Clear Creek Backpack

Just finished leading a six-day backpack for the Grand Canyon Association Field School.  We went down the South Kaibab Trail, crossed to the north side and hiked east to Clear Creek.  After 22 dry years, I finally saw Cheyava Falls running again.

Experiment with a Video

I am having issues with the Winter Solstice video that I unloaded recently.  It plays on PCs and Macs running earlier versions of Safari.  So this is an experiment with an older video to see if it will work on all computers.

Winter Solstice in Bluff, Utah

Once again artist Joe Pachak, with the help of about 50 volunteers created another of his fabulous animal sculptures for the Winter Solstice Celebration in Bluff, Utah.  This time, Joe built two great blue herons.  In this slideshow, you will see a few of his past creations (a mammoth, an ice age bison), a sequence of shots of an intriguing shadow that appears up in Cottonwood Canyon near an intricate Navajo Yei petroglyph, archaeologist Jonathan Till at the Bluff Great House pointing out prehistoric Anasazi celestial alignments, locals doing yoga during winter solstice sunrise, dancers getting ready for the winter solstice celebration, and "the sacrificial burning" started by a young Navajo boy throwing a flaming atlatl into the neck of one of the herons.  During the night, snow fell upon Bluff and the ashes of the great blue herons.

Bluff Art Festival 2016

Each year, Bluff, Utah hosts an art festival along with a wide variety of workshops.  Here are some photos from several of them.

Laura Post & Kate Aitchison taught an awesome papermaking workshop using fiber from native and exotic plants collected in Bluff and denim scraps from the local laundrymat.  Who knew that paper could be produced from tamarisk, mulberry, willow, Russian olive, and other common species?

Marcus Buck taught folks how to make split twig figurines from willow, a craft that goes back thousands of years.

 Stewart Aitchison showed ten people how to make chili stew, enchiladas, biscuits, baked Brussel sprouts, and apple crisp in Dutch ovens.  Then everyone sat down to eat their creations.

(and no one got sick or burned!)

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

After working as naturalist and photo instructor on several trips aboard the Lord of the Glens for National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions, Ann joined me in Scotland to visit some of my cousins there and then we went to Iceland for a little adventure.

   Ben Nevis the highest mountain in the UK came out for sunset                                                                          

                                      

The drummer in an Oban High School Band gets a call.

A quiet corner at St. Columba's Abbey on Isle of Iona

Sandstone sculpture in the Abbey Courtyard

Does the wind blow on the Isle of Canna?

Colorful Tobermory on Isle of Mull

Fairy Glen on the Black Isle, where wishes on rags may become fulfilled.

Our flat above Kit & Greg's garage

Ann, Fran, Steve, & Liz having tea at Kit & Greg's house.

Just prior to the haggis, tatties & neeps, washed down with a wee dram, of course.

The bothy on Isle of Eigg

Ann & Kit & Floyd on the ferry to Eigg

Sunset behind the Isle of Rum as seen from Eigg

Our cozy bothy on Eigg

Kit & Greg were nice enough to drive us to the ferry 

and then came with us to visit cousin John.

Low tide and John's red house on Eigg.

An Sgurr - Have not made it to the summit yet.

Pushing the tectonic plates apart in Iceland.

North America on the left, Eurasia on the right.

Hang on!

                  A must see attraction in Reykjavik                                                                               

That's a whale of a penis...I mean a whale penis.

                                        

The members, so to speak, of the Icelandic Handball Team.

This museum was quite scientific and funny.  

To learn more and to visit their gift shop, go to

www.phallus.is

Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church & Leif Eiriksson Statue

Reykjavik

The Sun Craft

Reykjavik

Interior of the Harpa, the concert hall and cultural center

Reykjavik

A couple of block heads in

Reykjavik

The food in Reykjavik was delicious but pricey.

Trying out the unique horses of Iceland.

They have two gaits that no other horse in the world has.

In the middle of our ride, we spent some soaking time in a hot river.

Gotta be careful where you walk in Iceland.

Don't call the horse a pony!

Reykjavik

Gullfoss Falls

Any bad ass kayakers want to give it go?

Gullfoss Falls

Look at the number of tourists.

Yikes!

Iceland where chips at $8 and a beer $9

This is where our word for geyser comes from.  

The original geyser here, called the Great Geysir, has been

fairly dormant since 1916, but the one pictured, 

Strokkur, goes off every five to ten minutes or so.