December Cruise 2011

Erin, me, the kids, and Erin's sister, Tiffany, went on a Disney Cruise December 4th-11th. It departed out of port of Los Angeles. Out two ports of call were Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. On the morning of December 3rd, we departed for San Pedro, California. We stayed about 6 minutes from the World Cruise Center where we were to board on Sunday afternoon. Our ship was the Disney Wonder. For all of us, it was our first cruise and it was alot of fun. The weather was excellent. A few days at sea were a bit chili, but in Mexico, the weather was great. While in Cabo, we took a short boat ride where we toured the cove. At one point, they fed the fishes in the crystal clear water and it was really beautiful seeing them surround the boat in search of food. Also in Cabo, Luke was able to swim with a dolphin. He loved it so much and was in heaven the whole time. If you don't know, he wants to be an animal scientist when he grows up. So you could imagine his excitement. The activities on the boat were alot of fun too. In addition to all you can eat food, theyre were activities for kids, family, and adults. And ofcourse, being a Disney Cruise, there were many opportunities to see the Disney characters. I could go on and on about the week. It was very relaxing and looking forward to our next cruise...

Elk Hunt - Oct. 11th thru 14th

This year we hunted Mayfield Canyon again. I really have come to love this area. We see lots of Elk every year, and it is truly some beautiful country. I picked up Dad on Tuesday(11th), and we headed up Mayfield Canyon. We met Joe at the mouth of the canyon and we followed each other up in search for a spot. We couldn't camp at our usual spot due to snow this year, but because of Joe's new trailer it didn't really matter. It had everything we needed. It was really muddy this year and without my newly purchased four wheeler, it would have been a more difficult hunt. We couldn't drive the trucks where we normally do, but the four wheeler got us out to wherever we needed. It also was nice to haul the meat back to the trucks and then push its weight limits to the max by riding threesome. A little uncomfortable, but better than walking 3-5 miles on foot. Joe explained in detail some of the hunt, so the following is copied and pasted from his blog:

We arrived Tuesday evening and drove the upper roads exploring what areas we could access with all the snow. After a combination of too much Mtn Dew and excitement for the hunt, I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night - not a single minute. Longest night of my life. Wednesday morning, my Dad hiked out into the basin we like to hunt with the intention of meeting up with us that night somewhere along a 4-wheeler road we identified on the map. Dave and I rode his 4-wheeler out about 5 miles to a look-out point we like. Within minutes, we spotted elk about a half mile away and put together a plan. Dave drove me out a ways on a trail, and then he went back to the point to watch; I hiked up a 4-wheeler trail to where I thought the elk were below me and eased down through the pines and aspens cow calling. The patches of snow that still remained were frozen and pretty loud, so the going was slow picking my way through it. When I arrived at the clearing the elk had been in, Dave radioed me and said the herd had moved off to the south down the mountain into the forest. I moved down to the bottom of the clearing about 100 yards and continued cow calling. Dave radioed and said two elk were coming in to the calls. Eventually I found them and when one stepped out of the brush, seeing he was a spike elk, I made a standing freehand shot from about 60 yards through a small hole in the brush and trees. When I fired, the second elk ran off, but I saw that he was a spike, too. I sat down behind a dead log and cow called, trying to coax him back because he only trotted off rather than really busting out of there. After a few minutes, he came walking right back into the clearing and stood there looking for the cow elk he was hearing (me). Realizing the second elk was a spike as well, Dave made his way over to me, and following the sound of my calls, dropped down into the same clearing and shot the second spike. They fell no more than 20 yards away from each other! As we stood around laughing about our total luck, our Dad suddenly emerges from the forest. We said, "Where did you come from?!" He said he'd been tracking a herd after hiking several miles and it brought him to this meadow. A perfect finish to a crazy morning.

Dave and I shot our elk on Wednesday. Thursday morning, I drove Dad out about 5 miles on the 4-wheeler and dropped him off. He hiked through the forest a couple of miles just below the snowline moving in and out of small canyons and draws and over ridges. After several hours of tracking a herd, he found himself in the middle of elk. What at first appeared to be a herd of 8 or 10 that he kept bumping ahead of him, he dropped down a ridge and watched a small group of elk in an open aspen grove. After awhile, one of the elk stepped out and turned out to be a spike. A 50 foot shot finished him. When my Dad fired, the small herd of 10 turned into a huge herd of 40 elk that stormed through the grove and down the draw. Dave and I were sitting on a point above the basin Dad was hunting in, eating lunch and chatting when we heard the gunshot over a couple of small canyons. After some excited radio chatter and riding around on the 4-wheeler, we located Dad's ridge and hiked down to meet him and celebrate his awesome hunt. A few hours later, we had our third and final elk pulled out of the mountains. In less than 27 hours, we had hunted and harvested three spike elk!

All three spikes were remarkably similar looking in appearance - no extra points and almost exactly even in antler length. It was a great hunt. We stayed until Friday morning before heading home. The 4-wheeler opened up a lot of country that wouldn't have been available otherwise due to the mud and snow. However, we still (especially Dad) hiked a lot and had to hike out our meat on frame packs through some tough forest up steep mountains. Everyone kept telling us they weren't seeing elk this year and other hunters were surprised about our finding spikes. However, most people we see up there only ride the 4-wheeler trails and don't get off the roads to hunt the forests. We usually aren't this lucky, but I'll take it. I love the family time and the high beautiful Utah mountains in elk country every year.

Tuesday, Oct. 4th

On Tuesday, I took the wheeler out on a solo ride in search of George Tyng's grave. I'm still new to American Fork Canyon and all of its beauty. But this is a popular ride. The story is as follows:

On January 19 1906 just after noon, George Tyng was in his cabin office when an avalanche occurred and crashed down through his cabin killing him. His body was hauled down the canyon to American Fork. His will was read and it stated that he wanted to be buried just below his boarding house on Miller Hill. His body was taken back up the canyon on toboggans and on January 30 1906 he was laid to rest on top of Miller Hill. This story was originally taken from www.americanforkcanyon.com. Unfortunately the site no longer exists.

While I was enjoying the view from the gravesite, I was greeted by an older man decked out in his camo on his wheeler. I asked what hunt was going on right now and he was on his muzzleloader/deer hunt. I told him I was about to start my Spike Elk hunt on the 8th and told him I was headed down to the Mayfield area. He told me to try it out here sometime. He only hunts this area and he said there is more Elk than deer in this canyon. We talked a little more about the area while he was still glassing slopes on his binos.

On this ride I found a few other trails that I had read about while trying to find Miller Hill where the gravesite is. There is an area on the way to Mineral Basin that people have named "Rock Garden". It is pretty much just that. The trail climbs the mountain side on a very rocky path and stock vehicles wouldn't make it. I had my wheeler on one and two wheels at times climbing over big boulders and it was quite scary as I had to shift my weight and give just the right amount of throttle to avoid tipping over. What I read about this trail is that the "pucker factor" is quite high on this, and I agree. It was fun, but don't know if I want to try this trail alone next time. The views are great in this canyon and there are trails everywhere. I'm glad AF canyon is so close, and I will be frequenting it next spring when it warms back up for sure. I might even consider hunting here next year instead of traveling so far away. It was a fun evening of riding...next up, Spike Elk Hunt 2011 in Mayfield Canyon with Dad and Joe...woohoo!

End of September

I took the boys miniature golfing at Trafalga in Orem. It's starting to get cold outside, so we chose the indoor holes. These two pictures were taken from my iphone, and while it seems to take awesome pictures outside, it doesn't do too well inside. Anyway, we had a good time golfing and playing a few arcade games before taking Luke to school.

Labor Day Weekend

We stayed the weekend at Westgate Resort in Park City for Labor Day. Kids loved swimming, which we did many times. On Saturday we went to the Utah Olympic Park and had a blast. What a great facility the Utah athletes have. Took in a show of the Flying Ace all stars and watched them do crazy freestyle acrobats with skis landing in a pool. It was pretty cool to watch. There were a few Nordic Ski jumpers there practicing. It was sweet to watch them jump live instead of on T.V. We took advantage of some chair lifts at the Resort area to take us up into some breathtaking views. Lots of sitting around the pool, swimming, or relaxing in the room. It was a fun weekend.

Boating on Luke's first day of school

After Luke's first day of school, we went to boating with some friends. As usual, we went to Deer Creek Reservoir for the evening. We did some fishing while waiting to meet up with our friends. We got skunked, but honestly...we only fished for about 2o minutes before they arrived. Luke really wanted to ride in the tube by himself. I was hesitant at first, but I'm glad we let him. He loved it and enjoyed going really fast to. We towed him back to shore as we were finishing up for the evening and when I slowed in the no wake zone, I looked back and Luke was gone. He wanted to me to tip him over while in tow, but ofcourse I wasn't gonna do that on his first time. So he tipped the innertube himself before we could reel him back to the boat. Crazy kid!

Luke's First day of kindergarten

Today was Luke's first day of school...Tate was super sad when he left and he really wanted to go too. It was very confusing for Tate, because Luke's teacher is actually their Aunt Tiffany. So Tate didnt grasp the concept that he couldn't attend. He cried most of the car ride home. Luke loved his first day. He was so excited the whole way home. When asked about his favorite part, he first said "working," but quickly changed it to "recess."

Wheeler 60th Anniversary

Erin's father works for Wheeler Machinery and it was there 60th Anniversary. We got invited to a party, celebration, get-together, whatever you want to call it...It was at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. There was food, games, and fireworks. It was alot of fun and the kids had a blast.

Silver Lake Flat - American Fork Canyon

On Saturday, a friend offered to watch the boys for a few hours. So Erin and I took the four wheeler up American Fork Canyon for a quick ride. We chose a dirt road that leads to Silver Lake Flat. Its a small reservoir just above Tibble Fork Reservoir, about 3 miles of rough dirt road. Two years ago we camped in the canyon and spent the day at Tibble fork and Silver Lake Flat. It was super low that year and after doing some research on the internet, I found out that it was common to be really low late in the summer. But on this ride, it was still near full and there were many people all over. We continued to the east side of the lake where there was a 4x4 trailhead. We drove on this for about 3 miles before coming to a gate where we parked and hiked up to another ridge. I had read that you can see over into Salt Lake Valley and the ridge is looking down onto Snowbird and Alta ski resort areas. But the hike to the "false rim" took awhile. The real rim was the next one over and if I had another hour or so, I could have made it. It will have to be a trip for another day. It was still a very fun ride with breathtaking views of American Fork Canyon.

Looking towards Midway/Heber area... Silver Lake Flat... Hike to "false rim" with Silver Lake Flat in background...ridge to top left is Mt. Timpanogos. Gate closure...Looking north to ski resorts...Snowbird...