Hogback Haul

Last night I took advantage of the brilliant weather and hiked to the top of Hogback hill. It's five miles away and 734 m high. Honestly, it was mostly grueling, but I am very glad that I did it. The view from the summit into the Dry Valleys is very rewarding. Unfortunately, between facing the sun and having frozen fingers I was not able to capture the moment. Albeit, it was a really incredible experience.


Hiking alongside the Wilson Piedmont Glacier


View of the Taylor Valley and Wright Valley from the summit


View of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier from Hogback


After what seemed to take forever, Marble appeared. It was a glorious sight!

An Evening Stroll

Lakes, algae, glaciers, beaches, views of an active volcano.... Marble Point!

Camper Van Adventures

Every United States Antarctic Program (USAP) participant headed for McMurdo or the South Pole gets to go through Christchurch (CHC--pronounced Cheech), New Zealand. Participants are slotted for only two nights in this glorious country. The limited time is spent getting outfitted with extreme cold weather (ECW) gear at the clothing distribution center (CDC), running last minute errands and eating out. We eat, drink and eat some more. It's fabulous but always way too short. This year we got very lucky. There was a mechanical problem with the aircraft that was flying us to McMurdo so we ended up getting three extra days in New Zealand. Several of us piled into a good friends camper van and hit the road. Nothing like getting paid to go explore the mountains with good friends. Ahh, the perks of going to Antarctica.


A whole heap of us piled in and made our way to Castle Hill, Arthurs Pass. It was a wonderful day filled with meat pies, good music and a lot of laughs.


So after exploring Castle Hill we drove a bit further to the Cave Stream. It's an underground cave that a stream flows through. We hiked up the stream, through ice cold water, with one head lamp, 2 lighters, an I phone and 2 camper van lights as our flashlights.
Left to right: K Dubb (Wastie), Hocho (Fuelie), Galen (South Pole Traverse), Kelly (Fuelie), Bodie (Fuelie), DJ (Fuelie), Sethro (Fuelie), Emily (Fuelie), & me (Fuelie)


Ahh, light! I've never been so relieved in my life!


Beautiful scenery welcomed us as we emerged from the cave.


The next day we drove south of Christchurch and our favorite Kiwi shared his favorite seafood restaurant with us, Fleurs Place. The food was incredible.


Fleurs Place fisherman


After we stuffed ourselves silly we went to this place, Moeraki Boulders. These spherical boulders are composed of calcite. They are more than 2 meters in diameter!


Emily, my roommate and dear friend, and myself at Moeraki.

She's Alive and Well!

Hello from Marble Point, a helicopter refueling station at the mouth of the Dry Valleys. It's a "deep field camp" with only two other people, but it's referred to as the ranch of Antarctica. It's as cush as it gets. Happy Halloween, everyone!


My first helicopter ride, ever.


The closest iceberg.


Weddell seal and her pup.

Take Me to the River

I'm on hour 3 of a predicted 16 hour work day. I'm wearing a pencil skirt, a suit jacket and high heels. I'm up to my neck in omnibus bills, politically charged rhetoric and paper cuts. Despite all of these factors that are so uncharacteristic to my nature, I am blissfully floating around knowing that the river life is just around the bend. I am so lucky.

And I'm Back.

I live in Saint Paul and work here. I'm a page.

Come mid-May I'll return to Utah and work here. I'll be a river guide again.

I have an interview tomorrow morning to return here. I'm unsure what I'll be.

How do the lyrics begin to that one Talking Heads song? Home, is where I want to be... pick me up and turn me round... These lyrics have been in my head a lot lately. I've always loved that song and associated positive thoughts with it. I guess my point is that I'm happy to be home. It's been a month since I arrived in Minnesota and I've attended a family wedding, a family funeral, thrown rocks into Lake Superior, taken my nieces and nephew trick or treating, eaten fresh vegetables from my parent's garden, spent hours alone with each of my immediate family members, cooked for myself in an indoor kitchen (!), spent a weekend at a cabin with old friends in northern Minnesota, and spent time alone. All of these things either haven't been possible or were very rare throughout the past year. It's been so incredibly nice to experience these things I cannot even begin to try and explain my gratitude.

Here's to an fascinating last year, a good winter, and to being home. Cheers!

Before reading, see Duluth Kate's blog.

Dear Argos Knut Lindello,

I have a simple solution to this problem you have brought to my attention: move to St. Paul. Not only do you have friends there (Steve and Leslie) but you would get to sleep with me! For the longest time you were the main man in my life and I would be interested in that being the case again (no offense Steve). I know you have missed me since I left so this seems like the only sensible solution.

I wish things could be different but after a year of sleeping on rafts, foreign mattresses, dirt, thermarests, paco pads and beaches I am ready for my queen size pillowtop.

Please thank your current roommates for allowing me to leave my things in their beautiful home. (Thanks Kate and Ben!) During challenging times throughout my travels in the past 15 months I have dreamed of that room, that light, those friendly voices outside the door and last but not least, I have dreamt of you and that has brought me much joy.

With love,

MFK

Colorado Road Trip

I am currently in Denver, visiting friends on their way to Antarctica. No, I am not going back to the ice this year. A part of me wishes I were going back, especially when surrounded by everyone in the program, but I am so excited to be going home for a season. Things are good. I now just need to focus on finding a job and convincing everyone I encounter to vote for Obama.

I've been busy since I launched for my Cataract trip. Here are a few albums highlighting my past couple weeks:







I am Green River for a few more days before I start making my way back to Minnesota. I have friends and adventures in Moab, Gunnison, Crested Butte, Denver and Boulder before then. What a summer.

A few pictures from my last Lodore with my family:







I've spent the past few days helping a good friend demolish her kitchen in Salt Lake City. It was a blast and now I am back down in Green River, UT. Did you know that it is the melon capital of the world? Best melons ever. I salivate as I write.

I head back on the river tomorrow, working a six day trip through Cataract Canyon. It's flash flood season and the forecast calls for heavy rain. It's going to be incredible. Having only been rained on a couple days this summer I look forward to it with great anticipation. This may be my last rafting trip of the season. It's going to be difficult to say goodbye to the river I've so intimately got to know this summer. It will be a great way to end the season, though, as it is thee most significant big rapid trip that Holiday offers. I get to row 29 rapids (three big drops!) all within 14 miles of one another... more salivation.

Winter plans are changing. That is all I am going to say for now.

As a life-altering summer comes to an end I can't stop thinking about the Yampa River. Sure, all of the trips that Holiday offers are incredible. Desolation Canyon, Cataract Canyon, San Juan, Lodore, Westwater, etc.; they all blew me away. But, all of those trips have something in common: they are all ultimately dam controlled. The Yampa is most certainly not. Not an ounce of the water flowing through it's meandering ways is released by a dam. It is wild in the truest sense. In fact, it is the largest free flowing river in the seven state area of the Colorado River Basin. It peaks in the spring and slowly but surely dwindles down throughout the course of the summer. It is this natural spring runoff that supports endangered species and localized ecosystems that dams destroy. Unfortunately, a proposal was made and is still in the works to dam the Yampa. The water would be diverted to Denver, instead of it's natural course heading West through Dinosaur National Monument where it feeds into the Green River. Check out Yampa River Awareness Project. Denver wants the Yampa's water, I ask for you to help out and at least educate yourself regarding this topic. I ask even more that you do something about it.

I'm back in Utah, which means I'm back to work. I'm off to guide my parents and my eight year old niece down the Green River through Lodore Canyon, Echo Park, Whirlpool Canyon, Island Park and Split Mountain. I am thrilled about it.

My trip to Minnesota was unbelievably enjoyable. I was so lucky to see old friends, help celebrate good friend's marriages, have a perfect Duluth day, spend quality time with family and of course, drink good beer. Sigh...

Back to the river.

I LOVE MINNESOTA!

All of my friends and family give me such a hard time about being anti committal. I know that I have struggled with this in the past but I really feel like I'm getting better! Case and point: I am ready to announce my fall and winter plans. The end of August and September I'll work for Holiday, wrapping up the rafting season, getting trained in on guiding mountain biking trips on the White Rim, and closing up shop for the winter. October I'll go to Peru (using my frequent flyer miles from the Antarctica deal) and surf and trek for a month while staying at my friends beach house. Then on November 1, I will start work at Alta Ski Area in Salt Lake City. The job has been offered and several rooms have been offered. Not bad, eh?

Minnesotans, get ready. I'll be home in one week.

I get paid to go to this place!!?! I still can't believe it. Here are a few pictures from my most recent Lodore trip:

Lodore Canyon is a sweet trip. I've guided three in the past couple weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. The canyon is on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument, putting in at the Gates of Lodore. It's a steep, narrow canyon that carves through Precambrian rock, the Uinta Mountain Group. It's a deep, dark red that glows in the different angles of sunlight. The geology is really sinking in and I'm quickly turning into a huge fan of rocks. Who'd have guessed? I sure would not have.

Lodore

My how time flies while working as a river guide. Days and nights off of the river have been sparse. I've guided two, five day Yampa trips since I last wrote and they both were great. I had the honor of guiding former senators, U.S. ambassadors, famous artists, writers and photographers down the river. On one of the trips we unfortunately had to evacuate a guest by helicopter due to medical reasons. I've been invited by guests to work on the Obama campaign, to surf in Santa Cruz and to go hang out in Portland this fall. It's been action packed, to say the least. I really do love this job.

The Yampa isn't dammed (which is awesome) so the season is over (which isn't awesome). I now head to train in on the Lodore Canyon on the Green River. I will continue to work out of Vernal for at least another two trips and then I am unsure of what trips I'll be doing next.

Things are well. I'm looking forward to my two weeks in Minnesota in August but until then, I imagine I'll have no problem enjoying my time in Utah.

Well I survived the Yampa, and it was an incredible trip. It is the most beautiful canyon that I've seen so far. I rowed my toughest rapid yet, Warm Springs Rapid (Class VI). It is one of the top 10 big drops in the U.S. I rowed it at around 15,000 CFS, though we entered the Yampa at 20,000 CFS. It is the highest water the Yampa has seen since 1984. I am extremely relieved that I missed Maytag Hole. This happened just over a week ago and shows what Maytag can do to boats. The exciting and challenging part of the rapid is that you have to hit a smaller hole, Steve's Hole, on river right to miss Maytag. Pulling into the laterals on the upper part of the rapid is imperative, along with hitting Steve's Hole square on, in order to miss Maytag. I'll get another chance at it next week, as I head out on another 5 day trip. This time as a paid guide.

Yampa

Off to explore the Yampa, the last wild river on the Colorado Plateau. Be back in 5 days.