They're back!

Trevor is gone for almost 2 weeks on his river trips, so you know what that means...party time! Actually, I get a little lonely by myself, but luckily I have Jess and Wyatt to keep me company. Remember them? Well I guess we didn't really know Wyatt all that well last year , but now we have a whole new summer to play. Yep, another awesome summer in the Hole for our Denver friends....

This weekend Jess and I took a hike around String and Leigh Lake in the Park...I never get sick of this view.

Mom and son scoping the scenery.

My new summer buddy.

Adorable. So stoked to be able to spend the next 5 months with these two cuties!

Tough To Go Wrong

.....with a summer day when you start it off with a sunrise bike ride.

It's a bit of a poach, and technically trespassing, but at 5:30 am, who cares if you get views like this!

SUMMER!!!!

is finally here! It was a long time coming (and you guys in Tahoe know how this feels), but man it is good to see the sun! Finally, on the longest day of the year, it is starting to feel like summer has arrived, so what better time to do our little back patio flower planting date?

Loving the colors, here is our loot...and Stevie slinking away, not wanting to help out this year.

Trev digging in.

Contemplating the color combinations as any graphic designer would do.

And the finished product....yay, it finally feels like summer has arrived, let the games begin!

Golf...Casper-style

Sure Trevor is traveling around the state this week for work, but from the pics he is sending me, I don't feel too bad for him.

Octane 91 Combo Platter Please

Saturday was a day devoted to motorsports. True, perhaps not the easiest on the environment, but, the fun factor was through the roof! Myself and another guy (Drew) loaded up our sleds and bikes and headed up to Togwotee Pass for some sledding and then a mere half hour from what was still a solid 10ft snowpack, down to the badlands near Dubois, WY for some dirtbiking.

My sled and dirtbike on the trailer, ready to roll.

This was a shot at over 10,000ft. As we rode up on the tracks we initially thought they could be snowshoes just due to the sheer size of them, but, when we got a little closer.....

the very unmistakable prints of a grizzly bear! There was no bare ground for miles from where we saw these prints. Evidence that the bears are on the move right now for food, willing to be at high, still snowcovered elevations in search of the next meal.

Drew, sitting on his sled which is perched right on the wilderness boundary looking north up into the Absorka Wilderness and Yellowstone. There will be enough snow this year to go sledding almost into August!

Drew ripping a turn with the Pinnacle Buttes in the background.

There is still snow much snow left that we were climbing some pretty fun chutes as if it were March, not June! Here is Drew ripping up a steep line.

After snowmobiling, we got off of Togwotee Pass and dropped down to the banana belt to Dubois. From there we rode out into the badlands on the bikes. I am still in the infancy learning stages of trying to ride, but it was fun to go out and tear around nonetheless.

Me, in the badlands with Togwotee Pass in the background.

Drew heading up a ridge. Much of the riding was a fun mix of singletrack, dry creeks beds, and BLM roads.

We ended up riding both sleds and moto's for 8 hours total, got back to the trucks still in one piece, completely worn out!

Taking the good with the bad

Friday morning started with having to scrape the windshield of my work car. Ummmmm, memo to western Wyoming weather. It's the middle of June, scraping your windshield was sooooooo three months ago!

But......., it got warmer toward the end of the day and when you you get views like this, who the hell cares about ice on your windshield!
Ben Jones (fresh back from Everest trip and en route up to Denali in AK) went for a cruise on our bikes around Grand Teton National Park.

How to find a leak!

In two weeks time I am leaving on almost 3 week voyage to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana spanning two river trips. So, last night it was finally time to find the "pinner" hole in my raft and do something about it. As you can see, I found the holes (bubbles caused by airflow). Now I just need to patch them.

Sunburn anyone?

Nothing like scoring some June turns in shorts! Cooling Tecate's on top of Glory Bowl, Teton Pass, last weekend.

Ted and I couldn't stop bullshitting how much nicer it is to be skiing in shorts and no shirt, 70 degrees, and not a hint of wind. As you can see, we still have a TON of snow! 350% of average at last count.

Hell yea.

This epitomizes Teddy! Stoked, smiling, living the "This Day Rules" mantra....clearly!

All the runs up on Glory are still filled in from the top right to the highway.

Skiing, check....golf, en route.

The Sun is Rad

We got really spoiled this weekend with sunny days in the 70's. June can be pretty crappy here in Jackson, so, anytime the sun shines and it's warm in June, you have to take advantage.

Chels dangling her toes off the edge of her kayak on Jenny Lake on Saturday. The ice just came off our lakes last week, so, despite the warm weather, we didn't swim.

Later that night........., we went to Chels' co-workers wedding which was out in Wilson at an amazing ranch out there.

Starting the weekend right

Through a friend of a friend.......I was lucky enough to get to play golf out at JH Golf and Tennis on Friday afternoon. Normally I play all of my golf an hour drive away over in Idaho where I have a golf pass, as all the courses in Jackson are too expensive to play regularly. Luckily, I got on at JHGT via an employee. Can't beat that view!

We like Utah

It seems like every time we head south to go hang out in Utah, it is always a ton of fun.....

Shannon and Chels jumping for joy because they are so stoked to be hiking down in the canyon of the Jones Hole, in Dinosaur National Park. And, the weather finally cooperated enough to wear shorts and t-shirts!

Myself and Matt, getting ready to nail some fish.

Hiking along the banks of the Jones Hole River.

Shannon and Chels hiked down to the confluence of the Jones Hole to it's eventual meeting up with the Green River, 5 miles down the canyon. Matt and I fished and caught a ton of nice rainbows.

Awesome hanging with the Happe's. See you in Montana in a little over a month.

Chels and Shannon came across these amazing petroglyphs on their hike. Easily some of the most intact, clear, and badass ones I have ever seen.

The Jones Hole is the bomb...shhhhhh, don't tell your friends!

It did a rain/snow mix the last night we were down there and made things pretty muddy. We got the grand idea to go for one last moto before heading home. It ended up turning into an epic adventure, lots of mud, a blown clutch, and damaged ego's!

This picture doesn't really do the conditions justice, but the road we cruised out on to try and get on some singletrack was a clay based dirt road that was literally like quicksand. This is a shot of me trying to navigate the mud while Matt and Shannon's bike lay stranded, helpless, and utterly destroyed!

Episodes like this one are why I love living in the West. This shot is such a great snap shot of what is so awesome about living where we do.

We literally got so stuck in the mud that we couldn't ride our bikes out of it. Matt burned up his clutch trying. Just when things were going from bad to really bad, these two guys came barrelling down the road with their old truck, trailering a couple of 4 wheelers. They could see our plight, ended up unhooking their 4 wheelers, putting our bikes on their trailer, and gave us a ride all the way back to our camping spot, many miles down the road. All they wanted in return......"When you come accross us stuck next time, you can help us out."

We loaded up the bikes and took them to the nearest carwash in Vernal and literally threw down over $60 in quarters getting the rigs cleaned up.

Shannon, the moto model.