If I had only known.....

The ego wants to compare. It wants to find reasons for you to feel good about yourself (“I’ve got a new bike!”). But by doing that it also becomes very hard to not compare yourself to others who have more than you (“Oh no, Bill has bought an even nicer bike!”). And so you don’t feel so good about yourself once again. If you compare yourself to others you let the world around control how you feel about yourself. It always becomes a rollercoaster of emotions.

A more useful way is to compare yourself to yourself. To look at how far you have come, what you have accomplished and how you have grown. It may not sound like that much fun but in the long run it brings a lot more inner stillness, personal power and positive feelings.

Hell's Half Acre Hike - April 25, 2010

Just to the west of Idaho Falls, between I-15 to the south, and 20 to the north lies the the Hell's Half Acre Lava Flows. Hell's Half Acre flows over about 222 square miles or 162,000 acres. Sixty-six thousand acres are within a Wilderness Study Area.



The Hell's Half Acre flows came from a vent that is located along a rift. This rift parallels the 62 mile long Great Rift that goes through Craters of the Moon National Monument. The main vent for the Hell's Half Acre flow is 95 to 200 feet wide and 730 feet long. The vent has 13 pit craters where lava flowed out and then receded. The last flow from the main vent occurred 2,000 years ago.

One of the "Pits"


This particular hike 9 miles round trip is fairly challenging. Rough terrain, combined with lack of any water sources make for a long day hike. Twisting it's way due south, one gets little sense of progress, not many landmarks to judge one's movement by. The distant mountains give little indication that one is indeed moving. It is a long way out to the rift, no doubt about it!

Baldy Hike - April 24, 2010

Just a short trip up to the snowline on Baldy, took the hounds...they loved it. The hike started at bees and flowers, through dense stands of mountain mahogany then ended with deep drifts of snow blocking further advance. Lots of deer foraging the lower slopes, counted at least 50 head.



Up high the snow is still very deep, even some still in the trees from a storm a few days ago....sat on a sub peak and listened to the silence...only the breeze in the trees and the raucous call of some ravens now and again...