is a big change from when we bagged Grandeur Peak last year.  We had to hike down in the dark and he broke down and cursed the rocks that kept tripping him. But without the darkness hindering him on this occasion, he thrived!  I was so proud of both of them as we got to the top and looked out at the many peaks and valleys surrounding us.

It was a thrill to see their determination to get down, too.  We hit some steep, slippery, muddy spots on the way down (hiking the loop so as not to backtrack) and Griff took the first spill.  His pants were completely muddy and I thought we might have a repeat of the 2009 summit where he would begin to be frustrated by the decent.  Instead, he shook it off and continued down ahead of me.  That proved to be nearly disastrous as I took my turn at a fall and lost my footing and began to slide down the muddy trail.  With Griff in front of me I piled right into him.  Sami, my 9 year-old daughter, turned out of our way like a skilled bull-fighter and we slid on past her.  Griffin wasn’t sure what was going on as he was forced into my lap, but he managed to catch a glimpse of my smile and realized that we must just be going for a little ride.  We must have slid 25 yards before I managed to hault our progress – just in time, too.   The trail began to turn and we stopped ourselves at the switchback before nearly sliding off the trail off the even steeper mountainside.

After that near miss we continued on down the trail.  We just kept hiking and hiking and after a while Sami pointed out that we hadn’t even taken a rest yet.  We turned around and saw a group behind us up on the saddle and Sami and Griff suggested that we not take a rest the whole way down and added that we shouldn’t let the group above us catch up.  So down we continued and stop we did not.  Although Griff began to doddle and when I suggested that we stop and rest because “you’re doddling, Griff” he asked me for the definition of doddle and I explained it to him.  ”You’re kicking every rock, you’re grabbing every branch and bush.  You’re doddling.”  That didn’t make the difference, but when I pointed out the group of hikers behind us and he saw that they were gaining on us he started running down the trail.  He set the pace for us the rest of the way down and we didn’t stop running until we caught up to some riders on horseback.  Even then we were able to keep a good jog going and the group never caught us.

Griffin and Samantha were very happy to be down, but even more I could sense that they were happy for their accomplishment. They made it all the way to the top of a peak and looked out at all they surveyed.  They endured the trials of fatigue and overcame their desire to stop and rest.  They made it to the bottom safely and we made memories that we will never forget.

Just one week later I felt the need to hike another peak and this time Sami wouldn’t be able to join us.  She cried when I told her Griff and I were going to hike to the top of another peak.  She wanted to join us so bad but she also wanted to go to a church function where she would be able to dress up as a princess.  The princess in her won out and I promised that I wouldn’t hike the peak that I told her we were going to hike – that we would wait for her to hike that peak.  That consoled her enough that Griff and I were able to go without her.

As I thought about alternate peaks I ran through all the peaks I’d love to hike again.  One by one I excluded peak after peak as I remembered their level of difficulty and potential danger due to exposure and drop-offs.  It was a tweet that I saw about the Snowbird Tram being free with a can of food donation that weekend that led me to believe that Twin Peaks American Fork was the peak we would bag together.  I had hiked them once before but I came up the west side and took a “shortcut” down the east side, the side we would now hike up together.  I was also excited about bagging two official peaks and another mountain top, Red Top Mountain or Red Stack (not officially a peak due to its lack of prominence) all in one hike.

We rode up on the tram which was a thrill for Griffin. We noted that the last ride down was at 5 pm.  It was approaching 1 pm as we started off and headed up the trail from the tram.  I was surprised how quickly the trail turned into pure ridge-line as we began to scramble on and over rocks and slipped by trees and managed sheer drop offs.  Griffin was oblivious to the dangers and on one hand I was glad for that.  I didn’t want him to be scared, but when he put his hands in his jacket pockets and acted like he was walking down the side walk I was forced to say something.  I couldn’t believe how nervous I was for him, but I wanted him to be able to tackle this on his own so I just stayed right behind him and placed my arms by him in a way that I could catch him if he fell to the left or to the right, keeping him from falling to his death.  It was the first time that I remember being scared as I hiked to the top of a peak!  It made me wonder if I’ve been as oblivious to the looming dangers as Griffin was today.  I began to fast forward 10 years when Griff tells me that he’s going to bag Lone Peak with some friends.  If he’s as nonchalant as he is today (and as I’ve apparently been for years and years) then I hear myself denying his request.  But I talk myself down from that and convince myself that he’ll be fine, just as I’ve been fine.  I’m flashed back to the present when we come to a spot on the ridge-line that looks impassable and I have to survey where to direct Griffin next.  The “trail” doesn’t get any easier as we continue our ascent, but we carry on as thoughts of turning back have long since expired.

We make it to the top of the first of the twin peaks and feel good about making it to the top.  The ridge-line to the second twin is an easy and care-free jaunt down and then back up and we take a break and eat the lunch we packed.  It’s 3 pm and I consider heading back down without visiting Red Top due to our 5 pm deadline.  But I can’t resist and we carry on to the west to get three in one day.  What an accomplishment for a 7 year-old, I think to myself.  I also have an old geocache that I hid before he was born that I’d like to pay a visit.  That mountain is a little bit further away and a lot more down before a bit more up, but we make it.  The geocache log stalls us further as I read through the entries and delight in the fact that it has caused enough motivation for others to hike to this location of much beauty.

We finally head back but by the time we make it to where we first summited it is 4:10 pm.  We have to make it down the difficult spine and we only have 50 minutes to do it.  I had already considered taking the “shortcut” that I took when I hiked down this side before, but I remembered enough that I knew it to be a risk with a child.  But so was hiking back the way we came and for a moment I thought the shortcut could get us back in time for the last ride down.  As we reach the point of decision I look at the steep slope on my left (north side) and then consider that perhaps the steep slope on my right my be the better “shortcut”.  There are wide ski roads at the bottom of each slope, but the one on the right is a little closer and the terrain is slightly grassy as opposed to scree and rock.  I decide we should risk it.

Note to self – if the words “risk it” are included when considering a decision, reconsider.

We had to down climb a series of cliffs before we could reach the steep and grassy slope.  I would climb down to a spot and then help Griffin down to a place where he would be able to hold on by himself.  Then we’d repeat the process over and over again.  The time for him to conquer this mountain by himself had passed and I was holding on to him for dear life as much as possible by this point.  When we finally reached the steep slope I held out my arm and Griffin held on to it like a sleigh handle and as I controlled our slide down the mountain as he followed down like a kid learning to ski.  He caught on quick and it wasn’t long before he was a pro.

We finally made it to the ski road at 5:35 pm.  I broke the news to Griffin that we probably missed the last tram and I began to prepare him mentally for the hike all the way to the bottom without the aid and comfort of an enclosed carrier dangling on a cable.  I reassured him that the rest of the way down would be nothing like what we had just hiked.  That brought him some relief and he quickly accepted the fact that we had at least an hour or two of hiking ahead of us.

We decided to hike to the tram anyway, just in case.  Earlier as we looked down on the tram we could see groups of people which gave us hope that we still had time to make it.  But now we could see nobody and we accepted our fate.  We were prepared with flashlights and extra layers so I knew we were prepared.  A ride down still would be nice.  I was surprised to see a man appear at the top of the hill as we climbed the last bit to the tram.  The split-second of hope that I felt at seeing someone faded quick as I realized it was a Snowbird employee and I knew in an instant that he was waving us down the hill to let us know that we missed the last tram.  To my surprise, however, he was waving us up the hill and he yelled out to hurry because everyone is waiting for us!  We ran up the hill as fast as we could which was not an easy task. We were both out of breath by the time we reached the top but we were both grinning from ear to ear at the thought that our journey had now come to an end.

I was thrilled that neither one of  us had died or been injured.  I still feel a touch of guilt for taking my 7 year-old on such a tough and dangerous journey.  On the other hand I’m so glad we were able to accomplish this feat, but I’m now determined to stick to the peaks that have actual trails to the top until I have more confidence in my little hikers.  I look back and consider it quite the blessing that Sami wasn’t able to join us.  Although if she was able to join us we would’ve been hiking to the top of Stansbury Island, the peak that she didn’t want us to attempt without her because it’s an island, afterall!  She would likely have been disappointed with her grand delusions, but thank goodness I didn’t have two little ones to look after on our hike to Twin Peaks!

I made it up to Sami by hiking to a high spot in the Oquirrh mountains on Monday night.  The offer was extended to Griffin but he declined.  He had had enough peak hiking for one week  and two days wasn’t enough time for him to forget the trial.  Cold weather has hit the Wasatch and surrounding mountains and it would seem that the season for peak bagging has passed.  Warmer weather this week has caused me to second guess that fact, but the now on the tops of the mountains remains and all I need to do is imagine my children slipping and sliding in the icy snow and my obsession is squelched for the time being.  We’ll get back to it next year when the snow melts off in July.

We’ll also get back to the rock climbing that has dogged me ever since I took a fall in May that ended up saving my life.  I’m the proud new owner of a stylish grey rock-climbing helmet, so we’re good to go!  My kids have missed it this year so we’ll be glad to get back to it.  Until then we’ll look back fondly on the fun memories we made during our month of peak fever!Similar Posts:

• Summit Log: Frary Peak (Antelope Island, Utah)  May 3, 2009
• Sami and Griff's First Pet a Fighter  April 7, 2006
• Stake Conference + Kids = ?  March 12, 2006
• Out of the Mouths of Babes  June 19, 2006
• Gordon B. Hinckley Left a Legacy of Love  January 31, 2008

We got off to a rocky start when at 2 a.m. Chan and I picked up our friend John at his house. We forgot the bike rack and left the trailer behind on purpose so we strapped his bike to the roof of Chan’s Suburban. When we got back to Chan’s house to load up the trailer we pulled into the garage and forgot about John’s bike! His bike (and Chan’s roof rack) were, needless to say, toast! Not a great way to start a biking adventure at all. We decided to make the best of it and take the broken bike along in the event we could make some repairs, but John would have to purchase new front shocks at the very least. His Boxxer shocks were a twisted mess and would no longer be useful.

Matt, the fourth and final participant of this great event, arrived at Chan’s house at 4:30 a.m. We packed up the trailer and left ON TIME at 5 a.m. That has NEVER happened before with this group. I was surprised and impressed.

My wife always teases me that I never tell her what we talk about on these long trips. I seriously always forget what we talk about! With that in mind I decided to keep a log of the conversation of the trip on day 1. It’s quite random, but here are some “highlights”.

John tells us about the power of magnesium.

Discussion: Are germs mobile?

Tyler and Matt discuss the merits of Windows Vista as well as the drawbacks. Both are happy about the release of Windows 7.

Driving up Spanish Fork Canyon. Chan mentions how much he hates this road. We could die on this trip if we fall asleep at the wheel. Other ways we could die: Spontaneous combustion – Matt explains, if you dove into a stream or pond that had been contaminated with potassium…upon drying you would auto ignite. It happened once to Matt’s lab coat.

Matt talks about an $8 tool that will straighten out your rear breaks.

Chan let’s us know that it’s only 44 degrees in Spanish Fork Canyon.

We reminisced about the time that John called in a fire that a train had started in Spanish Fork canyon.

John is surprised about how many entries Tyler is making in this log. The log is reviewed by Tyler. (laughter) Matt predicts the next entry will be four days from now and that it will read, “I’m so sick of this trip! John’s bike is broken and we can’t find a part to fix it!”

Chan suggests that Tyler get a buzz on this trip. He is the only one that doesn’t have one.

Tyler discusses the reason he goes to Sports Clips for his haircuts, despite the $25 cost (including tip).

John talks about his trip to California to replace stained glass windows in the NewPort Beach Temple.

Matt washes Chan’s window with his hat. It’s 33 degrees! Matt begins to wash Chan’s side of the window.

Chan is drowsy. We take turns telling stories about falling asleep at the wheel.

John says, “If I could choose a death I think I’d rather die instantly in a head-on car accident than drown.” John told a story about how he felt like he almost drowned, which is one of his worst fears. Chan related a story about how he felt close to death in Moab and Matt came to his rescue. It had something to do with falling off a rock while climbing or something.

Brother Matt believes his beard makes him a better driver. The skill level has risen. His beard resembles the beard of Mose, Dwight Schrute’s cousin on The Office.

John starts calling around to different bike shops to find himself a replacement shock for his broken bike. “Hi, I have an odd question for you. Do you have a pair of used boxer shorts?” (He meant to ask if they had a used pair of Boxxer Shocks. It was pretty funny, but maybe you had to be there.

Grass Roots Cycle hooks us up with a used shock and only charges us $20 for installation, including all the cabling that was needed after the garage incident.

John preaches to us about Magnesium some more. He reads from a pamphlet he picked up in Grand Junction while waiting for his bike to get fixed.

So, that’s a sampling of our meanderings in conversation. It’s usually quite interesting, although it’s probably not very evident. Anyhow, we got John a used front end shock ($200 cash), a new wheel and disc ($190 and $20 labor). What a freakin’ deal! $410 for a bike made new again. Crappy way to start a trip, though.

We drove to Vail, Colorado and walked around for a while. We decided to go drive South to Buena Vista, CO. We shopped at City Market and drove west of Buena Vista to find a campground to camp in. We found a campground called Collegiate Peaks Campground and pulled in at around 9pm. We set up the tent and ate dinner and got to bed at around 11:45pm. Matt, Chan and Tyler took Tylenol PM to aid in their sleep. It wasn’t the start we planned on, but we still had fun getting started.

This post describes the mundane, normal occurrences of our trip, which you may or may not find interesting. The following days are much more exciting, I promise! Enjoy the pictures.

• Gooseberry Memories Make Me Want Spring!  March 7, 2008
• Flying High in Moab, Utah!  April 1, 2006
• Commencing Epic Adventure!  August 10, 2009
• More Gooseberry Mesa Adventures  March 12, 2008
• Let the Yard Work Begin  April 8, 2006

I was banking on the weather clearing, but when I paid my $9 entrance fee to enter Antelope Island State Park and heard the two rangers tell me that there was no hope of the weather clearing up today, my heart sank.  Nothing to do but hike the peak, no matter what the conditions.  It rained on me the entire way up the mountain.  The winds got pretty strong and the rain stung my face.  Despite the weather, it was one of the easiest peaks I’ve ever climbed.  The trail was great all the way up, despite the muddiness, and there were only a couple of exposed areas.

Upon reaching the top I took some pictures (not too much to look at when you’re in a cloud) and was about to head back down after only 15 minutes, but as I reached for my pack I noticed a flash of sky and a mountain off in the west.  As quickly as I saw it it disappeared.  But it gave me a glimmer of hope that the storm was about to clear.  Another flash, and another!  Sure enough, the clouds started to clear out.

I ended up staying on top for an hour and a half and by the time I headed down I had a clear view all the way to the Wasatch mountains to the east. It was awesome! I can’t wait for the next peak!

Similar Posts:

• Peak Fever  November 3, 2010
• Biking Video Among Google's “Now Free” Vids  June 26, 2006
• Commencing Epic Adventure!  August 10, 2009
• U2 Cosmic Light Show = Crap  March 16, 2008
• A Great Poem by Matt Fisher (1995)  February 23, 2007

Look at the first picture below and you can see where this guy broke through the guard rail and left the road, traveling from right to left. He flipped across the end of the culvert and landed on the left side of it.

Look at the second picture and you can see how lucky he was.

Click on the pics to see larger versions.Similar Posts:

• Rose in Full Bloom at Grandma's  June 9, 2006
• Tsunami Revisited in STUNNING Photo Essay  March 22, 2006
• Photosynth is here and very impressive!  November 9, 2006
• Commencing Epic Adventure!  August 10, 2009
• WordPress “Writing by Email” Feature  February 18, 2006

At the moment you’ll need to fire up IE6 or IE7 in order for the software to work properly (doesn’t work in Firefox, although they’re working on it) and you’ll also need XP with Service Pack 2 or Vista.

Some tips as you move around in the pictures; don’t forget to make use of the zooming features. You can zoom by clicking the plus and the minus symbols, or use the scroll wheel on you mouse. It’s fun to see some of the detail in the high resolution pictures (especially in the art gallery collection) and it helps to get your bearings by zooming out and seeing all the tiny dots that make up the points of reference. Another fun thing to do is to see where the camera was when the photo was taken. This can be toggled on and off by clicking the camera icon. Little red triangles appear and when you mouse over one it projects the angle and crops the area of the virtual scene that makes up the photo from that angle.  Lastly, don’t forget that you can close the informational column on the left by clicking on the divider line in the middle.  This will maxmize your 3D model world and make cruising around experience even better.
Give it a try. Can you imagine when they give us the ability to upload are own collections? It’s coming soon, but for now we’ll have to pacify ourselves with the collections they’ve given us.

Click image for full-size view.Similar Posts:

• Tsunami Revisited in STUNNING Photo Essay  March 22, 2006
• Macro Setting Makes Grass Look Good!  June 6, 2006
• Rose in Full Bloom at Grandma's  June 9, 2006
• Cause and Effect with Japanese Jingle  November 10, 2006
• Real Time Weather and Webcam  January 20, 2006

It’s available by invitation, along with the latest downloadable version of Picasa, and offers:

• One-click web upload using Picasa’s new “Web Album” button
• Free storage space to post and share approximately 1000 photos, with the option to upgrade to more space
• High-quality photos, automatically resized and optimized to fill available screen space
• Pre-loaded images enable quick scrolling using arrow keys, and mimic a desktop experience of “flipping” through photos, even on the web
• End-to-end photo management that makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer

Take a look at this public gallery to see what it’s like to share photos using Picasa Web Albums.

The new version of Picasa includes a ‘Web Album” button that when selected will upload pictures to your own Picasaweb page. This requires an account on Picasaweb.google.com using your Gmail address.

Here is my first album located at http://picasaweb.google.com/tslack

Flickr enthusiasts won’t give a dang about Google’s attempt to further spread their foothold on all things web and will likely ridicule it. I’m so new to both services that I won’t be as biased. As I use both services, I’ll report back and let you know what I think of each.

At first glance, however, it’s obvious that Flickr has a lot more feautures. But for simple uploading and sharing of pictures located on your computer, Google has them beat hands down. Of course, Flickr doesn’t require a program be installed on your computer, which is part of what makes it so easy with Google.

For those of you who are trying this service (it’s only available on an invitation basis), let me know what you think. I think it’s interesting that Google is trying to get away from the “Beta” label on this one. Calling it “Test” instead of “Beta” may be the first time that I’ve seen any company release something that’s in Beta and calling it anything different. We’ll see how their test goes.Similar Posts:

• Tsunami Revisited in STUNNING Photo Essay  March 22, 2006
• Extension Makes Google Notebook Useable  June 24, 2006
• Comparing Programming Languages  March 7, 2006
• Rose in Full Bloom at Grandma's  June 9, 2006
• Pageflakes Tempts Me, Again  May 6, 2006

I used my new macro skills that John clued me in on and took some pictures at Grandma’s house. Here is one of seven that I really thought turned out well.

View the others here and let me know which one is your favorite. (Hint: you can view the photos in full size and see the detail of the picture. Just click on “All Sizes” at the top left corner above the picture.)
I’m really loving the fact that I can take what seem to me to be awesome pictures just because of a simple camera setting. I’m in the market for a good digital camera now. The one I’m using doesn’t take pictures that I can print any bigger than 3×5. It would be so cool to print these out at 5×7 or 8×10 and frame them in our living room!

I took some pictures of the kids, too. I’ll upload that set of pictures when I feel like I’ve completed the set. My sister-in-law, Heather, has always taken great pictures of my kids. In fact, I have a couple of pictures that she took of Sami and her daughter Jaylee that I’m going to frame for my office. She’s another inspiration for me; she has a really good eye.Similar Posts:

• Photosynth is here and very impressive!  November 9, 2006
• Google Street View Makes it to SLC!  February 12, 2008
• Gifts from Heaven  January 9, 2006
• Macro Setting Makes Grass Look Good!  June 6, 2006
• Tsunami Revisited in STUNNING Photo Essay  March 22, 2006

I’m by no means a photographer, although I think still photography has a way of invoking thought and inspiration in a way that video can’t. For that reason, I have always wanted to be a photographer and capture inspiring moments in time. I took a photography class in ninth grade and entered a photo in a contest that won a prize. I think that’s the last time I ever tried to take a photograph that was stunning or impressive. In light of my new found macro setting that was always there but never used, I’m inspired to try and capture some of those moments in time.Similar Posts:

• Rose in Full Bloom at Grandma's  June 9, 2006
• Tsunami Revisited in STUNNING Photo Essay  March 22, 2006
• Stardust Arrives Safely in Utah  January 15, 2006
• Photosynth is here and very impressive!  November 9, 2006
• Ryan Leech Rides Like No Other  April 26, 2006