San Rafael Swell Trip

What a trip. Plus it was only 2 hours from Ephraim. We were going to Moab but my dad said we should go someplace closer like the San Rafael Swell. I didn't know about this area too much but we did a lot of research on the internet. My dad told me about this area after browsing around the internet and I looked for mountain bike trail in that area. I happened to find this, called Good Water Canyon Rim Trail. I did hear about it and looked at pictures of this trail when other people posted on their facebook status's. So, ya, I guess this is it. It is about 25 miles southeast of Huntington and Huntington is right on the other side of Ephraim mountains. So it was a quick drive, and the trail is right along The Wedge Overlook, other known as The Little Grand Canyon. It does look like the Grand Canyon and looked amazing when we got there.

The trail. The trail is unique. The whole 15 miles of singletrack goes along the rim of Good Water Canyon, like a cliff on the side the whole way. Amazing. Amazing killer views. Of course the trail on the map is shaped like a maple leaf and that's why it's so awesome and one of a kind. There were not really any lung bursting climbs, it just had lot's of turns, quite of bit of rocks here and there, and lot's of ups and downs. Not too exciting the only thing made this trail very enjoyable were the views. There were quite of few people too so I assume it's a popular place.

There were a lot of primative campgrounds so we camped a night after my bike ride. So on the first day, I did the whole trail then came back to the camp on the dirt road which made a 22 mile loop. Then the next morning I did half the trail but still rode about 17 miles. The night we were there was awesome, full moon and stars, and you can see the whole desert. It was beautiful. Won't ever forget this trip. For sure I will go many more times.

Brent Simmons

My close friend Brent Simmons died a couple weeks ago. He was killed in an airplane crash along with somebody else who was the pilot in Brent's new plane in West Jordan. I worked for him in his cabinet shop for a year and off and on after that. He and I also made cabinets for my mom last February, he also helped remodel our kitchen.

Brent always gave me advice about life and shared many stories about almost everything. We even talked about each other's problems. We even bull crapped around a lot, he was very entertaining and that's what made me look forward to work every morning. He taught me a lot about woodworking and made me a better woodworker. Working for him was the first time I worked at a real cabinet job, and I learned a lot. I really liked his cabinet shop, it was in an old chicken coop in the south part of Manti and inside it was a really nice place to work in, he had $180,000 worth of machines in it. The machines were the nice thing about making cabinets, made the job a lot easier. He always talked about how Glad garbage sack factory is in a big barn too. The winters in the cabinet shop was always cozy, burning all the scrap cherry, alder, oak, and many other kind woods in the wood stove which made the place nice and warm and smelled so good. This job was the nicest job I've ever had and Brent was one the nicest bosses I've ever had. Too bad work got too slow.

Brent had a love of flying remote controlled airplanes and had a whole bunch hanging in his office. Everyday after work, I always had to stay another 20-30 minutes to listen to his love of planes. He always had a dream in flying in his own plane. Just 4 weeks ago or so, he sent me an email and told me what his wife bought him, a plane! Just a little 15,000 dollar plane and he was excited about it. On the day before he died, I was going to go to his shop and talk to him about his plane but I never did. Now I will regret about not coming to see him that day.

Things are never the same without him, and I lost a good friend. But I know he is in a better place.

Sorry, no picture...

Well, I love Saturday morning rides, they are my favorite things in life. After my weekly worries and stuff like that, it's just nice to get out and ride a bicycle.
This morning, I slept in and it was already beautiful outside, sunny and beautiful. At 10:30, I went out to go out on a moderate ride, not too hard, not too easy, just a 2 hour ride on my mountain bike. Since there's hunters up in the mountain, I just went on the dirt roads along the foothills of Ephraim.
It was beautiful, crisp, nice, and cool. Only 2 clouds up in the sky and later at the end of the ride around 12:30, there were more clouds but still beautiful. I remember by the time I got to Pigeon Hollow by Spring City on the gravel road when I turned around, I looked up and the White Hills and Black Hills had sun shining on them and it was beautiful. Was shining and not a soul anwhere, I wonder where they all went, maybe a couple of squirrels were out there. Oh yeah, everybody was out hunting in the higher elevation mountains or in their homes watching LDS General Conference. This ride couldn't get better than that. .....wish I took some pictures with my camera but the picture memories were priceless. ...better than a camera picture.

The most weasely 20 bucks I've ever made...

After:

One day I was at work at the shop doing some work on a small house we are building in the shop and I was having a good time, then we all went to eat at Cavalier Pizza, the boss took us. He was talking to my other boss and saying, "we should have somebody bury the gas line at the Spring City house". I'm like, "oh great". I knew it was going to be me because it was always me. Me, me, me. The inexperienced one.

After lunch, on the way back to the truck, the boss turned to me and told me I should do it. I thought, "of course". So, I got gloves, 2 shovels, a rake, and lot's of water, and went to Spring City getting pumped up to do this. As you can see the propane tank is clear to the propertly line and the gas line line went at least a hundred feet to the house. I knew this was going to be tough because I had to put in 6 inches of soft dirt, then put caution tape over it, and then bury the rest foot of it with dirt and rocks together.

All the dirt was in big clumps and there were big rocks everywhere too. So, it was hard to separate the dirt from the rocks at the first six inches but not as bad as burying the rest trying shovel big clumps of dirt and big rocks. I still had real fattening pizza in my stomach and felt like I was going to throw up close to the end of the job. But this took me 2 hours, the boss told me it was going to take 2 to 3 hours and was talking about having me do it was cheaper than hiring an excavator. What? Yeah, pissing off your own worker doing this job just for 20 weasely bucks? Ridiculous. I got a big ol' fat blister on my hand and broke my back. Oh well, needed the exercise anyway. I took a lot breaks too but still took me shorter than I thought, that's because I killed myself doing it. The whole time doing it, I was thinking, please, I wish someone would come over with a bobcat and push the dirt in dirt in for me, I'll pay you a hundred bucks, anything.

Anyway, that was the lamest 20 bucks I've ever made. This was supposed be a hundred buck job. I just did a 2 hour hundred buck job just two weeks ago for somebody else I work for. He gave me an hundred bucks to tar a foundation and it wasn't even close as bad as the filling up the trench. Oh well, I got stronger muscles, better than money.

Probably the 8th Wonder of the World...

I haven't built a ramp yet, will soon. Probably put a redwood ramp on it, then put vinyl lattice around the bottom.

All handnailed. So, call me old fashion.

Grand Canyon...Egyptian Pyramids....Taj Mahal...Mount Rushmore....and Barlow's shed. This shed took me a while though but it's well handy where you got to put stuff in it. The siding looks good on it and I got some good deals on everything from my work. So, this turned out ok. I wish it was on a concrete foundation though but oh well, but it still looks nice, right? The doors came out good too and I used cedar tongue and groove boards and glued them onto 3/4 inch plywood. Everybody loves the doors though. I also put in the old cabinets from the kitchen in the shed and hung them to put things in. I will put in more shelves with the leftover 2X4s and plywood. I already put in a few things in like garden tools and lawnmower, etc. It's nice.

The cabin with a good finish on it.

This time, I used a really expensive finish on my cabin and it's well worth it! It's Messmer's log home treatment and it's really thick stuff. $50 a gallon. Made in Utah for Utah. It's the finish you see on the log homes in the Utah canyons. I used up two gallons for the cedar siding and Messmer's stain(in a darker color) for the porch and porch roof. I love the look of the cabin and it has never looked any better. I'd like to thank my old boss for letting me using the paint sprayer and I also used the brush for tight places. Bravo to me!

New member in the Daniel Barlow family....

For a long time, I've always wanted an urban fixie bike. I guess I was just browsing around in the internet and been a googlin' and happened to find this. This was surprisenly $250! Not bad at all for this price, I rode it around after I got it in the mail and loved it. Well, it's a singlespeed at a 46-16 tooth gear or something like that. At first, it was kind of hard to pedal around and now after I've ridden a few times, it got easier in that gear and now I think it's a perfect gear to get around town. I can't do hills on it though but I knew that before I bought it, that I couldn't ride on it uphill but it is suitable for flat roads....that's all I needed anyway. It's a lot fun and I enjoy riding around town and on Witch's Knoll south of town. This bike looks like it is $1,000 and I can't believe it was $250 plus $39 for shipping. It's just a fun bike to get around town and play along with. I just wear my everyday clothes and normal shoes and just ride it around for the hell of it.

Sun Valley, Idaho

Climb, and climb, and climb...
....and climb.


Well....well, I am finally biking again and feeling good. After a lame season of resting from overtraining or whatever it was, I am finally riding again. It took like what? 4 or 5 months? Man, that is a long time and I did a few rides still during the time. But now, I am rested for good. Too bad it's the end of the season almost. Anyway, I wanted to go on a bike trip somewhere with my parents and sister before the summer ends. We were choosing between Vail, Colorado or Sun Valley, Idaho. So, we chose Sun Valley because it sounded better. I also heard that there are awesome bike trails there. We left on Friday and thought we'd stop by at Lava Hot Springs to swim but there was a lot people in the area and nobody was really interested. It was also too hot to sit in the hot springs. So we stayed in Pocatello, then went to Sun Valley on the next day.

Craters of the Moon National Monument happened to be on the way and I thought it was an awesome little area where there was a bunch lava rock that looks like the Moon. It was interesting and weird. Dad picked up a few lava rocks which was probably against the law. Anyway, it was a cool visit.

Then went to Sun Valley, I went biking and the rest went around shops. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. The trail I went on was a good climb at about 1,500 feet of elevation gain and had a good downhill on the other side. I climbed on Wood River Run Trail and went down on Warm Springs Trail. Since I just started riding, I was really tired at the top and I was spent. I loved the downhill though. It was a good little area, not as many trails like Park City but still a fun place to bike. I really enjoyed it.

After the day in Sun Valley, we've headed home and stopped in Burley on the way to stay over night. Then slept and slept in. Left at 11 and now we're home. It was a good little weekend trip.