When Upon Life's Billows

I don't usually have posts with this theme or mood.  I don't like to share too much that is personal with friends, let alone a wider audience.  But at the moment I feel tempest tossed; I have been looking at others with their lands and gold and wonder why I have not been granted the righteous desires of my heart.  And so, I will count my blessings, naming them one by one.

"...the thought I heard many years ago that surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don't expect it and often feel they don't deserve it."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

The family last summer at the Wheeler Peak bristlecone grove; there is a lot about life these ancient trees can teach us. 

"...And you will be singing as the days go by..."

Necessary Outing

Monday dawned bright and early.  My bedroom window faces east and I love waking up to the sun streaming through my window as it peaks its way over the Confusion Range into Snake Valley.  Nothing better than having your body in rhythm with the earth and the sun. 

In the past forty-eight hours there have been some significant occurrences that have caused a lot of stress for me.  The catalyst for this was thrown into the equation Sunday night and Monday, a day  hike (and I mean all day) was in order.  I was up at 6:30 with the sun, breakfast made, day-pack packed, and nothing was going to stop me.  I grabbed my new trekking poles for their first real voyage and was off. 

I walked from my house, down an old Forest Service access road, to Baker Creek Rd.  I then walked up the road to the Baker Creek Trailhead.  From there, I headed up the South Fork Baker Trail, connected with the Timber Creek, back to the trailhead, then back down Baker Creek Rd and the access road for a nice 13-ish mile loop.  The lighter red is from my house to the trailhead, the darker red are the trails I took.

 

The following are some pictures from the trail.  Hooray for getting out and exploring.  Heading up the road, looking down the Baker Creek drainage.  That's the Mt. Moriah wilderness area peaking up in the distance.

It was freezing.  Literally.  I ran into quite a few patches of snow.  When I started the sun was up and the wind was blowing off the cloud cover the lower you were in the valley.  The higher up I went the colder it got.  The wind at one point was absolutely raw.  My hands still haven't forgiven me.

This was at the first intersection.  I could either go north to the Baker Lake trail or continue towards Timber Creek.  There's still snow and it's cold so it's not that green at this elevation yet. Everything still has that smashed all winter by snow look.

This was the second intersection at South Fork and Timber Creek.  There is this long valley that swoops downward from east to west, only to have Pyramid Peak rise from it.  Spectacular!  My hands were so frozen at this point I was amazed my joints worked to remove my camera from my bag, let alone depress my finger to take the picture.

I had a big mug of hot chocolate when I got home and took a very satisfying nap.  While the catalyst is still working its magic and rapidly accelerating the stressful equation, brief reprieves such as this hike (and my May Ensign) help a lot.  It's good to be back in the basin!

Connected Once More

It has been a while since I posted; blogspot has completely changed their layout and it took me awhile to find out how to draft a new post.

Internet came to residence #11 a few days ago.  Resident #2 came to residence #11 a few days after.  Resident #3 arrives tomorrow.  It was a lovely month of having the house to myself.  I was definitely spoiled.  Resident #2, who has been on her computer non-stop since she arrived and I gave her the wifi password, is also spoiled, not having to wait a month.  I don't know if she'd have made it.  (Resident #2 is also ~8 yrs younger than Resident #1 and is fitting nicely into Resident #1's stereotype of the rising generation so deeply sunk in on-line social media they don't know how to be social without an electronic device...)

I have been at work two full pay periods, or four complete weeks.  Crazy how fast it has gone.  I also finally got my first paycheck last week which is always nice.  However, unless only $15 was withheld in taxes, my rent wasn't automatically deducted.  I'll need to get on that.  There is no statute of limitations when it comes to the government asking for money owed.

The NPS seasonal immigration has begun.  The chief of interp and our bookstore manager and I were joking about it on Friday as half our seasonals were arriving and moving in to housing.

"Turning our attention from the sharp-shinned hawk, we see another common species to the park around this time of year, the NPS seasonal.  Notice the distinctive characteristics of older model car, bald tires, interior stuffed with belongs and riding low, bicycle attached to the back..."

Just for fun, in the past month, I gave 15 cave tours.  It's been chilly outside so I haven't been out to explore and hike a whole lot yet, so no pictures, and really nothing to terribly exciting to post.  However, I will leave you with my last picture from Florida.  Continuing my tradition of doing a cartwheel on the steps of capital buildings.... (Tallahassee)

(I admit I poached this idea from a good friend, thanks RC!)