3 Chooches from Jersey go to Utah and Ca lif.

“Me and 2 of my closest friends (Stratusloop & Dlookout)went to Utah and eventually California for a week long trip.

We are known the world over as the
"3 Chooches from Jersey". A thread of Choochieness will be forthcoming...we're in the process of writing the various tombs.

anyway...we met up at the Vegas airport on friday night. I was negotiating with an 85 year old hooker, when Stratusloop stuck his ugly head in my face and yelled "YOOOOOOO BROOOOOOOOO"!!! So much for the hooker...the party had just begun...we got our car and headed north to the Zion area after stopping at the Walmart in St George, for our supplies. We crashed at a hotel outside Zion at 2am...Sat morn rise and shine to a great blue sky (not to last though) and headed to Zion...we did the Chooch thing by raiding the visitor center and making our donations to the local economy. Unfortunately the Chooch bus was still operating up into Zion canyon...bummer...it moved real slow and all the chooches came and went...we were going to hike around for the day and take photos, but the weather took a turn for the VERY nasty and we were not in the mood to get real wet...so after playing on the bus long enough, we decided to take the zion/mt carmel road/tunnel and head up and out the scenic route to Khodachrome basin state park. We did do the .5 mile "canyon overlook" hike. We were surrounded by clouds and mist the entire time...and the lightening and thunder were scarry...the one that made us run away, literally flashed the lightening and there was no delay before the thunder boomed down our throats...It was time to leave...VERY quickly...dlookout led the way! We made our way to Checkerboard Mesa, and took a "3 chooches" shot. Cool mountain...gonna climb that rock one of these days.

Onto Kodachrome...What can I say about this state park...WOW is the only way to describe it...ifn you all ain't been there yet...GO!!! It is way cool. Towering bluffs, with all the colors that make this area famous...spires and mounds...pinacles and peaks...awsome! We were to stay there one night and then head to Coyote Gulch for our 2.5 day backpack adventure...that part of the trip was not to happen...the rains had been steady for quite some time and all through the night...my Northface failed me well...I had lake northface inside with me...sucked! I;m gonna burn that tent and get a Mountain Hardwear tri-light 1 to replace it. REI dividend will be well spent.

In the morning (sunday) we headed to the BLM office to pick up our backcountry permit and the ranger said "hahahahaha" ya'll ain't gonna go down there ifn ya'll don't wanna get stuck, and we won't come and get ya. Damn!!! we now had to invent plan "b", cause plan "A" was just shot to poop. Talkin with the ranger, he showed us a photo of a GREAT waterfall (Calf Creek Falls), he said it would be awsome after all the rain...so we went and did it and it was stupendous!. The hike followed Calf Creek the entire way and dead ended at the falls...WOW! The trail wound through canyons, bluffs, fields of flowers, there were blazing blue skies overhead...temps were incredible...it was a GREAT hike @ 6 miles...I think...who cares, it was surreal and our first hike on the trip...could it get any better? Yes and no. My fellow chooches and me were astounded and amazed. That evening we spent an unplanned evening at Kodachrome and ate like kings and had a roaring fire...very nice!.

Monday, we went to Bryce and played like Chooches...spent money (helping the economy again),and did the chooch trails, and were blown away by the sheer beauty of the place...wow...even though the trails were groomed and tame, we hiked alot and had a good work out. Just being there was cool...and great photography was to be had around every corner...nay...every step! We caught the sunset there and it was amazing! Very cool. Again...great day and an even greater evening...I slipped away and meditated near a babling stream that was near our campsite...the feeling of timlessness had taken over my being and I just wanted to "be" in the moment, it was great to be with my friends in a place and holy as this.

Tuesday, we awoke and walked the "Panorama Trail" within Kodachrome. What a great trail...6.5 mile loop trail that had some great features and sites and caves. We were in no hurry as this would be our last day in that park...we were going to head to Cedar Breaks and then onto the Mojave Dessert in California. We got a weather report and it said "something wicked, this way comes". We broke up camp and headed out for a looooooong drive.

Cedar Breaks...it started to rain, then turned to hail, eventually to sleet and then nasty heavy snow...all within 10 minutes...the temps dropped 15 degrees and it got to be REAL cold. Stratusloop did all the driving, and a great job he did too...thanks dude, for being the pilot on this journey. We got to Cedar Breaks after what seemed an intermitable ($10.00 word of the day) time and it was a sheer white out...SL and I donned our trusty FrogTogs and braved the weather for some great photos...Its a shame that they didn't get to see it the way I did a year ago...freakin amazing place that almost took my life...but that's another tale...we were outta there fast as it was getting late and we still had many miles to travel before arriving finally in the dessert and the mojave and the Kelso Dunes (7 hours later)...who ever said it doesn't rain in the dessert is a liar...It rained most of the night, but the morning...Wednesday

WOW!!!! bright, blue, clear...cool oh boy...we were right in site of the Kelso Dunes...2nd highest dune in the country (Great Sand Dunes in So Col are #1), but this was no small sand pile...600' tall and a 2.5 mile hike to the top...we were primed and psyched...we struck out and up we went...Stratusloop and I made the peak (it was very tough trek), dlookout waited half way below and then the two of us ran down the side of the dune after taking some awsome photos...too cool...there we were running and screaming all the way down the side of a 600' dune...I made the bottom first and turned to take a shot of SL, and there he was doing the "Joe Bronson" thing,,,and then he tumbled...MAN>>>I was laughing soooooo hard...I was barely able to stand up...he just rolled and came up on his feet, yelling and hollering like a banshee...too funny!!! and even Dlookout ran a bit...cool beans and way to go dude!

That night we made a nice controlled fire with wood that we brought with us (and I buried the hole thing the next day ...LNT ya know) We saw a dessert tortoise, a snake and a dessert hare. pretty neat to see all the wild life of the dessert.

On Thurs morn...it was break camp time and the party was nearing its end...on to the airport for me, and the 2 other chooches went onto Hoover, I'll let them tell that part of the trip.

In conclusion...this was a great trip!!! To be with 2 of my oldest and closest friends on one of my adventures was too fun...I shall have awsome dream scapes for years to come and memories to laugh over for a lifetime...dudes...thank so much for being there with me, it was simply stellar and one of the most memorable trips I have ever been on!!! here are the pictures I snapped 427 photos on my digital camera, the other 2 took 5 rolls of regular phots a peice. There not all here, so don't get scarred, you won't be looking at photos all night/day. I posted 56. It was very difficult to choose the best, cause they were all good, I did post alot of us...after all, we were there...

Enjoy!”

“Great report and pics. Thanks.

We tried to surf down the Kelso Sand Dune on an old surfboard in high school. Didn't work too well.”

“Next time you come to CA, say something???? I can drive 2.5 hrs to meet a TTer!

I thought Eureka Sand Dunes was the highest in CA . . . I had fun running on it a few years ago . . . my Nike moment!

We visited all the places in your pics. Calf Creek didn't have as much water when we were there. We hiked Bryce, but the snow was thigh deep (maybe knee deep for you guys), and we didn't have snowshoes. We got to Kodachrome as it was getting dark, I just remember sliding in the red mud in 4wd and almost getting stuck.

Looks like you had a great trip! Enjoyed the photos! Thanks!”

“Great trip report! Superb photos!! Sounds like the very best of times.

I love all the "3 Chooches" shots... LOL!! I think of a "chooch" as a kind of really bad sidekick in a Western?? Like a Festus with more problems, but more lovable, too?? Am I close?? Or is it just a teurist from Joisey??? LOL!!

Glad you were able to get weather reports to steer you in the right direction. ;-) Too bad about the old hooker!! ;-( LOL!!

I gotta get back out to Utah!!!! waaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“I LOVE the pics mon!!!! I should have went! Dammit boy! "grunt"”

“Cool Pics. Babbling streams are a personal favorite. Babbling brooks, too, and of course babbling brooke burkes.... <grin>”

“itwas a good time i would go back at anytime”

“My kinda people!”

“Tilt, you're babbling!”

“...dude....very nice report....there isn't very much to add about Hoover Dam....man talk about Chooches....they were crawling all over the place....you know...wearing a nicely ironed shirt under a Ralph Lauren V-neck sweater....very Chooochy...I didn't realize it at the time but I was wondering why people were steering clear of us....we must've had a bad case of the stinkies... we were'nt exactly donning our best threads...yeah no Dockers on us boys.....for that matter not even a splash of Hi-Karate....before I forget...YO LIZS....thank you so much for the impromptu weather report....Stikmon...forget what I said about her....she's cool except we need to work on her with how to define a Chooch!!!...Just a note to be taken here....we chooches don't like inclement weather (yeah I know we're a bunch of sissies, in other words WIMPS)...you think I care....NOT!!!....however there is an unknown saying we have when this happens...."Hey Alfred, fire up the Chopper...we're blowing this scene"...anyway...we did indeed have a great time and Thanks Stikmon & Dlookout for taking time to go this trip....I had a lot of fun...even if we were chooching it!....man....I must say when it comes to Vegas....forget the chooches....this place is packed with Bennys.....

Anyway...when I get my CD's produced I'll post a few pics...I experimented with B&W....not sure how that'll turn out but never-the-less....I'll have some photos to share....

regards.....SL”

“Chooch Dancers?”

“Awesome trip report and pics. Glad you guy's got to see Utah. What kind of camera are you using and what kind of film?”

“...speaking on behalf of Stikmon...he was using an Olympus C-700 digital camera

Me (stratusloop)....was using a Nikon N6006 with a Tamron Aspherical lens (I never changed lenses)....don't recall the specs on the lens...something that'll get me really good wide angle shots with really decent zoom capabilities...but I mostly used it's wide angle....by the time I get my CD's back from the lab this post will most likely be dead...so i'll post them in a separate thread...the film I used is Kodak...Royal Select 200 for color...a newer upper end color film from Kodak...we'll see...the B&W film was Kokdak Tri-X pan 400...now that'll be interesting...can't wait to see those pics...most were shot at Zion.....regards...SL”

“Thanks for the info. I'm new to the camera world. Will check those two out. Something tells me that you have an SLR. I'm thinking of buying a Point and Shoot kind. Don't really want to spend too much money.”

“Me, babble?

(if you only knew, LOL)



If you guys got That much rain in the Desert, you're more like Btfsplks.”

“Might want to use Veliva slide film, whatever kinda camera. It gives really saturated colors, if ya like that.

I LOVE Zion!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Late season snow on Zion's West Temple”

“...but Veliva sounds so much like Velveeta....kinda cheesy....ha ha ha ha.....makin' myself crack up......i'll look for it the next time i'm at the grocery store.....regards...SL”

“velveeta cheese...none of that crap in Philly...I'll have a steak wif...the wif is good ole fashioned cheese wizzzzzzz...

if you ain't been to philly to have a Tony Luc Steak sandwich/wif...you ain't never had a philly cheese steak!!!!

Go figure...digital camera...128 mg card...476 photos...and still ran out of picture taking abilities!!! It was too awsome.

Phil...I saw some "mtn dew" dudes climb the "star dune" at the Great Sand Dunes and they boarded down...too cool!!!

Snownymph...next time, I promise, I'll let you know and we'll all get together...I read your trip report on the glacier stuff...you one cwazy dame...and SD...check him into the betty ford clinic for the heck of it...man...you guys were lucky.

Thanks for all the great comments...it was a STELLAR (my word) trip.

dlookout...get those pictures out...no need to wait 120 days...just do it!!!! I'll cover the costs if need be. After all, I'm single handedly trying to save the economy, so whats 30 bucks for photos.”

“LOL! yeah, stratusloop, stikki kept thinking I was saying Velveeta. tooooooooo funny!!! Puts a whole new meaning on "smile and say cheese," eh?? lol”

“lizs, how fine is the grain? I need a new film for scanning slides or negatives.”

“Very fine grain. it's slow... 50 speed. I just order $150 of film from Adorama. Will be a good start for New Mexico, I figure. :-0”

“I guess I'd have to start packing a tripod!”

“it's not so bad when you get used to it. But yeah, I use it mostly on day hikes, etc. There are some nice EXPENSIVE ones out there. Think I saw a Slik titanium one, I forget how lightweight... was over $400. YIKES!!!”

“looks killer! alot different from arkansas! thank you God for all the wonderful places in this world!”

“utah and calif was so cool .
stikmon and stratusloop are like to mad men on all hill .
you can send a life time and not see all it there is to see .
i would like to go back it any time .”

“hey, dlookout, do you have photos yet?

Anxiously awaiting more pics...... :-)”

“I understand two chooches may have been ditched by management..... to be replaced by 1 major, do-it-all chooch?????????! But will this replacement chooch make it through the picket line?? AAAHHHHHH-CHOOCH!”

“How much chooch, could a chooch chooch, if a chooch could chooch a chooch?”

“Enquiring minds want to know.

And if a chooch likes to smooch, who would a chooch choose to smooch? Hmmmmmm??”

“This chooch from Jersey would choose you to smooch if you consider yourself a chooch....”

“lizs i will email so to you”

“chooch are one of a kind
it like three nut !!!!!!!
chooch at like do the some thing and have a good time at it .
this chooch will do thing to help
a chooch”

“that up”

“there seems to be some question as to what a chooch is. This subject will be addressed in great detail on its own thread. To chooch, or not to chooch...that is the question...whether it is nobler to be a chooch, or a benny...I'd rather not be a benny, but sometimes you feel like a benny, sometimes ya feel like a chooch...chooch ya later, you chooch.”

“it's just like that candy bar... "sometimes ya feel like a chooch... sometimes ya don't"”