Thunderstorm Bushwhacking

Some of our pristine campsites were taken over by some of our other canyon dwellers this week. If you recall from my last post there was a seemingly abandoned tent by one of our campsites. Contrary to my suspicion the owner of this tent is quite alive. How do I know? Well when we decided to relocate and go back to that spot to camp we found that he had moved to where we had pitched our tents and taken our spot. We decided to go to another one of our spots that is now inhabited by Steve. He is a nice guy in his mid 40’s. He has some kids and grandkids and owns his own recycling business. He was very nice and offered to let us chill by his fire. We have enjoyed camping near him apart from his playing rock music about “stealing your girlfriend’s car from a trailer park”, when I’m trying to go to bed.

We also went rock climbing a few times this week. We had some good times that naturally got us into some precarious situations, as one would expect. So since we had already gone rock climbing I suggested we go hiking and exploring in the canyon. We decided to go up Spring Hollow in Logan Canyon. We did not really have a plan per se but we were kind of heading towards the ridgeline. We wandered for quite a ways. The scenery was absolutely amazing and was constantly changing as we ascended. We were on a trail until we got to some snowfields that left us blazing our own trail to the top.

After a little ways we decided the ridgeline had to be close but we were surrounded by so many trees that we couldn’t be sure. Then we then heard people and four-wheelers. So we went a little further and found a road. After looking at Eric’s map and seeing where were, we decided we had gone a little farther than we wanted to go (wherever that was).

At this point we had been hiking for more than four hours and had ascended at least 4000 feet (I still have to check Google Earth). So we scoped out the area that we wanted to head to, which was actually like 700 feet below us and a mile or so away from us. So we started fowling an old road and then I lead us astray and we ended up in a different place. We finally found our destination about a half hour after that. It was this awesome plateau that jutted out into the canyon and supposedly had a spring.

By this point it was definitely time to be getting home. Although it was sunny, I could see storm clouds in the distance. As I looked back to where we came from I figured we wouldn’t have a very good chance of finding the trail we came from. At this point we made the bad decision that it would be just as easy to bushwhack down the ridgeline.

So there we were, two tired hikers trudging down a steep slope with a loooooong way down to go. We were already sweaty filthy and tired. The first part o f the decent required us navigating some rock faces and then killing our knees on a rocky slope. Then we started into the trees and brushes. The bushes were about waist high (some of them were poky) and we were using them to stay afoot on the steep slope as we went down. Then the rain started. I started slipping on by butt every few feet so we decided to bunker down under some pine trees. Being the mountain men that we are we build a fire to stay warm as the rain.

The fire go too big so we made it smaller right as the rain got so heavy I could no longer keep my eyes open for very long and it doused our fire. Eric is so cool. At this point we were already socked so we slid our way down the rest of the mountain, making it through more bushes and traversing more small cliff faces. The whole experience was actually a lot of fun. Maybe a little more than we bargained for but we saw some awesome views and had an adventure getting to where we were going and getting back.

Strangers In The Woods

We have kept ourselves very busy and much fed over the past couple weeks. I do believe that I will have eaten more hamburgers this summer than any other summer in my life. When you are looking for food during the summer the easiest and most convenient places to go are BBQ’s. We have attended our fair share of BBQ’s and I have a feeling that we are just getting started. We’ve also “tracked” into the Copper Mill catering a few times. We found some lovely ladies who so kindly gave us some lasagna and extra rolls after an EFY event. The EFY staff members seemed a bit perturbed but we found the right people to talk to. I believe the staff members words were “Really guys?! Really?” Yes really, my dear and it was quite delicious.

I ask your forgiveness for talking so much about food but it is definitely an important part of every day for me and how we come across it can be quite interesting sometimes. Now, onto the subject of our neighbors in the woods. We have run into quite a number of peculiar folk in the canyon. We first met a guy while we were looking for a camp site that was living in his car. He kindly put down is cheese and sausage that he was cutting to shake our hands. Though he was young, his burly beard and goofy hat led one to think otherwise. His clothes led me to believe he was in the Conservation Core and after a bit of chatting my assumption was confirmed. Apparently he only sleeps in the canyon during the weekends. During the rest of the year he “hangs out a lot with friends and plays guitar at people houses”. I've since seen him around town a few times. He is from Oregon.

At the beginning of last week a random tent (a large one I might add) was positioned about 70 yards from our secluded spot. At first I thought this was a little strange but nothing out of the usual. Although as the days past we never saw any cars parked in the mornings or in the evenings. I might add that we leave quite early in the morning and go to our camp after dark usually. So we figured this mystery person or persons got up to camp really late and left really early. Then a windstorm came and turned the tent on its side. After two days nobody had gone to any effort to tilt the thing back onto its feet. There was a bulge in the tent; that was what kept it from blowing all the way across the woods. Eric was so kind to kick it to verify that there was not a dead person. While that cannot be confirmed nor denied I am lead to believe from his description of squishiness that it was most likely just some bedding and nothing else.

Last Friday night an interesting occurrence happened again in the woods. We got to our parking spot to head to bed at about 2 AM. As we were getting our gear ready we heard this yelling and chattering in the distance. We didn't think much of this either, but then there was banging... We heard lots of random sounds that sounded half like a drum and half like a bunch of monkeys banging on metal objects. This didn't just happen for a moment. The sounds continued so Eric looks at me and says “wanna go check it out?” To which my reply was obviously yes. So here we go, trekking up the road, headlamps on our heads and backpacks on our backs looking like we we’re hitchhiking to Bear Lake or something. As we go nearer we ventured off the road and turned off our lights as to not be so obvious in what we are doing. The banging was then louder and the sounds of voices was clearer although not any more understandable. We slowly crept closer through the tall grass and then into some woods. By this point the sounds were so clear that we knew we must be right on top of these strange people. Although we were very close there were no lights and no signs of movements. I was worried that we were close enough for our footsteps to be heard over the banging and what now seemed like chanting. At this point reason took over and we decided that we had better go back before we made the druids or whatever they were mad at us. Our camp was not far away and they could have easily followed us there. So we slowly crept back and headed off to bed. The chanting and banging continued until I was asleep. We still aren't sure what was going on in the forest that night. We changed camp sites to a place that required more hiking. Eric found this place earlier while he was exploring one afternoon. He said he found some candle there still burning but with nobody in site and no signs of people being there recently. So naturally we thought that it must be a good camp site and we therefore stayed there for two nights.

As you can see I've once again failed to take more pictures so that is something to work on for next time. I hope you enjoyed the duckling.

Overcoming the Awkward

So the past couple of weeks have been invigorating to say the least. We have tried lots of new things and kept ourselves fairly entertained during our free time. Our new lifestyle of not having a permanent home has given us the opportunity to overcome some of our previous tendencies and fears. You see as a society we use this word called awkward. What does awkward mean? Well I'll let Webster Dictionary tell you, "lacking ease or grace , lacking social grace and assurance, not easy to handle or deal with, requiring great skill, ingenuity or care" Some people may find coming up to a random campfire of strangers awkward or maybe bathing naked in a public shower in plain sight of an old man a little weird. Maybe you would find it not the norm to sleep in a sleeping bag every night or not knowing where your next meal will be. These are all regular events for me, just as normal as bathing before church in the the Logan River (which is 32 degrees right now), rock climbing at night, getting kicked out of swimming pools, eating breakfast every morning at my works break room and a variety of other activities. I thought we would become less social but because we have no home to go to and no TV to waste our time with we end up meeting lots of people simply to entertain ourselves.

This weekend actually felt like were were truly camping for the first time. It was the first time we got to sleep in on the mountain and we even cooked our breakfast over the fire. After breakfast we went to a pool where we met some new people then we took some other new friends repelling. After all of that was done we were hungry and tired so we went to some of our other new old farm friends house to make hamburgers with them (they store my mini fridge and grill). After feasting on our gourmet jalapeño burgers we preceded to have some delicious ice cream. But it was time to change our scenery again so Eric and I went fishing at Newton dam (with no luck) and then went to a random dance party that was out there.

The night before we went to some fires where we didn't know anybody and got some s'mores. Our camp site at the time did not have any firewood, so whilst my good friend was still dreaming about sheep, I took my car to where the fires were the night before and found all of the firewood people left behind. Some people are not the brightest and at the end of their fires they throw all of their logs onto the fire and smother it out. I collected some charred wood and put it on my car and delivered it to out camp site. Luckily it wasn't far. I really need a truck. These are all of the stories I can remember for now. Until I find a computer again I bid you all farewell.

One week down

Well some people didn't think we could make it even a week but we did. I need to get my camera up and running so I can share with you more of the things we have been doing. I personally prefer pictures. Who wants to read anyway?

I know most of us usually feel like we waste some time during the day . I definitely do. I realized that by not having a home to go to I always feel like I am doing something and its because I usually am. At home I might just sit around eating food and staring at the wall after work (you all know what I'm talking about) but when you don't have a home, that option doesn't exist. We are constantly on the move or doing something new. I read, make bracelets, chill in the park, meet new people, scavenge for food, and hang out with friends and I even go to bed pretty early, usually.. So far we have been doing wonderfully during the crazy rain storms that have been happening here. Now that that we have overcome torrential rains and floods I got to thinking, maybe there might be a wild fire later this summer that we'll have to run away from. It will make our andventure all the more exciting. Lets hope that we aren't the ones that start it though haha. To get food we have been cooking at various friends houses and just improvising where we can. Yesterday we hit up two linger longers and we crashed another wedding the day before, also Saturday was Lee's 30th anniversary and they had a ton of sambles that we took advantage of. Yes, we have money and can buy food but when you don't have to why spend money?

As we meet new people and make new friends it fun to see different peoples reactions to the vagabond lifestyle; some are jealous, some think we are crazy and some flat out don't even believe us. I think we will have a house warming bonfire some time soon. You are all welcome to come.

I've never told my employers where I live but one of my co-workers the other day noticed me eating both breakfast and dinner at work and he was like "are you living in your car or something?". Funny you should ask, I said, we are camping in the mountains all summer. So I guess I'm not living IN my car but I am living out of it. He was like, "oh well thats pretty cool I guess. So is this for like week or something between apartments?" Uh no, I said, actually its for the whole summer. "Oh...", he said I wonder if you can be fired for being homeless......

The Andventures Begin

School is out and it's time to party without that guilty conscience that you should be doing something else that is "more important" all of the time! While I do have a job or two I now, I finally have time to do the thing I really want to do! To start the summer off I got to go to Lake Powell with my fam and my good friend Kelsie. It was a riot to say the least and despite the cold water we had an amazing time. For more details on the trip visit Kelsie's blog here . I wish I could spend the whole summer doing what we did at Powell and live the good life but alas, one must work to get through life. School would make one believe that you must confine yourself to the ideas that society has established to be "normal", I try and push away from those ideas sometimes. Since I can't live on a boat all summer and I have to work in Logan, my friend Eric and I decided to live in a tent all summer. We are currently located somewhere up Logan Canyon if you would like to visit us. It has been a lot of fun so far. I only hate taking my tent up and down all of the time but I've given up on that for the most part too. It is really refreshing to go to bed and wake up to the sounds of nature. Everyone thinks we are crazy but they don't get to wake up to the sounds of a river and birds every morning and on top of all that we get awesome views and fresh air. My point being, all of you should be jealous of us. It has been raining the past couple of days but our tents have held up well. We have had to become somewhat more opportunistic since we do not have a refrigerator or cooking devices. I go to work early in the morning to change into my uniform and to brew up some oatmeal before work starts. I try and make it to the gym to use the shower before the end of the day also. Since cooking can be a hassle we also have looked for anyways to get a free meal every once in a while. Yesterday while we were shaving in the school bathroom we saw that there was a big event going on in the Ballroom that was being catered. Seeing the opportunity we decided we would change and attend the event (whatever it was) but upon further inspection we realized it was an awards ceremony for the Cache County Sheriff's departments and everyone was dressed in their fatigues. We decided that this event would not be a good one to impersonate at. Not giving up however, we saw that a wedding reception was going on in the same building. This was something that we could do. So we went to our cars got our church clothes and changed in the institute. We then went to the reception where we enjoyed a lot of good food and beverage and entertaining conversation with older people. "My name was Brent Richardson and I was from Sandy. I knew the groom from our student ward on campus." We were counselled about life and we talked about other people's professions and families. After we were fully satisfied we left, but now without first filling up some baggies with candy. On our way to the elevator I began speaking with an older gentlemen. I commented on his tie. It was pretty neat. He then went on to brag about how it cost him $2.50 at Kohls. He reminisced about how he and his wife 50 years ago this September where married in the Logan Temple also. He was the grooms Grandpa of course. He then said he was glad his grandson had such good friends (referring to us) to which I politely said, thank you. At this point I felt a tinge of guilt and it was time to get to the elevator. Thus concluded the andvetures for one day in the life of a classy vagabond. Until the near future...

The Influence of Women

As I have been watching myself and the people around me I have been seen some interesting occurrences. The most obvious and well known occurrence is that women can be quite the seducers and get guys to do all kinds of things they wouldn't normally do. We sometimes love them and hate them for it. The other occurrence is a little less noticed but is far more interesting that the first; girls get guys to do good things all of the time and often times neither the girl nor the guy even realize it. No i am not referring to getting us to stop burping or making us cleaner. What I am referring to is the influence that good girls make on guys that somehow makes us want to be better people. I have seen it time and time again. Guys suddenly start going to church, reading their scriptures or sharing their feelings about God after they meet a good girl. I've even seen guys want to get baptized after being around the positive influence of a girl. If a guys starts going to church with you it is a little more noticeable but what many of you girls don't realize its that even when those guys aren't around you they are trying to become better people on their own. I have seen my friends and even myself start writing in my journal and doing other things I know I should do, but haven't been doing, just because some pretty lady makes us want to be better people. So all of you seductresses who are so proud of getting a guy to do what in the back of his head he wants to do anyway, maybe you should start playing a different game; how about you start trying to influence him to do something he maybe wasn't planning on doing, becoming a better person. I'm defiantly not in favor of women manipulating men. Just beware of the influence for good or bad you may have on other people, especially of the male gender. I'm not saying guys shouldn't be good without women but why not go about helping us along the way. This isn't a petition for women to get churchy all of the sudden. Don't be over the top. Just be your best selves and you'll accomplish a lot of good.
I'm Good by Bucky Convington pretty much sums it up (click the link to hear it) . It's a funny song I think. It's a country song so caution to all country haters.

To: My followers??

OK so since Finals are next week and nothing really amazing has happened for me to write about I'm just going to give everyone a rundown of who I am and maybe I'll get to the point where I actually blog like everyone else. Here it goes:
I am Tyson
I love the outdoors and if I could, I would spend most of my time playing outside.
I love traveling and am hoping to make it to a total of 25 countries before my passport expires in 5 years (I've got 7 so far).
I am Studying Intl Business and Spanish and will probably study other things after I graduate.
I like to make people think so get ready for some thought provoking questions in the future.
I like to push people's buttons so I might write about politics or religion and may even say thing I don't agree with just to get you riled up.
I like the ridiculous.
I like to have fun and laugh.
I most importantly like to do anything that will allow me to tell a story later.
I love adventures and doing what "people don't normally do".... whatever that means.
I think the world of Jordan Harman who is currently my only follower. You are the best!
So there it is.
Have a blessed day!

To the Blogging World:

Well- my name is Tyson and this is how I roll. . .