San Juan River Trip Teaser

I was able to go on a 6 day San Juan River trip from Sept 22 through the 27th, 2010 (thanks Dawn). We had a diverse and fun group of people that had some sort of Flagstaff connection. Many were photographers too, but all you will see here are a few of my pics. Between all of us, we probably captured most of what we saw though.

Dawn rowing the first day (with Kurt and Laura)

I met the group at the Goosenecks overlook where we camped for the night. The next day we went to the put in in Mexican Hat and started rigging the rafts. We had 3 oar rafts, 3 inflatable kayaks, a hard kayak, and my pack raft for 13 people. While we were rigging it started to rain. Hard. Soon there was a red mud-fall across the river and the river started to have red streaks and rise. It probably came up close to a foot before we were all loaded and ready to go. I don't remember the name of the first rapid, but it was a lot more than I was expecting. I completely filled my raft (no spray skirt didn't help) and thought I was going to flip at one point. In fact one of the inflatable kayaks and the hard kayak did flip. After that it was easier going and we even saw the sun for a bit around lunch time. That night it rained hard again which brought the river level up again and then it dropped and came up the next morning. we spotted another inflatable kayak floating down the river in the morning and rescued it (and used it for the rest of the trip). After that we got mostly sunshine and warm weather and the river gradually turned a tan gray although it remained extremely silty for the rest of the trip.

This stick was only sticking out a few inches the last time I saw it (before it washed away)

Honaker camp at night

On day 3 we had a layover at Honaker and hiked up the trail a ways. Most of the trip was at a fairly relaxed pace with plenty of delicious food (I probably gained 5 to 10 pounds - a real float and bloat). There was plenty of time to take photos, blow bubbles, and hang out.

Kat under the shade umbrella

Kurt blowing giant bubbles

Honaker camp

Dawn points out where it is (along the Honaker trail)

Raechel running Government rapid (with Nick)

We saw plenty of bighorn sheep including one male who was busy managing his harem. Also lizards, beaver, dogs, great blue herons, toads, primitive man, stick men, and a few birds. There were also plenty of tracks in the fresh mud.Primitive Man

Bighorn Sheep

Stick Man

The Milky Way from our last camp

All too soon it was our last day and we had to pack up and paddle down the increasingly sand-barred river to the take out.

A good time was had by all, and we would have happily continued had that been an option.

Check out my San Juan River Trip web page here

McCarthy West Face Variation

Lots of climbing the last few days. Here is a pic Jake took of me on McCarthy West Face Variation pitch 2. Then I toproped the original line which was super cool, but a little spicy to lead.


Check out my Devils Tower Web Page for more pics etc.

Durrance Route

Today we did the Durrance Route on Devil's Tower. It was one of the first routes and features a cool (but improbably) leaning pillar. We signed in around 7:15 and followed another couple up (they were far enough ahead to be out of the way though). We took the "jump across" variation, but climbed instead of jumping. Then we spent a bunch of time on the summit relaxing and taking photos (and I stepped on a bit of cactus in bare feet). It was lovely (except for the cactus that really wasn't that bad).

This is the first pitch, the leaning column - this couple was ahead of us.


This pigeon was scrutinizing my belay technique





Dawn on top of the leaning column



self portrait



people watching us



Dawn racks up for a pitch


The belay ledges were luxurious

The final scramble to the top

Feet on the summit

and our heads

cactus foot. ouch


summit handstand




Dawn scoping the descent on the south side (180 + degree panorama)

TMF part II, and Devil's Tower

Part II of the TMF trip report has been posted over at the Wend blog here.
Lots of pics to be seen there.


In other news, we climbed at Ten Sleep a few days (fun sports action) and then headed up to Devil's Tower. We did Assembly Line to the top, then rapped in the dark and a bit of rain. The next day I did Back to Montana and Everlasting with Jake. Then a rest day and we moved our tents up to the Lodge (very nice, Frank rocks).
Today we got rained out from the Durrance route, but still got in a pitch on Bon Homme Variation in the afternoon. We'll try Durrance again tomorrow.


here is a pic from near our first camp.

This is the west side of the tower... maybe in 2 days we'll do one of these routes.

Wind River climbing trip teaser

Dawn and Haystack mtn



Deep Lake, The Steeple is on the leftish, and Lost Temple Spire is hiding in the corner of East Temple Peak in the middle


Another teaser report. This one is from a climbing trip with Dawn into Deep Lake and the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. We climbed Steeple Peak, Lost Temple Spire, Wolf's Head, and Warbonnet. We also experienced sun, snow, rain, exhaustion, and mosquitos. A good time was had by all.


Wolf's head is the jagged darker ridge


Warbonnet - we went up the NE face left (more of less) the middle of the upper face.



Eventually I hope to get a full trip report up, but I am busy now - time to climb at Tensleep.

Later: as promised, here is a link to the Wind Rivers Climbing Trip Report

the spot track of this trip is here

TMF 2010 part I

The first part of the TMF 2010 trip report is up now, you can check it out on the Wend blog or about the same info on my web page.

There is a mini teaser report here on this blog or on the yogaslackers blog.

More coming soon (I hope).

As promised, here are part II and Part III at Wend

Back to Wyoming

After many miles and less sleep than I normally get, I am back in Wyoming. In between I went to Squaw Valley for the Wanderlust Music/Yoga festival. It was an odd but entertaining mix of a yoga festival, a music festival, and a tame burning man, all at a posh ski resort. Among other things I did a lot of slackline, some Yoga, some AcroYoga, sat in a hot tub on the mountain, and saw Moby, Bassnectar, and the Yard Dog Road Show, and Danyavaad and the Shimmy Sisters.

you can see a small report and some pictures on the Yogaslacker Blog here.
Then after packing up the Prana stuff there, it was off to Salt Lake City to the Outdoor Retailer (OR) show. More Yogaslacking ensued as well as checking out the latest in outdoor gear developments and eating large quantities of various bar samples.

I posted some pictures on the Yogaslacker blog post
From there I went to Maple Canyon for a few days of climbing overhanging cobbles. I was pretty out of shape for that sort of climbing, so I got completely worked. It was great. I also got to see a number of friends there, which was fun. Now I am back in Wyoming, where soon I will head back into the Wind River Range for some alpine rock climbing. Meanwhile I am trying to catch up with my photos and trip reports. I doubt I'll make it, but hopefully I'll have more to post soon.

Meanwhile, the scruffy beard I grew during the TMF expedition was too much to take off all at once. I have trimmed it down to a molestache by now. It is a little frightening, and probably even more effective than my chick deflector glasses.