4wheelin Down the Paria River

I have heard of a great adventure that leads one down the Paria River, and have always wanted to venture down it. This past weekend that opportunity knocked and I joyfully answered it! The Paria River flows south from Cannonville making its way to the Colorado River below Lake Powell; however we didn't traverse the river that far. We went as far as the old Pahreah Townsite and Graveyard, then hooked up with the Cottonwood Wash Road, which is the road that led us back to our vehicles. The course of the journey is about 70 miles round trip.

The Paria River is southern Utah at its finest. The river flows through an immense canyon that cuts its way through the rocky terrain. The fourwheeler trail criss-crosses back and forth through the river, allowing one to cool off from the warm spring temperature. One must always keep an eye out for quick sand and avoid at all cost, for they say it is so deep it could swallow a truck whole. The Paria is an unruly place full of history and wonder. Throughout the canyon walls are Petroglyph and Pioneer-glyphs (I just made that word up, obviously.) There are countless treasures to behold along this vast river bank.

CAUTION: EXTREME PICTURE OVERLOAD

The Whole GroupKelsieSigning the LedgerThe Pioneers wrote their names on the wall in axle greaseThis is my Great-Great Grandpa Joseph Hills Johnson. Circa 1900Colored PetroglyphsBubba explaining the meaning behind the petroglyphsWe thought that throwing rocks into these holes was very entertaining.

A herd of Wild Long Horns

Norm and Kelton tamed this one

So I jumped on it

Kelton trying to stop it from running away with me, which it almost did. It walked about 10 feet and I got scared and dismounted

All of us

Needless to say, I was not disappointed and can't wait to go again!

In Hot Pursuit of a Lion

My friend Falyn's Dad, Mike, is an avid Lion Hunter. On Saturday he and his dogs pursued a lion that ledged up right off of the Lake Road. It was up in the rocks on the west side of the lake road across from the big cliff, aka Jennies Jump, aka Poison Point, aka where Jessie Miles wreck, aka the 'aahhaaaa part' (as Kelsie called it in her youth.) Anyway, never mind the names.
Mike called Falyn to come up and check it out since it was only 100 yards off the road and easy to see. so she called me and some other friends and we headed up. I have only seen 2 Lions in my day, both of which ran in front of me as I was driving in a vehicle. One of which I hit about 1/2 mile south from the location of the ledged up lion. Needless to say I jumped at this opportunity! I was so excited to see my first live lion up close and personal.

Now, I have a major fear of lions and know one day I will be attacked by one of these evil creatures. Whenever I go into the great outdoors I am packin' my pistol in preparation for that one time when I will fall victim to a lion. It will probably rip out my juggler before I can whip out the pistol, but having a pistol does give me some sort of false security. This trip I did not have a gun, and I was only armed with my camera. This is all beside the point, I am just telling you this to let you know how afraid of Lions I am.

So... back to the story. The previous mentioned lion was perched upon a rock, which was very visible from the road. We took some pictures from there then hiked up the hill above the Mountain lion to call the dogs off. Man my heart was pounding as we neared the lion, 1/4 because I was excited but 3/4 because of the trek up the hill and being out of shape. We got up within about 25 yards of the big Tom cat, when Mike and 2 other guys went closer to peel the dogs aways from the lion. The lion took a couple steps towards them, I took a couple steps away. Before Mike could round up all 5 of of his dogs the cat lept from its roost and sprung down the hill to get away from the dogs and guys standing 10 feet away from him. The chase was on again! The dogs chased the lion down the steep rocky hill, across the lake road, through the river, and to the woods (to Grandmothers house they go....) anyway, it ran up a hill and straight up a tree for safety. The dogs had the lion treed, so we made our way up another gruesome, slick north slope. One time I fell waist deep in the snow, but made it out alive and with snow in my boots and britches. We arrived at the location and looked up to admire the cougar 20 feet above our heads hissing and growling. One crazy, foolish SOB, named Matt, climbing the tree for a better look. He eventually got about 4 feet from the lion when hisssssss, swat... the lion took a swipe at him missing him by a meer foot, (We laughed about it once we noticed Matts face was still in tact.) After that Matt decided to back off and climb back down the tree. We observed the lion and took many a photographs then made our trek back down the slip and slide hill. After a few falls and using our rear ends as sleds we made it back to the truck. Thus ending a successful day of pursuing a fearsome Mountain Lion and living to tell about it.

The view from the road...

Zoomed in of course!

This is My Favorite Picture

He is growling at the dogs

The View from Above

Look at how long his tail is, I also love this pic

The Lion and the Hounds

The Lion Treed

Look closely in the Tree and you can see Matt and the Lion above his head a few feet