Near Death Adventure!

We had so much fun snow shoeing to the yurt in Vernal last winter that we decided to cook up another trip for this year with a different group to a yurt up Logan Canyon. Because it had been such a dry winter, and we had reserved the yurt so far in advance, we were concerned that we weren't going to have enough snow and would be tromping through mud, so we got very excited the week before our trip as we watched the snow pile up every day outside our windows. My mom got concerned that she was sending half of her family out into a death trap for avalanches.

Here is our happy group, all geared up, and excited for a fun adventure on the day right after Christmas! We had planned to leave for Logan by 8:30.... which, Smith standard time, translates to about 12:00. OUR FIRST BIG MISTAKE!

The sights were BREATHTAKING! Everything was freshly covered in snow and was beautiful which was a blessing, but also turned out to be detrimental as the trail to the yurt was very unclear since it was covered in fresh snow, we would find it every once in a while, loose it and then luckily find it again. Mostly we had to go off of the map we printed off of the website and the GPS coordinates they had given us for getting to the yurt.

George talked his buddy, Ryan, into going on the trip with us, and the two of them spent hours rigging up some sleds to pull all of their gear in rather than carrying heavy backpacks. MISTAKE NUMBER TWO.

Although the boys looked cute with their matching sleds, they were quickly regretting their idea after George's poles attached to the sled snapped, and after they realized how quickly they got worn out pulling those sleds heavy with gear, through the thick powdery snow. They trailed far behind the rest of us most of the way up the trail.

Me and my dad with his sweet new cowboy hat!

Justin and Stacey. The snow on the tree to the left of them fell just as I took the picture. Way cool!

The trail was 3.5 miles uphill through thick powdery snow. We walked as quickly as we could, but the sun was going down quickly.

This was one of the last pictures we took as we realized we were loosing our sunlight fast, there was no yurt in sight, and the trail we had been following (a trail from the people that went up christmas eve) ended... meaning, the rest of their trail was completely covered in snow, or they gave up at this point and turned around and went back. At this point we took a sharp right and headed straight up the hill to the top of the ridge hoping we would be able to find the yurt. The GPS told us we were getting close, about 2 tenths a mile, then about 500 feet away, and then about 2.7 tenths a mile... WAIT A SECOND!! How were we getting further away from it? We kept going up and up until from the distance we finally heard George yell! Guys we got to get out of here! At that point, we were all EXHAUSTED, FROZEN, and even getting a little DELIRIOUS, and there was absolutely NO LIGHT. Also, at that point, Ryans poles to his sled broke! Great! We made a quick unanimous decision to head the 3.5 miles back down the dark, freezing canyon back to the subruban... it was either that or die.... there was no way we were going to find the yurt. Luckily a few of us were able to find our headlamps and lights and the rest just followed the shadows. We were all exhausted by the time we got down to the suburban and zonked out the second we were able to sit down.

After we got home, and were able to rest and forget the scary moment we had just experienced, George went back to Google earth to see if he could figure out where we went wrong. What he found was SCARY! You can see where the red X is. That is where WE were, and that is the exact GPS coordinates that Utah State had given us for where the yurt is. As you can see, the Yurt is down in the trees about ONE TENTH a mile away from where we were.... NOT where Utah State had told us the Yurt would be. And because it was dark, the trees were thick, and the yurt was probably covered in snow, there was NO way we could have found that with their map and directions as their map clearly shows the yurt up on the ridge, NOT in the trees. Thanks to Utah State, we could have died. George is going to call this week to get our $170 bucks back. (Yeah, you'd think if they were charging that much they could put up a few signs along the way marking the trail). If not they will be hearing from the lawyer in our ward!