West Jordan visits Mesa

Hello again ...... West Jordan went wandering over the weekend to get a look at Mesa.
CENTEX Homes office in Scottsdale -

(1) Front view (with signage)

(2) Staff entrance

The apartment on Val Vista in Mesa -

(1) Entry/Dining area

(2) Kitchen, with Julie













More apartment, more people
(1) More Living room with GMaC and German

(2) Looking toward halls/bedrooms from Living room, with Joshua/Julie/German













More apartment, some people
Parents room, desks and stuff

Does anyone remember Papago Park ???
From a long time ago when you were 6 or 4 or 2 or 1/2 .... well, yesterday.
(PHX Zoo, Desert Botanical Garden and these prominent rock formations are in Papago Park)













The idea for this trip came from .... who knows where.

We flew Friday and Monday.
The JoshuaGClark lodgings are in Mesa about 10 miles straight East on the Superstition freeway (US 60)
from our Tempe InnSuites lodgings of long ago (which are still there) on Baseline and I-10.

The GParents stayed 1 block from the lodgings of yore at a more recent Marriott property with a nice price.
Mom is still recuperating from the jarring encounters with TSA (any encounter with TSA is jarring).

23 September 2007

Greetings from BYU!

Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks. I took the GRE on the first of the month, and am reassured by my boss that my scores are good enough (I'm still a little doubtful, but that may just be my own silly perfectionism kicking in). Not a terrribly exciting experience; but I'm still debating whether I 'want' to retake it. Not inclined to give ETS another $140(??!).

I'm just starting my last fall semester at BYU, and taking some very interesting, albeit taxing (and there are only 13 credits' worth...!), classes: Humanities of Asia, Mayan Art and Culture (one of two capstone courses for my major), Greek New Testament (John, and possibly Mark if Prof. Duckwitz decides we've got it too easy), selections from Herodotus (the 'Father of History,' naturally in the original Greek), and private organ lessons (last requirement for my music minor). I'm also auditing Turkish (!!!), which I'm really enjoying; a classmate and I (who also happens to be a former colleague from Special Collections) are also helping the professor's wife practice/learn English (which means we also get to practice our two words of Turkish).

Since June, I've been serving on the Temple Committee in my ward; unfortunately, though, I haven't gotten a chance to do much of anything yet (bishop said there was a guy in his ward who had wads and wads of family names to be done, but said individual has yet to get back to him with the details. Guess I should have just scheduled things anyway. Oh well.) At the beginning of the semester, though, I was called as the Enrichment counselor in one of the two Relief Societies in our ward (there are twice as many women as men in our ward, so they decided to split us into two sections so that every sister would have a chance to have a calling). I have yet to be released from the Temple Committee (replacement still pending). The day my presidency was sustained, we were asked to speak in sacrament meeting the following week, and, amusingly enough, I seem to be a lot more memorable to the ward now - might have something to do with the fact that I dragged my little obsession into it.....

I bet that's more than most of you have 'heard' me say my entire life.....

Love you all!

West Jordan - 8 Sep 2007 - summary of our screwed up trips

Hi from West Jordan

What this post might have consisted of had we not been interupted

by vehicle mechanical issues was a report of a trip to Fish Lake and then Bluebell Knoll.

As it was we did not get to either place - at least under our own power.

We did get a short glance of part of Fish Lake when the tow vehicle went up

there to pick up a second vehicle for tow back to Richfield.

Here is all we will see of Fish Lake until next season:

The summit we were planning on was Fish Lake High Top (elevation 11633)

To get up there, we planned hike up past here --->

The paved highway shown in the foreground is Utah Hwy 25, which is 7 miles long and

connects Fish Lake with Utah Hwy 24.

Our 2005 Safari developed a sudden leak in the oil cooler line almost exactly at the intersection of the highways and sprayed all our crank case oil all over Hwy 24 just as we were to have turned, so we overshot the turnoff by about 1 mile. Had we not missed our turnoff, we presumably would have lost our oil during the first mile of Hwy 25.

The turnoff is on an uphill grade along Utah 24 anyway, so we would have been on a strong uphill grade either way. So, The rest of the day was spent ....

..... Being towed 31 miles to Richfield

..... Finding a repair place

..... Finding a new oil cooler line

..... Getting the line replaced in time to head back to Salt Lake for the day.

We have been having screwy mechanical issues with our 2005 van all summer long;

This is a little disturbing because it was supposed to be our strong vehicle. Oh well

While we are on the topic mangled trips, here are some shots of Aspen Grove trail on Timpanogos

This was a missed summit attempt with Amanda. Check out the pretty waterfall.

The original idea was an offer to Amanda to help her try out an overnight pack trip to Timpanogos Summit via the

American Fork (Timpooneke) trailhead. I got spooked in the face of the trip launch complications and started us in Aspen Grove instead.

Don't anyone else try this at home....

The terrain is all just like what you see in front of you for about 4 miles and it is "all or nothing"

with no place up trail to put a tent. That's why no one does Aspen Grove as a 2 day, and why American Fork trail is sometimes done as a 2 day - there are more level spots spread along the route.

Amanda gets a rain check for this trip. She tells me that the messed up trip was nevertheless very productive as a guage of her own capabilities on equipment carries, terrain evaluation, site selection, night hiking, and rugged minimalist camping. She claims she had a blast and wants to have another go. Hence the rain check.

Here are two shots she had me take from our highest uphill travel point. This is actually a 2 part pan shot, from left to right.

This is further illustration of suitability of Aspen Grove for an overnight unless Emerald Lake is where the overnight stop is. This is all straight up: 4850 feet in 5 miles According to the topo map, the straight line distance is only about 2 miles, not counting contours.

The contours in this case are close together, meaning steep terrain and therefore switchbacks. So the actual trail distance is 4 miles in switchbacks to bring the entire route total to 7 miles from Aspen Grove to summit.

The American Fork side is longer by map, but is also more level, so there are many more places to stop over. We have tried this before and it works.

So much for messed up trips this season.....

Even with that we managed to get out a bit this summer:

(1) Catherine Pass hike, Dad alone, 14 June

(2) Willard Basin/ Willard Peak recon trip, Dad alone, 5-6 July

(3) Sunset Peak and Catherine Pass, Dad/Amanda, Mom/Melissa at Lake Mary, 21 July

(4) South Tent summit, Dad and Amanda, 28 July

(5) South Tent summit, Dad, James, Amanda, (Mom, Marilyn at trailhead) 18 August

(6) Bluebell Knoll summit, Mom and Dad, 21 August

Possible trip list for other seasons:

Incomplete first ascents:

(1) Willard Peak - (Weber county)

(2) Fish Lake High Top (Sevier county)

(3) Eccentric Peak (Daggett/Uintah) - Accessible from Spirit Lake

(4) Boxelder Peak - Wasatch front

(5) Bull Mountain (Boxelder)

Possible repeats:

(1) Timpanogos 2 day - Amanda

(2) Mount Nebo (Utah county) - Dad

(3) Bluebell Knoll (Wayne county) - James/Marilyn

West Jordan - 21 August 2007 - Bluebell Knoll

Gayle Clark, noted mountaineer, standing in front of the sign indicating the location of the terrifyingly steep and precarious ...

Bluebell Knoll (11322). It is in the medium distance behind the sign.

A lovely day out. Long drive, short hike.

Gayle Clark descending from Bluebell Knoll summit -
which we had to hunt around in the woods a bit to find.

PPS

Hey, Joshua and Julie, We'd love to see the pictures of German. The address you provided did not work with the only password I have; have I misunderstood something? Thanks for the help - and I always need lots of that! Though I did do this "all by myself" (after your Dad coached me!)