Rachel Toor's Blog, page 8

Castle Valley game trails

I never knew I had a documentary urge. Actually, that's not true. I write nonfiction. But since my BFF said I was "visually retarded" (in the nicest possible way), and even though I come from a family of artists, I've never been visually oriented. But now I cannot have enough photos of my precious baby. And it's pretty clear to see that I am not the photographer in the family.

For today's hike, we stayed close to home.


Magellan redux. Yummy horse poop. The ears are trying to stand up, cattle dog style.

The girl lives dangerously. Much to her mama's dismay.

Bill Jones Canyon

Okay, so the real name of this trail is "Negro Bill Canyon." The sign at the trailhead gives his whole name, but before I saw that I decided to call it Bill Jones. We took Helen on a great hike, where she crossed her first stream, climbed slick rock, and dug in the sand (to find the nothing that was not there).



Here's the dirty dog sitting for a treat.

 Geologist John: "Dog looking at crossbeds." His blog is very different.

Red rock red heeler

 Here are some of John's excellent photos of Helen's first hike at Fisher Towers.

Caught in the act. But what was the act?
Noble creature
Helen Magellan, the explorer

Castle Valley

 If I look out one of the windows, I see Castleton Tower:If I look out the other window, there are the La Sal mountains.




Winter in Castle Valley doesn't suck.

The Dean

Skiing in the backyard with Lynn.

This is the essay I wrote about her. 

I'm running out of friends to write about.

Up next, Nancy.

Snow Puppy

Thanksgiving

Just don't sign off a letter to me with "cheers"

This month's Chronicle piece, lambasting the academic pose.

Runner's World

My essay about giving the gift of running. Kind of hokey for December, I know.

Helen at ten weeks