Elephant Hill, Canyonlands

Every year Ryan gets to take a trip for work as part of Novell thanking the NKP's (Novell Knowledge Partner's) that support Novell products and customers, although they aren't Novell employees.  It only took me about two years to understand that.  The first year I got to go with Ryan we went on a cruise to Hawaii.  Last year they went to Marysville, UT and rode ATV's but I was a little too pregnant to go on that trip. I've been waiting all summer for this one; jeeping, white water rafting, and hiking.  I don't think Kim Groneman (who plans each trip) could have designed a better trip for me (not that it was even for me) but I was super excited to get to go.

Ryan's mom stayed with the kids while we were gone.  I was a little nervous since it was the first time I was away from Evelyn but she did great.  We got to Moab on Monday night, October 4th and were up at 5:30 Tuesday morning for our first adventure, jeeping with Tag-A-Long Adventure Company.  We left at 7:00 Am and headed to Canyonlands to follow the Elephant Hill trail.

We stopped along the way to see some Petroglyphs and hear a little lesson in Archaeology.

Ryan and I rode with Tim and Olivia Heywood (two of my favorite people).  Our driver was Shane, the guy in the blue sweatshirt.  He was pretty funny. He reminded Ryan of William H. Macy.

The view just before we reached the trail.  I love Southern Utah.

I didn't have very high expectations of the trail before we got started.  We were riding in Ford Expeditions and a big beater truck.  How hard could it be?

Then I saw this sign.

And this was the road?  Within five minutes I had a whole new respect for Ford Expeditions.  It turns out there are people with Jeeps who won't take this trail.  I was soon feeling a little anxious...

This was the beater truck we rode in.

One of the Expeditions doing what we just did.  Do you feel my anxiety?

Remember that truck with the big blue thing on the back that we were riding in?  Yeah, we backed down the mountain in that.  I held my breath.  Shane is a very good driver.

The dents on the side did not occur on our trip.  Although, I'm pretty surprised with some of the stuff we did that day.

Like this.

I had to fold in the mirror.

We got to this neat place called Devil's Kitchen and our tour guides made us Mexi Cones for lunch.  They were pretty good and very inventive.

I really enjoy visiting with the NKP's.  They are some of the most interesting people I've ever met.  They come from Germany, Australia, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands.  There was even a rocket scientist there, Joe, who was fascinating to talk to.  Like I said before, though, my favorite are Tim and Olivia Heywood from Scotland.  I feel like seeing them is like reuniting with long lost relatives.  They have that rare gift about them that instantly makes you feel loved and special.

Before we went into Canyonlands we got to watch a video about preserving the Cryptobiotic soil in Southern Utah.  It's very important in preserving the dessert flora and fauna.  The gyst of the movie is - Don't Step On It.

This is what it looks like up close.  It helps hold the soil together to retain moisture which allows plants to grow in such an arid environment.

Ryan can't resist pictures of local wildlife.

The jeeping tour ended up at this really great slot canyon trail.

On the way back to the trucks the sky darkened.

And then came the rain.

Then it was back up all that slick rock that was now wet.

I may have used this handle more than once.

I think we were supposed to be back by 7:00 pm. But by the time the sun set we were still over 2 hours from Moab.

It was a very long day.  We got back to Moab around 9.  I tried to call the kids on the road at 8:30 but kept losing reception.  Dallin and Cameron were babysitting since Sheri had to go to Salt Lake and I could hear Austin crying in the background.  But by the time I was able to call back around 9:15, Dallin and Cameron had everyone in bed asleep, the house cleaned up, and everything was fine.  They are such great kids!