Lindsay & Drew: Hiking

Showing posts with label Hiking. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2010

Don't Hassle Me I'm Local

As I said before Drew and I headed down to Bluff to help build a cabin, dedicated to the man pictured below.

So I decided to catch Drew up on our heritage before we got there. And I read him Jens' history. A brief summary of his life; Jens crossed the plains with the Willey Handcart Company. They were caught in a severe snow storm in their travels. Jena being a large man standing 6'7" tall and having large feet wore through his shoes causing him to get frostbite on his feet. He told his wife Elsie, "Leave me here to die, I cannot go any further." their oxen had died on the journey and they were pulling their own wagon. Elsie said "I will not leave you. Ride in the cart." Elsie pulled him the rest of the way. After arriving in Salt lake the Jens Nielson family was called to travel down to what is now Bluff, Utah. They were the pioneers who what is known as the 'Hole in the Rock'. And also conquered San Juan Hill. You can read the whole story in a book newly written by Gerald Lund, the title is Undaunted Courage.

These are the cabins in Cove Fort. The cabin facing you on the very Left of the picture is Jens' cabin.

This is a picture of Drew chinking the cabin, so that mortar could be placed in between the logs.

This is the side of the cabin, pre chink and mortar.

This was Drew teaching me how to mortar. It was so funny seeing people come up with their own ideas about how to get the mortar in between the logs. One couple on their cabin were literally throwing the mortar at the cracks then trying to smooth it in. Wonderful!

Looking out of the front door. Probably a pretty realistic picture of what the pioneers would see every morning.

After a good long day of work we headed off to see some Native American ruins. Drew told me when we were dating, one of his life goals was to go see the Native Americans who built their homes right in the cliff. Well Done and Done!

I learned from my Utah Obscurities book that the paintings on the walls done by the Natives are called pictographs. And the chiseled art are called petroglyphs. Lesson learned!

These ruins are so remote and hard to find, they have not been roped off yet. So we were able to delicately explore them up close. It is truly amazing to see up close.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Don't Come in We're In The Bluff!

My grandma told me that what happens in Bluff, stays in Bluff! And most of the late night jokes and story telling will remain a secret. However the adventures had to be documented.

We headed down to Bluff, Utah this weekend. To participate in the building of a cabin. Dedicated to my great great great grandpa Jens Nielson. My Utah Curiosities, book came in super handy once again. On our adventures through Utah.

We don't make it down to the four corners area of the United States as often as we should. So we had to make the most of our drive down there. First stop Utah Curiosities led us to was Ray's Tavern in Green River. A local hotspot for river runners.

The walls hold shirts from river runners all around the world.

It was a quaint little place and we had fun with the ketchup squeeze bottles. Well... I did. Next stop Arches National Park!

We did a hike up to delicate arch! Beautiful!!

Seriously more beautiful then I can describe. And it was a nice 2 hour hike to break up the driving.

Then our tour guide book told us to check out Newspaper Rock.

We tried to get a picture with the ancient petroglyphs. Too much wall...

Too much us...

Ahh just right.

We cruised through Blanding. Got a drive by picture of the local family store;)

We pulled into Bluff and grabbed a quick bite at the only open restaurant in town. Yes it was 9:30 p.m. Why would any place stay open that crazy late?

Best cups I've ever sipped out of! What a beautiful town!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dog Lake

My absolute favorite hike thus far! Caesar and I headed up Millcreek again. Drew was enjoying some much needed brotherly love (fishing with his brother Nathan). And Cleo can hike that far yet.

Has anyone tried to take a self pix on an iPhone? Super hard!

The pictures are pretty self explanatory.

Caesar playing fetch!

Who knew this dog, who sleeps about 22hrs a day had so much energy!?

And just one of the 2 souvenirs from Caesar! For every ones enjoyment!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Millcreek!

Odd day! We took the pooches up Millcreek, this time we did the Mount Aire trail. It was way up the canyon and was full of wildflowers. Probably my favorite hike so far.

While I hate seeing people on the freeway with their dogs in the back of trucks (I always worry about what happens when they get in an accident) we let the dogs in back for the 3 minute drive to the canyon. They love it back there! I wish it were safer for them.

The sky was picture perfect blue, and the weather was 82 deg.

This is a very shady trail, that follows water most the way up, so it's perfect for the dogs.

It is a much steeper climb then the other hikes we have been on recently.

My favorite thing about hiking is being outside with the dogs, and you don't have to deal with people who aren't 'dog people' everyone you pass either just smiles and walks past, or stops to pet your dogs. You don't have to worry about if the person coming along is going to freak out because your dog is walking with you. Everyone is just doing there own thing enjoying nature.