“Only An Angel Could Land On It”

Upon seeing the imposing giant of a rock while exploring Zion Canyon in 1916, Frederick Fisher exclaimed, "Only an angel could land on it." After seeing the summit from Scout’s Lookout, I agree, but I decided to press on and make it to the summit.

For those not afraid of heights or not having small children, Angel’s Landing is both the premier hike of Zion National Park and of the whole National Park System. This four-hour round-trip hike starts at the Grotto shuttle stop. From the shuttle stop, cross the road and the footbridge over the Virgin River. Midway across the footbridge, look to your right at the formidable rock rising 1500 feet into the air. You can’t miss it. The top of this rock is your destination. From the footbridge viewpoint, reaching the top looks like an impossible task and only one an angel would attempt. At the tee in the trail turn right.

The trail starts out as soft sand, but quickly turns into a paved trail. As you start your ascent, the trail takes you up a series of switchbacks. At about the one-mile mark you cross a footbridge into Refrigerator Canyon. With Angel’s Landing on the right and Cathederal Mountain on left, hikers get a reprieve from the otherwise constant upgrade as the path levels out and the temperature drops 10 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

After leaving Refrigerator Canyon, hikers start up the twenty-one short switchbacks known as Walter’s Wiggles and at the two-mile mark, exit onto a flat sandy area called Scout’s Lookout. For those unable to overcome their fear of height or those with small children, this is their final destination. On the right, the view of Zion Canyon is spectacular. Straight ahead is another equally spectacular, but daunting view – the summit of Angel’s Landing.

After leaving Scout’s Lookout, the trail becomes more demanding. In places, the trail is a mere thirty inches wide with drop-offs on one side of 1200 feet and 800 feet on the other. While most of the dangerous places have chains to hold on to on one side of the trail, there are other equally dangerous places that do not. This trail is not for the faint-hearted as tripping or losing one’s balance could result (and has) in serious injury or death. This last half-mile is physically demanding as it involves pulling oneself up and over boulders, angled rocks and narrow ledges, but it is also mentally demanding working on one’s mind.

After negotiating the l/2 mile hike from Scout’s Lookout, you finally exit on top of the landing with the final portion hiking along the top of a slanted spine ending at the flat point of the landing. From the top at 5,275 feet, you see the Lower Zion Canyon, the Organ and the Virgin River winding around its base and you are eye-level with the Great White Throne, Observation Point and Cable Mountain.

While going up to Angel’s Landing gets your heart pumping from the constant and relentless upgrade, coming down for me was more physically demanding as I had to constantly hold myself back while hiking down which worked my knees, hips and thighs almost to the point of exhaustion.

If you are a hiker, this is a must-do hike. Once back down on the canyon valley floor, stop in at the Zion Lodge’s Gift Shop and reward yourself with a “I hiked Angel’s Landing” t-shirt. You earned it!

Goldfield Arizona – The Ghost Town That Refuses To Die

For a family-friendly adventure into how the West was in the late 1800s, visit Goldfield, Arizona. Located a short distance from Apache Junction, Goldfield is the only authentic 1890s ghost town in the Valley of the Sun.

The first gold-strike occurred in 1892 when J.R. Morse, Orrin Merrill and C.R. Hakes discovered a large body of ore. At that time, their find was dubbed the richest find in the world and ended up yielding more than $3 million dollars of gold.

About a year after their find, the town of Goldfield sprang to life. As miners found more and more gold, the town grew eventually reaching a population of 4,000 people. At its height, the town boasted 3 saloons, a boarding house, general store, blacksmith shop, brewery, meat market, post office and even a school house. Five years later when the veins ran out of gold, the town started to die.

Then in 1910, it had a small resurgence. A mill and a cyanide plant were installed and gold was again extracted from the ore.

The town was renamed to Youngsberg after George U. Young, who was the acting governor at the time. But by the end of 1926, the gold had run out again and the town again faded into history, however, the town refused to stay dead.

Today, Goldfield is a thriving tourist attraction not only entertaining, but teaching both children and adults alike what it was like in an old west town in the late 1800s. Perched on a knoll between the Superstition Mountains to the east and Goldfield Mountains to the west, Goldfield has several attractions for the whole family.

To see why Goldfield became a bustling town in the first place, take the 25- minute tour of the underground gold mine located underneath the town itself. The guides are well-versed on gold mining equipment from that era, how it was used and some of the history behind both the mine and town.

To see another way that miners used to find gold, stop in at the Prospectors Palace and learn how to pan for gold. They guarantee you will find some and even provide a little bottle to keep your gold in.

For more information on the history of the area, visit the Goldfield Superstition Museum and Lost Dutchman Hall of Fame. See the collection of maps, pottery and artifacts from the area. A featured exhibit in the museum is the Lost Dutchman Hall of Fame complete with maps and clues to the location of the legendary “Lost Dutchman Gold Mine”.

Tour the perimeter of the town and into the surrounding Sonoran desert on the Superstition Scenic Narrow Gauge Railroad – Arizona’s only narrow-gauge railroad (36”) in operation today. During the 20 minute, 1-1/2 mile narrated route, the locomotive engineer keeps you entertained with both the facts and lore of Goldfield.

For something at a slower pace, stop by the Goldfield Livery for horse-back riding or a carriage ride in the desert. If horses are not your preferred mode of transportation, jeep tours are also available from Apache Trail Tours located in the Peterson Mercantile building.

See some of the native desert reptiles at The Southwest Live Rattlesnake Exhibit. This is one of the largest collections of spiders, snakes, Gila monsters, scorpions and a host of other native creatures.

Walk up and down Main Street and explore the many shops located on both sides of the street. Be careful not to get caught in the middle of a gunfight. The Goldfield Gunfighters re-enact their gunfights Saturdays and Sundays on the hour from high noon to 4p.m. during the months of November to April. Witness what the West really was really like in the late 1800s.

Witnessing all that gunfighting builds up an appetite, so stop in at the Mammoth Saloon and Dining Hall for some of their western grub. Their deck, located just off of the dining hall, boasts some of the best views of the Superstition Mountains around. For dessert, walk down the street and enjoy an ice-cream cone from Miner's Grill & Ice cream Parlor.

After lunch, stop by for a visit at LuLu’s Bordello. If children are present, LuLu’s girls tailor the tour to the children explaining and showing them what it was like to be a child in the 1800s.

If children are not present, the tour is tailored to adults explaining what is was like for women out here in the West – both the good and bad. The girls always keep the vocabulary in mind so as to not offend anyone.

If you prefer to camp at Goldfield for a day, weekend or longer, give the Goldfield campground a call for their rates and availability. The campground is located at the edge of the town so you are within walking distance of everything.

Goldfield is a treasure in and of itself. So relax, bring your whole family and spend a rich, historical, fun-filled day at Goldfield. It is a trip the whole family will treasure for a long time.

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The Quest For Pure Water

Like many RV owners, shortly after purchasing our fifth-wheel trailer, we installed a single-filter water purification kit as part of the quest to have pure drinking water. While it did a fair job at filtering out impurities, the taste varied depending on our location. When traveling, we experience many kinds of water. Many times, we ask ourselves if we even should be drinking it.

Then, while wintering in Arizona, we saw a small Reverse-Osmosis (RO) system in a hardware store. Since it looked better than what we were currently using, we decided that for less than $200.00, about 35 minutes of time, and by using a few common tools we had with us, we could install an RO unit that provides water far superior to that from our current single-filter kit. Since installing our RO system, our water has the same great taste regardless of our location.

RO systems typically remove 90% to 96% of total dissolved solids, organics and bacteria. An RO system not only provides you with safe drinking water while hooked up to city water, but also when using water out of your freshwater holding tank. It’s anyone’s guess what kind of things are lurking in there.

The four-stage RO system we installed uses three filters, along with the RO membrane in the storage tank. The storage tank holds 3.5 gallons of water. We mounted both the tank and filter assembly under the kitchen sink in the galley. The tank and filter assembly has a footprint of 15” by 10” and 16” high.

If you currently use a single-filter kit, the first step is to un-install it. Prior to installing the RO system, identify all parts packed in the box and thoroughly read the installation manual. Most instructions contain tips that if overlooked, can lead to water leaks.

Tools Required - Our installation required a drill with a ¼” drill bit, a #2 Phillips screwdriver, a ½” open-end wrench, a 10” crescent wrench along with either a 6” or 8” crescent wrench. If you need to remove part of a shelf to get the necessary height, you may also need a small handsaw or saber saw. If you did not have a filtered-water faucet before, you also will need a hole-saw capable of drilling a ½” hole. We are now ready to start the installation.

Installing The Filter Assembly - If you need to remove part of a shelf, remove it now. Locate where you want the RO filter assembly positioned. It can either set upright on the bottom shelf of the cabinet or mounted on the side of the wall. If you decide to mount it on the wall, locate the mounting holes on the filter bracket, place the filter assembly against the wall and mark the location for the screws. Install the screws and hang the filter assembly. Otherwise, set it upright on the bottom shelf.

Installing The Cold-Water Feed Line - Next, turn off the main water supply coming into your RV. From under the sink, unscrew the cold-water faucet shank where it screws onto the cold-water feed line.

Locate the brass slip-joint adapter and RO water shutoff valve. Wrap two wraps of Teflon tape around the shutoff valve threads and screw it onto the brass adapter. Tighten the shut-off valve to the brass adapter using two crescent wrenches.

Wrap the cold-water faucet shank threads with two wraps of Teflon tape. Make sure to put the small rubber washer inside the brass adapter before screwing it onto the shank - otherwise you will have a water drip. This step was not in our installation instructions and I had to ours apart again and install the washer. Try to position the RO shut-off valve so you can easily attach the line coming from the filter assembly. Screw the brass adapter onto the faucet shank. Tighten with the two crescent wrenches.

Screw the cold-water feed line plastic nut onto the end of the brass adapter opposite the shank and tighten by hand. Locate the water feed line coming from the filter assembly – ours is red in color and the only one not labeled. Slide the metal compression nut and plastic sleeve over the line, screw the nut onto the RO shut-off valve threads and gently tighten with the ½” open end wrench.

Installing The Drain Line - Next, drill a ¼” hole through one side of the vertical section or in the top of the horizontal section of PVC drain pipe coming down from the sink. Install the pre-cut cushioning material onto the inside of the saddle clamp half with the hole in it.

Locate the drain hose coming from the filter assembly and push it through the hole in the saddle clamp half just far enough so the line will be inside the PVC pipe when installed. Our hose is black and labeled “TO DRAIN”. Push the drain line into the ¼” hole in the PVC drain pipe.

Place the other half of the saddle clamp opposite the first half and install the screws and nuts. The second half of the saddle clamp has recesses to hold the nuts from turning.

Tighten the screws with the #2 Phillips screwdriver. Gently hand-tighten the plastic compression nut.

Installing The Drinking Water Faucet - Locate the faucet enclosed with the kit and the respective line coming from the filter assembly. Ours is blue and labeled “TO FAUCET”. If your old filter system had a drinking water faucet, use that same hole. If not, position the faucet on top of the kitchen sink rim and mark the center of where you want to drill the ½” hole. Drill the hole. Working from under the sink, slide the faucet mounting hardware onto the feed line and push the line up through the faucet hole from the bottom. If there is any mounting hardware required between the bottom of the faucet and top of the sink rim, slide that on the line now. Install the line in the bottom of the faucet. Mount the faucet on the sink and from under the sink, tighten the faucet mounting hardware.

Installing The Storage Tank - Locate the tank shut-off valve. Wrap two wraps of Teflon tape around the threads of the valve and screw onto the top of the tank. Gently tighten the valve with the small crescent. Place the storage tank stand where you want the tank located. Set the tank onto the stand.

Locate the only line left coming from the filter assembly not connected to anything. Ours is white and labeled “TO TANK”. Slide the line in the valve and gently hand-tighten the plastic compression nut.

Starting The System - Turn on the main water supply valve, RO shut-off valve and storage tank valve. The RO shut-off and storage tank valves are on when each valve handle is parallel with the line attached to it. Check connections for leaks. Open the drinking water faucet and let drip/run for two hours. Turn off the faucet and let the tank fill for four to five hours.

After the tank is full, open the drinking water faucet and let the tank drain until it stops. Shut off the faucet and let the tank fill for two hours. The water is now ready to drink.

Maintenance - Replace the filters yearly or sooner if the taste of the water changes. A filter kit costs about $35.00 and contains the three filters. We purchased a filter kit when we bought the system, so that we have one on-hand.

Due to the system using water to periodically back-flush the RO membrane, we found our RO system works best when hooked up to city water and leaving the galley gray water holding tank drain valve open.

If you live in a cold climate and store your RV for the winter, service your RO system by turning off the cold-water feed valve, opening the drinking water faucet and running the storage tank dry. Then, turn off the storage tank valve. Next, re-open the cold-water feed valve and remove the three filters. If you drain your water lines with air, proceed as normal. If you prepare your water system with RV antifreeze, then put on the filter housings without the filters and proceed normally.

In the spring, prepare your water system for use as normal. Then, install new filters in their housings and turn on the storage tank valve. When you first use your RO system, open the drinking water faucet and let it drip/run for two hours. Turn off the faucet and let the tank fill for four to five hours and you are ready for the summer.

Summary – The installation is simple, quick and easy with professional-looking results. Now, with our RO system, we enjoy good-tasting pure drinking water regardless of the condition of the water at our location.

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From Combat Boots to College

Many Americans enter the military with the hope that they will be able to earn G.I. Bill benefits to attend college. Over 350,000 veterans are already using their G.I. Bill benefits to attend school, and at least another 500,000 veterans are expected to start or continue their college education once the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill goes into effect on August 1, 2009.

Skill isn't enough

Military training and deployment teach many useful skills, but as some veterans find out, skills are often not enough in today's job market. With a large number of people competing for a small number of jobs, veterans need both skills and a college education to remain competitive in the current job market.

The job of a military policeman (MP) illustrates the point. At military police school, MPs receive the law enforcement training necessary to do their jobs in the military. After leaving the military, if an MP wants to pursue a career as a police officer, he or she would need a law enforcement degree to learn the additional career training required to pass the certification tests. Most police departments will not hire a former MP without the proper certification and civilian training.

While there's no argument about the fact that the military teaches its service members great skills, if veterans want to use these skills to get a good job, they have a better chance of building on this foundation by attending college.

The new G.I. Bill

A 1988 congressional study revealed that for every dollar spent on G.I. Bill educational benefits, seven dollars were returned to the national economy via taxes and increased consumer spending. From congress on down, most people feel it is our duty to repay our veterans for the work they do preserving our freedom. And the rest of us benefit as well.

The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill exemplifies this effort. While not perfect for every veteran, it is the biggest change in educational assistance since the Post World War II G.I. Bill.

Highlights include:

• A housing allowance

• Up to $2,000 for tutorial services or certification exams

• $500 to individuals relocating from highly rural areas to attend college

• Tuition paid directly to the school

• Money for supplies and books

Classroom culture shock

Some veterans start college too soon after coming home only to find they have not fully recovered from their combat zone deployment. With nearly 20 percent of the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a typical college campus environment of large crowds and loud noises simply doesn't work for many of them. Some war veterans avoid the sometimes-stressful college environment by taking online courses. Others prefer online programs because attending class online fits their busy post-war lifestyle better.

Online classes help transition

Army Sgt. Lustman deployed to Iraq for sixteen months as a data analyst. Returning in the late summer of 2007, she waited until the spring quarter to start her online program in mass communications at St. Cloud State University. She explained, "I delayed going back to school until I had time to decompress and get back to a normal routine." She attended school in a traditional classroom setting before deployment, but after returning and waiting, she decided the flexibility of the online option worked better while working full-time at a National Guard facility. "The thing I miss the most about taking online classes is the lack of interaction with the professors and other students," Lustman said. If a veteran has a young family, online school may work better for them because they can do their coursework after the children are in bed and in smaller chunks of time throughout the day. For these veterans, the online option gives them an education option that until just a few years ago was not available.

Going the campus route

Other returning military members with PTSD decide to go the classroom route. Sgt. 1st Class Courneya also returned from Iraq in 2007 after a sixteen-month deployment with the Army as an operations sergeant. He waited several months after returning from deployment before he went back into the traditional classroom setting. He said, "I delayed returning back to college at the recommendation from other veteran students. I'm glad I waited." Courneya is pursuing a geology degree at the University of Minnesota. He also has degrees in medical technology and biology. "With the required on-campus labs, afternoon and evening classes made the most sense to me," he explains. Courneya also works full-time for the National Guard.

This group of new veterans is different from the traditional college student. Many veterans find they don't have anything in common with their non-veteran classmates. When classmates ask veterans to talk about their military experiences, many find it hard to explain in a way non-veterans understand. Courneya found a veteran's orientation class helpful. "That class gave me a good understanding of what to expect when going into a classroom with non-veterans," he said.

Help for college-bound veterans

Many veterans decide to attend on-campus classes and find themselves overwhelmed with the red tape of the admission and enrollment process. Fortunately, today many of the colleges recognize the unique veteran student and have set up different programs including veterans-only classes, seminars on adjusting to college life, and "one-stop shops" where veterans have a single point of contact to get into college and signed up for classes. "I used the services of the U of M's Veterans Center," Courneya said. "It's free and their staff of four really smoothed out the road for me as far as getting enrolled and signed-up for classes."

All these programs are intended to get veterans into college with the least amount of frustration; the programs are extremely successful for both the veteran and the schools. With programs in place allowing veterans to slowly adjust to college life instead of being thrown back into it, veterans do very well taking on-campus classes.

Veterans' educational benefits extend far beyond just the veteran. Their families, as well as their communities and employers, are all impacted by this special group of heroes as they finish their education and advance their careers.

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10 Tips For Great Digital Images

Below are ten simple composition tips that will instantly improve your DSLR images. Start using them and instantly see your digital photography improve.

Adjust ISO - Increasing the ISO is a trick you can use to gain an extra stop of either shutter speed or aperture. For example, if you are shooting flowing water at an ISO of 100, a shutter speed of 1/30 second and an aperture of f16, and you need a slower shutter speed to get the silky, cottony effect, one way is increasing the ISO to 200. You will gain a stop of shutter speed with the shutter speed now at 1/15 second. If you need another stop, increase the ISO to 400.

Adjust White Balance - Many times the DSLR Auto White Balance setting renders a correct color cast. However, when the Auto setting is reading the light incorrectly, adjust your white balance manually to a setting matching the type of light in your scene.

Vertical Perspective - Vertical subjects, such as trees, fence lines, streams, and etc. look better shot from the vertical perspective.

Use Your Histogram - Ensure you are getting a correct exposure by checking your histogram. On some DSLRs, you can check before pressing the shutter button while on others you have to check after the image is recorded. Look at the left and right sides of the histogram. The spikes on each end should not be cut off and should taper off down to the left and right corners on the bottom horizontal line. If they don't, adjust your DSLR settings and reshoot.

Rule of Thirds - This is the rule of subject placement. Mentally divide your viewfinder into a tic-tac-toe board. The rule says to place your subject on one of the intersecting points where a vertical and horizontal line meets.

Framing - Framing involves using something either natural, such as an overhanging tree branch or man-made, such as a doorway or window frame to draw the viewer's eyes through the frame and to the subject.

Horizon Placement - The general rule is first determining if the subject is above or below the horizon line. If the subject is above the horizon line, then give that area 2/3rds of the frame. If the subject is below the horizon line, then give it 2/3rds of the space.

Use aperture and shutter speed settings - Shutter speed controls movement. Aperture controls depth-of-field. To show movement as a blur, use a slow shutter speed. If you are shooting at less than 1/30th second, use a tripod. If you want to stop action, use a shutter speed of 1/250th second or faster. You will have to experiment because the shutter speed necessary to stop movement depends on the speed of the subject and direction of travel. Use aperture to control how much of a scene is in focus. The larger f-stop number, the more of the scene will be in focus.

Crop in camera - Use the zoom feature of your zoom lens to crop out any unwanted elements in a scene. This will save you time later by not having to perform this editing function once your images are downloaded into your computer.

Use a polarizer - If I could only have one filter, this would be it. A polarizer, darkens a blue sky, cuts out reflections, saturates colors and removes light haze. It also acts as a neutral density filter in that it takes out two stops of light allowing you to shoot at a slower shutter speed or a smaller number f-stop.

By incorporating these ten tips into your future digital photography, you will see an instant improvement in your next batch of digital images.

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