Full story, or as much as you will get to hear...

Warning. Almost all of the pictures are not sized correctly for the blog.(They are all cut in half...)
and when you click on them it just takes you to the main photobucket site.
I will fix this later, but for now if you want to see a full sized picture, go to ->

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b87/Expavesco/

And you can look through all the pictures.

Anyway... That is the end of the warning.

Sooo...
We left a little later than we had hoped that fine Friday afternoon.
We were headed to the San Rafael Swell in southern Utah, which became so well known for having lots of dirt and rocks.

We got there just as it was starting to get dark, so we got out our gear and started hiking to where we wanted to set up camp, which was some 5 miles into little white horse canyon.

(Pictured: Starting to get dark, we had better get going. Those half-hearted clouds aren't quite enough to discourage us.)


The it was a new moon (spoiler, it isn't what it sounds like... No moon, is GOOD news... is New Moon. I don't get it.) so it was pitch black by the time found a good camp site, so while most of us set up the tents and other gear, Derz set us up the fire.

Being quite clever he built an actual pit for the fire.
(Pictured: Pit for fire, shown here.)


Usually the camera is sensitive to light, so based on this picture you can imagine exactly how dark it was. I mean, the dark nearly put out the fire... was so dark, swears it.

(Pictured: Fire needs light to burn, we all know this. You can see the last embers giving up their ghosts. with such low light images ANY shaking will be picked up in the picture, and my hands... they shake much.)


So before the fire was completely enveloped in darkness we cooked some chili and hot dogs. Then we slept after looking at the stars, Carlton never looked so precious as he did bathed only by the distant stars. I tried to take a picture as the whole world deserved to see him on his tippy toes reaching to the heavens, but this ethereal moment would not be captured on film, digital or other.

(Insert underexposed picture here with caption. [Carlton: Underexposed.])

Sleep happened.

I woke up early in the morning and snapped a few pictures. They look brighter than the area actually was. Because of the low light again some of the pictures are fuzzy because of me, shaky hands McGee.

(Pictured: Picture. The sun is up somewhere, just not here yet.)


(Pictured: Also: Morning, more ominous clouds, you can almost see the foreshadowing...)


(Pictured: The campsite. ...)


[Ok... We didn't hike to the campsite, which you probably figured out from the picture of the fire pit.]

(Pictured: Ok, NOW do they look ominous?)


(Pictured: Bored... I wonder if a picture of this plant will look any good.)


(Pictured: Flash flood!!! Ok, If clouds like these don't spook you, then you are truly made of sterner stuff.)


This was getting boring... and cold. I decided to go on a small walkabout to see if there was something neato to see.

(Pictured: A FENCE!!! They should have sent a poet.)


(Pictured: A FACE!!! No lookit, it makes a face, see? Those piles of petals are the eyes, see? Tee hee.)


I look up and see that the sky is starting to change colours, so time for more landscape shots.

(Pictured: There, see? That is what nice clouds look like, go back and compare. NOW who is paranoid?)


(Pictured: The shutter on the camera is almost instant now, which means it doesn't matter how much I shake. )



(Pictured: Neat.)


(Pictured: Does this feel like a trip-slideshow yet? This is called "the 10 commandments" not because there are 10 formations, each in the shape of a commandment, but because there is a shape similar to two [2] tablets. What goes on tablets? Commandments, der... There is a 'face' on the right tablet, not a real face. It is either Moses or God, I didn't quite catch the whole conversation of the old coots in the next camp, which I was eavesdropping on. I took pictures of them, but those are for my personal collect, sorry. [insert really creepy laughing])


Boooooring... Still no sun.
(Pictured: Hey! A river.)


(Pictured: Things are starting to warm up.)


(Pictured: A rock.)


This is when the camera ran out of "film" or space on the hard drive.
My dad had been taking high quality pictures and the camera was on its more detailed setting. I deleted a bunch of the really blurry pictures and changed the detail settings.

(Pictured: For me, probably best of show, and It didn't look this good when I took it, but it is neat.)


(Pictured: The trees like light I understand, something to do with photosynthesis ... which doesn't make sense... they don't have cameras.)


(Pictured: I am a face guy, can you see it?)


(Pictured: There is not a face in this picture. [Yes there is...] The range of colours is great in this one.)


I decided to be a good boy scout and build a fire.

Which I did... masterfully.

Then, we ate breakfast while we figured out where we wanted to hike (Alberto didn't want to get whet so we chose a hike that would avoid becoming such moistness... [remember those clouds?]), packed out packs and set off.

14.7 miles to our hiking spot, Mexican Mountain. (Oh those racist cartographers!)
That is a ways to hike so we started walking right away...

(Pictured: Us... Okay, we drove the 14 miles... That is me driving with my tell tale camping hair. The Camry aint no '89 pickup... but it can Tokyo Drift with the best of them. There is Albert, too good to go swimming, but not to good for a twizzlers, hmmm? Carlton can be seen in the rear-view... What a noob-hat. You aren't supposed to be seen in the picture.[Ignore that shadow in the 6th picture of this post, that is a tree.] Derz not show.)


(Pictured: One[1] Derz, with one[1] weathered trail guide.)


We drove... The road, it has rocks.

(Pictured: On the right side, you can see our destination, Mexican Mountain.)


We arrive at the trail head.

(Pictured: One[1] Mexican, in mountain form.)


[Side note: 205th picture taken so far, Digital Camera FTW]

(Pictured: Can you see the face? Gotcha! Faces aren't square/cubed... idiot. HA! [Can you see it?])



We leave the car, for realz... We will be hiking around these mini 'canyons'(?) and climbing up what from here looks like a small rock slide.

(Pictured: Not sure what that is called by mortal men, but I call it Geneva Steel)


(Pictured: from left to right - Alberto's Elbow, Carlton, also Derz.)


(Pictured: Visual reference of hike. Ok, we will be hiking to the bottom of that Mexican, then we will scramble up the largest of the triangular shaped debris ramps. After that we will gingerly climb the small rock wall and then scramble some more to she shear wall. Once there we will hike left on that wall and around the corner of that formation. Got it?)


(Pictured: Hiking somewhat.)


(Pictured: What do you mean?!? You really can't see it?)


(Pictured: A plant)


(Pictured: Alberto refuses to go on. What is wrong, Alberto?)


(Pictured: Oh, now I see why...)


(Pictured: Water.)


(Pictured: "Well, this is all we have to cross, the rest is a dry hike." - Derz)


(Pictured: Alberto refuses to get wet, even if it means having to jump.)


(Pictured: OR ride an invisible ATV.)


(Pictured: Crazy Jungle Antics Ensue! [and me without my machete])


(Pictured: Stupid flowers...)


I really liked that sandy area, those plants were the bravest of all plants to live in such a climate.

(Pictured: "Oh, I guess we weren't supposed to cross that river[smirk], for it seems to have come back around. We will have to cross a second time." -Derz)


Albero is not pleased. He walks back while Carlton is tip-toeing through the current aquatic challenge.

Meanwhilst I find a nest of alien eggs hidden on the river bank.

(Pictured: Exhibit A)


I ate them and gained the courage they stored in their immature alien-pupa status.

Thinking I had saved the world we continued on our trek.
More clues quickly appeared.

(Pictured: Some Jokester alien [Space alien, btw... not Mexican... racist]put a flower on this cactus. The manliest of the dessert plants. That kind of tom foolery may go over on Traxelon 7, but here on Earth our cacti wear eye patches or lasers-packs)


(Pictured: Disgusting...)


Alberto becomes upset.

(Pictured: Still the same river, but we have to cross it... Really. You can see my tracks in the very soft riverbed. You can see I am very direct in my hiking.)


(Pictured: Don't look in the bottom left... you will see what looks like a shadow but is a scary river monster thing. Definitely not my shadow. Do you think Alberto will be able to cross this river without getting wet?[Alberto not pictured, he is looking for another way to cross])


While the gang negotiates the obstacle I take a few pictures.

(Pictured: This part was behind a rock in the picture where I described the hike, this is below the triangular scramble thinger.)


(Pictured:Rock)


(Pictured: Do you see it? No? Try the next picture.)


(Pictured: No, not a face...)


269(Pictured: How about those clouds? Ominous yet?) [You can ALSO see Carlton near the river.]


273(Pictured: Neat)


I hiked around until I found a place to get up the seven[7] foot cliff, and I found Alberto had indeed found a less whet path, and was having a sit-down.

275(pictured: Alberto, next to a twentie[30!] foot drop.


274 (Pictured: Below...)


Derz and Carlton catch up after a while, and all this waiting had stiffened up my legs muscles. For the rest of the hike they work slower than before. There is a slight breeze, and the slower going start to feel a bit chilly.

We start making our way up the triangular scramble, (what looked like little rocks before are now clearly large boulders we have to walk around as we make our way up the incline.)

278(Pictured: You can see on the left half of the picture the winding river that we crossed three[thrice]times. Also, Neat picture.)


279(Pictured: Ohhh, you can almost see the entire hike so far in this picture. The cars are another inch left of the picture.)


281 (Pictured: You can see the two cars parked 'down there'. Mine is the one on the left... yup. She is a beauty.)


[if you are still looking at the things I am describing IN the pictures, you can stop if you want... the whole pictures are much nicer than noticing the gray speck which happens to be my car.]

282(Pictured: At the exact moment this picture was taken BUCKETS of rain were being dropped upon the lucky, lucky bastards still in Orem, Utah. That is favoritism...)


283 (Pictured: And we have yet to feel more than a few sprinkle-like drops. Splitters...)


288(Pictured: Oh yeah, that is why I was taking pictures. I was waiting for people to finish climbing up this... rock.)


291(Pictured: Climbing.)


296(Pictured: Rocks... sometimes we are under them.)


299 (Pictured: Those guys and their army pants. You don't hike in army pants.)


300(Pictured: [Picture#300] You hike in blue jeans, C'MON!)


303(Pictured: As we come around the bend, to the Mexican's back. [Which was red...])


306 (Pictured: Back of Mexican Mountain)


309 (Pictured: The Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord... She sends us this sign my making her form appear to us as a hole in a rock. We feel comfort in knowing she will intercede between us and her God/Son. Hail.)


310 (Pictured: The bad colour.)


311 (Pictured: Neat stuff, come to southern Utah.)


313 (Pictured: Alberto and Derz hiking, leading us to a dead end at that big crack, there is no way up.)


314(Pictured: Carlton and I find the Easy route.)


At this point in hindsight we figure that this is exactly when we went past the place we were supposed to go. However, since we had gone 'off trail' already so many times, we did not recognize the danger...

315 (Pictured: Carlton <3s NY, if you didn't know)


319 (Pictured: Rocks)


324 (Pictured: Fossilized roots were here sticking out of the ground.[they HAD to be roots] Untouched for years and years... and I break them. I didn't expect them to actually break when I tapped them.)


325 (Pictured: T-Mobile... Derz gets his voicemail, and a call from somebody asking for directions in Orem... He helps them and we continue up the mountain.)


There has been a lot of almost rock-climbing going on on this side of the mountain. Nearly dangerous.
We keep on Trekkin...

we get to a point where we really can't climb any higher. We have gone the wrong way, and Derz calls his mountain man brother and confirms it. We stop and eat our lunch quickly when we realize we only have 3 hours before nightfall and it becomes pitch black again.

329 (Pictured: But I am in no rush, lookit! a rock!)


333 (Pictured: Best location for a basketball hoop/backboard... ever.)


335 (Pictured: We say a prayed to the earth-mother, thanking her first [because deities are like little kids who only do stuff for you if you thank them all the time] then asking for a sign to know which way to get back.)


336 (Pictured: She sent her servant, Munin.)


Hey! That means we go Down the mountain and go back to camp.
We accept the Munin's message and start descending the mountain.

338 (Pictured: Rocks)


342 (Pictured: The 342nd Anniversary of when I took picture #1[one].)


343 (Pictured: Still haven't been rained upon.)


345 (Pictured: While I snaps photos, Carlton begins to bellow about the dangers of zero-light hiking)


Oh hey!... out of pictures.

Now for story time...





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We got off the mountain and on the trail when the sun began to set.
We crossed the river only once on the way back.
The the light was all gone by the time we got halfway back tot he car...

...


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Then we got back to the car, and it makes it own light. We are all exhausted, but I courageously drive the car back all 14 miles to our campsite. I have twigs and stick are gathered and a fire is made. It is impossible to cook anything, so we all go to bed.

Morning comes, we make a breakfast fit for a king, break camp, and drive home.
Good times.