One Full Year

  As of November 2011 it has been one year since I began playing disc golf. Thanks Bob! This game has been awesome! I love it! The progress that has come with in the past year has been very satisfying. The game can be frustrating when learning, meaning when you first start or even when you're changing a grip or trying a new throw but when it's all said and done it's fun.There were a lot of good experiences with friends while playing. And it's always fun to bring someone else into the game. One of my favorite things is going to courses that I haven't played. This year was all of them. One of my favorite experiences was when we all went to Vegas for Bob's bachelor party to play a course there. It was good times on the course and on the way back to Utah. The bummer part of that trip was that the course on Brianhead was closed due to a later opening for summer season becuse there was still snow on the mountain. That was a course I was really looking forward to playing. Hopefully this next year I'll be able to go to more of the courses here in AZ and even make plans to visit Bob again and hit up the one in Kingman and the others in Vegas with Bob. Thanks to Jeff Harmon and Brandon Gibson for always wanting to play. If anyone ever wants to play let me know and I'll be glad to teach ya a thing or two.

Ah Man!

  Another year is almost over and I had a lot of outdoor activities but just didn't post em. I'll so my best to put some of them down in the nest post so that I can look back and see that I actually did do something in 2011. Hopefully 2012 will filled with much more adventures and hopefully a lot of them new!

New Shoes!

I finally got the shoes I've been waitin for, for so long. Ever since I first read about these about hmmm, six months or more ago I fell in love. They have a minimalist sole on them and are supposed to give you the health benefits of being barefoot with some protection. Funny story about em though. In January I was looking at another minimalist trail shoe called the "Trail Glove" by Merrill. I found that only three stores in AZ were gona be carrying them on their release, one in Flagstaff another in Prescott and the third in Tucson. I could have ordered them online but wanted to try them on for perfect fit. So I called The Summit Hut in Tucson and had them hold a size 13 for me. Well a month later, that's today, I got the call from them saying my shoes were in. As soon as work was done I headed down there, stink and all. I figured that I could justify burning all that expensive gas by playing a disc golf course while down there. When I got to The Summit Hut I asked for the pair of shoes I had on hold and a pair of Injinji socks to cover up the funk on my feet and keep it out of the shoes. On my way to the bench to try on the shoes the lady next to me saw that I was trying on the Merrill's and commented on it along with the fact that she was trying on the New Balance Minimus Trail Shoes. At that point I was like a kid in a candy shop! I had no idea that they had those in too! I asked "you have those in too!" The lady said ya and asked if I wanted to try those on also. "Yes Please" I tried both on and found that they were very similar. The difference was that the Trail Gloves were a little more rigid in the sole, had some arch support and the heal cut gripped your achilles more. None of the real bad. I'm sure they will break in just fine. I do intend on ordering a pair in the future and using them for more rugged terrain. As for now I will be putting the NB Minimus to the test and will report on those in the future. 

1/1/11 Good Start

This was a good way to start off the New Year. My Bishop asked a couple of us from the ward to join him on a rappelling outing and first thing I thought was to invite my nephews. Chanler wasn't able to make it due to a rash on his back that was bothering him but Saul made it and had fun. The idea for the trip besides having fun was to refresh ourselves on our set up. A couple of us recently were schooled and certified for the climbing and rappelling requirements of the Boy Scouts of America and wanted to be ready for the activities this spring. So ya we used our family members for those runs. Hahaha sounds bad but it's not.

  Upon arrival to Bulldog Canyon the temps were at or below thirty degrees and there was a slight breeze. That's kinda cold for desert rats. So you can imagine me in my vibram fivefingers with numb feet. By the time the sun came up things were feelin better. The rock was still cold under my feet but I had to shed the gloves and jacket.

  We had several boys out there all who have rappelled before accept Saul. That didn't mean a thing though. He did great. He went over the edge of the cliff slowly to get the feel of it and also the same speed on the way down. Which is good cuz you gota get a feel for it. On his next run he was doing jumps and 360's. A couple of the other actually went down aussie style, that's face first. Jacob Nash who was one of the instructors and one of hos nephews.

At one point some wild horses came through the area and Saul took off after them. Oh and also some of Bishop's friends showed up on quads from the south end of the area. After clean up I took one run up a hill near the cliff per request of the group. Then we took off.

  That wasn't the end of the day though. After getting to about Coons Bluff turn off I got a call sayin that Bishop's Suburban was makin a funny noise. Went back and long story short, he had lost a couple nuts that hold up the front center section and the cv shaft on the passenge side was binding. Luckily I found a ratchet strap when leaving the Bulldog Canyon area and wa able to use it in the temp repair to get home. If you want to read more on that you can find it on my other blog soon.

It's Outdoors and Sometimes an Adventure

Bob recently turned me on to something that is highly addictive...disc golf. I love it! There's a course nearby and over 30 throughout the state and it's free to play, that is unless you loose a disc in the water. We've played quite a bit this past month at our local course at Emerald Park in Mesa and have played one in Scottsdale. We recently played some new courses. On Thanksgiving day my Dad, Bob and I played Emerald. My Dad had to go to a party and Bob and I still had time to kill before we had to be anywhere so we decided to try out Mouer Park in Tempe. It was a fun and challenging course. Challenging in terms of game play and terrain. There are plenty of trees and shrubs to hinder your view and gobble up your discs. There's also an abundance of loose gravel, jagged rocks and wash banks so it's almost like a small hike at the same time. The first three pics below are of Mouer. The last two are of Fountain Hills. On the day after Thanksgiving the three of us went and played Emerald again and again my Dad had to leave. After finishing the course Bob and I headed out to Fountain Hills to play the course for our first time. It started out great, with me wading in the lake for a disc that went in on someones first throw. Bob and I have a deal. If it goes over a fence he gets it. If it goes in the water I get it, mostly because I'm always wearing shorts and my fivefingers. It was some pretty cold water, I went in only as far as the legs on my short would pull up. I couldn't find his disc but found a decent replacement so it wasn't a total loss. I really like this course. It was very challenging with well placed tees behind trees and tees on the water's edge. There were also a lot of rolling hills and the scenery wasn't bad either. I'll definitely be going back there. I could have been more detailed in all the fun and events that happen while out there but then I would be on the computer longer than I'd like and be taking away from time that could be spent playing outside. See ya, gota go check out a course in Chandler!

Bob in one of the washes at Mouer Park.


 

This gives you a bit of an idea of how the course is.





I think they need to hire me to be the grounds manager at this park. The grass was terrrible. Hey look it's Bob again. This is the most open part of the park.



Well, It's A Start

A little hike up Siphon Draw with some good friends. That's a good way to begin this season and a good way to get back into the wilderness even though it's not that far off the beaten path. It's actually a well beaten path but hey, like I said, it's a start. Not all of the wildflowers were in bloom so I might go back in a week or two and take some of the different trails around there to see more of the flowers. Oh and definitely take more pics.

Oh, almost forgot! This was my first trail in my brand new KSO Treks! They were awesome, I'm never gona wear traditional shoes on a trial again. I'll post a pick of them later.

Time For A Change

Man it's been a long time since I've been on here...a long time since I've really done any outdoor projects or adventures. Well It's time for a change, in two different ways. First is to go on more adventures and finish some projects. The other change will be to my blog.

I want to turn outdoor adventures in to a blog that only reports on outdoor adventures and start another that has reports on projects. I feel if I have something new to do like the second blog, it might help me to be more motivated to do those things again.

So if you read this blog be ready for some action in the near future.