Shooting 1K - 11/23/2013

Went down to "The Bottoms" today to shoot 1000 yards with Dad.  Tonight we decided to shoot the opposite direction as we've done in the past.  It was a bit windy but we were able to make a few decent shots.  We were shooting the 308 Winchester with my hand loads.

Check out the video too.

 Shooting 1000 Yards The Bottoms

San Rafael Swell Camp - October 2013

Here is the video from the trip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKd1tSs69rs

9/17/13 - Steering Stabilizer

Tonight I installed the Billet Racing Products Rubber Mounted Sub Mount and Scott Steering Stabilizer on my KTM 300 XC-W.  It was a a little bit of a struggle getting the steering post installed since I had to remove the triple clamps (which frees up the front forks and tire from the frame) and then get it all back together.  The biggest pain was getting the fork/head to go back up inside the frame and line up properly.  Eventually (2.5 hours later), I got all of it working and I took the bike for a quick ride to test it out.  It should give me a little better control in rough/rocky terrain because it keeps the front wheel going straight.  You can dial the amount of dampening you want right on the unit.  I wanted to spend the extra money to get the BRP system that mounts the stabilizer underneath the bars for a cleaner and safer set up overall, although it's not the cheap way to go. 

Overall I think I'm really going to like this new set up and a bonus is that the bars about about an inch higher than they used to be.  That is good thing for me which will keep me a little straigher up when I'm standing on the bike (which is about half the time).  The rubber mounts are supposed to reduce some of the vibration although I didn't notice a huge difference on the 15-20 minute burn I went on tonight.  It shipped with blue bushings that you can swap out for a softer feel if you like.

One downer is that the Cycra wrap-around hand guards that I so pains taking installed while camping this summer will have to have different mounts in order to work with this new set up, so I had to leave them off for now.

Once I was finished putting tools away it was completely dark.  The pics below were taken on a tripod with a 10 second exposure since I don't have a flash on the Canon 6D.  I used my 50mm lens for these shots at f8.

Daddy Daughter Date - 9/6/13

Well isn't it obvious that if I'm going to take the boys camping that I need to take Kaylee on a camp too?  It's been a long time coming because you have to schedule this 8 year old out months in advance and then hope you don't get trumped by a friends birthday party or baptism, but we finally got to go camping, just the two of us.  We had a great time eating our tin foil dinners, and going on hikes.  This is the same area above Silver Lake Flat that Konnor and I went last year, although we didn't park/pitch the tent in the same spot this time.  I had a really special afternoon/night/day with Kaylee.  Here is the video that we made and some of the pics. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3lswNpfYs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUj8_8RcJRf73iO_0o1Djd-g

Boys Only Camp - 8/30/2013

Konnor, Kase and I went camping up on top of Lake Mountain near the Fairfield VOR.  Since it was Labor Day and the Archery Deer hunt, all 3 of the normal spots that I have scoped out for good camping up there were taken already.  We had to resort to plan D and find this little spot.  By the time we got there, the sun had already set (though not dark yet).  I hurried and set up the tent before making a fire for our dinner.  The boys ate hot dogs and ham steaks.  I ate ham steaks and a can of chili that I heated up by the fire.  I only took a couple of pics before the light was too low for shooting, but there wasn't enough light for video.  We all had a fun night in the tent, and I got up early to take pics of the morning sun light.  When the boys woke up an hour or so later, we shot some video and took some other pics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uflZpmlxEJc

Extended Family Camp - Strawberry Ridge

This camp really started the day after we got back from the camp with Brandon and Rusty.  I knew that if I wanted to get one of the 3 good spots up here, I'd need to get there early, so I pulled the trailer up on Monday the 29th of July.  Much to my surprise the best spot for a big group was available, so I left the trailer blocking/reserving the campsite.  I worried about it sitting up there all week, so I drove up to check on things on Wednesday and Friday Night.  I bought about a half of a cord of wood from a really nice old man in Lehi for us to take up the camp, since there is basically no wood to burn around our camp spot.

Everyone came into town for Kaylee's baptism on Saturday the 3rd.  What an amazing little girl she is and what a wonderful baptism!  Karen posted pics of her baptism on her blog so you'll have to check that out if you are interested.  After the baptism and brunch, Karen and my mom went out shopping for all the food we'd need for the week long camp.  We all headed up to the camp on Monday morning.  I had reserved a 50" Polaris RZR 800 for the group to use and for me to learn whether or not I'd like to buy one for our family.  When we got to the rental place in Springville they informed my that it had been returned wrecked (totaled) on the prior Thursday.  They said they tried to contact me, but I proved them wrong by having them call the number they had listed for me.  Needless to say, that was disappointing, but we still had a great week of riding motorcycles, bikes, four-wheelers, going for hikes, and sitting around the fire.

Yep, it only took 20 years, but I just joined the Robin Hood Club!

Shots taken from 30 yards.

Camping With Cousins - July 26-28

Brandon, Rusty and I had tried to figure out a weekend during the spring that would work for a camp we could all go on.  This was the weekend that worked for everyone.  Brandon went up early and reserved the spot for everyone.  Mindy's parents (James and Jan) and her  brother Cory Reese and his wife/kids also camped with us. My dad brought up his new/used camper too.  LeGrand came up for the camp and Wayne/Debbie and Jeff Brothersen stayed just up the road.  We were camped over by Fairview Lakes up Fairview Canyon.  It was really nice to catch up with Jeff because before Grandpa Tom Brothersen's funeral a couple of weeks earlier, I had not seen Jeff for over 10 years!  We had a ton of fun with Brandon and Mindy.  It rained a bunch on Saturday night and Sunday morning which foiled our plans of leaving early Sunday morning to be back in time to make our 1 p.m. church.  We ended up saying a little while till it dried out enough to get out of the camp, and I got Karen back in just enough time to get to her young women's lesson.

July 15-20 - Yellowstone!!

What an amazing week we had as a family at Yellowstone National Park!  We saw everything from bears and wolves, to Elk and Buffalo.  We saw some of the most amazing scenery in the world.  I especially loved the Yellowstone falls (lower falls of the Yellowstone river) with the different hikes you can take to view it from different areas.  Taking 3 kids down the hundreds of stairs on the Uncle Tom's Trail was a bit never racking for Karen, but we made it and we have the pictures to prove it!  The entire trip was amazing.  We stayed at the Grizzly RV park in West Yellowstone and would enter the park everyday during the morning hours.  We'd stay in the park until dark and then head back to the trailer for the night.  Most nights we wouldn't get back to the trailer till around or after midnight. That is how much fun we were having. 

I couldn't believe how much driving you have do when visiting the park.  Each day we'd put on about 120 miles or more, but it was worth it.  We did a lot of hiking.  I think we went on about 15 different hikes.  One of them was with a Ranger since we needed to do that for the Junior Ranger program that the kids were doing.  Kaylee and Konnor got their official Junior Ranger Badges (Kase is an honorary one since he was too young to do the official one). 

I made this fun video that gives you an idea of the fun we had:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmCV-xPSNJM

I had to hike about a mile and climb a hill for this pic, but it was worth it.

Bottom of Uncle Tom's Trail.  Can you say EPIC Stair decent?

On a hike, Yellowstone Lake.

July 4th - 6th Camp - Strawberry Ridge/Indian Creek

This camp really began on Monday the 1st when we pulled the trailer up to drop it off.  There are really about 3-4 good spots up here, but they go fast so you have to be planning early to get one of these spots.  We dropped the trailer off on Monday night and then came back up after work on Wednesday the 3rd.

We really liked this area (although we had a ton of biting flies around).  I did a ton of riding and made another video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv52s7PjeDc

On the 4th of July we drove down to Mt. Pleasant for the Rodeo and the Fireworks (that's how much I love my wife).  We drove back up to the camp that night and Grandpa Keith came up on Friday night and stayed with us too.  Since it was such a beautiful area, with not very many people running around, and tons of places to ride dirt bikes and 4 wheelers, we decided to bring the extended family back to this area next month.

It was a REALLY tight fit to pull around this area and get backed into the spot, but we made it!

All 3 kids cruised this hill countless times.

I installed a spark arrestor on my silencer.

There are tons of amazing trails in this area!

June 20th - 22nd - Payson Canyon Camp

This weekend we found a spot near Jones Ranch up Payson Canyon on the Nebo Loop.  We had a ball!  I did a lot of riding on those trails and put it all together in a video that you can check out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SouOp9oHT5k

We left on Thursday night after work and stayed till Saturday afternoon.  We did hikes and rode bikes a lot.  We had some neighbors but they weren't too close and were also very nice.  We will definitely come back to this area for another trip sometime.   You'd really want to bring your own firewood when camping here because people have it pretty cleaned up.

Mapleton Canyon Ride - June 15 2013

This ride starts from the Whiting Campground up Mapleton Canyon in Utah County. You can use 400 N in Mapleton to get to the canyon. Drive to the end of the road in the campground and you'll be at the trail head for trail 006. The first few miles takes you up a creek bed, so be careful in high water times. After a while the trail splits off to the right (016 to Diamond Fork) and left (013 toward Hobble Creek Canyon). We were told by a local that the trail to Diamond fork is basically only one way since it's very hard to come back up it once you head down toward Diamond Fork. Sam and I took the left fork and went over to the intersection of 013 and 012. We'll spend another day exploring the other trails in the area.


The video I made for this one definitely has a double purpose.  Not only was it fun for me, hopefully it will help to drive more traffic to his motorcycle/ATV website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXO9SXAgrgg