The little girl turned 10 yesterday. Every year we take the kids out of school on their birthday and go to lunch. With a big family of eight, one-on-one time is a scarcity. It’s such a great tradition!
This year it was Ellie’s turn for a friend party so she also celebrated with many of her favorite people. Ellie insisted on having a donut party this year. We played donut on a string, throw the donut around a pole, carry a donut on your head and they even got donuts painted on their cheeks by Ellie’s big sister Claire. It was such a fun party with lots of fun girls and the cutest cake ever!
Ellie is such a sassy, driven, kind and talented girl. She brings lots of animation to our family. We sure love her and are always excited to have a reason to celebrate this girl!
Meg and I took a trip to Southern Virginia University this weekend with Lori and Sydney Birchall. It was fast and a bit chilly but so, so beautiful. We loved touring around and spending the weekend with Lori and Syd.
Happy 16th birthday to my sweet KK. Although I often find myself wanting to slow time down, I also find great joy in watching her grow into a beautiful, responsible young lady. She has a giant heart and is so creative and talented. We sure love having her in our family.
She wanted to take some of her besties to the Melting Pot for dinner. Plus, she got her license today too! It can’t get much better than that on your 16th birthday.
Happy Halloween Johnson style! I think it is cute how the friend groups dress up together (missing Claire and her friend). Seth won first place at work today in the historical division (look up “Disco Dan the Robberman”).
Manina and I have been wanting to hike Kings Peak for a while now. We put a date on the calendar at the beginning of the summer, and have been doing lots of hikes to get ready. Here is our trip report:
Day 1: To Painter Basin
We got a later start than we wanted on Friday morning. On the way up to Henry’s Fork trailhead we stopped at REI for some last-minute gear upgrades. It was an easy drive; the roads were great until last 2 miles, but still definitely doable in a car.
In the parking lot, a hunter parked next to us and Manina asked him about bears. He laughed and said she didn’t need to worry at all about bears at all. He said he’d spent at least 100 nights in that valley and had never even seen even a sign of bear activity. That was super good news because Manina wouldn’t worry about being eaten alive all night long and could leave her heavy bear spray canister in the car. We finally started hiking at 1:30pm, a little later than we’d planned but not too bad.
The trail was great condition for first five miles alongside the beautiful Henry’s Fork river. We crossed a log bridge and headed up toward Dollar Lake.
As we pressed on, we could start to see our ultimate destination. We also came upon a big herd of sheep.
It was still plenty early when we hit Dollar Lake. So, instead of camping near there for the night, we decided to press on and head to Painters Basin. That was a big mistake.
Next few miles up Gunsight and into Painters were brutal. We were getting hungry, but couldn’t turn back. In hindsight, it would have been really nice to start from Dollar Lake the next day and go light over Gunsight pass. Plus, it would have allowed us to take a significant shortcut.
We found a nice campsite next to a little bumbling spring in Painters Basin.
We set up camp quickly, cooked some food (Skurka beans and rice) and ate hurriedly.
We were pretty exhausted and crawled in the tent by 9pm. We were both just so tired. Our shoulders and hips hurt and neither of us slept very well. Painters basin was windy and noisy and kept us up for way too many hours.
Day 2: Kings Peak summit and home
Didn’t get onto the trail until just before 9am. We left our tent and big backpacks and just took some water, a filter, and some food and headed for the summit. It was a lovely morning.
The climb got pretty tough, and we after we crossed a little snowfield, the trail disappeared entirely and we just had to scramble over rocks up the ridge to the summit.
We finally made it to the summit just after 11am. There was almost no wind at the summit and we rested, took some pictures, refueled and enjoyed the view from the top of Utah at 13,528 feet.
We were pretty tired when we made it back to our camp at 1pm. But there wasn’t any time to rest. We cold-soaked some couscous in the cold spring water and packed up our camp. We had already hiked 6 miles bagging the summit, but we still had 12 miles to get back to our car.
We set off knowing that once we got to the top of Gunsight Pass it would be downhill all from there. We stopped to take a couple pictures, but after that we pretty much kept hiking down the trail.
We just kept going until we reached the parking lot just after 7:30pm. We were so tired, but still had to face the 3 hour drive home. We stopped in Evanston for some Costa Vida and got home just after 11pm. It was a good trip, but we learned a couple things to do differently next time. Still a great time!
We’ve had scheduling conflicts the last few reunions, but we had this one booked well ahead of time. This year we went to YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado. It was right next to Rocky Mountain National Park and there was a lot of fun things to do. Here are some quick highlights.
Just north of our house there is a hike that has been on my list for a while. So on Saturday, we decided to cross it off our list. It’s a difficult out-and-back hike just over 7 miles long with 2500+ ft. of elevation gain. Here’s our Gaia GPS data.
When we proposed this as our family Saturday activity, we got resistance from each and every child. So Manina and I loaded up our backpacks, left a list of chores to be done, packed up Finley and hit the trail all by ourselves. It was great.
The hike is steep. It’s uphill and relentlessly so. We quickly realized that not having our kids was the right decision for this hike. The first 2.5 mile section is along a semi-maintained dirt road. Then you cross the border to the Lone Peak Wilderness area and you’re at the First Hamongog.
We stopped and ate a sandwich and some snacks before resuming the climb up to the Second Hamongog.
The trail changes significantly and in some places almost disappears into the scrub oak. It was very green and somewhat overgrown thanks to the wet winter and spring, and the wildflowers decorated it all along the way.
We kept going up into the conifers, and then the trail got rocky and strewn with chunks of granite. After a little more than a mile and 1000+ ft. of ascent, we were very excited to see the trail open up onto the Second Hamongog.
We snapped a couple pictures, then backtracked a couple hundred feet to a very well established campsite and set up our hammock. We had a few snacks, watched Finley chase some butterflies, and put our feet up for a few minutes. It was a well deserved rest from a tough climb.
We started hearing some thunder, so we packed up and quickly hiked back down the mountain. It was overcast and cool for most of the way down, but we were pretty worn out by the time we got back to the car. We had a great time hiking the Hamongogs, even though we’re still not quite sure how they got named!
Manina and I have a goal to do a big backpacking trip later this year, so we targeted this weekend to do a practice run. We wanted to dial in our gear, try a couple meals, and see what works and what doesn’t.
We had enough gear and our kids were all game, so we decided to make it a family affair instead of getting a babysitter.
Megan didn’t come, but Katelyn invited her friend Hallie so we had a pretty big crew.
Friday afternoon we drove up to the Silver Lake Flat reservoir and hit the trail just after 6pm. We were a bit worried that the kids were going to whine and moan most of the way up the 2.5 mile trail, but they all did great.
The hike up was great. We were out of the direct sun and there was a gentle breeze coming down the draw that we were heading up. We had a nice winter, so there was plenty of water and it was nice and green. The wildflowers are also starting to come out.
We arrived at Silver Lake right about 8pm and found a decent camp site. Drew and Ellie set up a tent. Claire snuck my lightweight cot into her pack and was determined to sleep under the stars, and Hallie and Katelyn had their own little site about 20 yards away from the rest of us.
We cooked dinner; the kids choosing freeze-dried chicken and rice and Manina and I trying a new backpacking recipe (Skurka beans and rice — definitely a keeper). We setup our tents and went to bed as the stars came out.
Sleep is sometimes difficult when out backpacking, and that was pretty universal this trip. Manina got spooked by a deer tromping around late. Claire got woken up by the too bright full moon. Katelyn and Hallie figured out they brought one sleeping bag and one pillow combined among the two of them in a 1-man tent. Seth got woken up by Manina’s frantic deer spook flashlight hunts. And Ellie and Drew got invaded by Claire at around 2am seeking some shelter from the moon and bugs. So it wasn’t perfect success by any means.
Nevertheless we woke up with pretty good attitudes on Saturday morning. The stunning mountain views deserve a lot of that credit. We live in a spectacular place.
Drew tried his luck at fishing and lost his lure and his determination after just three casts. We ate breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail, stopping to take a couple pictures of the beautiful surroundings we were leaving.
It was plenty hot on the way down with a lot of the trail exposed in the late morning. We told the kids we’d stop at Tibble Fork reservoir to cool off on the way home, so they were motivated to get down and jump in to some chilly but refreshing clear mountain water. All the kids jumped in to cool off and it was a great way to end an awesome backpacking trip to Silver Lake.
You see, our dear sister-in-law Annie was recently diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. Annie just had surgery this week to remove the tumor and is currently going through physical and occupational therapy trying to increase mobility in her arm and leg which the tumor affected.
Manina ran for her. On an Instagram post, Manina wrote:
I have run the AF Half Marathon a handful of times but this time was a lot more meaningful. My sweet sister-in-law @annieclifford was recently diagnosed with glioblastoma (brain cancer) and she is fighting like a champ. Tears and cheers were flowing for you today girl! Love you…now go kick some trash! #cancersucks #afcanyonrunagainstcancer #13.1 #bestcheersquad #bestrunningfriends
Manina hurt her leg during a training run a few weeks ago, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She rested up well, doing a few workouts on the bike to keep her cardiovascular fitness for the run.
Despite the injury, Manina made great time and had a nice, even pace throughout the run. She finished five minutes ahead of her target time.
Great job Manina! We’re proud of you! And we were all cheering both you and Annie on all the way.
Drew and I just finished up a spectacular adventure. Drew’s scout troop decided to do a four-day canoe trip down Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River as their big summer camping trip. Here is the full trip report:
Tuesday
We met at Scoutmaster Ben Forstner’s house at 6am with all our gear. Drew and I packed pretty light, with the exception of our food. We stopped for gas in Green Valley and ran into Manina and the girls (all except for Ellie) at the gas station, which was kind of a fun surprise. They had a week of girls camp and me and Drew were going to spend the week in the remote backcountry on the Green River.
We bought a Subway sandwich and ate it on the dirt road heading out to Ruby Ranch, where we would be launching our canoes for a 48 mile journey in our canoes. We loaded up and got out on the water, excited to begin our journey.
We stopped for a while at a lunch spot with some meager shade offered by some scrub oak. As we were getting back on the river Ben Card was a little too eager to get back into his canoe and the scoutmaster canoe tipped over and capsized. They quickly were able to gather their gear, and no one was in any danger but it wasn’t a great start to the trip for them. (Turns out that would be the only incident the entire trip! It was funny that the experienced adults were the only ones who tipped their canoes!)
On our way down the river, we spied a promising spot with some towering cottonwood trees which would provided some much needed shade, but found it was taken by a guide and her raft.
It was getting late and some of us were getting tired and hangry. We stopped to investigate a few other spots but they were nightmares. Then stumbled on a nice spot that turned out to be great. The scoutmasters started drying out all their gear and pre-filtering water.
The Green River has so much sediment that you have to pre-treat it by pouring a solute of aluminum sulfate (alum) in a five-gallon bucket, stirring briskly with a stick or paddle and then letting the alum bind with all the sediment and sink to the bottom. Then you can pour the clear water on the top into another bucket and the use traditional filters from there. It was quite a process, but cool to see it work.
Drew and I cooked up one of our freeze-dried meals (Mountain House Chicken & Rice) and set up our tent. Drew and the other scouts sat around a fire and chatted for a while. But we were in bed by 9pm and asleep by about 10pm and all pretty exhausted. It was plenty warm. No sleeping bag needed pretty much all night long.
We got up and made our daily oatmeal and freeze-dried fruit and then Drew and a few of his scout buddies tried some fishing. No one caught anything (then, or during the entire trip).
It was a beautiful, but very warm day as we set out on the water. After paddling for just about an hour in the morning we came to a little tributary called Tenmile canyon.
I stopped my GPS and started preparing lunch, attempting a cold soak of some curried almond cous cous. I forgot to start up my GPS recording for this day, so my maps are missing a pretty big chunk. However, the good news is that the cold soaked cous cous turned out delicious. Definitely my favorite meal of the trip. Will definitely do that again.
After lunch Drew and his friend Andrew canoed by themselves and did great.
The troop stopped to find a geocache at 2pm. It was a pretty cool cache with some neat history, shade, and a great view.
It was still early, but the troop decided to stay there for the night. There weren’t a ton of good camping spots and very little shade, so there was nothing to do but wait out the hot afternoon sun.
It was brutally hot so Drew and I waited until about 9pm to set up our tents. I took a “shower” that night, pouring a liter of warm water over my head and trying to rinse off the stinky sticky. It was a nice way to end a tough day.
Thursday
We got up at 6am and were ready for a big day of paddling on the river.
We managed to get on the river by 8am and mostly paddled to our first stop only 3 miles down the river. We pulled into a landing for the Bowknot Bend overlook hike. We found some pretty good camping sites and in hindsight should have traveled the extra hour on Tuesday to set up camp here. But, with the water levels so high, camping space was tough to find and none of us had done the float before.
In any case, the hike and view did not disappoint. It was a beautiful overlook.
The hike must have inspired the scouts, because no one asked to stop for miles and miles. We didn’t stop to eat, electing to just snack in our canoes. No one paddled much, but we floated along at a pretty good pace given how high the river was flowing. The current pushed us along, which was a good thing. Drew didn’t have much gas left in the tank and kept a pretty dry paddle for the last hour or so.
We made another stop at the Denis Julien inscription (from 1836!) and took a quick group picture, and everyone knew our take-out spot was getting pretty close.
Even with the two hikes and 22 miles of paddling on the river, (I didn’t screw up the GPS file for day 3) we still managed to pull into Mineral Bottom by 3pm.
Scoutmaster Ben made the satellite phone call and found out the welcome news that our shuttle was available and on its way, we would have to wait three hours and then join the other group at their combined camp at Green River State Park. But, that was way better than staying the night at Mineral Bottom. We were all excited to get done.
We drove the crazy road out of Mineral Bottom and eventually joined the rest of the youth at 9:30pm and immediately started raiding all of their delicious food. It was so nice to eat cold, juicy, food. And be able to use running water, and cell phones, and not have to carry all of our garbage and waste (yes, all of it). We finally set up our tents at 10:30pm and Drew was out immediately. He was completely exhausted and I was too.
All there was left to do on Friday was to get home and put stuff away. It was an unforgettable week on the Green River. Labyrinth Canyon certainly did not disappoint!
MightyJohnsons 