaring.

Keri, Jill and Bridget ready to start hiking in the dark.

the Brookes doing the same thing.

hiking along with my walking stick

as we neared the reservation, we started to see signs of civilization--and water!

Brooke, Kristine, Keri and Jami entering the village. It's funny to be in the middle of nowhere for so long with only rocks and cacti around you ... and then you come across fences and houses!

most of the yards look like this--clothes lines, horses, random refrigerators ...

they have a fun little community with lots of events. Too bad we hiked down on a Wednesday!

Des and I found a holy tree as we passed through the village.

after our LONG hike down to our campsite, we spent the day playing at Havasu Falls. It's just above all the campgrounds and is usually pretty crowded. The first day we were there was super windy!

Bridget, Jill, Keri and Des playing at Havasu Falls

Des and me at Havasu Falls

Day 3--Thursday: Hike from the campsite, down the chain of death at Mooney Falls, hike to Beaver Falls and play along the way.

shot of Mooney Falls from downstream. Our campsite is just 30 feet upstream from the drop off!

David and Brooke towards the beginning of our hike, just downstream from Mooney Falls.

So much of our "trail" was through the water. Lots of climbing and lots of getting wet!

Keri "balancing" or swan diving at Beaver Falls.

Chelsie and Shayna hanging out at Beaver

I don't swan dive.

this looks like it'd hurt, but I'm pretty sure Skyler finished this rotation before he landed that time. It was the next day at Navajo Falls where he over-rotated and broke a rib. Oy!

shot of Beaver Falls from downstream. We'd been playing and jumping off from the top shelf in this picture.

Skyler flipping off by the rope swing.

hiking back to our campsite up the chain of death at Mooney Falls.

looking upstream at our campsite. See the hammocks?

Keri, Brooke and I hung our hammocks alongside the creek. It's awesome to sleep to the sound of rushing water.

Day 4--Friday: for me it was more of the same stuff we did on day 3. Others went to the Colorado River or stuck around camp. There were 19 of us in all, but we seemed to be pretty split most of the time. We had a sort of Lost or Survivor thing going on. Us and The Others, or just two tribes. We're all good friends. Sad that we were split up!

Jill climbing down the chain of death at Mooney Falls. Here, the trail was so steep that you have to hang on to the chain and spikes they've driven into the rock as you descend. Parts of the trail cut tunnels through the rock as well. This was my favorite part!

Jill, Keri and Justin climbing down. See how steep that is?

Des and me. halfway along the chain of death, you emerge from a tunnel to see Mooney Falls.

parts of the trail weren't totally obvious, so we found ourselves making our own way around obstacles.

we jumped for awhile off Beaver Falls and then decided to continue down to a lower cliff. We jumped one-by-one off the 15 foot cliff to get to the lower trail, and David tossed all our day packs down to Skyler and Justin so they stayed dry.

view from above: Skyler jumping off the 40 foot cliff.

view from below: me jumping off the same 40 cliff. I'm that splash you see there. I did it just fine the day before, but this time, I'm pretty sure I punched myself in the face. I came up and blacked out a few times. Good thing the current pushed me right to the sandbar!

me and Brooke eating lunch in the sunshine.

Des, Keri, Bridget, Skyler, Brooke, me, Jill, Justin and David after lunch below Beaver Falls. What'd we call that place with the cliff jumping?

the view from the trail on the way back up. About half of our group continued downstream to visit the Colorado River.

David, Des and me. this was the part of the trail that reminded me we were in Arizona. Yucky hot desert!

this trail has obstacles! Brooke, Keri and Jill getting ready to descend the rope.

Brooke and Skyler climbing down the ropes. Stuff like this just adds to the adventure!

Several hours after my 40 foot cliff crash, Des pointed out that I had a shiner! No mirrors, so the camera was the only way I could see it. My face didn't even hurt! No wonder I blacked out ...

The rest of our group hiked on to Navajo Falls where Skyler did more flippies and his famous rib-breaking crash. Des, David and I took our time and found more fun places to play!

Des was climbing up this waterfall. I tried to talk her out of it because it looked too dangerous. 30 seconds later, I was up there with her. Don't tell mom I left my helmet at home.

David and Jami climbing back up the chain of death

Day 5--Saturday: taking down the camp--hiking out and driving home.

Duct tape prevents blisters. It works even better when it's purple.

Almost to the top, looking down. I ended up hiking slower than the group ahead of me and faster than the group behind me, so I did 10 out of the 12 miles all alone. It was lonely, but I finished #7 out of #19 of us! Much better than last year, where I was DEAD last, and slowed others WAY down because I needed help!

Joe and Shayna were among the first to the top. They had to sit and wait for the rest of us. Man, we're tired, but what a GREAT week!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Blog CPR

So, do any of you remember how my blog took a severe dive about this time last year? It has never fully recovered. I think its current status is nearing a dangerous range. I don't know blog CPR. I don't even know regular CPR. I don't know what to do when things die. I tend to overreact and overcompensate. I have full intentions of posting three times a day to get my blog up and rolling again. I'm the girl who irons on multiple patches to her favorite jeans until they're as stiff as a hockey goalie's pads. I'm the one who drowned mom's tulips after their blooms wilted away. I'm that friend who calls or texts, who can't leave things alone when I think you're pulling away from me.

My blog isn't the only thing that's dying in my life right now. My social realm is coming to a big turning point. Due to some misappropriation of emotions and a large lack of finances, I'm moving out of my fun house with Brooke and Gina and back in with my parents. More than just living at home again, this means: I'm not longer on the "in" in any social situation. I'm already on the outside and have to fight to be involved, but now, I'm not even going to know about the stuff that goes on without me. Already, there are trips planned to hike in Southern Utah, and to play in Hawaii. Trips that I'm not involved in and was never even given to opportunity to accept or decline. My connections and involvement is dying. And I don't know CPR.

The death of summer approaches all too quickly. Havasupai was so much fun. But that can't be over! I'm trying desperately to figure out how to get to Portland in a couple of weeks for Desirae's wedding, but so far, I've had no luck. That friendship is dying. I've always tried to be there for Desirae, but my ability (both emotionally and physically) to do that has become weaker and weaker. The next week is Kimball's wedding in Spokane. Three weeks later, Lisa gets married here in Idaho Falls. These are the girls who were ALWAYS there for me. Not just in big groups, but one one one. I never had to make my own way when they were around. Someone always looked out for me and wanted to be with me--made sure I was happy and had fun. That phase of my life seems to be long-dead. I've tried to revive it with new people, but I'm not certified and I don't know what I'm doing.

Bryan Adams knows how I feel. I guess nothing can last forever.

Something good's gotta happen soon.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

This post is NOT about Havasupai, as it should be

Did you know that the Ammon Walmart doesn't carry Nexcare Tattoo bandages? I just found this out. I'm down to two Lightning McQueens and one Mater and another of the blue girl-car whose name alludes me. Then I'm out.

I'm trying to heal from Havasupai and I'm gonna need more of those. Dang smooshed toe hurts. So, I just finished the last of my laundry from Havasupai. The orange dirt is out of my socks and shorts. My sandals and flip flops are sitting on the back lawn waiting to be hosed off and my backpack has been wiped down and sits in the back seat of my truck to bring back to dad. It's over and I survived. The trip itself merits its own blog post, which will come soon.

Right now, I'm just here and posting about that. My ankles are as thick as my neck and they jiggle when I walk. Mom said she couldn't pay attention to me talking because my cankles were staring at her. Thanks, mom.

I went to Walmart today and finally bought more Ibuprofen so I could stop rationing it. That's a relief because this girl eats that stuff like candy. I just gotta be sure there's food in my stomach before I take it so I don't have to run out of the shower, dripping shampoo, for a granola bar ... again. It's been known to happen.

Remember this blog post?

Well, this was me coming home from Walmart today.

My goal has been met. I am 99% converted to reusable bags on my shopping trips. The 1% happens when I leave the bag in the car. Even then, I sometimes end up buying a new one at the checkout line. So, I've got a collection now. Someday soon, I'll line them all up for you. I know, you're excited. What I don't want to tell you, but I'm going to is that the only two things in the gray bag were a carton of strawberries and a box of Ding Dongs. Strawberries are a summer thing. This week, Ding Dongs were just a Tuesday thing.

Volleyball has come to a close. The season ended well. We lost a player a few weeks ago (she just decided to stop coming) and miraculously, the drama ceased and our playing got a bit better! I'm sad that it's over, but I'm glad to be done with all of that. Softball is going full blast and so far, our team is 7-0. It's mostly because the team totally rocks, but I'm going to take a little credit for the fans.*

We rock, too. And it's a pretty awesome way to spend my Monday and Wednesday nights. And, I think I have a bit of a girl crush on our new friend, Amy who plays on the team. But it's cool because she's a sweetheart and I think she'll let me be her friend.

There's no time to recoop before our next big adventure. (who wants to recoop, anyway?) On Friday, we're headed to Island Park for dinner and a movie at Mack's Inn, then a sleepover at Jeanna's cabin. We're bringing bikes and canoes for fun on Saturday. My food assignment? A gallon of milk. Jeanna knows better than to ask too much of me. Milk, I can handle.

*Note: Skyler and Wade are usually playing, not watching. But, Skyler was broken by a flip off a 35-foot cliff at Havasupai (to be spoken of at a later post) and Wade hurt his foot. He's not sure how, but it's guaranteed to not be as cool of a story as Skyler's.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Just four more days

In just four more days, I'll be on my way HERE:

I am so super freaking excited, I just can't contain myself.

Actually, I can. I can contain myself because I'm sort of on overload in trying to make it all work. I did this trip last summer and it was AWESOME. So, when nobody seemed to be planning a Havasupai trip for 2010, I stepped up. We now have 19 people going, and i have rides and mules and packing weights to coordinate. AND I still need to buy some tortillas and trail mix. Oh, and travel shampoo.

Our mule is reserved. He's going to do the heavy packing, so maybe my hinges will survive the trip this year. Last year, I was pretty sure I'd never walk again. Do I have my walking poles somewhere? I need to check on those.

Somehow, I got roped into speaking in sacrament meeting this week. Like I have the time or the energy to put into that!

I'm excited for the trip, but I'd be lying if I wasn't a little heartbroken that Kylee isn't coming. She makes everything fun! And after my birthday in Palisades where we steamrolled, poked, disrupted and "whispered" all weekend, I really want her with me all over again! Why are summer adventures so hard to coordinate? and why can't we all just come along and be friends? "Sorry that was so loud. I haven't used my voice in awhile."--I want more of those laughs!

I need to work on my Ultimate frisbee skills. On Tuesday, after Willie literally helped me off of my bike, (he was sure I was stuck) I surprised myself with my ability to run up and down the field without dying. I even caught a few tosses, and then tossed a few for others to catch. (my tosses weren't very accurate, but Jeff can basically catch anything ... so it worked most of the time.) I am sold. I'm going to be an ultimate-frisbee-er every Tuesday night at McCowin park. I just gotta learn to toss better so Jeff doesn't want to eat me.

Havasupai to do list: 1--Convince Jami to drive. We're too squished with 19 people and 19 packs in 3 vehicles. 2--find some trees to set up and test my new hammock 3--solve my potentially in-grown toenail problem. That's gonna hurt while hiking. 4--buy tortillas, shampoo, trail mix. 5--get my camera battery and case in the mail. (i have no control over that one) 6--gather 4 packs, pack heavy stuff in them and make sure their combined weight doesn't exceed 130 pounds. 7--oh yeah. And prepare and give a talk in sacrament meeting. Oy.