Hikes

Besides a few jaunts up the Menan Butte, we made it on few hikes this summer. The planning and execution of a wedding filled up some of our time, but we still managed to make it outdoors.

Monday, July 7: Darby Canyon Wind Cave (6.5 miles, 1,811 feet elevation gain)

Miriam wanted to try out some hiking since her feet have improved somewhat, so we went on our beloved Monument Hike. Grandma and Grandpa Scott came with us, but we soon outpaced them (with their blessing) and met back up with them after we came out of the cave.

Group selfie at the trailhead. Andrea, Seth, Rebekah, Winnie, Miriam, Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott. Ana had to work. (She worked the front desk at a mental health clinic. A lady in our ward is one of the providers, and she asked Ana if she wanted the job for the summer.)

Underneath the rock shelf that sometimes has a snowmelt waterfall. 

Seth coming through the cave. Seth, Winnie and Rebekah went back to/through the army-crawling part together. I went into the cave but didn't go back that far. (Good news! This time I didn't have a panic attack!) Miriam opted to come into the cave with us but stay near the mouth.

Sitting below the cave mouth.

Meeting up with Grandma outside the mouth of the cave. We got to sit together at the monument and have lunch.

Seth holding the sole of his boot. He chose to wear a pair of boots that Grandpa Scott had passed down to him. That proved fateful because, by the end of the hike, the sole had come off of both boots. That doesn't make for very comfortable hiking. 

Friday, July 11: Elk Mountain Fire Tower (7 miles, 2,339 feet elevation gain)

Rebekah had heard me talk about "the Beacon of Gondor" (actually just an old fire observation station) the year before, and she wanted to check it out with me. We loaded Dixie up with us (she's proving to be a good hiking companion) and drove to Alpine, Wyoming, to experience it together. This was an especially sweet experience for me because Rebekah got married less than a month after this hike; we had some great one-on-one time during this hike.

Dixie and Rebekah headed up the trail.

Inside the fire tower. Rebekah started to feel really nauseous on the last little bit of the ascent to the tower. I worried that she would have a rough time for the rest of the hike, but after taking some time at the top, she felt much better. There was also some kind of rodent that was scurrying around under the wooden floor of the little shack, and it was driving Dixie crazy. She would sit there with her ears perked up and try pouncing on the floor. 

The three of us hikers outside the tower.

The friendly little caterpillar Rebekah found on the way down.

Saturday, July 26: Union Falls (17.5 miles, 848 feet elevation gain)

Rebekah chose to do this hike with the family while her fiancé was here. Seth and Nathan got to experience this hike for the first time while Grandpa Scott, Rebekah, Winnie and I enjoyed a repeat. We shared the trail with a bunch of horse riders (I dumbly startled one by shaking out my foot-drying towel after one river crossing), and we switched things up by seeing the waterfall first, then going swimming at Scout Pool. Honestly, that's the best way to do it, so if we go again, we'll have to remember that order.

The other notable thing about this hike was the dumb way Google Maps wanted us to get to the trailhead. Instead of taking the direct route through Marysville on Ashton-Flagg Ranch Road, it told us that the road was closed and we should take a series of forest roads that would add an extra hour of driving time and include 22 miles of unpaved roads. We started on this route as prescribed by Maps, but not too far into it, we realized that this was a dumb idea. The route was leading us through cattle gates and possibly onto private property. The roads were bumpy, narrow, rutted and sketchy. So we turned around and went the real way. The road we wanted wasn't closed because it was July and there's no need to plow roads in July. So with a little detour we were back on track and made it to our trailhead.

Our first river crossing.

Andrea and Grandpa crossing the river. 

Rebekah and Nathan resting on the log while Grandpa and Winnie eat their lunch in sight of the falls.

Rebekah with the snake she found on the trail. This is when I learned that my future son-in-law doesn't like snakes. 

Seth crossing the river on the way back. You cross three times on the way there and three times on the way back, so you get quite proficient at switching shoes, etc. 

Winnie dunking her hair in the river after crossing.

Tuesday, August 12: Leatherman Peak (7.7 miles, 4,022 feet elevation gain)

Grandpa Scott started talking about summiting Leatherman Peak in the fall of 2024. "Have you heard of Leatherman Peak?" he asked me. I hadn't, but I did my research and found out that (1) it's Idaho's second-highest mountain, (2) it's in the same mountain range as Mount Borah, (3) the road to the trailhead is a beast, and (4) it's a tough slog through loose rocks for more than half the trail. But hey, it would be an adventure, right?

Winnie was the only one who took on the responsibility of accompanying the two of us. Knowing that it takes 1.5 hours to drive to Mackay and another 2 hours after that to get to the trailhead (even though it's only 47 miles away from Mackay), we drove up the night before so we could camp at the trailhead. I knew that we'd need something with high clearance and four-wheel drive, so we took our pickup and loaded up our gear in the back. The first part of the road after turning off the highway is great; it's gravel, but it's well-kept. But 10 or so miles in, the road transforms into something like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. We had to drive through a creek, but that wasn't the scariest part for me. Often I was going only 2-3 MPH over huge boulders, and a time or two I had to put the truck in 4WD just to get up a steep embankment. The entire time, I had both hands clutching the steering wheel like it was my salvation. 

At the trailhead, however, we enjoyed a little slice of backcountry heaven. There was a creek running through it, several cows to hang out with, some picnic tables, and a latrine. We set up our tents, ate dinner at the picnic table, and even played a game of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (a game that relies on quick reaction time, hence Winnie beating both of us fuddy-duddies) before heading to bed. One other couple showed up and set up camp a ways from us before we retired for the night, but everyone just kept to themselves.

Poor Grandpa had forgotten to grab his sleeping bag, so I gave him mine and instead used a couple of blankets I had brought just in case. We also had four rechargeable handwarmers, so I gave one to Winnie, one to me and two to Grandpa. All of us managed to get/stay warm enough (eventually), but Grandpa and I didn't sleep well because (for Grandpa) the creek was a little too much white noise and (for me) the thought of people suffering from the cold and anticipating waking up at 5. But we made it.

The next morning while it was still dark, we quickly and quietly got dressed, ate some breakfast, and set off down the trail with our headlamps. The first 2ish miles of this hike are extremely misleading. We traipsed through a beautiful forest and a lovely meadow and passed over the most picturesque little water feature with wildflowers before cutting over and basically going straight up loose rock for the rest of the ascent. Eventually we kind of spaced ourselves out over the loose rock; Winnie in the lead, me in the middle, Grandpa bringing up the rear. With every step you took going up, you slid back about a half step. It was grueling. It was, at times, frustrating. When you looked up, you'd see a seemingly never-ending mountain. When you looked down, you'd wonder if you had actually made any progress.

With many recharge breaks (snacks, water, huffing and puffing), Winnie and I reached a little snowy saddle. We crossed that and continued up until we got to the top. We enjoyed the amazing view for a while, then I tried turning on my walkie talkie to see if Grandpa had (by chance) also turned his one. Gratefully, he had, so I was able to direct him over the snow saddle and up the right way. I went back down a ways from the top until he could see me, then the two of us joined Winnie on top.

Winnie had already eaten her lunch, but Grandpa needed time to eat and enjoy his accomplishment. (How many 75-year-old men can do what that man does?!) After eating, enjoying the view and taking several pictures, we headed back down the trail.

You would think that, if climbing on loose rock takes 2x the effort, going down on loose rock would take about half the effort. In some ways, going down was easier in that you "skree skied" the whole way. (You take a step, and you slide several feet.) But then you have to take into account the balance and dexterity it takes to do that safely. All of us fell several times coming down, with Grandpa bearing the brunt of the injuries (scraped up forearms) because as you get older you naturally lose some sense of balance and reaction time. But then we were back to the safety of the beautiful meadow and forest trail. 

We made it back to camp (without ever seeing another hiker on the trail the entire day), took everything down and loaded it back up, then had to traverse the crazy-bad mountain roads back to the highway. It was only slightly less nerve-wracking on the way out only because I knew we had made it in. 

When we got to Mackay, we made a stop at Scoops Corner Cafe for (of all things) Mexican food (served by the cutest family of little redheads) and ice cream. Then we drove home without incident and spent the next few days walking gingerly down stairs.

This is a hike that I'm super proud of (all of us) making, but I'm not sure if it's one we'll be doing again. The ride alone to the trailhead gives one pause for thought. That being said, the views from the snowy saddle on up were absolutely breathtaking, and we could see Borah from the top. I'm proud of all of us for making the summit on this one: Dad because of his age and grit, and Winnie because of her age (in the opposite direction, of course) and determination. I told Winnie, "If you can do this, you can do Borah." "Really?!" she asked. We'll see if that's on her radar sometime in the future.

Eating dinner on the cute picnic table at our cute campsite.

Headed up the beautiful trail.

The slog. Sometimes you could kind of make out a trail, but you really had to make your own way up the loose rock. Sometimes it worked best to make your own little switchbacks. Sometimes you looked out for the really big rocks that wouldn't slide away from you as you stepped on them.

Winnie on the snowy saddle. There's still a fair climb after this, but it's much more rewarding because of the views. The folds and lines in the mountain behind Winnie were so cool.

Winnie relaxing on top.

The three of us on top.

Headed back down. 

The beautiful tiny creek with wildflowers that I wanted to pack up and take home with me.

The beautiful meadow.

And end-of-hike trailhead photo since it was dark when we passed it on the way in.

The funny latrine at the trailhead. I guess that little doors covers the important stuff.

Thursday, October 23: Drake Creek and Grove Creek (7.5 miles, 1,729 feet elevation gain)

It had been a minute since I'd been hiking, but due to a mild fall I was able to squeeze one last one in. I took Dixie with me and tried out something slightly different for this trail. Rather than parking where my trails app told me to for this loop, I parked at the Grove Creek trailhead, then walked along the road that connects the Grove Creek trailhead to the Drake Creek trailhead. Then I hiked the loop going the opposite way I did a few years ago, going counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. I liked going in this direction better, so in the future I'll take this route.

Dixie accompanied me, and we only saw a few other hikers but lots of beautiful fall colors on the way. It was interesting how in some parts there would still be colorful leaves on the trees while in other parts they would all be brown and on the ground. Regardless, it was a beautiful hike.

Dixie running down the trail. She loved drinking from the creeks and recognized the van when we got back to it. 

Rebekah is married!

Following a long-distance relationship, a mission, a medical release from a mission, a week-long trip to Delaware to see each other in person for the first time in 10 months (which included getting engaged), a week spent in Utah meeting his family and a week spent in Idaho meeting ours, Rebekah and Nathan were married on Saturday, August 2. 

Prior to their wedding, we went to the temple to shoot their pictures. I would highly recommend this strategy to anyone who is getting married. If it works for your schedule, get your pictures outside the temple BEFORE your wedding. We didn't have to fight crowds, we weren't rushed to head off to a luncheon or reception or anything, and we got to pick the time of day to shoot for the best lighting. 

We ended up with gorgeous shots like these.

Ana came along as my photographic assistant and mostly helped with poses (including teaching the couple how to dip). Rebekah started feeling unwell toward the end of the shoot, but we still stopped next to the river for the last shot with the sunset. (We were going to hike Tablerock the day following this shoot, but due to Rebekah's dizziness, we chose not to go. That gave me more prep time, anyway.

The day of August 2, we first met at the St. Leon church so Bishop Judd Parker could perform the wedding. By getting married for time only first, all family members could be present. Both Rebekah and Nathan are the oldest children in their family, so this included all their younger siblings who haven't been through the temple yet. 

Rebekah's crocheted bouquet and the couple's marriage license sitting on a chair in the cultural hall. Rebekah also crocheted the headband she wore for the wedding.

Nathan and Rebekah planned the whole program. They started with a prayer, then the two of them shared their story: how they met in Nauvoo, what their initial impressions of each other were, their one in-person date before Nathan left for Delaware to go to grad school, their long-distance relationship, Rebekah's mission and medical release, their engagement. Then both sets of parents spoke for a few minutes: me followed by Nathan's mom Jennifer followed by Seth followed by Nathan's dad Scott. Then the bishop performed the ceremony. Then they had a closing prayer.

The family listening to Nathan's mom as she speaks during the wedding. From left to right on the front row: Hannah, Jared, Daniel, Abby, Rachel, Scott (Nathans' siblings and dad), Rebekah, Nathan, Ana, Miriam Winnie, Andrea, Seth.

Bishop Parker performing the ceremony.

Andrea and Jennifer hugging after the ceremony with Nathan and Rebekah and Scott and Seth in the background.

Ana giving instructions for rearranging the cultural hall from the wedding's setup to the luncheon's. 

Grandma Susan, Aunt McKall, Grandpa Dennis and Aunt Rachel helping to set up for the luncheon.

One of the centerpieces Rebekah made for the tables at the luncheon. We had inherited a bunch of old sheet music that we utilized in decorating. The table runners we ordered online, and almost all the rest of the decorations we borrowed from the Guymon family. I had shot family pictures for them earlier in the summer, so instead of charging them my usual fee, we arranged to use their tablecloths, icicle lights, battery-operated candles and other various accessories to decorate the wedding, the luncheon and (later) the receptions.

Immediately following the wedding, the couple, the bridal attendant (me) and the witnesses (Jennifer and Seth) headed to the temple with the rest of the family and friends to follow. There Rebekah and Nathan were sealed by Brother Hall, a temple worker Rebekah had gotten to know while serving as an ordinance worker before her proselyting mission. 

The crowd waiting outside the temple.

Rebekah and Nathan coming out of the temple after their sealing.

The whole group picture excluding Grandpa Scott who forgot his tripod and couldn't use the timer to take the photo. 

Then we headed back to the church for a luncheon. Rebekah and Nathan had a specific menu they requested: pulled pork with buns (and Hawaiian rolls, a favorite of our new son-in-law) and green salad. I convinced Rebekah that we could also include a potato salad and a fruit salad. We ended up with way more food than we needed, but it was all delicious. And we learned that Costco's pulled pork is AMAZING.

Nathan had his grandpa, parents, siblings and several aunts, uncles and cousins there. Rebekah had all four of her grandparents, her great-grandma, some great-aunts and -uncles, and Aunt Rachel and her family, Aunt McKall and most of her kids (Tyson and Bennet had a scheduled mountain bike race they had signed up for a year prior), and Uncle Ethan and Mason that came. 

Rebekah and Nathan at the luncheon.

Wide shot of the luncheon.

Luncheon and decorations.

The sheet cake Ana made and decorated.

Andrea and Ana serving the cake.

The Stratus decorated by the Grover girls. After the luncheon, Nathan and Rebekah spent a few days in Island Park staying at Rachel and Justin's cabin. 

More décor on the Stratus as the newlyweds pull out (with Scott waving goodbye).

Winnie and Canyon vacuuming in the cultural hall as we take down all the decorations from the wedding and luncheon.

It was a beautiful day: the weather was perfect, a lot of family came to support Nathan and Rebekah, the wedding ceremony was thoughtfully planned out and executed, we had a lot of help with decorating and serving food and taking everything down, and the sealing was sweet and meaningful. 

After the couple came home from their honeymoon in Island Park, Seth and I drove them down to Salt Lake so they could spend a few hours with Nathan's mom before the couples boarded a plane for Delaware. Nathan was in the second and last year of his master's program (percussion performance), and Rebekah eventually found a good job to work on while he's in school. After he graduates in the spring of 2026, they'll move back out to this side of the country so Rebekah can finish her degree at BYU-Idaho.

Fourth of July

Most of the time the weather is just grand on the Fourth of July. It's Idaho. We live in a desert. Who would have guessed it would rain all morning?

This was the first (and maybe only?) time we had three girls participating in the parade with the BHS band. (The past few years it's been the combined Bonneville and Hillcrest High Desert Marching Band, but the HHS band was in Washington, D.C. over the Fourth.) Miriam played bass drum; Rebekah played tuba; Winnie played trombone. Everything was fine when the girls met before the parade, but before it was time to start, it started raining. And it kept raining. And the band wasn't sure that they were even going to participate any more because of the rain (they were toward the end of the parade). But they persevered, and they marched the entire route while soaking wet.

Meanwhile, we had packed up our usual accoutrement for going to the parade: chairs, maybe a jacket, a hat for the sun. What we didn't pack was (1) umbrellas, (2) blankets or (3) enough jackets. We sat with everyone (Uncle Tyson and his family, Aunt Jessica, Grandma and Grandpa Scott), but before the parade even started, the rest of them decided they were going to go home. In fact, many of the onlookers gave up on the parade due to the rain, which opened things up on the sides of the road. Jessica left us an umbrella, and T and Grandma each left us a blanket. Seth, Ana and I huddled up and waited and waited for the band to show up.

Miriam on bass drum. I bet she was glad she had that silly hat.

Rebekah on tuba; Winnie on trombone.

Walking in the parade.

As soon as the band passed us, we booked it out of there. Later that evening, those who were interested came with us to Menan for a picnic dinner, treats from the vendors and fireworks. 

Seth, Andrea, Ana and Winnie playing Phase 10 as we wait for it to get dark. Rebekah and Miriam opted to stay home.

Eating our dinner.

Youth conference

This year our stake held its biannual youth conference June 24-27. Miriam is in Young Women and over 14 years old. Seth is the second counselor in the stake Young Men presidency. Grandma Susan is the second counselor in the stake Young Women presidency. Seth and I were asked to fulfill a special assignment by producing a recap video of the conference. So all of us got to go to Darby for a few days. I had to run back a couple of times to coach softball games, but otherwise I stayed with Seth in our tent and Miriam stayed in the cabin with girls from the St. Leon and Parri Wards.

Four kids in our stake were in charge of planning the entire thing. Under the direction of the stake presidency, they asked adults in the stake to fulfill special assignments such as group leaders and meal preppers. Darby is an incredible place anyway, and all the time and preparation that went into the camp turned out (in my opinion), to be worth it. There were devotionals; an activity night with cornhole, rock climbing, volleyball and more; rotations that included gospel discussions, scripture reading, fire building and knife throwing; firesides and more.

Seth rock climbing during the evening 

Grandma Susan on the rock wall.

Miriam leading a hymn in the lodge.

Sister Bird and Miriam going on the sunrise hike. Those who wanted to participate met in the parking lot and hiked less of a mile on a game trail to a cute little saddle. There the camp missionaries shared the story of the lightning strike at Darby in 1951 and some of the spiritual experiences the participants had despite the tragedy. That was one of my favorite parts of camp.

Miriam participating in a group discussion in the lodge during a devotional.

Miriam in her cool shades hiking up to the lodge.

Seth getting footage of the descent on the slide.

Andrea with her camera in the meadow.

Softball

Winnie played her second year of softball last summer, and she even tried out pitching! We had a great season and won about half our games. Grandpa Scott and I coached again, and this year the girls chose the team name of "Mad Batters." I've tried to keep track of all the different color of City of Iona T-ball/pitching machine/softball shirts I've acquired over the years, and I hadn't yet had a purple one. So this year we were purple. 😅 I'm not sure what color we'll be next year, because I feel like we've basically covered everything. 

While we're on the tangent, Imma list them all here (in no particular order):

• red (Hogwarts Express)
• dark orange (Burninators)
• golden (Pancake Batters)
• gray (Screaming Goats)
• white (Stormtroopers)
• neon green (Base Invaders)
• forest green (Fantastic Beasts)
• turquoise (Bouncing Ferrets)
• royal blue (Order of the Phoenix)
• purple (Mad Batters)
• neon electric coral (seriously ... it burned your retinas) (Fire-Breathing Kittens)
• maroon (Pitch Perfect)

I guess we could always be brown, black or pink next year. 

Anyway, Winnie (and I) learned a lot and improved throughout the season. We had one mishap during the season when the girls were practicing sliding (we had one player who had missed an earlier practice where we focused on that skill and was reluctant to try it) on the grass before the game. One of our players' cleats got stuck in the grass, and she ended up tearing ligaments in her ankle. It was a rough lesson for me to learn; even though we've had the girls practice the same way many times over the years, just one accident like that can happen. Next time we run that drill, we'll either do it on the dirt or have the girls with cleats take them off and run in their socks so that can't happen.

I had implemented a reward system the previous season to encourage the girls to earn three outs in an inning rather than relying on the mercy rules of seven runs. The biggest prize was the opportunity to choose a color to dye Coach Grover's hair if they earned enough 3-out-innings during the season. Unfortunately, the team ended up just one inning short of achieving that goal, but they seemed to enjoy the socks, team sticker, pizza, creamies and other prizes. (I wasn't sure what I was going to do if they got to dye my hair ... we knew that Rebekah was getting married that summer, and I didn't want to have fire-engine red hair for the pictures.)

We wrapped things up with a party where we played lawn games (cornhole, lawn golf, etc.) at the north field (usually I call the reserve the picnic shelter, but they charge for that since I'm not a resident of Iona, so we just crossed our fingers that no one had it scheduled for that time and date) and had root beer floats. 

Winnie pitching during a game. The girls earned the striped socks by getting three outs in several innings.

Sliding into home.

Coach Grover and Coach Scott conversing before the start of an inning.

Winnie pitching.

Rebekah is 20!

On her actual birthday, Rebekah had a few Nauvoo mission friends come over and celebrate with her. They had Costco pizza in the side yard, and one sweet friend made this cake:  

Then on Sunday, June 15 (also Father's Day), we had family over to eat dinner and cake after going to church. 

Opening the raucous laser cats card I had found at the Bargain Hunters Bin Store and saved for her birthday. I had assumed I'd be mailing it to Nevada, but Rebekah's plans changed. Our real present to Rebekah was paying for a flight to Delaware to spend time with/get engaged to Nathan, her boyfriend. She left the week after her birthday.

A cat skeleton that Uncle Jason cured and sent to Rebekah for her birthday. He knew she'd like it.

Opening gifts while Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Susan, Oakley and Winnie watch. Grandpa Scott is in the background talking to Uncle Ethan (since it was Father's Day).