CATCH UP

25 April 2011:  We left Apple Valley, UT in a snowstorm and headed to St George where it was only raining.  Spent the night with Gary and Georgine then headed north to Salt Lake where we spent a couple of days.  Got to see Auntie Jane at the rest home she is now in.  She is doing pretty well.  Also had a nice dinner at Van and Wendy’s place.  Everyone seems to be doing well down there.

We woke up to snow on our last day at Apple Valley.

 

Bill, Lesley and the kids came to visit us for a week.  We had a great time with them.  The weather was not the best, but we did manage to get in some hiking, horseback riding, kite flying, hopscotch, rock climbing, trip to the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge, flof, an easter egg hunt, roping, and a trip to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.  Here are a few pictures.

Here is the oldest kid getting ready for the younger kids to get here and play hopscotch.

Good wind for flying kites.

Les and I manged to beat out everyone in flof.

Avery liked the tractor.

The wildlife refuge on a cloudy cool day.

Lots of birds at the refuge.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a great place to visit if you are ever in Missoula.

Everyone had fun looking for 80 plastic easter eggs.

Roping contests were held almost every day.

Walker (Trotter as he is called around here) was a natural at rock climbing.

The boys on the rocks.

HIKING THE RIM

7 April 2011:  Been hiking around behind Pam’s place with her and Di.  They sure have some great hiking just from their houses.  The views are really spectacular.  It has been mostly cloudy since we got here and lots of wind today so not to many good pictures.  Eating way to much great food also.  GB came out last night for supper and Di was also here.  Had a good time - fun to be with old friends again and have been friends for nearly 40 years! 

 My hiking partners.

This is their backyard.

One of the points walking around the rim.

That is Zion National Park in the background.

Cool day just before a bit of wind.

Looking west towards where we were hiking around the rim the day before.

Thought it was pretty neat that the mountain bikers use the same symbols as skiing for the difficulty of their trails - black diamond for hard and a green circle for the easy.  We were fascinated by the difficulty of some of the trails.  

Some brush with a great colored bark.

Lots of petrified wood in many places.

At the end of the hike.

   

CONDORS

4 April 2011:  Went for a hike down Cathedral Wash to the Colorado River.  Great slot canyon to hike with some pretty good scrambles.  After lunch we broke camp and drove up to the Vermillion Cliffs then out on a BLM road.  Camped where we could watch condors soaring around.  I did not even realize they were down here so it was pretty neat to watch them sail through the air.  Had to have binoculars to see them so did not even try to take a picture.  Cooler though – polar fleece has replaced t-shirts.

Some of the rock formations were really interesting.

I don't think Connie's surgeon would approve of some of our hiking!

There were some scrambles around water holes and drop offs.

The mouth of the canyon.

On the banks of the Colorado River.

This guy has quite the odd looking toes.

This was one of the worst scrambles around this drop off.

HEADING NORTH

2 April 2011:  Broke camp at Roosevelt Lake and headed to Payson where we pulled into an RV park.  Our laundry bag was full, the fresh water was gone, the holding tanks were full, and the cupboard was getting bare - time to hit a town with all its conveniences.  They have a good Safeway store in Payson that we always stop at if we go through there.  We bought a couple of steaks and makings for a salad so had a great supper.  We are always amazed when we have unlimited water and are hooked up to a drain.  Long showers are taken and we can dirty all the dishes we want to!  And clean clothes are great also.

3 April 2011:  Got up early headed north.  Out of Flagstaff we hit some really strong winds.  About as bad as we have ever driven in.  And don’t want to do again.  At first they were a quartering tail wind, but then changed to a cross wind.  Sure moved us around sometimes.  We stopped at Lees Ferry on the Colorado River.  They have a pretty good campground here, but hardly any amenities.  Suits us just fine, and we have never been here before so getting to see a new place.  Plus we got out of driving into a head wind which is what we would have had as we were headed west after crossing the river.  Got here in time to do a little exploring and here are a few pictures of that.  Click on any picture to make it larger.

This is where the Paria River meets the Colorado River.  The picture below is the muddy Paria just a few hundred yards above the confluence.  Sure different colors of the rivers.

Some of the old buildings around Lees Ferry.

Part of the old steam engine used in mining in this area.

Balancing Rocks.

Our jeep with a nice colorful background.

The Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River.

CORMORANTS AND HERONS

1 April 2011:  We have been spending some time the last two mornings kayaking by the Tonto River entrance to Lake Roosevelt.  After they raised the dam level a few years ago, all the old cottonwood trees and brush in that area has died.  Many of the trees have become rookeries for the Double Crested Cormorants and Blue Herons.   I never thought we could have so many laughs watching cormorants building their nests with sticks and moss.  They are hilarious.  Sometimes they over shoot their landings to the nest and have to make a go around, but mostly they land pretty well.  Not really graceful though.  I took hundreds of pictures, but I do wish I had a movie camera a few times.  We saw one pair almost knock their nest out of the tree, others seem to get into a fight on how and where to put the stick.  One thing that amazed us was some of the males were sitting on the nest and the females brought the sticks, but mostly it was the females who were on the nests - that is if I can tell the difference.  And I don’t know if once the eggs are laid if the males share the duty or not.  Some of the cormorants already had eggs in their nest I think as there was just one bird around there.  The female blue herons were always on the nest.   We spent quite a bit of time paddling around through the brush watching the show.  

It was really hot here today – in the 90’s!  Connie took Zeus down to the lake for a little swim.  He really likes water and always has.

 Here are some of the pictures of our day.

This is how it looks paddling in the trees.

The cardinal was watching us have our tea this morning.

One of the trees that has become a nesting place of cormorants and herons.

The bald eagles are also nesting in this area.

A blue heron watching us paddle back to our jeep.

I have never seen a raven and a buzzard share a meal of a fish carcass before.

A male coming in for a landing.

Bringing in nesting material.

Here is a male on the nest and the female bringing the sticks.

This male blue heron was really preening himself.

A sequence of a heron bringing in material for the nest.

Zeus the water loving dog.