wesleyaston.com Blog

Is this winter over yet? I have been waiting for some warm hiking weather and it just isn’t coming very fast. It is a good thing that I have been adicted to ice fishing this season. I have gone so many times, enjoying the freezing temps! Well thats not why I go, I just love to catch fish. I don’t like to eat them, but I give them to people that do love to eat them. Out of all the times I have been out I have only been skunked 2 times. But I have made up for it all the other times fishing. Today I went out to Strawberry Res and even though it was a slow start I caught quite a few and even some of my biggest yet this year. I am kind of glad that all the Cutthrouts that I catch are in between that 15 – 22inch mark, cause then I have to throw them back. I do feel bad keeping them sometimes, but at least they aren’t going to waste. Even in March there was still 2 feet of ice to drill through. I think I will make it out a couple more times before I call it quits for the ice fishing.


We are planning a trip here in a couple of weeks for my birthday down to Escalante on Hole in the Rock road. Want to hike to Zebra and Tunnel Slot canyons, and then camp at Dance Hall Rock, then hike down Hole in the Rock to Lake Powell and do some fishing. Now all this might get done as long as mother nature doesn’t ruin this plan. We have been trying to make it to Moab a couple times this past month, but there has been more snow that way then there is here! We will get out soon!!!
Mother Nature, just let spring come!

Well another year gone trying for a picture everyday, now to continue to do it some more. The question is when will I really stop doing it? I do enjoy showing what I run into everyday or close to, it helps me remember what I did that day. I look at previous years to look at how the weather was or what trip I went on, so it is a photo journal for anyone to see! Well now on to 2010 and hopefully tons of great adventures!!!

http://www.wesleyaston.com/2010.html
And of course don’t miss out on last years pictures too!
http://www.wesleyaston.com/2009.html

So every year for the past 5 years or so I make a trip up to one of these Parks in the Fall, and this year I almost didn’t. First of all it is Markai and I 2nd Anniversary and we have to go on a trip somewhere. Thought maybe somewhere new like San Deigo, or ever Rocky Mountain National Park, but we just couldn’t miss seeing the color in the Tetons. We were hoping they would be as good as last year, so we planned a few nights in Yellowstone and then some around the Tetons. We left my mothers house early Saturday morning the 26th to head north. She lives in Afton, WY and we drove there as soon as we could get off work the night before. We were going to meet my friend Charles up in Yellowstone so he could pass on the Weapon of Choice to me for the week. I sold him a 500mm F.4 lens about 2 years ago and we was going to let me use it for this trip. I was excited cause I sure missed having this beast! When you have it on you it seems to be a status booster, people look at you and say the weirdest stuff as you walk by or set up next to them. Now you know why they call the brand CANON, cause thats what this looks like. Now I can’t wait to see what I get having this moster to shoot with.
Driving up to meet Charles we went through the Tetons first and man was it smokey! There was a fire at the base of the mountains, so we were glad that we were just driving through that day. After dealing with the long wait and slow moving traffic through the south entrance of Yellowstone, which I swear has been going on for 4 years now, we could see a new fire in the distance. The Arnica fire was between the West Thumb area heading toward Fishing Bridge, the way we needed to go. The road was open, for now, but the downside of this fire being close to the road is that is was the only way for us to get on the East side of the park. They are doing road construction on one of the main roads that I use in the park and it was closed for the season. Madison to Norris JCT was closed, so it added some distance if you wanted to go from where we were going to stay in West Yellowstone to Mammoth Hot Springs where we wanted to camp Monday night. Well once we got past the fire and met up with Charles we found a herd of Big Horn Sheep on the side of Mt. Washburn, so joined the crowd and shot pictures for an hour or so. There were about 30 of these guys that just kept coming from the top of the mountain and they put on a show jumping around the rocks. I just wish some of them had BIG curls, but they were all just small ones. While we were one the East side of the park they had closed the road due to the fire, now we thought we had a 4 hour detour so we could get to our hotel. Lucky for us they did open the road for a little while and we were able to get to where we needed to be that night. Markai and I have this favorite Pizzia place in West Yellowstone that we had to eat at since they were closed when we were there in May. Once we got there we saw they did some major remodling to this place. Seem about 6 times the size I rememberd it being, with a live band, bar, pool tables, and still room for some great pizzia. We tried one called “the Dude” this had sausage, pepperoni, garlic, and sauerkraut on it. This is where I would be yelling about how good it was! I never thought it would taste as good as it did, and I am craving it right now. However it did keep that wonderful garlic taste in your mouth for a while, so you got to enjoy it after you ate it!!
The next 2 mornings had had Markai up at 6 am so we could go out and get some early morning Elk shots, since thats when they seem to be most active. We found a few herds and got some great shots of them. I take so many pictures cause I upload them to Shutterstock.com and make a few extra $$ with them. Since the road was now closed to the East we just had to hang around the SE side of Yellowstone. We were planning to go to Grand Prismatic springs to take some pictures anyway so this was ok, but still hoping the road would open since Monday and Tuesday we wanted to be on the North and East side of the park. All the years I have been to Yellowstone I have never taken a shot of the Springs from the angle I always see pictures from, so I figured it was time. It was quite the sight being up above and looking down to it verses being next to it, so colorful! We found some Eagles, an Osprey and were hoping to find some Otters while were out for the day, but just had the Elk to get shots of that evening. The next morning which is now Monday the 28th, was smokey from the fire. It added some diiferent light for the morning but was great to have for pictures. Unfortuneatly this fire has kept the road closed still and we were unable to continue with our plans in Yellowstone. I wish we could have gotten to the other side, but having 2 main roads closed sure puts a damper on things. We decided to work our way back to the Tetons and camp there instead. It was still a great time in Yellowstone, and I can’t wait to get back there next year!


click to see the whole gallery

Being in the Grand Tetons this year seemed to be a comparison trip to the year before. Last years colors were so awesome and we got some great shots, so we had to match or try and beat that this year! We spent Monday night at Signal Mountain Campground hoping not to freeze and we were amazed at how warm it seemed to be, in fact Yellowstone during the day was warmer then most Falls too. Thats why the color wasn’t as good as the year before it still thought it was late summer not Fall. There was still some brilliant color around, some looked like it came and went already some was just right and the rest was still green and turning. Tuesday we found some Moose and watched them for a few hours hoping for some great shots, I didn’t do much landscape shots since were were going to be in the Park till Saturday and it wasn’t ready yet. Tuesday and Wednesday night we were staying in Afton with my mom again to save $$ vs the outragous rates in Jackson Hole, plus we don’t see my mom that often so it was fun to hang out. Wednesday we woke up to it snowing! Wasn’t it just like 80 degrees 2 days ago now it is snowing!! Well that didn’t keep us from going back to the Tetons, it was less then 2 hrs to get there but we had all day to play. Found more Moose this day but not much of anything else, still waiting on some Bears! Thursday and Friday night we stayed in Jackson Hole since Expedia had some rooms for $59 once October hit. The day before they were $180, glad I found the deal! Now that we were in Jackson Hole and it wasn’t much of a drive to get anywhere we got up before the sunrise to get some shots. As low as 9 degrees it was in the morning!!! But it was worth it, seeing the fog rise and the mountains lighting up was just awesome. We went to some new areas around the Tetons we had never been just looking for some action. Found Buffalo, Antelope more Moose, the most I have ever seen before were on this trip. Not much for Elk since they hadn’t moved down this way yet cause the warm weather lasted so long. Finally Friday seemed to be the day for some cool stuff. We found 2 bears that were so close to the road as we drove by they could have jumped into Markai’s window! To bad the brush was so thick it was hard to see them untill they ran arcoss the road and though a pond, got some great butt shots! At least we saw some! Latter we were by Oxbow Bend where we could see a few Moose in the distance and some guy told us that 2 Bulls just had it out and the loser went through the trees. So we dicided to see if we could head him off. We find him just mins later swimming across the water, then we get closer and see him again wading through the shallows. There is no one around to see this but us! Then I knew of a road to get closer and head him off again, as soon as we got there he was standing where I wanted to drive! Got some shots of him closer now, and we turned around where he walked just in front of our car! We drove a mile down to the next road where I thought he would come out again and hoped he would go through the water. By now tons of people saw what we were chasing and a wall of people were now on the road as he popped out right where we thought he would. Since he couldn’t cross the road he went down to the water where I was hoping he would! This was awesome, but now I felt bad for the Moose, he just wanted to cross the road, and finally did after we met back up with Charles. He had missed all the action by just minutes! He at least saw it for a little bit. The next morning was our last day in the Park before we headed to my brothers. We got up early for some sunrise shots at Oxbow Bend, but while we were there we could here the Elk Bugleing and ever some Wolves howling. We decide that the landscape shots could wait, and we headed toward the sounds of the wild. We saw 3 Moose swiming across where we did the day before and that was where we were heading. We just missed one of them going across the river where there seemed to be some angry bull Elk and a sad sounding cow Elk. The wolves howling was coming from the same area and after a big of the animal calls all was silent! We couldn’t see anything since the trees were think and on the other side of the river, but we can only guess that this cow Elk just got tackled and taken down by the wolves. It is sad to think but that is what I hope to get pictures of, guess there is next time…..
It was a great trip even if the Fires and odd temeratures make the color not as good as last year. We got some great shots of Moose and Elk…



Click to see all pictures

This weekends trip we had talked about for a few months on what we were going to do. We were originally going to go hike the Zion Narrows, but we couldn’t wait that long and did that earlier in July. Down to the wire we kept changing out minds on what do go do, but we finally decided to go to Escalante and start at Calf Creek. We got there late Friday night after Markai got off work and driving just over 4 hours through the winding roads up and over mountains and through the desert. If you have never been on HWY 12 from Escalante to Boulder I recommend doing it. Just don’t drive to fast or you will fly off either side of the road on the Hogs Back and fall to your death. We got there a little after dark and found the campground was FULL! I sort of expected that so I had plans for a place to stay off the beaten path if this was the case. We slept in the car, since my car is awesome and fits us both with pleanty of room, and when the morning came so did a sweet sunrise. In Calf Creek you don’t get to see sunrises like we did cause your in a canyon, so this made it nice for us. We packed up after taking some pictures and went back to Calf Creek right in time for someone else to pack there camp so we had a place to set up there! After we set up then we hiked to Lower Calf Creek Falls. It was in the 80’s and this round trip 5.6 mile was worth the hot hot sun baking down on you. At the Falls the water was COLD, you really wanted to swim but it was unbearable. The breeze and mist that came from it was excellent. Wish I had a lawnchair to lay there and take a nap all day. The hike back seemed even hotter, and Markai I thought was going to pass out. We climbed in the creek to cool off, it felt so good!

The next morning we packed camp and went to hike Escalante Natural Bridge, it is about 4 mile round trip through the sand and crossing the Escalante River a few times. We only passed 2 peolpe on this hike, so it made it even better. This bridge is in a grotto area with lots of green plants and trees. I would love to see it in the rain with the water falls that would fall in this area. This hiked I finally got to test out the video on my new Canon Rebel T1i it works pretty well and can’t wait to test it more down the road. After this hike we decided to head to Tropic Resivoir, a place we have never been. It is located just West of Brcye Canyon, and after we got there we decided that it is a place for 4 wheelers and didn’t know what we were going to do the rest of the day if we stayed here. So we decided to head toward Cedar City to hike Kanarraville Canyon again the next morning. The closer we got the more smoke was in the air, there was a huge wildfire across the valley so we decided no to camp around that area and we continued south to Zion! We camped in the park at the South Campground, we love this area cause it is just a short walk to the shuttles durning the busy season, but you don’t feel crammed like other areas I have been too. We rode the shuttle in and walked around a bit chasing some deer and getting some sunset pictures before it was dark and we had to finally call it a day. That was a long day!

The next morning we weren’t sure if we should hike the Narrows or go back to Kanarraville……. we love both spots! We did pick Kanarraville and pack our gear and headed out. This was our last day before back to work. We started the trail about 9am and we were the only car there. After hiking up a bit I saw some tracks going in and out of the water so I knew we weren’t alone. Finally we came across to people heading up too, they were taking a break not knowing the cool stuff was just up 100 yards. Once I let them know they were right on our tails. Once we got to the first climb up the log I didn’t think they would go further then this, it was a little bit of a shakey climb, steps missing broke screws sticking out, potential for some serious injuries! Did that stop us, no way! We made it up to the same place as last month. The water level was lower this time but still made for some sweet pictures and video! Once we headed back down the guy of the 2 person group made it up the climb and was heading to the last fall. We came across the lady below the climb waiting for him to finish is shots, but it is so awesome up there she might wait all day for him! After talking to her a little we found out they came all the way from Germany to hike this and Zion. I thought that was cool that we had this canyon all to ourselves and the only other people here came from Germany. We made it back to the car and drove that last couple hours home so we could go through all the pictures. I was a great birthday weekend! Now to wait for the next trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons!

The summer is coming to an end soon, but that just means it is time for my favorite time of the year, FALL! That means a few more trips are on the way soon. We are heading up to Idaho this weekend, but more to visit our new Niece, and of course the rest of my brothers family. But then the following weekend it is Markai’s Birthday weekend trip. We have change the plans a few times on where to go, but I think we have settled on going to Escalante. Planned to stay there earlier this year 2 different times but the weather was cold so now it is time to just get there. Then the end of next month we are planning to go up north to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for Fall Colors. We thought about doing something new but just couldn’t stand missing the bright leaves up there. Last years trip to the Tetons was so good that I hope it is as good or better! However before we go it is time to try and get some new gear! Sold one of my cameras so I can buy a new one. My Rebel XT is now in my Brother-in-laws hands and I will be picking up the new Rebel T1i. It is 15 megapixel and shoots HD video. Now I can get rid of my video camera and just pack one around on some of these trips. 2 if you count my 20d.
Now just to order it and start shooting!

Markai and I have gotten in to rappelling this year, something new and fun to try. Not sure why, just started looking at new hikes and slowly started to buy some gear. So yesterday we took Ryan out for his first time to see how he liked it. We have gone a bit now to feel good about taking some new poeple with and not killing them. I wonder if they have the same jitters I got my first couple times this year. Never really been scared of hieghts till we went to go the first time, I all most changed my mind. Now I feel fine about getting up high and hanging over the ledge of a cliff, we will see once the cliffs get higher! Someday we will go on a little more extreme hikes with some big rappels, until then we will just keep having some fun on some smaller walls.

Red Ledges

One of Markai and I’s favorite hike is the Zion Narrows. She was wanting to do this hike for her birthday, but we still have over a month to go. I didn’t want to wait and we had the weekend off. So guess where we went!? Unfortuneatly I had to close at work on Friday night so we didn’t leave till about 10pm, and I wanted to get up for the first or second shuttle in the park. We camped in our car, and pulled into a hotel’s parking lot to sleep in. The funny thing is that the car we parked next to also had 2 people sleeping in it… What were the odds of this? Only getting about 3 hrs of sleep it was time to head to the park and hit the shuttle. We missed the first one by a few mins but the sun had not come up yet so we had some time. Even the second one have very little people on it. Most were going to hike Angels Landing, and just a few of us to hit the Narrows. The temp was supposed to be over 110 for the day so we were glad we were there early and were hiking in the water. We went further up then we usually do this time, not going up Orderville Canyon, which we love. Only seeing a few people on the way up, the way down was different for sure! So many people were coming up as we were heading down that it makes it worth getting up just after 5am to do this hike. Later this day when we got to our hotel to catch a nap the temp was about 111 degrees, hot enough I thought my skin would melt off.
Here is the gallery for the pictures.

The next morning we went to try a new hike in the town of Kanarraville. A short hike down a dirt road, then over a stream and through the trees and bushes, till you come to a slot canyon. I have seen shots of this place and been wanting to hike it for a couple years. We started at 9:30am and the temp was a bit warm, but not like the day before. We weren’t sure what this hike would be like and thought about bagging it. But we went for it and we are sure glad we did. We got to the narrow canyon and the colors were awesome! Then came to the first waterfall, but the sun was in the wrong place so we climbed up the log and over this falls and came to a grotto area with some other sweet falls. We were loving this place now and had it all to ourselves! We then waded through the next slot canyon and there was another waterfall, it was and awesome site with the red rock glowing I took so many shots that I have many of the same thing. There was a new ladder someone had built on this falls which I climbed on for some pictures. Man was that water cold when it was soaking you. But view made it worth it. As we hiked out we came across a couple groups of people. Some were sliding down one of the waterfalls in the grotto area, it sure looked fun so next time I will wear my swimsuit. The sun had moved a little on the first falls we came to so we took a few more shots before another big group of people came. Once they were there it was time to leave. We can’t wait to go back and do this again, but next time we will start early and spend most the day.
These pictures are some of my favorites…

I have been on quit a few trips the past few months, and haven’t taken the time to write about them. Now is my time to get caught up!
April did a trip to Lake Powell for a couple days, and this trip was my least favorite ever there…. Fishing was horrible, and the wind would not stop! Did see some new Ruins though and got a few sweet shots, however this trip makes me not want to go back next year. We shall see.
The gallery…..

The day we left Lake Powell we were planning to stay at Calf Creek for 2 nights. The weather was bad and snowed on us driving there and once we got there the place was packed with people. We were tired of driving but decided to head to Zion instead. We got there and setup camp, the weather was good and we were ready for some new hikes. The next couple days we hiked some random canyons that aren’t main attractions to hide from the crowds. But did one that was called Hidden Canyon. It was a steep hike up the trail but well worth the view. To bad the Virgin River was to high and we couldn’t hike the Narrows.
See the pictures.

May we did some traveling up north in Idaho, and Wyoming. We did a quick trip through Yellowstone and the Tetons for a couple days. Saw some great things, but wish we stayed longer. One day we saw 2 wolves, and 7 bears! Didn’t get any awesome shots like I have in years past, but still great to see the animals out and about.

After Yellowstone we headed over to my sisters house and where I went to check out the Sawtooth Mountains. We did an over night 10 mile hike to Hell Roaring Lake. The snow was still a bit deep up there, but at least there were no mosquitos, or other people. It was a nice hike other then having wet feet for 24 hrs. This trip was a test run for a hike we were getting ready for in July.

Now the first week of July and back to Idaho to do our hiking in the Sawtooth Mountains. We had to change the route a little due to to much snow still. We started at Pettit Lake and were still planning a 25 mile hike and we were going to come out at Hell Roaring Lake, the one we did the month before. Untill we started to get eaten alive by mosquitos! The area was very pretty, and yes there was a bit of snow in spots, but not like the month before. We had some great lightening storms at couple nights, but I never got sunrise shot, or good sunset shots cause I didn’t want to get out of the tent sometimes due to the swarm of blood suckers waiting for you. I wish I would have gotten out just for a few mins, but I was going crazy. We ended up cutting the trip a day short and 5 miles shorter too. Markai and I did decide that we like Southern Utah better. But I still love them mountains. We will have to go again when the mosquitos aren’t as bad.
Check the shots from the hike…..

So to finish off this trip, we had 2 more days to play and hike. After getting up an leaving Blanding we headed east to find House on Fire Ruin. I haven’t looked up the trail for this hike other then using Google Earth. It looked like a short walk from a pull out on the road so that is where we went. Found a trail heading toward the canyon to find our way down, but came to a problem, there was no trail going down. So we blazed our own following deer tracks down this steep hill. Markai wasn’t to happy with me at the time, but I told her think of the adventure we can tell someone about! She was ok once we got to the ruins! There was nobody around and we took our shots and did some exploring. However we only had the place to ourselves for about 20 mins before a big group of people showed up. That was our call to get outta there. I spotted some places to climb back up to our car and through the trees and slickrock we went. Markai was unhappy with me again, but we made it safe. We did find the trail about a mile down the road later, so all we did is shave off some hiking.

The next stop was Natural Bridges National Monument since it was about 20 miles away. We did a quick loop through and hiked only through one of the Bridges and took some pictures. It was the middle of the day so the light was nothing extra and the wind was blowing so we didn’t stay to long. After here we were thinking of heading to Lake Powell to ride the Ferry cross the Lake and head home a day early. As soon as we hit the highway I changed my mind and we decieded to go stay in Moab since we love it there. We made a couple stops on the way here, once was called Buttler Wash Ruins. It was a cool place to see some ruins at. I would love to be there in the rain though. There would be some sweet waterfalls comeing through, even an arch tunnel was there that would have a big waterfall coming out of it. Sometimes I just wish I had bad “rainy” weather. We were the only people here at this spot and I only new there were ruins here by seeing some on Google Earth when we were in Blanding. The sign on the road told you nothing, so it was a good thing I checked it out. After this we took a detour to Newspaper Rock to find a big wall of Indian writting. A few pictures there, then off to Moab. We took it easy that night and got up the next morning to drive though Arches National Park. I didn’t feel like doing much other then just going home. It was a long road trip that wasn’t supposed to happen, but since Mother Nature is a pain sometimes we got to see some neat stuff!

Now for the next adventure….

House on Fire Ruins and Butler Wash Ruins.

So the birthday trip we had planned to do was based on some decent weather this year. Planning on camping 2 nights in Kodachrome Basin, then up the road about 40 miles to Escalante for another 2 nights. Well mother nature, that mean old woman, didn’t think that was going to be a good trip for us. Saturday March 21st we get up and get out of the house they day of my birthday and head to Kodachrome Basin State park. Once we get camp setup then we head down a dirt road to Grosvenor Arch. The first thing on the road is a sign saying “4 wheel drive recomended.” Well the Mazda 6 is a beast sure it can handle it. Down the road we go, and run into a cattle drive heading toward us. We wait for it to pass us up, then there is now a little creek we have to drive through. We couldn’t let that stop us! We checked it out then hit the pedal to the metal and went through! The car did great there and back. After that then we went down another dirt road to check out Willis Creek, and Bull Canyon. Another crazy dirt road to test out the car on. During the rain we would not make it. 12 miles down the road we finally find Willis and go check it out. A nice little water wall was in the slot canyon, so I climbed on in to take some shots. Bull Valley Gorge is a lot deeper and the one thing it has I haven’t seen in a slot canyon before is a truck wedged in it. Back in the 1950’s some people took a wrong turn and well the truck is still there jammed in the canyon. It was a good first day ending next to the camp fire.

The next morning we head up to Bryce Canyon and hike down to Wall Street, which is always closed whenever I want to hike it. We are at a higher elevation so the weather was a bit cooler then the day before. We wind down the switchbacks and enjoy the sunny weather, it is just good to be out and away from work. We didn’t spend much time in Bryce but once our hike was done then we saw it, the big black clouds rolling in! We didn’t know if we were going to get soaked at camp and blown away since it was a windy day. We decide to pack up camp and get outta there. The weather said it wan’t going to be very good or warm the next few days and we didn’t want to spend our time freezing! Zion here we come!

Zion wasn’t to exciting either, no big waterfalls, to cold to do the Narrows, no good Spring color yet…. so we spent the night in a cabin and got up the next day and said, “Hey lets go to Horseshoe Bend!” Arizona here we come! There were some cool clouds the whole way and I was excited to see what we might have for pictures. On the drive there we passed tons of roadkill, and as sad as that is to see deer all over the road it brings brings food for birds. Eagles in fact eating these deer. We passed one eagle on the deer and switched seats in the car and did a drive buy shooting to get a picture of it. At least one shot came out pretty cool. Once we got to Horseshoe Bend we gave our Vibram Five Finger Gloves a try, it was about 1 1/2 mile round trip mostly through the sand. The only issue I had was the sand getting inside and under my toes. My toes seemed to lift higher then normal so it was a little uncomfortable walking up a hill. There were some great clouds for pictures and also tons of wind! Don’t get to close to the edge or you might lose your blance and that would be the end of you. Markai tried to pour some water over the edge and it just blew back up where we were, that was neat to see.

After this stop we thought about doing Upper Antelope Canyon but the $20 each price tag and the lack of time just didn’t work for us, so we headed to Monument Valley for a few shots. Then through the Valley of the Gods to find the next spot I wanted to take some pictures of, House on Fire Ruin. It was to late in the day to do that one so the next morning we were planning on doing that. After a long day of driving we stayed in Blanding, UT since it was to cold in my book to camp!
Part II will be on its way soon!