Geocaching and getting into trouble

Geocaching can be a lot of fun. This is looking on Geocaching.com looking at where you are gonna be and what caches there are, and then pluging in the longitude and latitude coordinates of the cache into your GPS and using the GPS to find the cache. It is a fun way to look for something and get a hike in. Well I have a virtual cache called "The Bowl" in Arches National Park. When you find the cache, you go back on and log about the find. Most logs are "I found it, it was nice, thank you", but this one is a good reminder of why you shouldn't explore the backcountry alone and what you shouldn't do. I am glad to see this geocacher was able to log about his find. Here is his log.

Sorry I am logging this so late but we just came across our log notes from our summer vacation. I've got a bit of a story to tell from this cache. I told my wife that I would go and find this cache while she and the kids were napping in the tent. I told her that I would be gone about 30 minutes or so. I quickly found my way up the fin, finding the bowl. It was a beautiful viewing area! From up there I spied a small arch a little bit away. I figured that if I could get down off the fin on the opposite side from the campground, I could check out the arch and still be back in time before the wife got worried. Well, best laid plans do not always go as...well...as planned. I scrambled/slid down a short section of slick rock to a ledge where I thought I would be able to hop across a small gap to the next rock, which would lead off the fin.

After sliding to the ledge, I realized that my depth perception was a bit off as it was about a 10 foot vertical drop and an 8 foot horizontal jump...requiring a perfect jump to a small ledge that was about one square foot wide. That was not going to happen. So I turned around to climb back up the sloped rock I had just slid down. Oh No...it was too steep and slippery for me climb! I quickly realized that I was stuck. Of course I was on the opposite side of the fin from the campground, it was very windy, I was alone, and no one knew which direction I had gone...how many basic backcountry rules had I broken??? As I calmed my initial panic, I sat down to assess my situation. I did have our small caching pack along with a water bottle. What else was in there that may help me?? I found my multitool that had been missing for a month! I began chipping away small hand and footholds in the sandstone (sorry nps, I did not want to die out there or pay for a rescue). After about an hour and a few blisters, I had what seemed to be enough. So I gave it a try. Not enough...I slid back down. I tried again...no luck. I now realized I had been gone for about an hour and a half and that my wife would probably only give me a little bit longer before calling the rangers. So, I turned and scooted close to the edge and again contemplated a jump to that tiny ledge.

Could I make it? Should I try? My legs were shaking so badly, I could have been mistaken for Elvis. I sat down, calmed down, said a prayer, and then prepared to jump. One, two, three....jump. I don't think I have ever hit something so hard before. Amazingly, I made the jump. I am writing this log six months later and my right big toenail is about to fall off from the bruise. I limped my way back to the campsite and took a well deserved tongue lashing from my wife. She told me that she had been thinking, "he better be dead or I'm going to kill him!" In actuality, she would never do that. In retrospect, I made some pretty poor decisions with regard to wilderness travel. However, I am convinced that there were a couple of guardian angels helping me across that jump. There is no other way I would have made it. So, the moral of the story...at least for this cache...don't try and get down from this fin on the opposite side from the campground! Take the long route to that arch you can see!! Thanks for the great adventure...I am grateful I am here to tell it!!!

Why does the goose have all the fun???

You are being a silly goose, could be a silly goat, it rhymes with billy goat

You get a goose egg, how about an Ostrich egg?

You can goose somebody by grabbing them, you could duck them, I have seen ducks be grabby

You get goose bumps, why not chicken bumps?

There is Mother Goose, why not Mother Hen?

The Goose that Layed the Golden Egg, can't a Swan lay a golden egg?

Gooseberries..... I didn't know geese liked berries.

Driving the gooseneck, how about a ternneck, or maybe a flamingoneck?

Well, I guess it's a lucky goose, or is that supposed to be a lucky duck

Rae and Rain

Really, nothing exciting to say today. But to all that read my blog, thanks.

Around the world

Today marks the 235th anniversary of the first day of the American Revolutionary war. In 1775 the American Colonists, or the Minutemen, and the British army stood across from one another on the Lexington Green. It has been said that both armies were told to hold their fire until fired upon. As the sun rose on the Lexington Green a shot was fired, known now as the "Shot heard 'round the world".
Just a reminder of the beginnings of the U.S.A..
April 19th also is marks the anniversary of the following.

1861 Baltimore riot of the American Civil War.
1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends
1989 A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
1993 The 51 day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco ends with fire, 81 die.
1995 Oklahoma City Federal building is bombed killing 168

Salt Lake City City Marathon

For this year's rant, please refer to last years rant. Remove any reference to I 80 construction.

Thank you

http://the-gearheads.blogspot.com/2009/04/for-those-of-you-who-were-trying-to-get.html

Weather in Utah.

It's been said "if you don't like the weather in Utah wait fifteen minutes". I find that to be a bit of an exaggeration. What I do find is every year we go through the same weather for spring and every year I hear the same complaints "What happened to spring, it went from winter directly to summer." For all the years I have lived here spring has always occurred. Spring in Utah is not a gradual warming trend, but rather a fun roller coaster of weather. In the last 30 days we have had 9 days of snow, and 11 days with a high above 60°. We have driven the convertible for probably 9 or 10 days. Along with that we have had 14 days with a low below freezing, 11 days with a high in the 40s, 8 days with a high in the 50s, 9 days with a high in the 60s, 2 days of 70°, and 14 days of precipitation (most of which seem to fall on a Friday or Saturday. Here is a graph of the temperatures in Salt Lake for the last 30 days. This is all typical for a spring in Salt Lake City. I love it, it snowed on Tuesday and I am driving the convertible today. Next month it will probably be wet and in the 40s and 50s, then dry and in the 80s and 90s and then wet again, then dry again (spring). So what happens to spring in Utah? It is wet and dry, cold and hot, windy and calm, dusty and clear. Yep, get used to it and enjoy, nothing is gonna change there.