My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ace.....this could easily be another short trip.....time will tell. Regarding a second dog.....I never really considered two dogs until that day that I found Montana in the Appalachian Mountains. My plan was not to keep him, but he turned out to be such a great dog that I did, and I quickly realized that two is better than one. I guess it's been more than a decade now that I've hung out with two dogs.....don't recall ever regretting it.....



We left Idaho early that following morning and continued south through Utah. The only thing on my mind that day was to get far enough south to miss the impending snowstorm. So we drove, and we drove, and we just drove all throughout that day. Late that afternoon the snow finally caught us in Cedar City, Utah. Not in a thousand years did I think that we would end up in Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area when we left Montana.....



But we did.....I was thinking the Pacific Ocean or souheast Utah when we left home.....the snow brought us here.....



We set up camp where we always set up camp.....it's the perfect spot with endless views of the mountains and valleys beyond.....



The weather here was a real mix.....snow blanketed the nearby mountains and brief rain squalls passed by.....





I believe that this is our third time here.....maybe even our fourth. Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area consists of approximately 63,500 acres.....there's a lot to see here.....a lot to do.....and that is why we keep coming back. First thing to do was to climb a mountain.....it'd been way too long.....



I was looking for something easy.....we chose Tarekah Peak (4,045').....there was no trail to the summit.....no beta online.....it was total bushwacking.....it was the perfect small peak that we needed as we attempted to get our former life back.....





I didn't pay much attention to mileage or elevation gain that day.....I just rejoiced in the fact that we were back.....that we were doing what we love to do once again.....standing on that summit, I reflected on all that we had been through in 2023.....me and the dogs as well. I didn't shed a tear that day.....maybe I should have.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We hung out on that mountaintop much longer than we usually do. There was this perfectly placed bowl in the summit rock that was filled with cool, clear rain water.....a real treat for the dogs.....



Looking to the north lies West Mountain Peak (7,697').....the tallest peak in the area.....and one that we had climbed a few years back.....



The views to the south and the west looking into Nevada and Arizona were spectacular.....







Tanner.....my summit dog.....he's one of a kind (well, I guess that all dogs all are, right ?).....



Eventually we had to downclimb the mountain.....that's how it always goes. I finally let Tanner off the leash after 2 weeks of restricted movement.....it was like a rocket had been launched from earth. Sadly we made our way back to the Jeep.....occasionally spotting Tanner here and there.....



And from there, of course, we returned to camp.....and that day we had also returned to the life that we know and to the life that we behold & cherish.....and are so grateful for.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I do remember quite clearly the last words that the Orthopedic Surgeon said to me....."just don't fall".....and my response was something like " I don't fall".....



.....and then it was time to start a new day.....and it was time for yet another climb.....



Our next little adventure here in the Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area was an attempt to summit Jarvis Peak (6,526')....



The morning was cold that day.....38 degrees as I best recall as we took the Jeep up a four wheel drive road for just a few miles.....and then left it behind just before things started to get sketchy.....



A mile of hiking brought us to the barely marked trailhead (we actually missed it and hiked an extra mile each way).....



The trail didn't last long.....maybe less than a thousand feet.....then it was just a matter of hiking a gradual grade along a ridgeline.....yet another bushwack.....





Initially the hiking was fairly easy but that changed once we started to encounter cliff bands that we had to somehow navigate our way through.....



Eventually the bands of cliffs, predominantly on the south facing side, forced us to the north side of the ridgeline.....and unfortunately on the north side, where the sun doesn't shine, it was still covered in snow & ice. I nearly aborted the climb at this point, as things became a bit dicey, but then I spotted a thin chute in the rocks.....and I thought at that moment that we might still have a chance at the summit.....



Unfortunately the photographs that I've taken really don't reflect the steepness of the climb, nor the challenges of the climbing on snow & ice.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

After a good bit of slipping and sliding and second guessing myself, we finally got our summit.....



But the hardest part of climbing a mountain is not the going up.....it's definitely the going down.....



I was unable to recreate our route up as I looked for a route down.....mysteriously everything up there looked the same.....



The difficulty here was that a long cliff band encircled the summit.....and we needed to find a safe route down.....something that became a real serious challenge.....



Eventually I committed to a route.....down a steep section covered in snow & ice.....



Probably less than one hundred vertical feet down that mountain, I lost my footing and went into a fall. It wasn't more than ten or fifteen feet that I fell but damn that ride was a rough one.....my right arm was badly bruised and had several cuts from the branches.....my face hit a rock which left me with a black eye.....and my left arm (shown in the picture below) was mangled and the shoulder above extremely sore as well.....



I guess we all fall sometimes.....



.....that's just how life goes.....

 

[ITTOG]

Falls suck! I hope you heal quickly. You didn't say anything about your hip so I am assuming all good there. It would suck to re-injure it.

 

[Riversdad]

I'm about to turn 58 and I have been falling much more often than I used to. Always seems to happen on a downhill and than I'm always mad at myself because a few years earlier I would have been able to save it.
We don't have to stop doing what we love as we get older, we just need to be more careful. Here's hoping that now that you've got that fall out of the way you will be more sure footed for the remainder of your hikes.

 

[Mekcanix]

walking sticks!! They have certainly saved me from dental work this last year

 

[Ace Brown]

I used to laugh at hiking poles but no more. I can’t count how many times I’ve caught my balance with them.


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[ghostdancer]

I’m always conservative going up, evaluating what it will be like going down. I tell my wife, people don’t fall up…they fall down.

 

[vintageracer]

View attachment 814107

After a good bit of slipping and sliding and second guessing myself, we finally got our summit.....

View attachment 814108

But the hardest part of climbing a mountain is not the going up.....it's definitely the going down.....

View attachment 814109

I was unable to recreate our route up as I looked for a route down.....mysteriously everything up there looked the same.....

View attachment 814110

The difficulty here was that a long cliff band encircled the summit.....and we needed to find a safe route down.....something that became a real serious challenge.....

View attachment 814111

Eventually I committed to a route.....down a steep section covered in snow & ice.....

View attachment 814112

Probably less than one hundred vertical feet down that mountain, I lost my footing and went into a fall. It wasn't more than ten or fifteen feet that I fell but damn that ride was a rough one.....my right arm was badly bruised and had several cuts from the branches.....my face hit a rock which left me with a black eye.....and my left arm (shown in the picture below) was mangled and the shoulder above extremely sore as well.....

View attachment 814117

I guess we all fall sometimes.....

View attachment 814114

.....that's just how life goes.....

View attachment 814116

Just Don't Fall!

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....yep, the new hip is good. All injuries were above the waist.....

Riversdad.....the last time that I actually took a fall was December, 2020 and that also occured when I was coming down a mountain in southeast Utah. That's actually when the whole hip thing started for me. Like I told the Orthopedic Surgeon, I don't fall down except for the one caveat.....coming down mountains which really isn't an uncommon thing to do.....

mekcanix / Ace.....I own several sets of hiking poles.....and they're currently at my cabin which is exactly where they belong. The only time(s) that I've used them is when I have a 70 pound pack on my back and there's a multi day approach to climbing a mountain. They seem to help with the pressure on the knees.....other than that I think they're a hindrance.....

ghostdancer.....exactly.....and for what it's worth, the last section of this particular hike / climb was at a 60 to 70 degree angle which required me to use my hands. There's no way that walking poles would be an asset in that situation. A rope & a belayer is about all that would help when you're on a thin sheet of ice covered with a thin layer of snow.....

vintageracer.....yep.....



At this point in our travels, I thought it wise to tackle something a bit less challenging.....



Once again we took the Jeep to our next destination.....



Our aim that day was to check out something that I found on AllTrails.....



.....Beaver Dam Wash The Cathedral was our goal for the day.....this sign was posted at the parking area....



I suspected that this was the remants of the warm springs.....I didn't touch it to see if it was actually warm and the dogs didn't seem real fond of it either.....



There's not much in the way of trees in this entire area of Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area so these somewhat massive trees that lined the streambed were pretty cool.....



Probably the coolest thing about this hike was this recent deer kill that we found. We kept our distance (dogs were on leash) because I didn't want the dogs eating it.....



On the return trip we took a closer look and the dogs then got a taste of the deer. It wasn't until we had returned to the camper, when I was reviewing my photos, that I realized that the body had been moved.....meaning that a mountain lion (in my opinion) had been lurking there as we passed by.....



The trail at some point departed from the road but we continued up the road to see what we could see.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

At some point, we backtracked, picked up the trail which followed the meanders of the now dry creek.....the surrounding rocks above us were littered with caves.....they were everywhere.....





And of course there were plenty of interesting rock formations to see.....



Eventually the trail departed from the creek but we continued up the creek bed.....yep, to see what we could see. The higher we went, the faster the flow of the creek was.....deer tracks were everywhere up here.....



We once again backtracked, departed the creekbed and headed up the side of the canyon wall.....



The trail was super steep and it was covered in small rocks.....almost like hiking on driveway gravel.....coming down sucked.....



The Cathedral wasn't really all that impressive.....it was just another interesting rock formation to me.....





We spent the remainder of the day sticking our heads into caves.....just to see what we could see.....

 

[ITTOG]

Jerry I agree with you on the poles. But I don't even use them with a pack. I have tried them several times and just feel they were in the way. Now I will admit that part of it is because of elbow problems and using the poles all day would cause pain but I have never gotten that far to know for sure. I usually don't even make it a mile and the poles are returned to owner or in my pack. But I get why people use them and my knee's wish I did use them.

 

[Mekcanix]

I got into the habit this past year of using them because of my bad knee acting up way more than it normally would. I got tired of all of a sudden it giving me a spasm and falling over and my wife going into a panic, or laughing. Yeah most likely laughing.
I live in the prairies and haven't had the chance to climb mountains yet in my life. Its on my bucket list.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....they definitely have their place but it's definitely rare for me to use them.....

mekcanix.....climbing mountains can become an addiction.....be careful.....





Solitude.....if there was one word to describe our visit to Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area, Solitude would definitely be it. A few other campers here and there, a vehicle passed through now and then, and that was it.....it was so beautiful.....

After a week of camping there, I decided that it was time to move on.....but not before we climbed just one more small peak.....



Peak 3528 (3,528') shown in the photograph above (in the foreground).....is actually a named Utah peak.....an easy hike taking less than 2 hours roundtrip with no trails to the summit.....





In past visits here, we had scrambled around this entire area, finding a few Desert Tortoise shells scattered about, but never gave thought to climbing this peak.....





Just to the north of Peak 3528 lies Tabeau Peak (4,500').....a much more challenging climb that I did a few years ago.....what a beautiful mountain that one is.....





The route up Peak 3528 was fairly easy with a few rock walls scattered about that needed to be scrambled around.....



With afternoon temperatures in the 40's, no winds to speak of, we stayed on top of that mountain for a good bit of time.....Tanner provided the summit shot.....that's his job on most summits.....