Whenever I am short on creative inspiration, I watch this video. It never fails to re-spark the imagination and re-kindle that glowy warm feeling inside:

Darkside Of The Lens from mickey smith on Vimeo.

Double Rainbow!!!

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus:
4,200 ft. gain/loss in 3.4 miles, summit 9026 ft.

Chasing thunderstorms the whole way up after mile 1:

A nice little scramble on the last .2 miles and I'm on the top in just under three hours.

I'm guessing the USPS does not get up here very often.

At the top, thunder rolling all around. Perhaps not my smartest move, but it sure felt good to damn the thunder from the top of the (my) world. Very cathartic.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

I've been pretty excited about this concert for quite some time now. When the Magnetic Zero's debut album first came out two years ago, I listened to it almost non-stop for about a year straight. Well, maybe not non-stop, but at least once daily.

Now I have to shamefully confess that I am one of those music snobs who finds the allure of a certain band fades once they've hit mainstream. It's not that I don't want bands to succeed, it just the music seems to lose a bit of its intimate nature when it's being played on six top 40 radio stations simultaneously and showing up in every third commercial on tv.

And so some of the magic of this album has faded for me, but deep down I still really love the music. And so does every teenager and college student in Salt Lake City apparently. I was feeling really old standing amid a sea of near-children waiting for the band to take stage.

Three giddy high school girls standing to the left of me could hardly contain their excitement. I think it may have been their first concert. "Do you know this band?," one of them asked me. "Yeah." "Do you like their music?" "Yeah, I mean they only have the one album out so far, but it's pretty tight. I should be a pretty fun little concert." "Yeah, we don't really know any of their music, we just like that one 'Home' song on the radio." --- Yeah, that's what I mean about a band losing its allure. I could feel my enthusiasm for this concert draining.

And then the band took stage and the lead singer, Alexander Ebert came prancing out, looking a bit like a Pentecostal tent rival preacher, a brainwashed Hare Krishna convert and a Whirling Dervish and I was immediately annoyed by this 'pie in the sky' hippie. As the crowd pressed in pushing and shoving their way forward I thought about leaving, but I have to admit, within minutes I was transfixed by this spasmodic eccentric.

Hippie or not, he's a heck of a performer and the music is still as good as it was when I started listening to it two years ago.

I have been converted. I see the light. He is not a tent-revival preacher, not a Hare Krishna follower, but a musical prophet.

If he can walk on a sea of adoring fans, he can't be that far off from walking on water, can he? Which reminds me -- check out this video for the song "Truth" from his solo album:

So in the end, I was more than happy I stayed, although I really DO NOT see the point of moshing to "Home" I guess that is the old curmudgeon coming out in me.

Worth mentioning also was the opening act --The Entrance Band. They have a sound that channels both 1960s psychedelia and surf garage rock at the same time.

I thought they were pretty killer as well, but I think this is one of those few times I am going to have to say the headliner edged out the opening act.

Wu Lyf: We Bros

I love it when a song can transport me to a place I want to be.

This song makes me wish I was on a beach somewhere with my brother and his family:

Lake Solitude

Smile For the Camera and Say "Ssssssssss...."

I always ask animals if I can take their portrait before I take an up close picture of them. Now, I know they're not actually cognizant of what I'm asking, but it just seems like the polite thing to do before I shove a camera in their face.

However, I think this little guy actually posed for me.

Sunset In Big Cottonwood Canyon

Heading down from the mountains after a long hike/trail run I stopped at this spot late in the evening to stretch and eat a peanut butter, banana and raisin sandwich (my hiking staple). As the sun began to set in the canyon, the mountains to the east glowed orange in the reflection of the setting sun.

I sat and watched the colors ebb and flow over the peaks with the passing of the clouds.

And when the colors began to fade in the east, I turned and looked to the west and was greeted by the most spectacular view:

Mountain Snow Melt

The mountain snow is melting fast now and the rapids are surging.

Silhouettes in a Rainstorm

The Skies Seem So Much Bigger In the Mountains

When the Going Gets Tough...

...the tough go hiking.

Defeated

For the last two months, I have been training and working as a case manager at a call center. I thought it would be good for me and would teach me to be a bit more assertive. But apologizing for situations that I did not cause and getting yelled at for things that are out of my control and that I cannot change on a daily basis is more than I can handle. I have lived that life before. It deadens your spirit. Two and a half years ago I made the very difficult decision to leave it behind for good and nine months ago I set out on a journey to reawaken my spirit.

Working at the call center is hitting a little too close to home for me. I feel the spirit I have been working so hard at rebuilding retreat with each passing day, with each angry phone call. And so I have made another difficult decision and I have put in my resignation at the call center. It may not be the smartest decision to quit before I have another job lined up, but I believe it is the best decision. I deserve better. The spirit that was broken years ago deserves better. And being able to admit that tells me I have grown so much in the last two and a half years and that my spirit is not only still alive but is fighting mightily to be heard.

Lake Florence and Lake Lillian

Lake Blanche and Sundial Peak

Hike to Lake Blanche: 2,580 ft. gain/loss in 2.7 miles

Moonset at Sunrise

No Age: 1, Explosions in the Sky: 0

Holding true to my statistical theory that 90% of the concerts I go to, the opening act will be better than the headliner, I give you No Age opening for Explosions in the Sky.

A friend turned me on to No Age about a year ago and they were a main staple of my cross country road trip this spring -- especially this song:

I have missed seeing them twice already in other locations, so I was really excited to see they were coming to town. And they rocked. They rocked hard and I was really pumped at the end of their set.

And then came Explosions in the Sky. I wasn't expecting much as I had mainly come for No Age and my only real experience with Explosions in the Sky was to use them as a soundtrack to fall asleep to. And put me to sleep they just about did.

They look like they are rocking out in this picture, but don't let the photo fool you. In reality, they are standing with their legs spread widely acting like they are rocking, but actually just swaying back and forth to the sound of their own droll, repetitive nonsense and managing to bore the lucid part of the audience to death while doing so.

No Age rocked. Explosions in the Sky did not. Mark another up for the opening act.

Summer Squalls Over Salt Lake

Twin Lakes

Silver Lake, Brighton

Peek-A-Boo

Mill B South Fork

Cecret Lake ...Still Frozen

Hiking in the Wasatch Mountains

Independence Day

When I landed in Phuket on New Year's Eve with no luggage, I predicted it was going to be a very adventurous year.

And now look: how incredible is this?!


It is the 4th of July, I am surrounded by mountains and I am standing on at least five feet of snow. Awesome.



2011, you have been fantastic so far.
I cannot wait to see what other surprises you have in store.

Another Birthday Come and Gone

"Time flows like a river and it seems as if each of us is carried relentlessly along by time's current."

-Stephen Hawking

Millcreek Canyon

Jonathan Livingston

Of all the people I owe a debt of gratitude, my high school cross-country coach is perhaps the greatest. Though I think I was a bit too young to grasp them at the time, I have kept the visionary concepts he introduced me to as a young runner with me all these years. At the time, I found them fascinating, but at bit "out there" at the same time. However, now with a bit more life experience, maturity and knowledge at hand they are being making more and more sense. Especially as I continue on this spiritual journey I started nine months ago.

Looking for some reading material to accompany my cross-country camping trip before I left Wisconsin, I came across my old copy of 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull.' I was 14 when Coach Conway first had us read this book -- chapter by chapter -- before practice each day. 20 years ago. The words are still the same, and the book is still incredibly inspiring, but the message is so very different now.

"We can lift ourselves out of ignorance,

we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.

We can be free! We can learn to fly!"

-Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull