Don't Lick the Newt: Utah adventures continue

Generally speaking, a lack of blog entries can either be attributed to a lack of noteworthy events or too many noteworthy events in my life. If there is nothing blatantly exciting in my life I have no inspiration. If life gets too exciting I have no time. I would say that my current literary dry spell is due more to the latter, coupled with a healthy dose of extreme laziness.
I am sure I filled June with noteworthy adventures, but none are swimming to the surface of my mind, so let’s just jump to July. What a month!

Red Kayak, White Water, Blue Lake…
In celebration of the 4th of July, a coworker, Heather, and I hijacked (with permission) a pair of kayaks that had been collecting dust and spiders in the lot behind the Division of Wildlife offices. After informing us that these were “lake” kayaks my boss asked us where we were taking them….. Utah Lake, Utah Lake via three miles of the Provo River…
By “lake” kayak my boss was referring to the length (14 feet), completely flat unstable shape, and lack of spray skirt. None of this would have been an issue except we launched ourselves down a narrow (ish) river, with current and riffles. I spent the next 2 miles exploring ways to submerge myself in knee deep, 50 degree water. In the more stable 12 foot kayak Heather seemed to have none of these problems, and spent a significant amount of time watching me wrestle my boat and chase down escaping hats and water bottles. We eventually floated to the edge of the lake where bucolic scenes of beavers, muskrats, and mutant feral ducks were replaced by screaming jet skis, wakeboard boats, and Utah’s standard sized monster trucks. In Utah, entertainment value is directly proportional to the size and decibel level of the motor.

Meanwhile, at work (yep, I actually work 40 hours week) the frog chasing season is coming to a close and I am settling into my new role as professional fish zapper. Electroshocking is a standard method for surveying fish populations. Simply put, to implement this survey technique you jump into a stream and apply an electrical current. Wait! Electricity and water! Woah!
It’s not as sketchy as it may sound. We wear waders (no skin-water contact) and use nets to chase down the fish. The fish are zapped just hard enough for them to momentarily jump and freeze; giving us only a moment to scoop them up before they swim off. It’s fun, like that gopher bopping old-school arcade game, and when you mess up and stick your hand in the water… Zap!

In other news, I went rafting down the San Juan River in southwestern Utah, and it was AWESOME!
Here are some photos:

River House ruins.

The flotilla, I captained the small blue one.

Rana pipiens (leopard frog)not actually from this trip, but I thought it was a neat picture.

donkeys in the desert.

Me, displaying some awesome river fashion (I lost my big hat on the 4th of july adventure and was trying to make do with a bandana)

I spent half an hour watch a half dozen lizards use an ant's nest as an all-you-can-eat buffet. The winged reproductives (alates) were leaving and the spiny and side blotch lizards were going nuts. I was sitting two feet from the nest and they hardly looked my direction as they snatched up tasty little ant snacks.

...toad... awww isn't it cute?

Pottery shards, the crunch of history in a footstep (just kidding, but we did see a lot of these, and if you weren't careful you could definitly walk right through them with out noticing)