Looking to have a great summer!

So I went water skiing at Jordanelle Resevior this weekend. It was great! The water was a little chilly, and at exceptionally high levels, which brought out lots of people. But it was great fun. I've never actually been successful at water skiing when I've tried in the past. All I really remember from those lovely experiences is drinking half the lake. This time was different. I didn't miraculously learn how to water ski or anything. This little excursion was with work, which means I was skiing on an adaptive water ski. We had 2 models; one with outriggers, and one without. The outriggers are attached to the ski and keep it pretty stable. The person just sits in a little basket type thing that is attached to the ski and holds on to the tow rope. Almost anyone with weaker core strength, quadreplegia or paraplegia (or any disability) can water ski thanks to this contraption. The other model of adaptive water ski doesn't have the outriggers attached, so it takes more core strength and balancing capability to stay upright. Here's a picture of a ski with the outriggers. We are practicing doing a transfer of someone who might not be able to walk or swim without assistance. It looks quite difficult, but in the water it was actually much easier. Ahh....buoyancy.

I got a new camera this week, to replace the one that went swimming in Lake Powell. These are the first pictures from it!! I've included a picture of my chaco tan. Thanks to never having to sit at a desk and helping with the water skiing and jet skiing sessions at work, this year's tan is looking like it will be the best one I've ever had. Don't click on the picture. Since this is a new camera, I don't really know how to size the pictures when I post. It will likely blow up HUGE and you will get a very close inspection of my feet. I think it's time for a new pedicure.

I set a New Year's Resolution this year, which is kind of weird. I've never really decided on one and tried to keep it. I resolved to get back into competition, whether it is running, biking, or whatever. I just want to be a part of that again. It's been 6 years since my NCAA eligibility ended and I couldn't compete in cross country and track any longer. At first, I was kind of glad. I'd been competing non-stop since I was 14; so at 23 I figured I deserved a break. But that break turned into a lot longer of a hiatus that I really planned. I've kept running (sporadically) and have incorporated some new activities into my life (canyoneering, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc....) to replace that sense of belonging I had with my team. But I have yet to race again. Until now. In April, I registered for the St. George Marathon. I was hopeful that I would get selected in the lottery. But I didn't. Bummer. There are so many other racing opportunities in Utah Valley, that I can literally just open a calendar to any day and probably be able to find a race somewhere. So for now I am planning on running the 10k at the Freedom Festival on the 4th of July. I've run this course before; it should be fun. My biggest goal for this summer is to compete in a couple of triathlons. The Utah Half Ironman Trialthon is August 9th. A few friends from the NAC are interested in racing it. I think we are going to try to put together a team. I'll do the running leg, which is a half-marathon (13.2 miles). I'm actually super excited about it. It feels nice to have something to train for. I spent so many years training for some race that I never really understood what working out to stay in shape was all about. But now I have definitely learned about the other side of the exercise spectrum. I don't think it will be too difficult for me to jump back on the racing bandwagon. I can already feel the butterflies!! Welcome back. :-)

Drama is so unnecessary

Long story short.....my data collection is taking A LOT longer than I hoped/expected/planned. Because of that, I was going to have to postpone going to IU until next fall. But when I called and talked to my advisor there, I was informed that I would likely lose my funding FOREVER, which apparently was quite difficult to obtain!!! (They must be excited to have me there if they made it happen.) So I had an emergency meeting with my committee the other day. All I can say is Ramon and Brian came to the rescue. We were able to shuffle some things around with my study so that now I am back on track to graduate in December and head to IU. Phew!!! I was a basketcase for a few days.......on the verge of tears. And you know me....if tears are involved, it must have been crazy.

Like I said.....drama is unnecessary!

I started my TR internship this week as well. For the next 3 months, I will be working everyday at the National Ability Center in Park City. www.discovernac.org Check it out!!! The NAC is dedicated to the development of lifetime skills for people of all ages and abilities. They do this through the use of recreational activities and they were extensively involved with the Paralympic Games that were held in Salt Lake City in 2002. I'm so super excited! As of now, I will be working in every program that is offered at the NAC (cycling, archery, water skiing, equestrian programs, adventure learning programs, the climbing wall, canoeing, and swimming). The training over the next few weeks is going to be intense, as I have to re-learn how to do all of these activities with adaptive equipment. Adaptive equipment allows people with many types of disabilites to participate in any type of activity. Think hand cycles instead of mountain bikes for someone with quadriplegia, sit-skiis for snow skiing, etc... As the summer progresses, I will be spending a large portion of my time working with the ASD (Austism Spectrum Disorder) camps that are offered for young children. This is going to be a big challenge for me as I have spent the last 8 years working with kids in mental health treatment (drugs, alcohol, behavior). I have limited experience working with people with disabilities. So I guess I'm cut out for this internship. Good times!!!

So sad to be back....yet happy at the same time

I am officially back from my expedition. I am sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I have thoroughly enjoyed spending a month with some extremely interesting people that I probably normally wouldn't spend much time with. Sad because I LOVE the canyon lands of Southern and Southeastern Utah. For our last week we hiked Upper Calf Creek Falls near Escalante, Utah; then spent 3 days in Coyote Gulch, which is a finger canyon off the Escalante Arm of the Colorado River. After that, we spent 3 days on a houseboat on Lake Powell, where we took our sea kayaks up some finger canyons to a special place called Cathedral in the Desert. You can find all of these places on Google Earth. CHECK IT OUT!! I only have a few pictures to post, as my camera took a dive into Lake Powell and did not survive. Apparently Ziploc bags do not act as the best dry bags when they have microscopic holes in them.

I'm happy to be back because I have so much to do this summer in order to graduate. I am still in the middle of my data collection for my thesis. I have been calling parents over the past 5 weeks discussing their family leisure. The calls have been going great. Unfortunately, I had to put them on hold for the last few weeks because trying to do calls and be an instructor on this expedition has been a bit overwhelming. One of our professors got sick the first week and found out shortly thereafter that he had a birth defect which affected the arteries and veins in his brain. The only reason he even found this out was because he was having such bad headaches that his doctor suggested a catscan. They found an "abnormality" and suggested an MRI. They determined that he has what is called AVM: Arterio-venous malformation. Where most peoples arteries feed into arterioles, then into capillaries, then into veins, etc....his malformation causes his arteries to feed directly into the veins. Apparently, veins can't handle this much blood and pressure. This increases his chances for a stroke by something like %100. He is quite lucky to have had this happen because they caught it early, before any damage was done by a stroke. His only option is to have neuro-surgery to re-route the blood flow...which will be happening soon. Needless to say, the doctors restricted his activities. I believe the exact words were "No backpacking, no houseboats, no kayaking, no canoeing, no camping, etc...". So I quickly went from the TA schlepping gear to the instructor on this expedition. It was a great experience! Too bad it had to happen under such intense circumstances. Keep Brian Hill in your prayers.

Here is a great picture that I took as we were hiking to the headwaters of the Provo River 2 1/2 weeks ago. Yes....just 2 1/2 weeks ago, we got a foot of snow in the Uintas. There were a number of people in our group who were not prepared for such a swing in the weather and woke up buried under snow. Good fun, good fun.

This is just about as close to the headwaters as we could get as it gets real steep, real quick. It starts as a spring bursting out of the side of a mountain and quickly turns into a gushing river. We collected bugs out of the river at this spot....something about stream ecology and studying the types and amounts of bugs in certain areas. I'm not sure what it was all about....I just wrote down numbers and used tweezers to pick bugs out of collection trays. Don't have any pictures of that yet.....After the Uintas, we headed to Bear Lake. We didn't actually get to camp there or play in the water. We drove there, stopped at the visitors center and had a history lesson about Lake Bonneville and Lake Thatcher. Both are ancient inland seas that covered most of Utah and Idaho in pre-historic times. Lake Bonneville, The Great Salt Lake, and Utah Lake, as well as a few others farther south in Utah, are the remnants of these seas. The amazing thing about it is that you can see the benches along the mountains that were the shorelines of these seas. The people who live on the high benches in Draper, Sandy, and Provo would have had ocean front property about 15,000 years ago. Now, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail is prime real estate for running and mountain biking trails. So interesting.........I remember going climbing in Logan Canyon when I was at Utah State. While I was sitting on the side of the mountain, I found some sea snail shells in the dirt. I couldn't figure out how they got there.....now I know. This is me at the Oneida Narrows Resevoir in Southern Idaho. This resevoir was created by a damn on the Bear River. There are natural hot springs here which were very refreshing. This area was also under water thousands of years ago. Ahhh....saved the best pictures for last. This is Cathedral in the Desert. This picture was actually taken 2 years ago when I was at Lake Powell on my C.O.L.T trip. (Refer to the swimming camera story above). When the sun shines down into the canyon, it sends millions of ripples reflecting onto the walls of the "catherdral". And the water!!!!! I've never seen such a color. The Cathedral is actually a series of waterfalls. Depending on the water levels of the lake, the falls are either non-existent, little trickles, or quite majestic. The water this year is about 15-20 feet higher than in this picture. If the water were 30-40 feet lower, this spot would be dry and the water fall would be about 40 feet tall. Because it was so much higher this year, we were able to kayak into the cove a bit further. We came to the smaller fall, where a handline had been placed (pictures below). This fall is about 20 feet high, with 3 different pitches to climb up. It was pretty intense, espcially because once you make it up the first pitch, there is a pothole full of water. If you fall in, you can't really touch the bottom, so it's hard to pull yourself up with just your arms. This is almost a keeper pothole (quite deadly). It would be if there was no rope to pull yourself out. Climbing skill was helpful at this point. Only a few of us attempted. But once we got up all 3 pitches, we hiked about 50 yards back to yet another fall. This one was only about 10 feet high and was just a trickle with a small pool. But it was amazing nevertheless. We were here at about 9:15 in the morning, so the sun was slowly making it's way down the walls into the cavern.

It looks like the upper wall is on fire!!

Here are a few pictures from Coyote Gulch. There are a few waterfalls in this canyon. We hiked up river the entire way. It's only a few miles from the drop in at Crack in the Wall to the exit at Hamblin Arch. And it was river hiking the entire way. We all opted to go barefoot as the river is quite shallow (only a foot in the deepest spots) and pure red sand. Only a few scattered pebbles here and there. This canyon is amazing for a million reasons....too many to list here. But one of them is that there are over 200 active archeological sites. Native Americans were numerous in this area. A friend took me down this canyon 7 years ago. He showed me a secret spot he and his dad found when he was a boy. It was an ancient grainery hidden against the wall, far away from the river and the normal beaten path. He said they found petrified corn cobs and other items inside it. After calling the BLM, those pieces were taken for safe keeping.

Yet another reason this canyon is so amazing......I feel like it carries the spirit of Glen Canyon (the area covered by Lake Powell). Coyote Gulch is a finger canyon off the Escalante Arm of the Colorado River. You can still access the Escalante Arm via Lake Powell. This is actually the way to get to Cathedral in the Desert. But Coyote Gulch is far enough back that the waters of Lake Powell don't reach it. This canyon is nearly identical to what Glen Canyon would look like had the dam not formed Lake Powell. I don't feel like I can take a stand as to whether the Glen Canyon Dam (and therefore Lake Powell) was a mistake. It provides resources in the form of water and electricity to millions of people. But at the same time, it is somewhat tragic to know that such beautiful places are now underwater....and will likely never be seen in their original state again. Hmm.....the spirit of Glen Canyon. I like that.

More pics as I get them.