It's been a while.

As I sit here, finally relaxing without the weight of my carry-on bag, computer bag, and ski boots stuffed with energy bars and underwear on my shoulders, having walked from Terminal A to the end of Terminal E in the Atlanta airport to combat the soon to be pooling of blood in my legs as a result of the overnight flight to Santiago, I, one laugh at my current run-on sentence, and two, am still yet to feel the "excitement" of skiing high up in the Andes during summer.

Why is this I wonder? 

Maybe it's because I'm still feeling the drag of three straight weeks of tree work that mainly consisted of large tree removals with huge heavy trunks. Maybe it's the barely six hours of sleep I had last night holding my excitement at bay.  It could be the long duration of stress endured making sure that I stayed healthy enough to make the trip.  Or quite possibly, I'm just not excited to ski at all.

I'm sure it's not the last reason.

There are three hours remaining in my planned layover.  The people watching isn't as intense in the end of Terminal E, and is not enough to hold my enjoyment as the Georgia thunderstorm has ended.  As my thoughts wander and I think about the time leading up to this point of my summer, I must admit that this trip wouldn't be possible for me at this time in my life if it wasn't for Seth.  His desire to start a tree business and bring me in as a partner has lead to be the main source of income for this trip.  I am a little concerned about my conditioning as hockey hasn't been a frequent enough activity these past six weeks and with tree work disrupting my workout schedule.  A few times I did manage to hike up waterfall canyon and then run/jog down to simulate backcountry touring and the impact I would feel on my legs while skiing.  Hopefully that helped. 

I guess we'll see during these next two weeks.

My up at the waterfall getting ready to run down

A Beautiful Day up to an Oasis

Sunday happened to be such a beautiful day. After church, I found myself to have nothing going on and antsy to be relaxing outside. I had a thought to take a walk/hike up to Malan's Basin to go look at the waterfall. It's been a while since I have been up there, well during the non-winter months. I haven't been up there in the summer for about 3 years. I do go up there every winter to ice climb. I didn't want to fly completely solo on this, so I called Kev and Liv to see if I could take out the darling and adorable Maddie.

She's my babe. I was lucky enough to get an approval. It was nice and relaxing to get up in the canyon and be in the trees with a stream to the south of you. The rush of the water over the rocks was calming and soothing to me. I enjoyed myself and the company of Maddie. She did struggle a little when she had to work her way through larger rocks due to having a leash on. I would just give her a "come one babe," and she'd bound up the rock and pass me by.

As I got up to the waterfall, I went a little higher than the others gathered there to find a little sanctuary all for myself. As I peered up I wished for the water to be still and frozen. I just wanted to climb. But it was good to see nature at work, to see the cycle of things, and to remember the first time I had been up there.

All and all, it was a good day.

The approach view.


























The good view.


























Top Section.




















A view of Ogden from my secluded spot.