Brrrrrrrr in Blue Ridge

I know it's only Arizona, but 3 days can get a bit nipply when you're roughin it in the bountiful wild with the beasts and the bugs and the...bark.  To avoiding freezing at night, I snuggled up to the cozy fire, only to wake up with sinuses saturated by campfire smoke; stings the nostrils..  I later regretted this (again) because my gear is now very pungent.

As we were dead reckoning a reservoir, we stumbled across a kinda creepy place in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!  Henderson's Hallow was riddled with half drank...drunken...drinked... half drinked liquor bottles, meat hooks, used round casings, random animal bones, and a picnic table.  In fear of some backwoods mountain-people, we felt it best to skedaddle for our lives.  See the fear gripping Trent's face! 

As we continued Hiking, we stumbled upon something else.. some serious action!!

Have you ever felt that coordinating instructions are in order?

This is the beginning of General Cook's Indian chasin trail on the Arizona Trail.  It brings to mind oxymoronic phrases such as, "You can do 'this' except when you can't.", or "You can't get there from here.".  

I can just imagine the hiker's, equestrian's, or mountain biker's leagues of jubilation and ecstasy to finish the Arizona Trail being abruptly extinguished by a randomly unsystematic mysteriously surprising and unwarranted 'Prohibited' sign. 

Arizona may be the only place, other than maybe Nepal, where you can have glaciered snow, thick deep swamps, barren landscape, then lakes all within a couple hours on foot. 

The hike was awesome, but more so served as the perfect segway into a spring break skiing trip at Breckenridge Colorado... And YES! Here's to ME!

Bulldog Canyon

There's a guy named Kolter (double-finger gun pointin). When my boy's around, there is never a dull moment! This little adventure took us on a elk crock pot burnin, gettin lost 4xing, bad stories tellin , crazy swearin campers findin extravaganza!.. and my cool jeep

TRI'ing Times

Stumbled upon some old pics stashed deep into the dark corners of my computer that brought an onslaught of nostalgic (pain filled) memories from a sport that CONSUMED me for a few years. I've always dug the idea of destroying the body so it builds stronger... triathlon only made perfect sense! These are a fraction of all my races, but of course we only put up the pictures that we think look cool. (If you know tri times, and are curious about 1 of them, I have a reason, just ask)

KINGS OF THE HILLS... for a 16 day reign

I Come from a long line of extreme outdoorsmen (like David Carradine in the awesome TV series Kung Fu). Back in the day, these guys would go backpacking and horseback riding for weeks on end. Since I'm almost an old man myself, I felt it was time to show these mountainmen what a BAD-A I have become and suggested a couple weeks of rugged male bonding in the Gila Mountains. My 67 year old grandpa and 47 year old dad were more than eager for this adventure and chance to get back to their rugged Arizonan stomping grounds. They got a rough beard goin on and I got a blister on my toe, but all in all I kept up with a couple them pretty well... oh there was a ton of illegal immigrant trash... they were probably going the other way though since now Americans are willing to do ANY job these days (I am not though, Economics and Political Science major that prefers a bank or a law office and will send a resume if you have any openings).

This trail was made around 1568 by Conquistador Manchero Diaz's Army...I guess peeing on cactus's doesn't help the little guys grow after all.

and some other one's I enjoy like proud cactus, fun with bombs, neat catholic rocks, Apache finger-painting pictographs, and big skull rocks.

A Marine

My little brother Daniel is now in Iraq as an Infantry Marine. I remember him chasing me around the house with things to throw, screaming while everyone opened Christmas presents, tagging along like he was a big kid, and skateboarding in front of our house in high school...Not chasing killers with a rifle in one of the most deadly countries in the world. Sometimes life changes drastically. I've never been more proud of anything, ever.




















Keep him in your prayers and appreciate that you're not in his shoes...boots... bc they're probably kinda smelly.

Everyone Meet My Dad & Mom!!

So I was sitting here thinking, 'Man, before The October Seattle Extravoganza, I hadn't seen my dad in about 4 years and my mom in 2!!'. He works, I work, he has vacation, I have deployment, she works, I have school in Tempe... Nothing seems to work out and I miss them.

You've all asked about them and here they are, the two and only...
Paul and I before I left to Afghanistan (nevermind the mustache...that's story in itself)
















...and my lovely Mother Sara and I in California before I left to Iraq in '03 (she's sad, but still looks beautiful)

I Love Kolter!!

As I perused through Clay and Julia's Breathtakingly Bountiful Blog, I saw Thanksgiving pictures with almost everyone hard at work.

This reminded me of a certain Reavis Ride and the reason why I love Kolter....Need I say more?