Bikes, Hikes, and Halloween Treats!

The time had come to reward Mike for getting his job at Zane Benefits.  Mike had been wanting a bike for several years, however, the cost for a good bike is a little steep. After he got his job, I promised him that we could get a bike as a reward for getting into a career job.  We decided we would get mountain bikes as they are a little more versatile than a road bike.   We started looking on KSL and talking to people to learn more about Bikes.  Mike began spending a lot of time with my uncle Mike discussing bikes at family parties.  One day there it was, a deal too good to pass up, or so I was told.  It was a 2008 Specialized Stump Jumper, army green nonetheless, for less than $1,000 dollars. With a little tune up, it would be a great bike.  Mike had found his match.  It was time to splurge.  Now we just needed to find me a bike, which would come later in the month.

In the meantime, we decided to continue partying.  We went on a fast food date, which consists of picking up one item at each fast food restaurant until you have a full meal, I officially became a Hill as would be verified on my driver's license and social security card, and we partied in St. George.  My dad had heard about a dirt road from St. George to a remote spot in the Grand Canyon known as Toroweap.  It is about 90 miles from St. George and about 55 miles, 148 by road, from the North Rim Headquarters.  It is the only spot in the National Park where you can see the Colorado River directly below.  Saturday morning we took a day trip on the Arizona Strip to the Toroweap area of the Grand Canyon.  Even though it is not too many miles, a good portion of the road is dirt thus making slower travel. Thankfully we had the good old Xterra to take the beating. About 60 miles in, we stopped by a historical site, Mt. Trumbull Schoolhouse.  It was recently renovated and the doors to the school house stay open year round.  Even though it is not very big it also served as the town's dance hall and meeting center.  It is a symbol of the lifestyle, culture, and learning of a little town.  Well, after spending about 10 minutes, we decided it was time to pursue our real destination, Bar 10 Ranch.


The Bar 10 Ranch is a few miles away from the lookout point.  They offer accommodations ranging from sleeping under the stars, to sleeping in a covered wagon, to bunk beds inside the lodge itself.  They also have several different snakes, lizards, and spiders, in cages outside for your entertainment.  Although, they do various tours, we had come to ride ATV's down to the lookout point.  As we were waiting to do our tour, we played a few games of pool upstairs.  The time had arrived and the tour guides called us in to debrief us on safety tips, gather names, and other tour guide things.  When it came to my turn to give my name, I could barely get it out Mac had me laughing so hard.  Unfortunately, I may have embarrassed the family some, but it was really funny.  


After the debriefing, it was time for the real party.  It was a lot of fun cruising on the ATV's.  We went so fast and knowing us we pushed limits.  I believe my top speed was 40 miles per hour and others were even faster.  The lookout was really spectacular.  There was a trail descending into the Canyon for those who wanted to go down.  Of course we did it, though some would say it was very tiring.  We saw a group running the river.   Mike was able to educate us while longing to be floating down the rapids as well.  The tour guides also allowed for a little down time where we could re-hydrate and relax.  One of our tour guides was an interesting character.  The group got talking about jobs and we said how there just weren't tons of jobs in St. George.  He thought differently.  In fact, he was able to  supplement his touring income by gathering and selling rocks.  We told Mike this is how he could supplement his living while he built up his own tour company.  Needless to say, Mike was not too convinced.  Once we were refueled, educated, and been down into the canyon, it was time to return to the ranch.  We flew back and by the time we reached the lodge we were covered in dust.  We were a mess but it was totally worth it.  After cleaning up a bit, we ended our tour with a lovely home cooked meal.  It was delightful.  

We kept the outdoors coming as we also traveled down to the Swells with Uncle Marcel, Danny, John, and John Goates.  Yup, I was about to embark on another guy's trip.  There were only six of us going so we decided to all cram into Uncle Marcel's smaller SUV.  It was a little bit crowded to say the least.  On the ride home I even tried sitting in the back with all of the gear, Uncle Marcel found me and quickly outlawed that idea.  As we were driving through the Spanish Fork canyon, on our way to the swells, we were the second car to come up on an accident.  The one car had attempted a U turn and had crashed into another vehicle.  The boys helped the elderly lady out of her car and gave her a blanket.  We waited for the cops to come and then we continued our journey.

Luckily we made it safely to our destination.  We set up camp and went to bed for the night, for in the morning we had an adventure to embark on.  The next morning Uncle Marcel woke us up bright and early to go on a really long hike, about 9-10 hours, through a slot canyon.  At about the turn around point, we stopped to eat some food.  The fellas decided it was the perfect set up for a rope swing.  You guessed it, we built a rope swing.  It was great fun.  But the fun was not over.  We went a little further before turning around and found some small water pots.  John Goates feet slipped out as he was running around the muddy edge and into the water he fell.  So he decided to take a swim.  At one point, Danny had a "brilliant" idea.  He would whip Mike with reed and then Mike could whip him back.  Yes, both Johns joined in as well and the men had their battle scars.  Soon food overcame us and we all set our heads down and walked back as quickly as we could.  The swells had lost its thrill as Wendy's  overpowered the mind.  We couldn't get their fast enough.


At some point in October, we had also found a bike for me.  It was in awesome condition and was also the Specialized brand.  The only down side is the owner was a lesbian and her partner was selling us the bike. She definitely didn't care to hide their lifestyle, making it slightly awkward as Mike is testing out the bike and we are hanging back in the driveway.  But the bike was ours.  Now that we both had bikes, it was time to do an official mountain bike ride.  Around Halloween, Uncle Mike volunteered to take us on our first ride up Snowbasin resort.  When we got there we thought we would be just fine as their was an older gentleman and his teenage boy.  Plus I had been doing some stationary bike.  Boy were we wrong.  It was about 16 miles and it kicked our butts, we were way behind the pack and struggled to finish.  Nevertheless, we persevered and conquered, if you can even call it that.  Afterwards, we went over to Danny and Haley's for a Halloween party and Mike was so wiped out he had to go upstairs and take a twenty minute power nap, before they woke him up for a doughnut eating contest.  But don't worry they forgave us, figuring we were a priest and a nun.  Later that night, we went to a local park and saw several scary scenes.  Jon and Julie's family had one of their own.  Who knew Julie could be so scary or that Mike would attend a U of U football game?  I sure didn't, but they both happened.