Addendum to desert blooms on the Red Hill post

Oops! Found out that the bloom I thought was Sego Lily is a close relative, but not the real thing. It is actually a Weakstem Mariposa Lily. Paul is taking the Scouts up to identify 10 native plants on Tuesday and I dug out my Plants of the Virgin Mountains book (leftover from Webelos) and we found both Sego Lilies and Mariposa Lilies in it and checked out more info on-line and found out the truth! Sorry for the misinformation. I did check with Karl Brooks about the graves of dead Indians on the Red Hill and he just laughed.

Rocking and rolling along the highway

Paul and I took a rock trip leaving on Friday after school and returning home very late Saturday evening covering around 1,000 miles in all. We needed to check on a load in Ashfork, Arizona and then headed over to Ramah, New Mexico to check on another load. It was fun just spending time together, looking at some beautiful rock (some with petroglyphs), enjoying the scenery and listening to a new Clive Cussler book. It's hard to believe that people can be so handsome/beautiful, strong, indestructible, etc. as they are in these books, but it was an enjoyable listen. Another cool thing was seeing the new bridge at Hoover Dam by Lake Mead. It is an amazing feat of engineering for sure. I don't think I would want to be on it in an earthquake no matter how well engineered it is! We had thought about camping out, but after checking the weather and seeing that it was supposed to be 27 that night, we opted out and camped at a cheap (but nice) motel in Williams instead.

Desert Blooms on the Red Hill...among the dead Indians

Saturday morning I went for a walk on the Red Hill. It was a beautiful day and the night before on a walk I had noticed lots of beautiful flowers blooming. Paul had the camera on a Scout camp out and I wanted better pictures than I could get with my phone, (not to mention how slow I am at e-mailing them to myself to download) so I finally went up this morning and took pictures of all the different kinds that are blooming right now. I especially like the Sego Lilies. They are blooming all over the place. I have never noticed so many up there before. They are a really light lavender. The ones I found on-line looked more white than what's on the hill. I don't know the names of any others I saw except for the one Indian Paintbrush that I found. Now, about the dead Indians...on Saturday I came across a couple of older women hiking around up there. Came to find out one was a guide from some local hiking place (I had seen their van parked alongside the road) and the other was a tourist being taken for a hike, and maybe just taken in somewhat. I asked whether they knew about the little geocache that's up there. They didn't so I walked along with them for a while so I could point it out. The guide was doing the guiding thing - telling about the flora and fauna, etc. At one point we came to some undercut rocks along the trail and she told the tourist that those were old Indian graves. I was just about to ask where in the world she had gotten that fact when I decided it wasn't my party, so I just stayed quiet. Now, that is my question to all of you...have you ever heard of old Indian graves up on the Red Hill, or is that just a figment of some over zealous guides imagination? I plan to ask Karl Brooks about it the next time I see him. Dead Indians or not, I love having the Red Hill as my backyard.

First night under the stars in 2010

Friday afternoon after work we got packed up and headed off up Red Mountain Trail. We hiked up a ways after the overlook into Snow Canyon and then went up and over a ridge and down into another canyon away from the trail and set up camp under a big, convenient for hanging everything on, Juniper tree. It was perfect weather. We had a dinner of ham and beans, flatbread and oranges. Mmm good. We hiked up to the top of a hill and looked out over Snow Canyon and up to Pine Valley and then down a really pretty wash. It was good hiking because it had rained recently enough that the sand was still wet in lots of places. We got back to camp just at dark and had hot chocolate, talked some on the phone to Juge and Lou, and then hit the sack. We didn't bring a tent, but did bring the airbed, so we had a comfy bed and a great view of the stars. It was pretty cool by morning, so we stayed snuggled in until the sun was up. We had warm granola and hot chocolate for breakfast...very good. We broke camp and headed out to see the slick rock, ponds and beautiful vistas. After hiking around there some and stashing our packs, we headed off to see if we could find the overlook into Hellhole (Kayenta) Canyon. Paul is pretty good with his map and compass and we actually found it enjoying some amazing scenery on the way. We had lunch there and then headed back. It was a beautiful day for hiking. We got back just in time for Paul to make it to his 4:00 stake conference meeting. It was probably about 15 miles total. It was a great first night under the stars and lots a amazing scenery!

Art Festival, Conference, Birthday, Easter, moving...all in one weekend

It was a fun, haphazard, busy, wonderful weekend. I had Friday and Monday off, thank goodness, or there's no way I could have fit all of this in. Paul had to work Friday, so I spent the day house cleaning, shopping, etc. Friday evening we walked to an Easter Concert by the Southwest Heritage Choir and a Pine View Choir at the Tabernacle. It was very nice. Jay and Brynn arrived shortly after we returned. Saturday we watched conference and in between the am and pm session we wished Christie a happy birthday and did a very quick walk through of the Art Festival. In the evening the men headed to priesthood. Weed and kids came over and we visited the Art Festival (they were closing up so we couldn't see much), walked over to feed the ducks and had dessert. After the men got back and had dessert we headed over to see Moss and Christie's new house which they were in the process of moving in to. Moss and Jay had a deep discussion which the rest of us listened in on until almost midnight. Sunday we enjoyed conference with our Easter Feast after the am session with Jay and Brynn, Moss and Christie and Grandma. More conference and then we got Jay and Brynn on their way. Monday morning Paul and I did paperwork, etc. and in the afternoon the Borrowman kiddies came over while Ferf took Koen to the doctor. We were hoping to take a hike, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we had a fun time indoors. Paul and I taught the kids how to play Pit. They did great! We also played Sorry and Guess Who? while snacking on strawberries, Cuties and carrots. It was lots of fun. Later on Paul, Christie and Moss moved some of their stuff into their new house while I played with Brenden and ate crackers. What a great week end. Oh, we also got to have Jay make us flat bread to go with Saturday dinner. It's really good. Thanks everyone for a great weekend. We are so lucky to have such a fun family to enjoy!