Happy Solstice and New Year! Kathleen and I hope that the best
parts of your life are "Deja Vu all
over again!" As you may have guessed, this is my traditional year-end
letter and
review. Tune in to the reports to get a more flavorful account of our 2006 adventures, .
The highlight (or lowlight?!) of 2006 was moving to Northern
Arizona. Argh, the pain of moving - well, you know. Ahh, yet the loveliness of being here...
Despite how the move interrupted
our lives, we managed to squeeze in some enjoyable adventures. Albeit nothing from 2006
quite compares to our 2005 Summer of delight at Little Creek Guard Station at river mile 36 on
the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, one of the originally designated Wild & Scenic
Rivers (
See the Salmon Sojourn! report) - we did get out a bit.
A good amount of free time in 2006 was devoted to
exploring the SouthWest, including
Long Ranger:
Kanab Creek Wilderness: Snake Gulch to Sowats Point.
This epic took us (a large group of Sierra Clubbers, Kathleen and I) ramping down into
wilderness - no ORVs, no cows, virtually no people for 9 days. This adventure produced a new song,
Esplanade Terrain
- Sung to the tune of "Acid Rain" by the Austin Lounge Lizards.
We also
hiked the Tetons on the
Teton Crestival 2006!, from String Lake to Holly Lake to Paintbrush Divide
to Solitude Lake to North Fork Cascade and out with Mark R.
After moving to Arizona, we
hiked the Arizona
high point,Humphreys Peak (12,643') in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness.
We explored our new big backyard
around Northern Arizona - hiking Devils
Natural Bridge, Fay Canyon Arch, Palatki Cultural Area, Dripping Springs, Bear Mountain,
Mount Elden Lookout, Vultee Arch, Soldier Pass Arches, Weatherford Trail Fall Gold, Bright
Angel to Indian Gardens, South Kaibab Trail to Redwall Skylight and The Tipoff, South
Kaibab Trail Redux, and Tanner Trail to Cardenas Butte, yow.
And, we ended the year with the
Super Superstition, an exploration of the Superstition Wilderness, where we visited
Hewitt Canyon Elephant Arch, Superstition Sunsets, Dutchman Trail to the Eye of the Horse
(Ojo de Caballo) Arch, and hiked the Miners Needle Loop.
Sadly, as I write this page, the misdeeds of the corporate
welfare artist who shortened his name to "w" so he could spell and remember it, and whose
presidency has been demoted to dwarf status (like Pluto, yet so much more deservedly) has
resulted in the death of over 3000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians. Will
any of us know peace after this divider has 'decidered' that his campaign slogan was really "four
more wars!" Or, perhaps it was "tyranny at home, genocide abroad!"
Are there
signs of peace on the horizon? bushco is mindlessly blindly supporting
his lies wrapped in slogans and seasoned with large doses of fear.
Master Yoda said "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."
Perhaps this is the year we
will see governing; redirecting resources from these evil crusades and working on healthcare for
all, decreasing poverty and "food challenges" (starvation), proper funding and protection of our
public lands, equitable taxation (rather than corporate welfare and tax breaks for the uber
wealthy), returning and strengthening the bill of rights, honoring science and funding education,
acknowledging then working on environmental problems (which are really public health issues
and help prevent the end of nature), etc.? Peace - let's give it a try.
The adorable Kathleen and I are well, and we plan to continue
to enjoy what is left of our public lands in 2007 :-)) We wish you the very best.
Finally, please remember, wherever you go there you are.
Take good care, Rob
