Sarah Ause / saussie.com »

Yesterday afternoon, Molly and I headed to Zion to go hunting for frog photos. Hoping to find a place as equally frogtastic as the amphibious whorehouse we stumbled on last year, which long-time readers may remember from the post “no means no Kermit, and other tales from the first backpack of the season,” we failed miserably in comparison. But we did find a few frogs, lots of tadpoles (which weren’t quite mature enough to leave the water, though some had begun sprouting legs), and some really camera-shy lizards.

While hiking along the creek heading to the fairy pools, and not wanting to get my pants wet while crouching for frogs, I decided to take them off. And let me tell you, hiking without pants is the only way to go. It’s very freeing, while not being illegal. Besides, my pasty white legs needed a little sun (while photographing me later, Molly said “I need to use manual exposure because you’re so white!”).

After going for a dip at the waterfall dead-end, the clouds rolled over and we needed to get out. The whole day was back and forth between downpours and hot sun, and it would be another hour before the sun came back. We took off for the car, and got back to it to find my car keys had fallen off my carabiner somewhere along the hike… hopefully not in the water or off a rock ledge past where the trail had ended! Cameras seeking shelter under the car, and Molly hovering next to it, I took off in the pouring rain (still in my skivvies) to find the keys… which were luckily not too far back. But even if they were, I didn’t mind… such misadventures are what make the adventure!

Tree. Frog. Haha, get it? I’m lame, I know.

Molly photographing tadpoles

the glorious skies before the rain came back

me sunning and catching tadpoles… photos obviously by Molly

For a while now, I couldn’t wait for 2008 to end. It was a fabulous year, but its last couple weeks, and maybe months, seemed to be anything but. The promise of a new year makes it easy to think about new beginnings. I know any day could just as easily mark the start of a new dawn, but sometimes it’s hard to be motivated to think that way when things are getting you down. So I anxiously awaited the new year, and a clean canvas with which to draw on.

And then yesterday, just hours away from the new year I so desperately yearned for, I found myself being surprised with my own hope and optimism, by mud, chance encounters, and new friends. A great day in simple ways, but yet again offering just enough hope and insight of what’s to come, and more importantly, reminding me of what I really am… happy and hopeful, not sad and stressed.

After ringing in the new year with a new friend last night, I had just enough energy to make some lentil soup before hitting the sack. No, not opening a can of lentil soup, but making my own this time. Homemade. No strange ingredients, no MSG, no crap. And in 2009, this is how I’m going to live my life… homemade and deeeeelicious.

It’s gonna be a great year. How do I know this? Well, I guess I don’t. But the year started by making soup, doing handstands, and then trudging through miles of mud to fly a kite (when it wasn’t even windy out). And seriously, any year that starts like that is bound to be a good one.

I went hiking in Zion this weekend for the first time in a long time. Summer temperatures and tourist crowds have kept me at bay. Thinking both might have cooled down a little, I was itching to get back. Molly and I spent Saturday hiking Observation Point and hanging out in Springdale. On our way back home, we spotted a huge herd of bighorns and I stopped to take pictures. Obviously.

This week, Micah (half of my 80s prom date) headed south to my neck of the woods for the obligatory off-season trip south. I took Friday off work so I could show him around Zion. I headed there Thursday after work and we decided to hike Angels Landing at sunset. We started a little later than we would have liked to (the shuttle buses delayed our start time quite a bit), but we hit the trail around 7:30, when the sun was striking the east side of the canyon with glorious light. We knew it’d be dark on our way down, but as long as we were off the spine by dark, doing the rest of the hike in the dark was no big deal (we had our headlamps). The problem was getting back in time for the last shuttle.

This weekend, Miss Molly (henceforth referred to as Bitter Princess of the Forest) and I voyaged to the remote northwestern Kolob Canyons area of Zion. Originally planned as a long 14-mile day hike to the Kolob Arch, we instead opted to turn it into an overnight backpack to help us prep for our 40-mile backpack next month.

We were underway around noon on Saturday and returned 16 miles and 24 hours later. The main attraction was the Kolob Arch, the second-longest arch in the world, but it was so unimpressive that I’m not even including a photo here. Luckily, we stumbled upon a waterhole that made the entire hike well worth every single fly bite we endured (hundreds).

We had already set up camp and continued hiking (sans heavy backpacks) for a few miles when we stumbled on the swampy area. All of a sudden, strange noises started echoing in the air. At first I thought it was some sort of machinery, even though I found it hard to believe machinery could make its way that far into the backcountry. It must be some sort of weird bird mating call then, but no. We eventually realized that the incredibly loud noises were actually coming from the waterhole immediately to our left. Frogs. Dozens of them. I still can’t believe that loud of a noise can come from such a tiny animal, but there they were, singing their mating call in full glory. We spent about half an hour hanging out with these frogs, watching everything from a post-coital cuddle to a full-blown rape.

We hiked back out early to avoid the high, mid-day temperatures, but we still got a whiff of it. The last leg of the hike is, of course, the hardest part… a steep, mile-long uphill. Combined with a big-ass backpack and a full-on assault by an army of flies, I think it’s safe to say I wanted to kill myself (well, really just those damn flies). But well, considering I escaped the trip with nothing more than bug bites and calves only a little tight, I’d say it was a very good trip. As always, photos…

That’s me. I found out tonight that I made the front page of the outdoors section of the southern Utah newspaper! My name is no stranger to print, but it is a rare occasion when a photo of me, not by me, makes its way in.

(photo by Garrett)

It is days like today that I fully appreciate the act of sitting. I hurt. I went to yoga yesterday after not going in over a month, and now I hurt. My abs and hamstrings have been ripped in half. Though I may ache the good hurt right now, I was feeling limber right after class yesterday and decided I’d do a small hike in Zion. Well, it started as a small hike at least…

I figured I’d head up to Hidden Canyon. I hear it’s great, and I’ve never been. I slugged straight up the Weeping Rock switchbacks for a grueling mile in full sun, and when I got to the turn-off to go to Hidden Canyon, I saw so many people that there was no way I was going in there. I decided I’d continue on the trail to Observation Point instead, but turn around once I got to Echo Canyon. It’d be a nice resting spot, and a good turn-around for a quick (albeit steep and ass-kicking) hike. But when I arrived at Echo Canyon, I found a group of Europeans hogging the place. So I kept going for a while… and a while more… and a little more after that. And well, by the time I was ready to turn around, I figured I might as well go all the way to the top… to Observation Point. I’m not quite sure why I decided this… I wasn’t even half-way up, but well, I did it. I didn’t have nearly enough energy to make the hike at all enjoyable on the way up, but as the clouds started to roll over, the wind picked up, and after eating some of my Clif Bar, it got a little easier… still slow, but easier. I got to the top, and finally, four and something hours later, back to the trailhead where I basked in the awesomeness that is sitting.

Grueling and exhausting as it was, some good came from my ridiculously active day. 1. I was so stretched out from yoga that I’m not sore from the hike at all, only from those ab-busting and hamstring-ripping yoga poses. This made it possible to be at least semi-functional (though still lazy) today. 2. It was incredibly refreshing to do a stormy-weather hike, even if it never rained on me (though I did feel an occasional drop). And 3. I added another eight miles to my YTD hike mileage when I only planned on adding about three.

For those who don’t know, my goal is to hike at least 300 miles this year and bag peaks in at least five different mountain ranges. I’m currently at 79 miles (not too shabby for only two months of hiking) and zero peaks (but I got tentative plans to do the first next weekend in the Pine Valley Mountains). Having goals like this is a good excuse to make sure I get out. I hope to actually do a lot more miles and peaks than the goal requires, but I wanted a reasonable goal that I can actually attain, without being too easy (hence the five different ranges, not simply five peaks).

Anyway, here are some photos from yesterday’s eight-mile addition…

Ten miles of boulder-hopping and water-walking in an empty area of Zion amounted to the best hike I’ve done since living here. The end.