The miracle of the missing trailer pin!

In August, Janet and I had taken some of our girls and neighborhood kids to Sand Hallow Lake for boating. After our day of boating was finished and we were on the way back to out house from the lake, I heard some unusual noises at the back of our Yukon, particularly when we would slow down. Twice I stopped, got out and checked the rigging plus all of the tires and the boat. I saw nothing wrong. We arrived back home and I let everybody out. I then went to the top of Shivwits Hill, several blocks from our house, to let the water drain out of the boat on the steep grade. After stopping on the hill, I got out and watched until all the water was out (there wasn't much). From an obvious complete stop, I put the Yukon in gear and pulled the boat over the rest of the top of the hill and went home, backing the boat into the driveway. I then proceeded to unhitch the boat from the Yukon. To my shock, I found no pin in the hitch! There was no safety pin either. They were both gone! I stood there and puzzled over what had just happened. The boat trailer should have slid out of the hitch, particularly on the hill. It should have careened to the bottom. Earlier, we could have lost it on the freeway. Somebody could have been hurt or killed. The trailer chains were way too long to keep the boat in the hitch. We had pulled the boat from Sand Hallow 17 miles home driving on the freeway and going up a fairly long steep hill by Purgatory Prison. Janet and I have concluded that this was a miracle of safety in our lives and we are so grateful for it. The above picture is of a normal hitch set up with the silver colored locking safety pin and the main thick trailer pin in place. I was amazed and shocked to find them missing while I was unhitching the boat in the driveway.





A month later,my brother and I re-created the scene on Shivwits Hill to show where I always go to drain the water out of the boat. This is were the boat trailer should have certainly slid out of the hitch and rolled backwards to the bottom.

Fish Lake Hightop

Janet and I have the goal of climbing the highest peak in every county in Utah. We had summitted 11 of them so far until this past weekend. We had a four year hiatus due to Janet's back problems. This weekend we hiked the highest summit in Sevier County. It is called Fish Lake Hightop and is 11,633 feet high. We went with our friends, Lynn and Jill Bridges, who were crazy enough to join us in this adventure. They were certainly a lot of fun and we were glad they were with us. This photo is at 11,300 feet along the plateau near the top.












We walked for a couple of miles on the plateau to a higher plateau (or hightop) which was interestingly very different from the tundra-looking vista you see. It was about a half mile in diameter and covered with boulders and "Christmas trees". We took an hour trying to find to highest boulder. Here you see the edge of the higher plateau with these large boulders- some of which were half the size of our house.




















Here are Lynn and Jill at the peak. There is a geological marker placed into the rock and a fairly large wooden cairn to mark the top. At almost all of the peaks which we have climbed previously, there has been a metal disc placed by the U.S. Geological Survey. It is reassuring to know that the U.S. Government has affirmed that one has reached ones goal. We were only the fourth group to find this peak in 2009. Yes, it was cold and there was about an inch or two of snow. It would have been better to hike it in August or September.

Janet left a note in a glass jar which had been left at the cairn signing our names, the date and the fact that we were all over 50.

Actually, we took a couple of days to go on this adventure. On the way to Boulder, Utah, we drove over Hell's Backbone which is a single lane bridge















that spans this:























We climbed around Capital Reef National Park. Here is a fun picture of Janet and Jill in an unusual rock formation.





















Two squirrels on a rock.















Lynn and Jill contemplating the vista.




















Lynn became the "deer whisperer" and did a great job with an apple, even with this wary spiked buck.









We saw some incredible wildlife. We had a close encounter with an eagle (4 feet away) with a mouse in its beak. We almost hit it with our Yukon as it took off from the side of the road. It was gaining altitude and speed and was flying right in front of the windshield for a distance until it got up enough speed to avoid us. We saw two huge majestic elk. We saw dozens of deer and several hawks- one up pretty close. We ate pickle pie and pinto bean pie (really!) in Bicknell, Utah and had some really great hamburgers at the Butch Cassidy restaurant. We drove some pretty scary roads. Note the name of this one. All-in-all it was a great weekend with friends- but we are pretty sore from the hike. Never mind- we will be doing it again as soon as the snow melts in the spring.