Life Elevated

Deb and I decided that we would go hiking today to commemorate the kickoff of Summer. There are several canyons that go up into the mountains from here which neither of us have ever been to, so we said, "Let's go!" The first one we went to explore is called Blacksmith Fork Canyon, down near the south end of the valley. We were specifically looking for trails we could hike on, but the scenery itself is often worth driving up these winding roads.

About 15 miles into this canyon we had had enough of following sluggish RV's with their caustic diesel exhust so we turned around and started back down. About halfway back we parked at an empty campsite by the river to have a snack and fresh air. Upon closer inspection ofthe site when we got out, we found that the fire had not been put out properly. there was absolutely no trace of anyone still occupying the place so we proceeded to separate the wood and stir up the coals to put it out. We found a plastic bottle nearby and used it to get water from the river to dump on the fire. throughout our trips back and forth we found out that the careless campers had also left a lot of firewood there too!. Since there was no one there to claim it and we had done our environmental duty to protect the whole forest from going ablaze, we claimed the firewood as our own and loaded it in the car.

With our new low-rider car, we proceeded down the rest of the canyon road. We went to the next available canyon looking for adventure and Providence Canyon was the right candidate. Four miles in, we stopped at suitable place on the side of the gravel road. We parked the car, got out and started going up the side of the mountain. There was no clear trail , just a thin, dry creekbed/gulch thing going up so we followed that as best we could. It was quite steep and the rocks were loose and treacherous, but we were feeling adventurous and happy from our acquisition of the carful of firewood so we pressed on. Our goal was an outcropping of rock about halfway up the side of the mountain.

Practically hugging the side of the hill as we ascended, I got a good close up view of the rocks as

I climbed. At first glance they looked like average gray, run-of-the-mill-rocks... until I noticed something imbedded in one of them. Then I noticed TONS of little things imbedded in these rocks! If you'll notice the little light grey thing at the bottom left of the rock, that is what caught my attention.

This is what was on the other side of the same rock! You can see all the fossilized remains of many of the sea creatures and plants that inhabited the sea floor of the ancient Lake Bonneville that covered Utah and much of the Great Basin area al those eons ago. We collected several more specimens just like this, some with even more stuff fossilized into the rocks.

We got back in plenty of time to make it to our ward's traditional Memorial day FHE BBQ. We even donated some of our firewood to the cause. Fun Fun!