A Brief Visit to Bryce Canyon

Monday morning I left Salt Lake City and took the “scenic route” south out of Utah – US 89. I ended up spending the night at a little campground in the Escalante National Monument. It was a cool day and got even cooler overnight – frost covered the front and rear windows in the morning and the temperature was a brisk 26 degrees! It didn't take long to get ready and get on down the road that morning!



Tuesday, November 29th - - It was a pleasant drive to Bryce Canyon National Park and I was able to spend about four hours there. I drove through the park stopping at many of the viewpoints along the way. There were very few people around and traffic wasn't a problem at all – unlike in the summer time. There was some snow on the ground but the sun was shining and the 50 degree temperature felt much warmer.





This and the next three photos were taken at Sunset Point. Elevation 8,000 feet.









Taken from Bryce Point. A 1.3 mile trail winds its way through the canyon.



Another view of the trail into the canyon. It would have been neat to go down amongst the towering hoodoos, but I just wasn't up to that kind of challenge at that time.





Taken from Rainbow Point, elevation 9,115 feet.



Another shot from Rainbow Point.

I Love Being Mimi

The hardest thing about being gone for seven months was not seeing the kids and grandkids. The really great thing about being Grandma or Mimi is that they miss you almost as much as you miss them. Or at least they tell you they do!



We were able to see our gorgeous grandchildren today, after seven long months. That is like a lifetime in Grandparent time. One of the first thing Liv does is show me that she has drawn a picture for me. Liv is an artist so I always love her art work. Here is one of her masterpieces that has "everyone" in it, according to her.



From left to right: Mimi, Auburn, Austin, Papa, Olivia and Gabe and the second row has Dad and Mom.





Nathan is highly offended by this picture and I just don't see why? Just because I am much bigger than him, first in line and colorful does not mean a thing. Ah, Liv always knows how to make my day. She even made our hair the same, complete with matching flowers.



Not to be outdone, Gabe asked to use my camera and took some pictures with it. He has shown real skills in this before, and I see that he's still as good as ever which just tickles me pink. Here is some of his work of Coco and their dog Jaeger and their gorgeous Mom, Renie:







They are just the coolest kids ever. I think Papa kind of likes them too:



Truth be told, he adores them as much as me. And it always so endearing to me to watch him interact with them. We are hoping to have lots more fun with them over the next few months.



Living the life in Florida!

Doe and Fawn

Here is another photo of the doe and her baby. I always love to see wildlife anythere that I can. The mountains might be my favorite, but I love all wildlife -deserts, oceans, coast, plains, - in all of our 50 states, and all of the world. I think it is one of our most important products in the world, and we are losing more of it every minute. We did see some wildflowers - Indian paintbrush, wild grasses, lillies, lupines and more that I couldn't name. One of my favorite sayings is one by Henry David Thoreau "In wilderness is the preservation of the world."

Small Wheels and a Belt Drive: the Moulton TSR2

Despite seeing plenty of Moultons, old and new, over the past several years, I cannot get used to the sight of these bicycles. The "spaceframe," resembling an elaborate truss bridge, is like a puzzle that both intrigues and frustrates me. I don't know why, but that is the reaction I have to these bikes. Briefly riding a Moulton two years ago brought me no closer to forming a more defined impression, and it took me until now to work up to trying it again. This Moulton isJon Harris'spersonal bikeand it is a TSR2model: featuring a 2-speed kick shift drivetrain with coaster brake and belt drive.






Founded in 1962, Moulton is an English manufacturer that championed the concept of small wheeled bikes. I will not delve into the history here, as I have already done this in an earlier post. You can also read about it on the company heritage page, as well as on the Moulton Bicycle Club website. Today, Moulton bicycles continue to be handmade in Bradford-upon-Avon, England, offering a number of road and city models. [edited to add 10th Dec. : read this morning the sad news that Dr. Alex Moulton, the founder of Mouton Cycles, has died at the age of 92.]






Following the original F-frame, the spaceframe design was launched in 1983 after years of research and development. The intent was to create an extremely stiff, performance-oriented frame. The adjustable suspension in the fork and rear triangle was designed to counteract the resultant harshness of ride quality.






The combination of frame stiffness and dampening is said to provide a uniquely responsive and comfortable ride.






At the top of Moulton's lineup are state of the art racing bikes, but the TSR models are its low-key offerings. The TSR2 is the humblest of them all - deigned as a minimalist, low-maintenance city bike with hub gears and a belt drive.






Flat handlebars with single brake lever.






V-brakes front and rear. 20" wheels withContinental Contact 37mm tires.








TSR frames are separable: Removing a pin in the center allows the frame to disassemble into two halves for ease of transport. While not a folding bike, this feature makes it convenient for travel.






I rode the Moulton TSR2 on two separate occasions, several miles each time. Congruent with the manufacturer's description, the bike felt stiff and responsive. Even this 2-speed city model is not a cruiser or a small wheel shopper exactly. The positioning is aggressive, and the handling is similar to that of a roadbike retrofitted with straight handlebars. The adjustable stem makes it easy to change handlebar height, accommodating riders of different sizes. While the fit worked well for me with the handlebars set level with the saddle, I did not like the flat and narrow bars that are standard with the build. But I understand this is possible to change.




As far as handling, the bike accelerates quickly, holds speed nicely, and is responsive to pedaling effort. Those who like fast and aggressive, yet upright bikes, will enjoy this. The ride quality did not feel harsh on bumpy and pot-hole ridden roads. I could feel the suspension in the front and rear, but could not decide whether it was too much for my taste or just enough.






The TSR2's dropouts are split to accommodate the belt, which cannot be separated the way a bicycle chain can. This is the now third bike I have test-ridden with a belt drive (see the others here and here). Unlike the previous times, this is a Delta belt drive and not a Gates carbon drive, but in the limited context of the test rides, I was not able to discern any difference. The belt was smooth and quiet.




The TSR2 is the second bike I have test-ridden with the Sturmey Archer 2-speed kick shift hub (see here for detailed impressions). This hub - also known as the Duomatic - is unusual in that it both brakes and shifts via back-pedaling: You push back lightly to switch gears, and you push back harder to brake. The Duomatic is a lot of fun, though I would not choose it for my own bike. In particular, the coaster brake action does not feel right to me on a bike with positioning and handling as aggressive as the Moulton's. That said, I know others who run this hub quite happily on bikes with drop bars, so it really comes down to personal preferences.






The MoultonTSR2 can be accessorised with fenders, as well as custom front and rear racks and bags. Considering it is a city bike, I would have liked to see these features included. This would allow me to get a sense for how convenient it would be to carry my stuff on this bike and what effect the load would have on handling. As is, I have no idea. There are also no provisions for lighting.




TheMoultonTSR models are worth considering for those looking for a compact, small wheel bike that is performance oriented. Handmade in England and famous for their engineering,Moulton bicycles are costly, with TSR models starting at $1,600. My favourite aspects are the compactness, the separable frame, and the handling. Though this bike has become less of a mystery to me, I am still mesmerised and confused by the spaceframe when I see it, unable to decide whether I think it is wonderful or ridiculous. If the opportunity presents itself, I would like to try a Moulton with derailleur gearing and provisions for carrying luggage. Many thanks to Harris Cyclery for this and other Moulton encounters.

Hot Time to Climb

For the first time this season the freezing level is rising above 14,500 feet. This means earlier starts for summit attempts. Get up and out of high camp so you're back before the mid-afternoon heat. The high pressure should be around all weekend and into the early part of next week. Groups of excited climbers were out enjoying their first tan of the season Saturday morning. Here is a photo of the sun rising over the Cowlitz. Notice the sun cups starting to form in the bottom of the photo. If you look closely you can see Camp Muir to the left of the climber's head lamp (Photo by Brian Scheele). Come take advantage of this great early summer weather.

Jordan Calling

OMG, what have I done today? I booked a flight ticket to Jordan for April and I can’t seem to get over from the excitement!



Jordan is one of my key travel destinations for . The whole travel itinerary has been planned and laid out and will probably need a few pinches here and there but I am so over the moon and looking forward to a travel of fun, adventure and discovery of culture, history and nature, lots of art & architecture finds and food thrills, mmm.







So here’s how the journey will look like:



(1) Do Amman of course, the capital city of Jordan and visit the mosques, palaces, gardens and the gold souqs.

(2) Hop on a rental car and drive down south on the Kings Highway to bask in the beautiful countryside landscape of Jordan.

(3) Experience Petra! The stunning hidden ancient city and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

(4) Race back in time with a 4x4 jeep together with Lawrence of Arabia and conquer the deserts of Wadi Rum.

(5) Check out the Red Sea and view Egypt and Israel and perhaps if there is time, enjoy some marine life in Aqaba, the summer resort of Jordan.

(6) In the evening, have a traditional Jordanian dinner with the Bedouins in a tent in the desert and be serenaded under the stars.

(7) Follow the Bibilical trails of Moses by climbing the famous Mount Nebo where he looked over to the ‘The Promise Land’ (Israel).

(8) Then follow the trails of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist as well along the Jordan River and on to Bethany Beyond Jordan.

(9) Check out the ancient city of Madaba (Moab) for the mosaics.

(10) Then conclude the holiday with a stay at one of the lovely Dead Sea Spa Resort Hotels. Pamper myself with Jordan’s famous mineral, the black mud spa and have my foto taken floating in the Dead Sea while reading a book =)



To guide me in this leisure, discovery and historical trip is the Bible (thank you mom!), and now all I need is a Quran in English. I would like to be able to compare both books in terms of history and information about the area. I understand that Jordan is the setting of 5 books in the Old Testament but not sure about Quran. Thus, these will be my company and treasure books for the entire holiday. It has always been my wish to visit the important places in the Old Testament book, and I will, one at a time.



Cannot wait but before Jordan I will be off to the Alps for our winter skiing holiday, so you’ll probably hear more about the snow first and other stuff before the desert and Bible stories.

Better late than never

Santa brought 1/4 inch (.6 cm) on Christmas, but waited until yesterday to deliver the main gift: a whole inch (2.5 cm) of rain!

You know you're deep into drought when just an inch of rain makes you so happy. Of course, when you're this far gone, one inch doesn't help that much, but we'll take every little bit we can get.

We still need something like 12 - 15 inches (30 - 38 cm) 24 inches (76 cm) to catch up. I don't think it's going to happen. Weather experts are predicting more dry, dry, dry, at least through spring.

But I can't think about that now... it may rain again tomorrow.

-----

Updated:
I was wrong about the rain deficit -- it was worse than I'd thought.

Be attentive when placing ice screws!

A Grivel Helix buried with some terrain protection..but it wasn't an intentional act.And until now I hadn't thought much about the issue. I wonder how many of us have?









The German DAV report and its pictures discussed in this entryare clear as to the issue but sadly I can't copythe context. If anyone finds a version I can copy and paste [thank you Joe for the jpegs]please let me know.







This from Magnus Råström @ Black Diamond Equipment AG





"There was a ice climbing accident last season, no one got hurt but it could have ended really bad and the ice climbers were using our (BD) Express screws. Christ Semmel working for DAV investigated the accident and attached is his report in German. I have below a short summary in English.



Course of Action:

2 Ice climbers doing a multipitch route in Austria, using Mammut double ropes, for protection BD Express Ice Screw with a Austria Alpin QD Easy Classic and for belay a reverso. The axe and crampons of the lead climber (belayed from below) did pull out and the climber fell 12 m without ice contact or injury, but the mantel ripped on one of the ropes (see photo page one, blue rope). Chris came to the conclusion that the rope ripped because it was pulled over the crank knob of the ice screw. The photo on page one, red rope is the rope which they have tested and pulled over a crank knob. Chris is not negative against our ice screw’s and the conclusion is that when ice climbing with ice screw’s with crank knobs it is important to fold them in after use. Also he recommends the use of ice screws with crank knobs that you can fold in.



All the best,

Magnus Råström / Black Diamond Equipment AG"





I use and like both the BD Express and Grivel Helix.



I do how ever use Grivel Helix in much of my own steep water ice climbing with an obvious crank knob that does not fold in. Worth noting the BD knobs are sharp in comparison. It should be pretty obvious you don't want a rope running over them that will take weight. The BD knob diameter at the small end is 9.5mm and the Grivel 15.5mm. The Grivel knob is a synthetic, likely Delrin and smooth. BD's knob is knurled aluminum and likely the last thing any of us want to run a rope over. I don't want my rope running overeither in a fall. But if given a choice...I'll take a folded knob overthe Grivel option.



But that isn't the total story. You need to know more.



The direction at which you clip the hangers should also be very different on the BD as opposed to the Grivel screws. The Grivel hanger offers a bit more play to set a screw and have the hanger flex on the screw to clear the ice. That allows the Grivel knob to be closer to the ice where the BD hanger will always be forced intentionally to the outside. Flip the BD knob down and you won't have a problem there. Not so on the Grivel as you have no option but to hide the know in the terrain. .



I disagree some what withMagnus' synopsis of the report and if that was accurate (and no reason to think it was not) the DAV report itself.



Here is why:

It you hang a rope on the Grivel hangerit is more likely to do one of two things in my opinon :

One: It will slide off to the outside of the hanger on theslick Delrin material



Two: Or depending on the hanger clearance from the ice get trapped behind the hanger and run on the 16.5mm screw body itself and or the horizontally positioned hanger body.



Either option I would prefer to knurled aluminum and a vertical positioned 2.5mm thick stainless hanger. So close your knobs on the BD Express screws! And I wouldn't usescrews with a fixed small diameter (knurled or not) knob that mimics BD's hanger design is what I take away fromthis. It is splitting hairs but important hairs I think.



It is all about the details,be careful out there!



A Grivel Helix with the black knob and two BD Express, red knob up and the yellow knob tucked in. Note the Grivel hanger is reversed compared to how it would actually be placed in the ice for this photo.



Obvious difference in the Grivel horizontal hanger and BD's vertical hanger. Thisis not the position the Grivel screw would normally be placed but 180 degrees reversed. Knob up on Grivel. Knob down for BD.



A long 2.7mm "blade" before you get to the knurled aluminum knob on the BD screw.



Beal 7.8 Ice twin on the BD knob which when left open caused a sheath failure in the fall.





I have no doubt you could catch a rope on the Grivel hanger, which you really do not want to do.Bottom line is be careful out there and think about each and every placement. For my money twin or dbl ropes on ice make a lot of sense.







Two pictures of the Grivel Helix in the position a rope would normally be caught from above. With the hanger totally at the end of its movement and the carabiner holeis to the inside,the knob is angled down so a rope would generally just slip off of it orthe rope will run behind the hanger and on to the screw tube body. This seems an unlikely event (but certainly possible) because only ice behind the knob end of the hanger would force it into this position.



If the hanger does have space behind it after the screw is placed no question you can easily hook the rope there in a fall.But again better a 17.5mm radius (Grivel's tube) to run your rope over than a 9.5mm radius (BD's knob) with the addition of several sharp edges to help the damage along.



Worth repeating I think.

For my money twin or dbl ropes on ice make a lot of sense.

Miles of vertical ice have been climbed with either style screw and hanger and as many miles with screws and hangersnot nearly as good. I'll continue to climb on both BD and Grivel screws and choose accordingly to whichfits my project best.I'm not suggesting panic here just that you keep your eyes and mind open to the possibilities.

White Sands National Monument

From the title of this post and my post the other day, you've probably figured out that I'm not in Louisiana any more!



Tuesday morning (January 3rd) after spending a delightful two weeks over the holidays with extended family, I departed for points west once again. I zipped through Texas (well, it's not really possible to “zip” through unless you're traveling across the panhandle) in two full days of driving spending one night at Lake Mineral Wells State Park southwest of the Dallas metro area on U.S. 180.



It was a leisurely drive from Mineral Wells along U.S. 180 all the way to Hobbs, New Mexico where I spent the second night (January 4th) at the Harry McAdams Campground on the northwest side of Hobbs.



Thursday (January 5th) was an even more leisurely and interesting drive, going north from Hobbs to U.S. 82 through the high desert and over the Sacramento Mountains to Alamogordo. In spite of the dire warnings on numerous signs on the way to the mountains, the drive through was really quite nice. The grades weren't nearly as steep as some I've been on. It was a gradual uphill climb through a surprisingly forested area and the descent was not bad at all.



That night I stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, 15 miles south of Alamogordo, at the base of the mountains overlooking the city. The next morning (Friday, January 6th) I drove the short distance to White Sands National Monument arriving just as the visitor center opened at nine o'clock. After watching the very informative movie and viewing the exhibits, I drove on into the dune field.



The sand at White Sands is unlike any that I've ever seen before. The dunes are hard packed and easy to walk on but the texture of the loose sand in the top layer is unusual. Most sand is rather coarse but this sand was so fine and soft – it has a consistency somewhat like talcum powder, it is that fine. When you squeeze it in your hands it sticks together but then easily crumbles. Very cool stuff. And very, very White!



I walked the one-mile nature trail through the dunes and the boardwalk trail then drove on out to the end of the road. The last few miles of the road are unpaved – they bulldoze a road through the dunes with ample areas for pulling off to the side and large parking areas so you can explore the dunes on your own.



Stopping at the end of the road, I strolled through, around, and over the dunes for about 3 hours. It was amazing how easy it was to walk on the dunes. It was also very quiet, few other people were out and about. In fact, I saw no one else while on my walk until I was almost back at the van. Every so often a jet plane from the nearby Air Force Base would fly overhead. But the quietness seemed even quieter once it passed by. It was a cool 36 degrees when I entered the park but with the sunshine and no wind whatsoever it felt much warmer. Though it was short, I very much enjoyed my visit to White Sands.





Plants take root in the dunes and when the dunes move on, these structures are left behind. They are very hard-packed and feel almost as hard as stone, except when you move your hand across the face of the mound it easily crumbles into soft dust.





It's hard to show it, but the top layer of sand is extremely fine and soft textured.



There were a few remnants of the last big snow storm (those white chunks in the center).







This was the only person I saw during my three-hour walk on the dunes. The bright white area on the left side is part of what remains from the last snowfall.





The top of this dune, where I was standing was about 35 feet high.



I saw very few areas of ripples like these, which surprised me. There was virtually no wind blowing on the day of my visit so these had been there for awhile.





The Sacramento mountains off to the east. Snowfall in the area has been light thus far this year, only the highest peaks are snow covered. All photos were taken on Friday, January 6th.

Sunday Drive #2

Even though this is almost a week old by now, I still wanted to share another one of our Sunday drives. This one we kept pretty local, circling in a radius of about 20 miles and seeing exactly what is here. We headed down to Arcadia where we saw our old campground, which is also named Peace River.





We have a lot of good memories of our time there. We had no idea when we first started hanging out there that it was a part of our journey to become full timers. Now I feel even more warm and fuzzy towards the place knowing it was a key part of getting us from there to here.



We saw a local country club near Ona. Really snooty looking place, isn't it?



We saw many other cool buildings, and another snooty looking pub named Charlotte's Web.



We saw lots of animals. A cactus. A lumberyard.



And my personal favorite from this week, an old barn.



Living the life in Sunny Florida!