Experiences Made, Lessons Learned...Albion Basin

We knew it was going to be a cruddy weekend when it came to the weather so Jeff suggested we head up to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon so we could see all the beautiful fall colors before the clouds and rain came in. Swell idea I thought. So we got the kids and Gramps in the car and headed on up. At the mouth of the canyon I noticed that the gas gauge read "Low Fuel". I told Jeff we should probably stop and get gas. He prompty said "It will be fine, just a second ago it said I had 30 miles until empty and it's only 8 miles to Albion Basin". I questioned his judgement and thought to myself that we would be traveling up hill and with a heavy load so we shouldn't push it. So I asked "Are you sure?" He again, with a wave of his hand and in a causal voice said "It's fine, nothing's going to happen." So seeing how I've never run out of gas when the gauge has said "Low Fuel" before, we decided to go with his brillant plan of "It's fine" and on up we went.

The colors were stunning and we stopped on the side of the road to take many pictures....too many but I won't make you sit through that.

At one of our stops we saw two moose in the trees. One big female and one bigger male. I think adult male moose are sooooo pretty. I wish we could have gotten closer but I didn't want to get charged by a moose....at least not today anyway. But believe me, as I took the pictures I was looking for my way out if one of them did charge, making mental notes of what trees to climb or what side of the car to jump into, or if our insurance company would cover moose imprints...

This is the female that we saw. She was about 20 feet from us.

The male was farthur away, I was so bumbed. He was beautiful! My Gramps really enjoyed watching them.

We watched the moose for quite some time and then noticed the clouds were beginning to cover the area so thus it became a bit darker. We decided we should keep heading on up the canyon if we were going to get in our small hike to Cecret Lake. As we climbed higher and higher the views were spactacular but it also grew darker.

Albion Basin showed it's many fall colors as we drove up the dirt road.

It began to rain...but we brought our rain coats so not to worry. But because of the increasing bad weather we decided not to hike to the lake but just to stop by the memorial and eat doughnuts.

Here we are enjoying our yummy doughnuts!

Here's Gramps freezing but taking it like a champ!

The kids on the memorial enjoying the rain and view.

Okay, it's time to get out of this rain and cold. It's getting pretty dark and late too.

So as we take our leasurely drive down the dirt road something happens to the car. Right when we hit the pavement the breaks seem to not be working properly, the car becomes quiet, and we realize it has died. I looked at Jeff and with a calm "oh crap" tone in my voice, asked if we had run out of gas. All Jeff could do was put his head down in shame and laugh. Here we were at the top of the canyon, it's dark, cold, and raining, and we have no gas....It was one of those moments you could be proud of! (or something like that..) "So now what?" I asked.

He began making phone calls to family members to see if anyone was willing to bring us some gas. When no one answered we tried some of our closest friends that also happened to be busy on a Friday night. Lame... I then decided to flag down one of the very few cars that were thankfully up there and see if they would be willing to help.

Meet Gabriel and Leas!

They are from Mexico and have been here for about a year on a work visa. They know little English but were able to understand what we needed. These are the angels that said it was okay for Jeff to ride with them to a gas station to the bottom of the canyon and back up again. I watched them ride off into the night and hoped they would return soon.

Gramps, the kids, and I waited (I hate waiting!). It was completely dark now and very quiet. It would have been a little nicer without the clouds because we would have been able to enjoy the stars but oh well. Luckily we have a DVD player in the car and the kids were able to watch a movie most of the time. (Thank goodness for the battery.)


Gramps was making joke after joke about how this lone black cloud was going to creep over to our car and dump five feet of snow on us. To see an 85 year old man in tears over his own humor is quite a sight.

This is Gramps getting hungry so he's breaking into the survival food, left over doughnuts.

It's been a while now and I began to worry about losing battery power too so we decided to turn off the movie and lights in the car. Of course all the kids freak out which made me laugh! I reasured everyone that Dad would be here soon and there was nothing to worry about. I called him to see where his was. He said he was quite close and would be there within the minute.

Finally they came up the road. I took a lousy picture which is why you don't see it but it's of the car coming back. Gabriel asked Jeff what the flash was (from my camera). Jeff reasured him that is was just blackmale. LOL! I don't think Gabriel got the joke because of his lack of English.

Jeff bought the last two gas tanks they had. Each held one gallon. Just enough to get us down I guess.

Sweet Gabriel and Leas waited to make sure everything was okay. I went to start the car and the engine roared. It was a wonderful sound.

We thanked our angles for their time and the gas it took them to drive up the canyon one more time than they had planned, and for the gas smell that was now lingering in their car... They were gracious and refused the money we offered them with much protesting. They followed us down the canyon and we went our seperate ways. Jeff suggests to me that we should buy a roof rack and put some extra gas in there for times like these. I suggested with a smile that he just fill the car up with gas when it needs it. He just laughed and then said "no, for other people, if they need gas!"
Here is Jeff filling up the car, knowing now to trust the "low fuel" light when it warns him.

As we drove off into the night the stench of the gas cans began to give me a head ache so Jeff opened the back windows to the van which created a slit in the whole window. Not a big deal until Ayla decided to press a book up against the window and then let go.... Then proceeds to yell "STOP, the book fell in the crack, we have to go back and get it!" Not really knowing what she was talking about we kept driving. Then I realized what crack she's talking about. We pulled over and I searched the car to make sure that it's not somewhere inside. It's not of course. Apparently she does know what she's talking about. So as I ran down the sidewalk of 9400 S. looking for the book laying in the middle of the street, Jeff drove the van in the medain looking for it also. I ran about a mile it seemed before Jeff spotted it in the middle of the road. I waited and watched the cars drive right next to it and blow it into the other lane. When there was a break in the traffic I went and grabbed the book, hopped in the car and turned on the light to report the damage to the kids. I reported out load, "Oh, it looks like it made it, I can't see anthing that would".......and as I turned a page there was a spot that has taken a hit. "oh, nope, sorry guys, it's been hit." Jeff just started laughing and I myself was smiling at the events of the evening. Ayla knows now not to put things up against the window and Jeff and I know to pay attention to the gas gauge.

So for the Olpin family, experiences made, lessons learned! ;0)