Back in the Saddle Again

Let's see here...what's been goin' on recently. Hmm...well, Peter and I officially moved back to Logan on the 17th. I say officially because there was a lot of back and forth for a while. It's nice to be home. I love the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and I miss living and working there, but...Logan is where I keep all my stuff, you know? That very same day my sister, Sarah, gave birth to her baby girl, Ella. She's a beautiful, healthy, blonde baby and I'm so happy she's come into our family!

Me holding little Ella.
They made me wear a mask because of the Piggy Flu.

That's niece #2 for me. Number 3 is awaiting her grand entrance in the next few weeks. I'm so excited!

Then on the 19th we packed our bags and headed to California! Our ultimate goal was Anaheim, but we took a little detour and went to the Stanislaus National Forest and Calaveras Big Trees State Park. We camped overnight in Stanislaus with intentions to get up early and drive for 30 minutes or so to get to Calaveras...

My fabulous, new backpacking tent!

However, we had a little road block....

Stupid trucker...

Stupid, weak tow truck.

A trucker tried to go up a twisty, narrow mountain road in the middle of the night only to discover that his semi was too big for the road. He failed to notice the "Vehicles longer than 25' not advised" signs along the way. So he got stuck and tried to back down the road, but only managed to get himself even more stuck. We were stalled in traffic for nearly four hours because the first tow truck they called couldn't pull him out so they had to call in an even bigger one, but it had to come from South Tahoe. It was really inconvenient, but we got to meet some interesting people while we were waiting for the road to open up.

The picture is a little funny because
I put it together using 3 different photos.
If you look closely you can see Peter
standing at the base of the Sequoia.

After we finally got to Calaveras, I got to see my first Sequoiadendron giganteum, or Giant Sequoia. It was amazing. Pictures don't do those trees justice. They're huge! It was very awe inspiring to stand at the base of one and just gaze up and up and up.

After our little excursion to the woods, we headed to Anaheim for BlizzCon. Yes. I am just that nerdy. For all of you non-gamers out there, BlizzCon is the annual convention Blizzard Entertainment has for their products Starcraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. Peter, myself, and my little brother, Jacob, were all lucky enough to score tickets. So we spent a few fun-filled days hanging out at the convention, getting sneak peeks at upcoming releases and expansions of WoW, and best of all hanging out with some of the members of our guild on WoW. I don't think I would actually make the trip just for the convention. It's really the people that we go to see. Peter and I have been in the same guild or at least in a guild with the same people for about 4 years or so. They've become cherished friends and we really enjoyed spending time with them outside of the game. I realize a lot of people may think this is weird or geeky, but I don't care. I have met some truly awesome people through the game that I never would have gotten to know otherwise.

From left to right: Kevin, Jaime, Jack, Jacob, and Peter.

Our guild leaders Gary, and Kim,
as well as Kevin our fabulous French Canadian!

All the members who came to represent our guild,
enjoying the last night of the convention.

After the convention we blitzed back home on Sunday so that we could be home in time for our first classes of fall semester that started on Monday. Not only is Peter starting the final year of his undergraduate work, but I went back to school as well. I haven't been in college since 2002 and it's weird to be back in school again. It's also very exciting! Most of my classes are boring like my biology course, but for fun this semester I am taking an intro to Shakespeare course that I think is going to be a blast! I'm totally going to own this semester.

The downside to being back in school is that this may be the only year I am at USU. After Peter graduates he's going to be looking for a permanent position with the Forest Service, and we have no clue where in the world that will take us. Hopefully I will be able to finish my degree at another university, but it's just frustrating to not be able to make any kind of longterm plan. I guess this is what I get for putting off school for so long.

So wish me and Peter luck! It's going to be a really busy year, and it's going to take a lot of work, but I think it's going to be filled with a lot of exciting things as well. Like Peter finally getting his bachelors and hopefully getting a permanent job! Which means I may finally get the puppy I have been waiting 6 years for! Yay!

The Narrows

So, I was supposed to do the Narrows in Zion National Park the first weekend in August...but I didn't get to go. Apparently my body decided it would be an awesome time to relapse. I developed a sore throat and my pink eye came back. I was very unhappy to say the least.

I was supposed to meet my husband and two of our friends, Nick and Kelly, down in St. George Friday July 31st (they had to go down early to secure an overnight camping permit), but before I got very far I noticed my left eye was looking really red and it was oozing greenish fluid. Yeah...it's pretty gross. Unfortunately it began to fog up my contact and I couldn't see well enough to drive, so I had to turn around and go home. I can't even begin to describe how angry and frustrated I was. I had to cancel my Yellowstone trip and now my Narrows trip because of one ailment or another. I was not happy, in fact I pretty much hit my breaking point. I was tired of being sick, and tired of being held back because of it.

So I spent that weekend sulking instead of doing the Narrows. Not exactly what I had originally planned, but maybe next year I'll have another chance to go. At least Peter, Nick, and Kelly had a good time.

The first day of their trip they got their camping permit and then hiked Angel's Landing. Kelly was a champ and hiked all the way to the top even though she's deathly afraid of heights.

Angel's Landing

Nick, Kelly, and Peter

Kelly hiking to the top

Peter and Kelly

Nick, King of the Mountain

The next two days were spent going down the Narrows. I wish I could tell you more about what it was like, but I didn't get to experience it first hand. Peter tells me it was pretty awesome though...and I'm still just a little bitter about it.

Don't they look like they had a great time? I really wish I could have been there. Especially now that the summer is over and I won't get to see Nick or Kelly very often anymore. They're a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to know them over the summer.

Now I need to go do something else for a while to take my mind off of the Narrows before my bitterness starts to fester...like start unpacking all my stuff back into my apartment in Logan. Joy.

Amethyst Lake

Being confined to my house because of Swine Flu for a whole week was not fun. By the time my quarantine was up I had such bad cabin fever that I just wanted out. I didn’t care where I went; I just wanted to be out of there. So when Peter and his coworker Kelly decided to hike to Amethyst Lake on July 26th, I decided to tag along. I thought it would be a good way to gage how well I was and how much energy I had regained after being so sick. So, merrily I joined Kelly and Peter for what I thought would be no more than a four hour hike. Well, I misjudged the distance and most especially, my capabilities.

The hike started out pleasant enough. It was fairly level and we passed many beautiful meadows and streams. About a third of the way into the hike we came upon a very pretty waterfall in Ostler Fork.

The pretty little waterfall.

Peter and me.

The day was sunny and warm and I was elated to be out and doing something active after having spent most of a week in bed. Shortly after the little waterfall the trail got a little more technical. It went from level to practically straight up. After a couple miles of this I was pretty pooped, but I wasn’t ready to give in and call defeat just yet.

Well, things only went downhill (figuratively speaking) from there. We got caught in a small rainstorm and had to seek shelter under some pine trees. Kelly was about ready to call it quits at this point, but I thought we must be close to the lake and so we should press on. Later, I wanted to eat my words. A little damp from the storm, we soldiered on.

“The lake is just over this next ridge. I swear!”

A couple of miles later, including more elevation gain, we made it to the lake. We were tired and sore at this point, but we did it!

Kelly and Peter are both so happy to have made it!

Amethyst Lake with part of the ridge line going up to Ostler Peak.

Peter and me at Amethyst Lake.

Pretty little stream feeding the lake.

These wildflowers were all over the meadow.

Our joy was short lived, however, when we noticed the ominous looking clouds that were rolling in. The thing about the Uintas, which we should have known better about, is how quickly the weather can change. In the morning it can be beautiful and sunny without a cloud in the sky, but by mid-afternoon it can be dark and stormy, and the temperature can drop significantly. We decided it would be best if we didn’t stay very long at the lake. Just long enough to take some pictures, and maybe we could make it out of there before those clouds opened up. It had taken us four hours to hike to the lake, but hopefully it would take us half that time to get down since it was all downhill.

Peter and Kelly heading back down the trail.

Our impending doom.

We didn’t get too far before it started to rain. And boy did it rain. It was pointless to try and huddle under a tree, besides it was dangerous. We had lightning going off overhead, and at times it seemed terrifyingly close. So we kept moving. Then the rain turned into hail, and not just slushy hail, but big pelting hail that stung whenever it hit you. It was awful, and none of us had come prepared to deal with wet weather. Soaked to the bone and shivering we plod along. We didn’t dare stop for fear of hypothermia setting in.

Aside from being drenched and cold, my legs were bothering me. They had started to ache by the time we got to the lake, but now they felt like dead weights. I had underestimated how weak I still was. It took all of my focus and energy just to put one foot in front of the other. The entire time I kept thinking, you have no one to blame but yourself for this. Kelly was completely miserable, too. She was freezing and suffering a little from altitude sickness. All she wanted to do was keep going at a very fast pace to try and get warm, but it was all I could do to just shuffle along the trail, and I quickly fell behind. Peter looked panicked. He was torn between protecting two women who were in dire straits: one being his work superior and the other being his wife. I obviously won out, and he stayed by my side, helping me to get over rocks and mud puddles, but I know he felt badly for Kelly, and so did I. We were all miserable.

Finally, the sun came back out and lifted our spirits, making the last two miles of the hike much more pleasant. We started to dry off and warm up. I was still completely worn out, though. It took everything I had just to keep moving. By the time we got back to the car I was about ready to collapse, but I made it! We were all still alive, and we had made it out before the sun had gone down! In celebration we drove into town to get some dinner and we gorged ourselves on fatty, fried food. We figured our bodies could handle it after having burnt up so many calories on the hike. After sitting down and taking a good look at our map we figured the hike had been a little over 12 miles, round trip, with an elevation gain of 2,000 feet. Certainly more than what I should have tried to do. Sure, it was stupid of me, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment that not even Swine Flu could stop me for too long. I had bitten off more than I could chew, but I lived with only a few stiff muscles to remind me of my foolishness.