Finding Sunsets

Goblin Valley is a state park located in Utah. Apparently, I went there as a child, but seeing as I was 3 or 4 years old I don’t remember it at all. Looking it up, You’ll find it’s near the 70, but a little out of the way if you’re traveling through the state. So, on a recent road trip I decided to make the detour and check it out.

Originally, I had planned to do this in the winter time, but as this was June I was greeted with 110 degree temperatures and a very nice Park Ranger. I asked her about the established trails and she said that they were fine, but it was good to go exploring though the goblins. Unlike most areas going off trail is allowed since all it takes is one rain storm and all traces that you’ve left behind are gone. So, I decided I’d leave the trails for another time and just do a three or four mile walk thorough the canyon and back.

As it was 110, when I arrived at the parking area there were no other cars. The campground was full and everyone seemed to be staying in the shade, eating lots of cold things, and just relaxing rather than hiking. Suits me fine as then you don’t have a lot of people in your photo’s that you debate about removing.

When you’re walking through the goblins it is easy to understand why they wanted to call it mushroom valley. My mind kept imagining that it should be seeing Alice and the Cheshire cat around the corner… or maybe super mario and luigi!

I was only there for a day, and next time I come back I’ll go on the established trails and check out Dead Horse Canyon which is nearby. I’m hoping that it won’t be too far in the future. Maybe later this year or next year!

I first went to Yosemite National Park a few years ago. Up until then, I had only seen the posters and imagined what it would be like. It was 2011 and it was a high snow year and the waterfalls were raging! It was one of the most spectacular things I’ve seen. Right up there with visiting Zion National Park. As you go around the valley you get kinks in your neck as you are constantly looking at the sheer granite walls and beautiful waterfalls. We first hiked glacier point, which is a great 8 mile hike, but the quintessential hike of Yosemite is to conquer the mighty half dome.

So I put it on my bucket list to hike the dome….

There’s a permit system in place now that only allows 300 people to go up the dome each day. I decided I wanted to cross this off my bucket list this year so I started by putting in for a permit any time in June. That’s the soonest you can go after the cables are put up and I wanted to go early so I could see the waterfalls at their peak.

The overall hike is 16.4 miles, it goes from 4000 feet at the valley floor to 8835 feet at the top of the dome. 0.8 miles into the hike is the vernal fall’s bridge which is the last place to get potable water. I took 4 liters from that point and almost ran out of water. (I had .25 liters left when I got back to the bridge). I recommend to everyone to take a water filter so they can refill their water in Little Yosemite Valley.

I left a little later in the day than most. I wanted to be at the waterfalls when the sun was shining on them. It was worth it. This is 0.8 miles into the hike at the Vernal Falls Bridge.

With the sun shining the mist trail could be renamed to the rainbow trail. At 1.5 miles you’re still pretty fresh. If you bothered to take a few minutes to stretch before you started you shouldn’t even have any leg cramps yet.

Below Nevada falls was a sight to see. Even at this distance the mist gets everything damp.

It’s obvious you can’t hike up the front of the dome so you’ll be coming around the back side and coming from the north rather than the south.

The cables were steeper than I thought they’d be… Take it one step at a time and you’ll get to the top in no time!

Finally at the top of the dome. This was a great view… Though there were spots of rain and a thunderstorm coming in so I couldn’t stay very long. Next time I’ll go up earlier to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms gathering as I descended… They started raining just as I arrived back at the forest. 😀

I got back to Curry Village just before sunset and you can see the last rays of sunlight illuminating the dome. It was a great hike and I finished it in great shape. I do need to get a new pair of hiking shoes though.

Last weekend I finally got the chance to go skydiving. It was quite the experience… And I, like everyone else, cannot begin to describe how it went. All morning, I was understandably nervous, excited, and anxious. It felt kind of like you’re about to go on stage for a performance, waiting in the wings for the curtain call.

This went on for hours and hours as we filled out paperwork and waited for our turn. At many points your brain is telling your soul that this risk is too great and we should not go through with it. You’ll be out some money, but the brain tells you that you can make more and it’s not worth it. You tell the brain that there were 3 million jumps last year and only 20-30 accidents and only 1 of those was a tandem jump. Your brain tells you bullocks! and says there’s no reason to make it 2 this year!

But the soul is mightier than the body so you stay. My blood pressure was a bit low the entire time so I felt cold and I had a hard time sitting still as I waited… and waited… and waited… It took about three hours from the time we showed up to the time I was in a harness and sitting in a small two person plane. The door had duct tape on it and the pilot was a young lady with a cute smile and a confident way about her.

This, of course was a tandem jump so I didn’t have to do any real work in the jump and I was just putting my body in the hands of a professional who’d show me the way. This takes a significant amount of stress off of you. No worries about losing control, body position, keeping track of the altitude, finding the landing zone, et cetera… just 100% fun!

As we went up in the plane I started to feel shots of adrenaline hitting my system over and over again, but it wasn’t real till he said, “Open the door man!” I tapped the door lightly and “BOOM!” it shot open like a freaking gun! Then I stepped out on to the landing gear step and looked up to get myself into position and in less than a second we were gone!

We did several somersaults as well as some spins until the diver pulled the parachute! During the dive I took a look down and even though you’re falling at an incredible rate the ground looks so far away. Also, there’s no sense of falling, like when you’re standing on a chair and you slip and fall. In that case you’ll feel your balance shift away from you. Skydiving is really more like diving and jumping. At no time do you feel off balance or feel the need to correct your center of balance.

Now the rush from the falling is a super high like not very many others. Kind of like getting shot up and over the Xcellerator at Knotts berry farm, but more intense. Then when the parachute deploys you get to have fun with that. You can do spins and floats and drops and other fun things to have a good time. I’ll admit that pulling down on the ropes and floating the parachute thousands of feet above the earth was one of the more zen like moments I’ve had. All of a sudden it goes real quiet and you feel weightless and floating in the air. The contrast with the jump was remarkable.

Overall it is something that I’d totally do again. It was super expensive which makes it cost prohibitive to do, but if anyone want’s to go, I’m game! 😀