The West Desert

John and I have been planning a three-day, two-night trip west through the desert into Nevada by pickup to do research for our respective writing projects (mine is a novel about fundamentalist Mormon werewolves with a commune in eastern Juab County, and his is a 19th Century polygamist murder mystery), but alas, we shredded a tire on the gravel road between Lookout Pass and Simpson Springs and didn't feel confident enough of our spare to continue west.

It was a beautiful night, full moon, only a little cool. We decided to go on the five miles or so to Simpson Springs to camp and then come back home the next morning.

John, competent as always, changed the tire and we went on our way. You can't tell in the pix, but the moon was like a spotlight and the desert was magical.

Here he starts supper--corn on the cob, fresh peaches and tomatoes, hot chocolate, cheesy potato soup. He cut up a can of spam into the soup, a true desert-rat touch. Yum!

We slept on our cots under the juniper tree.


John told me stories about cattle drives between Greenjacket and Riverbed from when he was a kid. They would often camp at Simpson Springs, which had a pony express station and a glass-bottomed pond for swimming (glass-bottomed with broken beer bottles, and filled in now).

Here's John and Table Mountain:

We went for a short walk back up to the foothills. Here's a higher view of Table Mountain:

Yes! I was there!

Pretty rocks for the waterfall garden:

Driving out this morning, we saw 25-30 antelope:


John at Lookout:

From Lookout you can see Mt. Nebo in the farthest distance. The three peaks are always recognizable, north, south, east, or west, even by air as you're flying home:

Near Vernon we saw a golden eagle on a power line. What a beauty.

At home again, we're bottling tomato juice and peaches, so the day is not wasted. We'll make the longer trip later.

Ward Campout in the Uintahs

John, Chris, and I went to the ward campout. We ate hotdogs for dinner, roasted marshmallows, and watched the first two episodes of Flight of the Conchords Season 2 in the tent on John's computer. Then John went out on the lake--Washington Lake, near Wall Lake where we went backpacking a few times. A lovely place.

Car Camping

...at Granite Flats and canoeing in Tibble Fork Reservoir (up American Fork Canyon).

John and Betsy:

The RBs in a raft:
in a canoe:
in a raft again--Rob and Johnathan:
John likes his canoe from Uncle Bob. He paddled around for over an hour.
I sat with the cutie Ethan (my knees don't really bend enough to fit in a canoe).
Back at camp we burn marshmallows:
Colette eats her salad with a stick fork made by Rob. We did have plastic forks, but the whittled one was more interesting of course.
I heard whispered drama going on behind the rock. Colette had rock characters acting out a life-or-death situation involving horsies.
Nicolle, Johnathan, and Betsy:
Ethan and Uncle Chris:
John was cook and all-around camp facilitator:
Colette emerges from her tent:
We want to go south for a car camp in October--maybe to Capitol Reef. Tibble Fork is half an hour away going slow in a pickup with a canoe tied on top. We live within an hour or two of the best camping places in the universe.

Ward Campout

We left late yesterday for a ward campout in the mountains between Nephi and Fountain Green--we heard most of the musical program and fixed ourselves tacos on our little put-together picnic table in the dark (but with a bright moon overhead). Chris and I were coldand he was not happy about getting up this morning, but it was fun once we did. We talked with friends--Riley was there, the biologist who did John's Utah Study Abroad program with him this May. Nicolle was Riley's student years ago.We had eggs and sausage and pancakes for breakfast, and John and Chris rode their bikes back to the farm while I went ahead for a visit with my folks.

More Antelope Island

We set up camp on the northwest shore, and it was absolutely silent except for voices of the campers and an occasional cry of a seagull. If I listened closely, I thought I could hear a very faint undertone of traffic from very far away, and after dark we could see lights to the north, but otherwise we seemed far from civilization.

John cooked chicken tacos
while we set up tents.Everyone was hungry.Brett and Betsy like their tent.


Sunset on the Great Salt Lake.