Canyonlands National Park :: Island in the Sky

I'm not sure what it was about Canyonlands that “threw me for a loop”. Its stark beauty? Its isolation? I don't know. Perhaps I was a little intimidated by the yawing canyons and deep valleys but I just didn't feel comfortable there. I was in a funk, not in a “hiking mood” and I still haven't figured out why! It would be a great place to explore with someone who had a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

There are several sections in Canyonlands National Park. I visited two of them: Island in the Sky in the north and several days later, the Needles District in the south.

I drove the main roads, opting not to travel down the unpaved dirt roads, pulling off at each of the turnouts for the spectacular views dimmed somewhat by the hazy-blue sky. The only trails I took were short ones, where the tourists were.

Memorial Day :: Remembering

My grandfather Rolland Victor Phend, shown in a 1983 photo with his WWI portrait, enlisted in the United States Army on September 19, 1917 as a substitute for a man who had been drafted. He was very proud of the fact that he had enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted. Grandpa was sent overseas shortly after his basic training and served in France with Company C, 309th Engineers. By the time he was discharged on June 19, 1919 he had achieved the rank of Sergeant. Grandpa suffered from the affects of gas poisoning for the remainder of his life, astounding physician's who said he wouldn't live beyond the age of 30 - he passed away on June 18, 1991 just one day before his 98th birthday!

Stories about Grandpa:

• Two Fellows Home From Camp Taylor
• Vic Phend Writes From France
• Grandpa Vic :: a Biography
• Grandpa Vic and Some Grandkids
• Grandpa's Candy

Grandpa is buried at South Park Cemetery in Whitley County, Indiana next to his parents and two brothers.

My Grandfather is just one of the many ancestors and relatives who have served their country in the military. The post, The Veterans in my Family, briefly describes my ancestors and their siblings who served during nearly all of the wars in which the United States was involved.

Last year I went through my genealogy database in an attempt to find all relatives that had served in the U. S. military, these are the ones that I know of, I'm sure there are others.

• War of 1812 and the Civil War
• Spanish American War and World War I
• World War II, Korea, and Vietnam

This past Friday, I took my Mother to visit the graves of family members buried in Whitley County, leaving little bouquets along the way. She tires easily, so after taking her back home, I continued my cemetery tour into neighboring Kosciusko County visiting the grave sites of ancestors on my Dad's side of the family. We really couldn't have asked for a nicer day with a cloudless blue sky and temperatures in the upper 70s. It was a perfect day!

My cup runneth over

Our Amazing Kitchen Soap is featured in the November issue of Cooking Light magazine!

It's very exciting. My sister-in-law was nice enough to send me this scan, since I still haven't received my copy yet. (My mail lady is possibly holding it hostage.)

I knew it was coming, so made plenty of extra Kitchen soap. What I didn't anticipate was that so many people would be ordering 10 or 12 at a time.

So with that and two big craft shows coming up, I may be too busy for a lot of blog writing or reading in the upcoming weeks.

But if I'm missing from here, just imagine me as that figure on the left of the page, with a big smile of gratitude on my face.



Oh yeah, I can also report that besides garlic and onions, the Amazing Kitchen Soap works well on other smelly odors you might get on your hands... fish... bleach... smoke... that odor you absorb when trying to wrangle smelly dogs who've been rolling around in things you'd rather not think about...

Gravity - Caught in the Act

Gravity - Caught in the Act, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

For years I have wanted to capture the parabolas the show up when a ball bounces to the ground. With a 39-cent light-up bouncy ball I was able to do just that.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is probably the most well-known spot in the southwest. Practically everyone alive today has most likely seen images and/or video from Monument Valley, whether they realize it or not. Many western movies have been filmed at this location and photos from Monument Valley are often used when it comes to promoting the southwest to tourists.



It certainly is a beautiful place and a worthy stop for any traveler, especially photographers. If you want to explore the valley beyond the scenic drive, however, you'll need to hire a Navajo guide. You can drive your own vehicle around the scenic loop which has views of the main features of the valley, but you cannot stray from the scenic loop road if you are on your own. These images were all captured from the scenic drive, as I chose not to go with a Navajo guide... although someday I would like to hire a guide to get some local insight into the area. I chose not go with a guide because of time and because of the conditions. If I was going to hire a guide I would like for it to be a nicer day, so I could enjoy it more.



It was very windy during my visit, with dust and sand blowing everywhere. I had been considering staying at the new Navajo hotel right in the valley, but with the conditions the way they were I decided to head further down the road.

(Above and below: There are some very interesting views approaching the valley from the surrounding highway.)

First Backcountry Ski

On Sunday, Dan and I headed down to Mount Rainier with the goal of skiing the Pinnacle/Castle saddle area. I took a look at the initial slope and didn't like the thought of coming down it. So we drove up to Paradise and started skinning up to the Muir Snowfield. The snow was pretty scoured above Panorama Point, so we stopped there to go downhill. The snow was thick sticky mush. We decided to not do laps and to hit the Copper Creek for some burgers and shakes. At least the weather was nice.

Dan taking a rest from skinning. Note all the tracks.

The Tatoosh and Adams.

Dan boarding in the crud.

Me, pretending to ski. (photo by Dan Engel)

Pristine, Pink, Breathless

That's what it was like on the mountain this weekend. I made it to Camp Muir Saturday, my first opportunity in over two months. Finally, time to survey the camp and search for possible storm damage (and test the snow conditions on the Muir Snowfield).

Things looked normal for early December. There was access to the public shelter, but the toilets were drifted in with deep snow. As for obvious signs of rain and wind damage, it seems that only the NPS suffered. We lost two storage boxes. The weather telemetry equipment for the NWAC appears to be working. It's my hope that once the power resumes at Paradise, the weather data will come back up online.

I was a bit surprised that there wasn't more snow cover between 7-11k. Everything looked wind scoured, i.e, lots of exposed rocks along the eastern edge of the Muir Snowfield, Cowlitz Cleaver, Muir Rock, etc. As for the upper mountain, the Nisqually Glacier looked very, very good. And while we're talking, so did the Nisqually Cleaver and Gib Ledges. Plenty of snow and ice in those rocky steep sections

After surveying the camp, it was time to confirm the conditions on the Muir Snowfield. And it was just as I thought it would be: 4,500 feet of untracked packed powder, with a few rocky areas around McClure. As you can see, the mountain turned pink for our descent. Top photo by Ethan McKinley

JUST IN: The Camp Muir and Paradise weather telemetry data are back up. I hope they last! I know that they ran the generator at Paradise today.