Amazing downhill in Brazil!

September 11, 2009

Last Friday was September 11th, 2009. It came, 24 hours passed, and it went. I wont get up on my patriotic-high-horse, because when I woke up last Friday I didn't think about it anymore than the average American did. I was just glad that the weekend was here-- I didn't wake up and think about all the negative emotions that America experienced on that day 8 years ago; I didn't get down on my knees and pray that the horror of that day never gets repeated; I didn't do anything to commemorate the men and women who lost their lives on that day, nor those who have given their lives for this country since then. But that changed abruptly Friday afternoon when I passed a spot on the highway and a few tears ran involuntarily down my cheek.

I remembered that last Friday was September 11th all of a sudden as I rocketed up the interstate highway through Tremonton, Utah on my way to Jackson, Wyoming for the weekend. The Tremonton cemetery is very near the highway, and as I passed by it, driving alone in my car --BAM-- I remembered a funeral ceremony that I participated in as an ROTC cadet at that cemetery in the Spring of 2005. The details slowly returned to me and then became vivid, though for a moment it still didn't occur to me that the day was 11 September.

The ceremony was brief but intense. I was nervous, proud, and fatigued all at the same time. Utah State Army ROTC provided a firing detail for the three rifle volleys that usually form part of a military funeral (sometimes referred to as a 21-gun salute, although that is actually something quite different) There were six to eight of us cadets who were on the firing team for the funeral. We practiced after school a few days before and then drilled for a few more hours the morning of the funeral. It takes some practice to synchronize the volleys with precision so that each rifle is fired at the exact same time and each shot sounds as one. We drilled it over and over and over; first with unloaded rifles, then with a few precious rounds of blank ammunition that for some reason we didn't have very much of. I remember feeling so bereaved for the family even though I'd never met their son and had no connection to him or them before that day. When our time came, we fired three volleys with as much precision as we could muster with our limited practice. I remember feeling like we could have done better, like we should have been more precise, like we should have been able to give the family more-- but of course that is what you think in those kinds of situations. The volleys from all seven rifles were surely close to simultaneous, but to me it sounded like a string of firecrackers popping off randomly. If we were off, no one noticed. After the rifle salute, we stood at parade-rest for what seemed like an eternity-- it always does when you are standing like that, steady and waiting or the next command. I kept thinking about what a small sacrifice it was for me to put on an old faded green wool uniform, march a few feet, fire three shots, then stand still for 15 minutes-- compared to the forever that this family would now be without their son, grandson, brother, uncle, nephew, and friend. My small eternity was nothing. The funeral reached a crescendo and everyone there was openly grieving, including those of us who were actually participating in the service. I remember wondering if it was OK to shed tears while standing there at attention, having never known the man who lay in the casket a few feet away from us. Would the family expect us to be stoic? or would they be concerned at our lack of emotion, having lost a brother who we did not know? We did what felt right, which was to grieve. After several minutes the service concluded and we marched quietly away, passing the family and friends who remained for some time longer in silence.

It really bugged me last friday when I discovered that I couldn't remember this Soldier's name and that's when I realized that I'd forgotten September 11th as well. I thought about how we can't afford to forget things like that and I vowed that I would find out again who he was and one day return there to pay homage to this fallen comrade. His name is Sergeant Rocky Dennis Payne. He died in Iraq on March 16, 2005, and he deserves to be remembered. I hope that I never forget him and those like him.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=3323350

August 17-18, 1942 in the Pacific theater-- Inspiring Story

I lost 100 bucks on Torreys Peak (kindof); Grays & Torreys Peaks and Mount Evans

On Friday, we had a training holiday (army-speak for a day off of work), so I decided to climb Grays & Torreys Peaks-- 2 sister summits on the Front Range.

I slept in my car at the trailhead again-- that has been really effective for me this summer to acclimatize faster by sleeping above 10,000 feet. I left just before 6 am and summited both peaks by just after 8:

Summit of Gray's Peak; 14,270 feet

Summit of Torrey's Peak; 14,267 feet

This picture was taken from the summit of Gray's peak, looking back at Torrey's. Once I descended Torrey's back to the saddle between the two peaks, I started crossing a snowfield and reached for my sunglasses to dim the glare coming off of the snow when I realized...... that'd I'd left my sunglasses on top of Torreys! I really didn't want to go back, so then I started bargaining with myself-- it was 600 vertical feet back to the summit from the saddle, so I asked myself: in any other scenario, would I be willing to climb 600 feet if someone offered me 100 bucks? I decided that I probably would, so back up I went. I killed it-- I flew back up there and to my dismay.....the sunglasses were gone. There was another guy up there and he said that he hadn't seen them, so.....I came up with 3 scenarios: a) he stole them (strong possibility); b) I dropped them somewhere else and didn't realize it (50-50 chance of this-- I retraced my steps mentally and actually, but to no avail); c) the strong wind at the summit picked them up and blew them off the mountain (I'd say not likely but possible). Moral of the story: DON'T SPEND 100 bucks on SUNGLASSES.... (I actually got them for less than that but I still felt like I lost that much cause that's what they're worth)

Back at the parking lot-- I look pretty happy for a guy that just lost 100 bucks. :)

Lots of cars-- when I got on the trail in the morning, there were only a half dozen cars there and I was really surprised at how the trailhead filled up because the road up there is terrible!

Old mining building on the road up to the trailhead

After Grays & Torreys, I decided to drive up Mount Evans before going home. The Mount Evans Highway is the highest paved road in the United States. It was a cool drive.

Summit of Mount Evans; 14, 264 feet

I passed some goats on the way down blocking traffic

Mountain Goats: my heros

Check out my other new post here: http://griffinarchive.blogspot.com/2009/08/rafting-and-fake-flying.html

Rafting and Fake-Flying

The weekend before last, I went rafting down the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River with friends from work. We got some pretty good tourist-shots. Here's a pretty good shot of the Royal Gorge and one of us rafting through it:

One afternoon last week, we went to check out the Apaches at the attack aviation unit at Fort Carson. Sleep Well America-- you're safe under the watchful eye of Legal Intern Callie Woolam:

You can't really tell, but she's wearing a dress and 5-inch heels in the cockpit.....

A fun week! Check out my other new post about World Guy here: http://griffinarchive.blogspot.com/2009/08/incline-round-2-world-guy.html

The incline round 2; World Guy

Well.... I haven't had internet at my hotel at Fort Carson for over a week. Everyday, they say that it'll be fixed that day-- you know the story..... Consequently I haven't posted anything in awhile. I hsve internet at work, but..... I try to work at work (most of the time) :)

We did the incline for PT again 2 fridays ago, here are a few pics:

I was slower this time, but I still did it pretty fast. On the run back down the Barr trail, almost to the bottom, I had my headphones in, I was in a good groove, I rounded the corner, and I almost ran straight into this:

Whoa! What the heck? I was confused....why is there a giant ball being pushed up this trail? who is pushing it? do they really think they'll make it? this doesn't seem like the most well thought-out idea. Turns out, that this guy has been pushing this ball all the way from Louisville, Kentucky to raise diabetes awareness. Check out his website here: http://www.worldguy.org/

Here are some more pics of world guy:

A Weekend of First Ascents; lots of bragging-- you have been warned!

Friday Morning: The Incline

For our workout Friday morning, all of the officers in the office went up the canyon to do the famous "incline" of Manitou Springs Colorado. It's a series on old railroad ties left in place from the Pikes Peak Cog Railway; they go straight up the side of a spur coming off Pikes Peak for almost exactly a mile, gaining 2,000 feet of elevation from top to bottom. The record for the incline is 18 minutes to the top; it took me about 25-- which I was super excited about!

It gets dicey in a few places where the soil erodes away from the RR ties and other methods must be taken to keep them in place. This picture was about halfway up.

Almost to the top, looking down

I found this elevation profile on the Incline Club website: http://www.inclineclub.com/ As you can see, the steepest grade was 68 degrees-- there are definitely spots where you teeter back and forth a little bit!

Saturday Morning: 4 summits in under 4 hours!

After work on Friday, I drove to the trailhead at Kite Lake outside of Alma, Colorado and camped in my car. The trailhead itself is over 12,000 feet elevation, so I spent the night acclimating while watching Scrubs re-runs on my laptop. With the seats folded down, there's plenty of room to sleep back there, which I did. :) I got up around 5am and hit the trail at 5:25. I got into a good rhythm and eventually started really cruising, bagging each summit faster than the last. The circuit that I ran/hiked was about 7.5 miles rountrip to tag the four 14,000-ft summits nearby. I decided to travel fast and light, so I took a really small pack with just raingear, food, and water. I didn't look at my watch the whole time and was really surprised when I got back to the trailhead at 8:36-- just 3 hours, 11 minutes after I left. I was really stoked to have done the circuit so quickly! I think most people plan for 6-8 hours, which is what I was expecting, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Summit of Mount Democrat; 14,148 ft.

Summit of Mont Cameron; 14,238 ft.

Summit of Mount Lincoln; 14,286 ft.

Summit of Mount Bross; 14,172 ft.

Looking back to the beginning from my last summit, Mount Bross (Note: Mount Bross is actually on private property if you can believe that-- it's an old mining claim. The owners ask for people not to trespass, but...uh....well....)

Saturday Night: Rockies Game

I went to Rockies game with some friends on Saturday after I got back. There is a row of purple seats in the very upper level that mark the actual mile-high level of the stadium, which is where we sat-- my last ascent for the weekend. It was a fun game to watch and the Rockies beat the Giants, so that was a plus.

The guy standing up was wearing a Giants jersey and he almost got beat up by the guy in purple who was (of course) talking trash the whole time. I had no idea that Rockies fans could be so intense-- that always seemed like an East Coast thing to me (Red Sox, Yankees, etc.) Anyway, it was a good game and a fun way to cap off the weekend.