Winter Epic: Mikes house, Buskskin Gulch

Friday Feb, 13

I felt like crap and was woken up by 2 screaming kids jumping all over me. When they finally went off to school I went back to sleep for a bit. I spent the whole day sitting on the couch playing, and proudly beating Super Mario World on Super Nintendo. Sense I felt like crap I didn’t want to go out and told Mike and Nichol I would watch the kids tonight if they wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day. They quickly took me up on that offer. When they both got home they told me the instructions and what to make for dinner. Once they left I had the kids help cut of the hot dogs to put in the mac and cheese. It was a wonderful meal full of “he got ketchup can I get ketchup” and “she got juice and I didn’t”. After dinner Mel went on Skype with her grandma from back in Wisconsin. That killed a lot of time while Landen and I gamed it up with some Donkey Kong. After I got the kids in bed I sat down with a glass of wine and watched some tv until I fell asleep.

Saturday Feb, 14

Mike took Mel and Landen to hit some golf balls in the morning. Then stopped back home to pick up Nichol and go to a kids work shop at Lowes. They all got back around 2:30 and Mike already looked like he had had a long day. Him and I did some running around and picked up some meat for tomorrow and brats for lunch. We had a few beers while the brats sizzled away, and did some cleaning up around his yard. Nichol cooked up some really good salmon for dinner, then mike and I hit a few bars around town.

Sunday Feb, 15

Nothing really happened today but for dinner Mike made bacon wrapped tenderloin with twice baked potatoes. Right up there with the fresh grouper in Florida, this meal was amazing. After dinner the kids went off to bed and the 3 of us sipped on some good wine while watching tv and joking around.

Monday Feb, 16

I still wasn’t feeling the best and took it easy for one more day. Both Mel and Landen had separate fun runs at their schools. For me the words fun and run don’t belong in the same sentence, but to each his own.

Tuesday Feb, 17

Mel had off school and mike worked from home. I still haven’t cleaned out my car sense the Grand Canyon and it was defiantly time. Along with Mels help by asking me what each and everything I took out of my car was, I was done in no time. Next I took a shower and looked up what to do next. I found a list of 10 life changing hikes in Utah and started looking into it. They are mostly places I’ve been but not the exact trails, so I decided I would try to hit some of these along the way. First up, Buckskin Gulch. So I looked into it and decided to hike certain portion. I printed off and map (which I left at mikes house). And started packing. I said my goodbyes and headed north around 3 pm. I got to Page AZ, which is about an hour from the trail. Pulled into Walmart and watched some movies until bed.

Wednesday Feb, 18

OK! Finally time to get back at it. I apologize if my decline in health brought my story to a lull. I’m extremely grateful and lucky to get to spend time with my friends all over the country, but I am not a house cat! I was up early and excited to explore again. But first things first, hotel breakfast. Of course with some take away food for lunch. Then the hour drive to the trail head. Which happened to be down the same dirt road as The Wave. I started off strong with many miles to cover. I was expecting about 12-16 depending on how it went. I got through the slot canyon that gets you into Buckskin. Here is a large open space shaped like a T. I took the south fork and kept on marching. About 100 feet in I came to a spot where I had no choice but to cross water. I was ready for this and changes into shorts. With my boots tied to my pack I waded in. it was deeper then I expecting and had little choice. I went back to dry land and stripped down. So now completely naked with my pack above my head I made it through my big 15 foot obstacle. On the other side now I started to dry off all ready to put my cloths back on. By the way its about 40 degrees and no sun in the canyon. The water is hovering just above freezing and the bottom is covered in thick mucky slime. As I am drying off I look ahead, just to see another spot waterlogged. I figured why bother getting dressed. I walk over and start in. at the point when I could no longer touch the bottom I remember this is rated the most dangerous hike in Utah. I’m expecting miles of hiking. And im naked, and alone. This simply is not going to work. I headed back. I got back across the first obstacle and redressed. I hiked back to the car in defeat and drove to a different parking area. This trail leads to that same T intersection but come at it from the north. This turned out be a beautiful hike through a wide open valley with many good features along the way. While hiking I ran into a couple in their mid 30’s with 2 very small dogs in toe. We started talking and they have done a ton of hiking all around the US and most recently in Utah. This was perfect! I’m always craving good information from experienced hiker from the area. Lee and Natty live in Salt Lake City and were a huge positive part of my trip this year. We hiked together and chatted as the valley narrowed into the Buckskin Slot Canyon. I knew at least one part of this hike was going to be wet. Turned out about 3 parts were wet. But we were all able to cross just fine. The last stretch was a long one, about 30 yards in knee deep water. And it was freezing. Lee would grab the pack and natty the dogs. We made it back to the T junction and with the large opening sat warming up in the sun sipping on some homemade wine Lee brought along. We took the west canyon of the T out back the original way I came in. when we made it back to the trail head parking lot they informed me that they stashed a bike down here so they could send someone to get the car. Lee peddled off while Natty and I walked and talked. When Lee picked us up we started driving back to my car. This is a horrible dirt road with deep ruts, large rocks, and steep valleys. I drove it at about 30 mph. Lee on the other hand is very used to these conditions and went about 60. All was fine and good until the last valley before my car. Lee’s car went down the valley and bottomed out. Not thinking twice about it we went the last 200 yards to my car. Here we all realized something was wrong with Lees car. He started checking under the hood and couldn’t figure it out. Then he looked under the car and saw it. When he bottomed out he actually hit a rock in the road, which shattered his oil pan. This cut any chance of them driving out here down to none. So Lee asked me what I wanted to do. I could drive them to the lodge they stayed at the night before or a 6 hour drive back to Salt Lake City. Surprisingly they ran into one of the few people with an open schedule and unlimited time. I Tetris’ed the fuck out of my car and fit both of them, the 2 dogs, and everything they needed to bring back home. And we were off. Along the way we talked about all the stuff to do around Utah and one of them is hot springs. In fact there was one on the way. Why not! After a long day of hiking through ice cold muck that sounded perfect. The place was called majestic hot spring. Natty stayed with the dogs while Lee and I took a dip. While we were soaking there were about 10 high school kids that snuck in without paying. The owner came out and, way nicer then I would have been, had them leave. From here it was back on the road. We dropped Natty off at her brother’s house where she had to baby sit hers brother kid. Lee and I went to his house. Only one more problem, Lee doesn’t use keys. He uses the garage clicker, which is still 6 hours to the south. After popping open a window we made it! We were both exhausted and sipped on some more homemade wine while he showed me around.