Photo of the Day: River of Fire

Driftwood Yacht? Zion National Park, December 22, 2012

Photo of the Day: Hiking up from the riverbed

Zion National Park, Virgin River, December 22, 2012

I like to visit in the winter. When the foliage is gone, you see little vignettes you might miss, like this staircase up from the riverbed to caves, nooks, and other trails.

Vacation Days with Drew: Hiking the River

Because of work schedules, vacation schedules, and by default, I got to spend a lot of time with Drew on my most recent vacation. He's turning 7 this week, so we may end up with 7 entries all about Drew.

One sunny December day, we went out to explore one of the trails that Grumpa and Drew had previously "discovered." Due to the record floods of 2010, this walking trail along the Virgin River has been "closed" because of severe damage. A year later, the logjam debris is still wedged under bridges, and is still stuck up along the riverbanks. The river channel is also considerably wider that it used to be.

That hasn't stopped the denizens of southern Utah from exploring, and helping to monitor the pathways. All you need is some youthful energy, some supplies, and an imagination.

Are those your tracks from your last trip down the road, or dinosaur tracks?

Being a cautiously fastidious sort, Drew does not appreciate it when Mother Nature sends tumbleweeds down the trails to muck things up. (HEY! Who put this here?) He also adheres to some of the warning signs. So what if the sign says the trail is closed? Just don't bring a bike down the path. He pointed this sign out to me after we saw a bunch of bikers.

Drew's pretty fearless too. Look at him blazing away down this ... well, path isn't exactly the right term. This is where you can really see the damage from the floods. The current undercut the bank enough that the concrete trails collapsed. There's a little sliver of solid ground left, but you could slide down and go right into the water. No matter for a feckless and fearless kiddo.

Oddly though, for a kid who would be prefer to be out, about, and on the move -- he hates dirt, and REALLY hates sand in his shoes. I would spend a lot of time waiting for him to take his shoes off, try to get the sand and stuff out of his shoes and socks, and then to put them back on. At least he can tie them now -- which is excellent when I didn't want to bend over to do my own.

Like I said, he hates disorder -- and spent time clearing the tumbleweeds -- when he wasn't picking on his crazy auntie.

Me and my shadow

Photo of the Day: Retail Rafts

Spotted in an Ocean State Job Lot, Eastern Connecticut, June 2011 via cell phone

Sadly, I have no room in the studio or real reason to purchase any of these flotation devices. If I was closer to a reservoir, or the Bronx River actually allowed paddlers ...

YouTube Tuesday: Dam Flood 2010

Every time I prepare to visit my family over the winter break, there seems to see some kind of weather "event." Temperatures drop, and snow falls in Vegas. (Yeah. Snow. In Vegas.)

Or, in this case, it rains. I can hear you saying, so what? It rains. Let me remind you, this is the southwest. It is a desert. A day of rain is a big deal. A week or more of torrential downpours? That's a problem.

In 2005, the area in and around the Virgin River in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada experienced major flooding. They called it the 100-year flood. Who would have thought that just five years later there would be more flooding?

Before my parents bought their most recent house in Utah, they purchased a vacation home in the Beaver Dam/Littlefield, Arizona area, where the most exciting thing was a place called "The Dam Bar."

Finally, a place where I could swear with impunity. Everything was "dam."

My parent's home was affectionately called "The Dam House." It was part of a cute little retirement community nestled next to a golf course and near (note the words NEAR) the banks of the Virgin River.

Given that Grandmary and GrumpaMax have a new house, The Dam House was on the market.

Until late December, it didn't have a river/water view.

The video below shows the house at the end of their street, as it takes off for parts unknown -- or as one person says on the video, Lake Mead.


Sadly, this house had been built by hand, by the owner, who had yet to move into it. He lost the house. The garage made it, for a little bit. But he lost that too.

The floods were right before Christmas. Because this was a flood plane, many people may or may not have had flood insurance. Many people weren't there because it was a retirement community and people were off visiting family. There wasn't a flood surge, just a steady rise of water that undercut ground, and washed away ancient cottonwoods, banks, and houses. Fortunately, no one lost their lives, but it was a hard Christmas. Recovery will be hampered by FEMA, insurance, government entities, and inevitable lawsuits.

This is a photo from the next day or so, looking down the street. You can see the garage still standing. The house next to it was marked "uninhabitable" because the back end of is hanging out over the undercut bank. The houses next to that were fine. Another day of rains, and all of those houses would have been uninhabitable too, include our Dam House.
These are a few days later. The garage has been razed. The houses that used to be on the streets behind it are gone. Heck. The STREETS are gone.
Here's the reverse view from another angle in the park. You can see the bulldozer near where the garage was. The houses in the foreground imploded inward, for lack of better words, when the ground underneath them washed away. They didn't float downstream. They sank where they were.
Obviously the road is closed. THERE IS NO ROAD.
So, anyone looking for a nice retirement house in Arizona with partial water views? I know of something on the market.

Photo of the Day - What You Lookin' At Kid?

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

Mountain Goats

presented without comment or context

Photo of the Day - Mule Trio

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented with some comments:

back in the day, mules were used to help haul cargo up and down the Salmon River. as time passed, and the nature of commerce and transport on the river changed, it was easier to let them loose to forage. it's still pretty isolated up in the range, but there are still herds of either completely wild or semi-domesticated animals that live up and down the banks of the river. one herd of horses we saw was actually led by a braying grey jack-ass, er. ... donkey, and most of the offspring definitely had those characteristics. (like yesterday's mare and foal, the mare was definitely a horse; her offspring, a mule.) i really liked this mule trio, because you can see all the different genetic possibilities when equines are left to cross breed. the colorings may be from the horse side of the tree, but those ears and muzzles give away the other side of the equation.

Photo of the Day - Mustang Mother

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented without comment or context

Photo of the Day - Rough Rapids

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented with some comments:

no matter how hard you try to avoid it, sometimes life splashes you in the face.

it's all in how you react to the impending drenching and the aftermath.

holiday treat for you: I'm actually visible (barely) in this picture for a change .

Ride 'em Christina!

Photo of the Day - Riding the Bull

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented with this comment:

Yeehaw. Ride 'em Uncle Kevin!

Holiday treat: I'm actually in this picture, but you can't see me weighing down the back end of the boat.

Photo of the Day - Rough Waters Ahead

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented with some comments:

Uncle Kevin getting a look at the impending rapids

Seen on River/Road Trip 2010: Bridge over Troubled Waters

River Reverie

This seems so long ago ... already. Sun. Water. Warmth. Relaxation. Bro -- I TOTALLY understand now.

Seen on River/Road Trip 2010: Peace

Spotted on the Banks of the Salmon River, Idaho

May Peace Prevail on Earth!

For more information about Peace Day, click here.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

And once again, that annual event has rolled around, Talk Like a Pirate Day!

ARGGHHHHHH! Me thinks that somewhere in my brother's genetic heritage is that one mythical Mediterranean seafaring relative that we can't quite track down through the genealogy.

I mean look at him. He constantly is walking the plank whenever he's on the river, and would sing "yo ho, yo ho" if it didn't make him seem even more odd than he is.
Lest you think that pirates only exist on the coasts, let me tell you, from actually seeing them, that pirates are still operating on the river ways of Idaho. They call themselves prospectors -- modern-day gold prospectors, but they are still like pirates.

They have a twisted sense of humor. Check out the label on their watercraft. I wouldn't recommend that landlubbers make comments about prospecting, panning for gold, or anything snarky, because you never know where pirates are lurking. Suddenly, these scurvy lads all descended down the boatramp, having emerged from the brush. From the looks of them, they were probably up there drinking some grog ...

Talk about bilge rats. All they needed was a jolly roger on the raft!

For more information about Talk Like a Pirate Day, click here.

River/Road Trip 2010: Swamped

Just back from the River/Road Trip, and boy, am I am swamped!

I'm still bailing out my ears, and my in-box.

Thanks to Christina for "riding the bull" and getting this footage. She did manage to stay in the raft.

Stay tuned for more updates.