By Bo Beck
First of all....the FFF was an idea that was inspired by my one time
supervisor, Terry Tucker. On a May day in the early 90's he sat down
and was studying the "Hiking Zion" book to get an idea what would be
a fun hike. Terry noted that many of the hikes were listed as better
spring hikes than they were summer hikes. Well since it was getting
close to summer and he had limited weekends to chose from , it would
be a good idea to hike all of the trails very soon.
His hike was done from Lee Pass to La Verkin Creek and up Willis
Creek to Kolob Reservoir then down West Rim and back up East Rim.
When I wanted to repeat the hike I decided I wanted to hike from East
to West and remain in the park the entire time, thus I did my first
crossing in 2001.
Since the scenery was so beautiful on that first hike, I decided that
I needed to hike west to east so it would be a new hike (Tanya has
taught me an appreciation of never doing the same hike over and over)
and thus yesterday became my second, however innaugural FFF!
We started with 6 cheery folks, but by Hop Valley TH we started sort
of splitting up and going our own paces. Got to admit though I stuck
with the one person that I thought I may be able to hang with the
whole time since he was 8 years my senior (age has nothing to do with
endurance by the way). Jeff....YOU DA MAN! Not only is Jeff a fun guy
to hike with, but has an uncanny sense of humor and has an eye like
an eagle. In all the years I've been hiking I would never have
noticed a DUCK...yes a DUCK perched in a Pine Tree on the Wildcat
Canyon Trail if it weren't for the keen eyes of Jeff! BTW...thanks
for letting me use your glasses in the hotel room so I could verify
that I had erased my trip log on the recorder!
Great Day, Great Friends........This is the Life! Thanks All!
