It's been an eventful week, but there's still not much to write about. My family normally exchanges xmas gifts on the 24th, and we normally do it at my grandpa's in Kenilworth. This year, we did it at my house, so there was a fair amount of getting ready that Traci and I had to do. We're also having a new year's eve party here, so we've still got to do some rearranging in order to make room for everybody who's coming.

I did some hiking yesterday near Joe's Valley, in a canyon called Cox Swale. Apparently, this area is pretty popular with ice climbers, and I can see why. I wasn't at all prepared for hiking along a frozen stream and up curtains of ice, but I managed (sort of). There is supposed to be a geocache in the area where I hiked to, but GPS reception was very poor in the canyon and I couldn't find it. It would be easier to locate in the summer, but crossing the creek in Strait Canyon would be nearly impossible--when I was there this summer, the water was raging. Crossing it yesterday was simple, since it was completely frozen over.

I'm thinking about doing some hiking in the Swell in two weeks. I've found some interesting places that are accessible from I-70, so I can get pretty close without needing a four-wheel drive vehicle. There are two caches there that were placed more than a year and a half ago, but neither has been found yet. Getting FTF on those should be quite an adventure.