Mt. Garfield

Had dinner with the Nelson's last night and then played pool with Ryan. I took last game for "All-Time Champion." He asked for a re-match but we finally compromised when I promised him we'd call it the "All-Time American Champion" and he could have my title in two weeks when I go international.

This morning I climbed Mt. Garfield with the Michigan Couch Surfers (That's a great name for a band if you're looking Stu... Josh can be your first groupie). The trail is four miles round trip, the kicker is that it is a 2,000 foot elevation gain. "Steep" doesn't begin to describe it. Add to it the fact that you are totally exposed to a 'rapid descent' for at least half of that and you get why the guide book describes its foot difficulty as "Difficult-Insane." There is probably about 20 sq. feet of shade on the entire trip and between 11a-1p, none of it is accessible. It's hot.

The boys smoked me but we got'er done in less than three hours including soaking in the incredible view at the top. You can see everything for miles in every direction. Looking West along the Bookcliffs, it feels like a life-size topo map and you should be able to run your fingers over the textures. Before you are too impressed, I will also add that it is an extremely "do-able" climb and that it gets an incredible amount of traffic year-round. However, you still earn the view at the top.

Josh also learned that lizard's tails come off when they are trying to escape predators. In this case the "predator" was a 22 year-old Jesus look alike. Did you know their tails keep flopping after it comes off?

Good luck guys...