CHAPTER 1: of the book, THE DIVINE VISIONS of NATURE FROM THE FOOTHILLS of TIMPANOGOS ... 1/2 of chapter 1 telling the story of doing it to save me from being a cripple & inspiring all to NEVER GIVE UP...WITHOUT A FIGHT!

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CHAPTER 1 

INTRODUCTION: 

BEGINNING ANOTHER IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

The Psalmist decared:

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.....from the Lord who made heaven and earth." 

In perhaps my time of greatest need...unable to walk.. I found strength in the 

"hills of Timpanogos" 

and  I was blessed with seeing his hand in what I began calling 

"the divine visions of nature" *

 I was given new life! 

That led me to  beginning my 3rd book in 2023 ....or 5th counting the redoing of my Uintas book divided into two for Amazon.com.  and now hopefully by Christmas 2024....Opps!  I forgot my slow motion stalking pace,  so I will finish the book with 9 chapters by the end of January.....rather on February 2   

*Timpanogos is the magestic mountain overlooking Utah Valley 40 miles south of Salt Lake City in the state of Utah. It is featured on the cover of this book and will be seen numerous times throughout the book.  

 CHAPTER I  

  It tells the story of my 

GREATEST CHALLENGE

that led to my life saving daily hikes ....and the BIRTH of this BOOK..... in the Fall of 2023 with 6 chapters, but to keep alive I had to keep hiking through the winter of 2023 and continue through all of 2024 with many new discoveries and experiences added to supposedly finish the book by Christimas 2024....... OPPS!  

 Daily new discoveries and better photos added..... made the book more complete and inspiring all of a sudden with 9 chapters—finished  on February 2, 2025, but on converting the first 3 chapters into a printable version with page numbers, Table of Contents and Index, it came to 258 pages that had me quickly  calculating that the whole book would be over 1,000 pages with over 2,800 photos!   So, I divided it into 4 Volumes….basically 4 books.

OOPS…..again!

 I’m getting ahead of myself.  This Introduction is supposed to set the stage for all of that. 

So, I realized that to do that effectively and make heads or tails of this book I had to take the Appendix 1 from the end of the book, and incorporate an edited version to be a key part of this Introduction. So, here goes the new introduction with some crucial background that all comes to a head in this set of 4 books.

MY TWO LIVES IN SPECIAL MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

I first spent 35 years living in  …what I call…the Mountains of the Maya .in Guatemala beginning in 1967 and surviving  the entire Guerrilla War, experiencing every kind of danger. And,  during those years  having  miraculous success supporting ourselves from our agro-commercial projects, and being a volunteer helping to educate and save many thousands!  Not bad considering it was predicted  in 1967 we’d  “come running home with our tail between our legs in six months!”    From there I returned to the U.S. in 2002 as a 67 year old  “Mr. Mom” with 5 young children to raise.

 In my spare time for the next 16 years I dedicated myself to fulfill a vow made as a 16 year old to explore, photograph and publish to the world the wonders of the High Uinta Mountains. 

So, until  my 83^rd year I backpacked 2,000 miles in the High Uintas Wilderness visiting every drainage experiencing high adventure, as well as doing research in all the towns that surround the Uintas and finally published a  book some call 

“the encyclopedia of the High Uintas.”

During the off season of those years I went through many physical challenges that tried to stop me:  Some dangerous  worn out body parts  were removed, others rebuilt or replaced with titanium for a total of 12 surgeries during those 16 years.  But I accomplished that first goal…I sometimes call my 2^nd  IMPOSSIBLE DREAM.  

In 2019 I  concluded my 1^st  IMPOSSIBLE DREAM among  the Maya by writing and publishing that adventurous long-story  in a  book full of beautiful color photographs of the country  some call “the land where color was invented.”  The book’s title….also long as was the history, entitled

A 50 YEAR “IMPOSSIBLE DREAM” AMONG MY PEOPLE in the MOUNTAINS OF THE MAYA. 

So, my FIRST “IMPOSSIBLE DREAM” is described in this  book, telling in detail the history of  most of my life dedicated among  Guatemala’s rural Mayans where we lived in what I call the MOUNTAINS of the MAYA.

That brings us up to…

… THE CRITICAL YEAR 2020

Yes, I had COVID-19 early on, purposely exposing myself to get it over with and make me even stronger.

Then came May and preparation for the High Uinta Mountains, with an auto-exploratory trip I did each year so I could report to my friends on the internet the snow conditions,  passability of key roads like the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, and when hiking and backpacking would be possible.    So, on May 11, 2020 I drove up the Mirror Lake Highway, and then on my way back had the following experience. 

THE WORST FALL OF MY LIFE THAT SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME. 

I needed for the report on my website a picture of a wildflower or two in bloom at the lower elevations.  I was going back down  the Mirror Lake Highway  looking for something beautiful and  noticed some bright yellow flowers in bloom up a steep slope and pulled off the road. 

I’d been behind the wheel for an hour or so and as I started up the slope I felt very unsteady with awful balance.  I even strangely thought for the first time in my life, “Wow, I could use a hiking stick or trekking pole”  that I had resisted all those years as usually I had in my hands my camera, my fishing rod, or my munchies

I continued to climb  and   finally got up to the flowers.  But, the

uneven steep  rocky slope  had me lose my  balance each time I tried to focus, so I sat down to get the picture.

I then started down, but completely forgetting what I have advised when going up or down a steep slope—

” ALWAYS LEAN INTO THE MOUNTAIN…because if you fall the OTHER WAY, YOU’RE MOST LIKELY DEAD!”

All of a sudden I began losing my balance–one of the first things you begin to lose as you get older.  I did my darndest with my feet to keep up with my body but couldn’t do it as all was happening so quickly and suddenly I went head over heels flying downward, then somehow quite miraculously before I hit the bottom my body got twisted around in the air so I landed horizontally on my back with the shock evenly distributed the length of my body.  That saved me from almost sure death.  .  

I laid there stunned thinking, 

“There’s got to be  multiple fractures somewhere–MAYBE EVERYWHERE!”  

I carefully moved one leg, then the other. Then each arm.  I raised my head just a little, and then more.  By then I was feeling warm blood on the back of my head.  My left arm shirt sleeve was  soaked with blood too.  I carefully sat up, and slowly got to my feet, and first noticed I had landed on a stretch of soft sand in the middle of a very rocky area.   I found nearby my Nikon camera with Zoom lens that separate from me somehow had come down the steep hill with me. It was dirty with dust and sand, but back in the car I checked it out, and it too had survived without breaking anything. 

My first thought was gratitude to the Lord, and a bowed my head with a prayer of thanks.Too many coincidental and lucky things happened that I had no power over—and I WAS ALIVE!.

Then reviewing what had happened it was clear  I stupidly had violated the first rule and NOT LEANED INTO THE MOUNTAIN.  

As I began the drive home lots of things raced through my mind.   I decided that as soon as I got home I’d contact my spine specialist and get an appointment to be checked out as something had to be damaged after such a horrific fall.  

I then began thinking of what I describe in Appendix 5 of my Uinta book that is called  the, “Anti-Aging Challenge,” and  many things I have done to keep alive,  primarily:  taking Magnesium/Calcium and others that have saved my body from any kind of fractures.

 I mention in the book Dr. Jackson saying, after my hip replacement surgery:

“Your bones are the hardest we’ve ever seen!”

WHY?    see Appendix 5 in my High Uinta books.

THE MEDICAL CHECK-UP

Dr. Allan College, my favorite spine specialist—you know, the one who took his wife on their honeymoon backpacking to the Uinta’s Red Castle area, one of the first to buy a printed two volume set of my Uintas books, and the one who later raved about doing with his wife the:856 Mile Auto-loop tour of the High Uinta Mountains—said he couldn’t find in the X-rays any damage from the Fall.

Yet, I’m convinced that fall weakened my system more than it already was.    My back problems  were already bad–having had two surgeries with titanium appliances in my lower back,  but now worse, with discs  worn out and missing in my mid back, my spinal chord being pinched in those locations, soon to get worse..  Doctors injected something into my spine, but it did NOTHING! Consequently NO MORE BACKPACKING, JOGGING, but NOT GIVING IN YET! 

By the Fall of 2020 my back problems were  worse and everything was getting difficult leading to my 3^rd back surgery….

but something went wrong!

 CHAPTER I   tells the story of my GREATEST CHALLENGE that led to my life saving daily hikes and the birth of this book—supposedly  to be finished in the Fall of 2023 with 6 chapters.  As we will see, here is an example of seeming tragedy converted into a blessing for many.   I promise you that if you sit down and study it carefully with your children, it will be a blessing.

Part of that “blessing” eventually was a  

new Chapter 5

Celebrating our NATIONAL BIRTHDAY  honored breathtakingly in the Grove Canyon of the foothills of Mount Timpanogos with an

INSPIRING VISION of MAN'S CREATION seen  here.

So, this CHAPTER 1  describes how this book evolved from my near tragic “COUP de GRACE,” but with stubborn resolve to be useful still—I  went to work and with the Lord’s help found a way to live and BEGAN MY THIRD “IMPOSSIBLE DREAM” in one lifetime!

This book, originally with  6 chapters by the end of 2023, but I had learned I couldn’t rest and had to do my mini-hikes in the foothills 6 days a week resulting in  the finished book having  also a new chapter 7 documenting the added year—2024—with  stunning photos, the discovery of many new beautiful plants and their usefullness, plus the outcome of a   BEAUTIFUL  WET SPRING, followed by 3+ months of DROUGHT and PLAGUE and how this adversity tried  to ruin almost everything, but how THE DIVINE VISIONS  of CREATION fought back with marvelous and unique survival instincts which will fascinate you with grateful AWE!

The original book’s chapter 6 became chapter 8, and then I added a unique chapter to end the book with Chapter 9 describing where all the Divine Visions of Creation came from.

 So, as mentioned the 9 chapter finished book was divided into 4 volumes,  starting with this Chapter 1   which I'm likely not capable of actually portraying adequately as it has been breathtaking for me to review what I went through that became 

MY GREATEST CHALLENGE to NOT GIVE UP NOR GIVE IN ....WITHOUT A FEROCIOUS FIGHT!

Gratefully the Lord blessed me so far to do a lot more than I

 envisioned possible when in 2020  I couldn't walk....right leg

 seemingly dead...muscles gone, and I experienced a couple of mini-

strokes all having me   feeling like...

"THIS MUST BE WHAT IT IS LIKE TO DIE!"

Some thought I should have been put in a Rest Home, but the Lord

 gave me new life with the help of several imagined 

"tongue in cheek" heavenly guardian angels....and some real tangible

 ones .... my wonderful angelic kids: 

 Jesse, Nephi, Mahana and Nita!  

NOTE:  I bet it's the first time someone has called you 4 

"angels"

but you were...and I'm totally grateful and love all of you!

It took a while to figure out what to do......but eventually

 with constant effort 

each step began to work followed by another and then another.

  Finally what I was doing to survive....like a year later

  having me look forward every day to more advanced effort 

and by 2023 my hikes in the hills created the idea of....

...another book...

......for me an inspiring story of miracle, after miracle that had me

 focus gratefully on THE MIRACLES of DIVINE CREATION .....

  that I felt I had to share freely with others which I do my best to

 explain and show with wonderful heavenly photographic

 representation of 

THE WONDERS OF THE DIVINE CREATION of NATURE 

 FROM THE FOOTHILLS OF TIMPANOGOS!

My INTENTIONS?  "bless and brighten""  your day with

VISIONS 

created by the Light of this World  without which 

there would be none of the INSPIRATION  described in this book and

 in the song.... 

"SCATTER SUNSHINE" 

with a few of the words below...

Scatter sunshine all along your way.
Cheer and bless and brighten
Ev’ry passing day.

I pray each of the marvelous  & miraculous VISIONS

I will show you will literally "bless & brighten"  all your

 days, and will importantly move all of us to seek the 

DIVINE LIGHT that is given freely to all of us and all of HIS creations 

blessing us all with  productive and wonderful lives. 

********

CHAPTER 1 

A "RECOVERING CRIPPLE'S " 

 CONTRIBUTION to HUMANITY BY 

NEVER GIVING UP.......WITHOUT A GOOD

 FIGHT 

and 

SHARING THE WONDERMENT of NATURE....

...in my 89th year with my 

THIRD IMPOSSIBLE DREAM 

and my now  5th BOOK about the 

inspiring ......

This effort actually began as sort of a PERSONAL JOURNAL 

documenting my efforts to overcome being a cripple, and building

 my faith by focusing on what during my many years of exploring the

 High Uinta Mountains....Utah's ALPINE WONDERLAND. 

I began calling...

"VISIONS of NATURE"

In that effort and sharing it I was thanked many times by grateful
 friends, some who directly were appreciative for having shared my experience which saved their lives. 

 My sincere desire is that the sharing of my struggle, 

and in a sense, triumph, 

will also SAVE LIVES as well as

ENHANCING THE LIVES OF ALL WITH INSPIRING DIVINE

 VISIONS of NATURE!

 

That experience of actually saving lives from the 20 year long High

 Uintas Project/challenge had me deciding for my personal benefit

 and benefit of others to record this experience....photographically as

 well as with what this educational experience for me might

 reveal.....that I would be able to enjoy during my twilight years with

 a big format printed book, but also share with others to bless your

 lives.  

 It all evolved from what seemed like 

MY TRAGIC "COUP de GRACE" ...MY DEMISE!  

THAT NEAR TRAGIC ENDING....

....AND A NEW LIFE!

So I have to begin by reviewing for those who are new to my

 story, how I turned what seemed like a "tragic ending" into

 becoming a "recovering cripple"  and actually producing a book full

 of the ....INSPIRING CREATIONS of  NATURE....like maybe you've

 never seen before....otherwise my painful mini-hikes in the foothills 

will be laughable to real outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen. 

I also have to beg forgiveness for what also might be "laughable" to

 botanists and real experts, who might recognize I am most certainly

 a learning amatuer and a simple man with some inevitable

 mistakes....except for the photography which is pure truth & light as

 well as my sincere efforts with over 380 hikes in the foothills of

 Timpanogos and many hours of investigative research and writing.

******

So from the onset....best to know, 

"I am a grateful recovering cripple," 

as more than 4 years ago...in 2020...after a seemingly botched back

 surgery, my right leg died or went into deep sleep making it

 useless.  I couldn't walk, nor stand up  and was confined to bed.   

As I laid there in bed the muscles in my legs began to disappear

 shockingly with just bone left reminding me of holocaust victims, so

 since I'm sort of known for
 NOT GIVING UP...WITHOUT A FIGHT,

I went to work doing every kind of exercise I could think of lying in

 my bed, starting with isometrics...all the time. 

 

This was basically tightening the muscles of  different body parts and

 holding  each for 10 to 30 seconds and then repeat, and repeat....then

 on to the other leg, arms, abdomen, chest and entire body as I

 couldn't let happen to my body, because of disuse,  what had

 happened to my right leg.

  My focus was on my whole body, but with the dead leg receiving special focus,  so  importantly I would push hard with both legs on the cabinet at the foot of my bed, holding it, then again, and again trying to force the dead leg to wake up and do what the other leg was doing.  Eventually one leg at a time....at  least first trying to  teach my dead right leg to stiffen so I would hopefully be able to at least  stand up.  

I figured it would get my circulation going better, help my blood

 pressure problem that at times was dangerously out of control, keep

 my muscles from atrophying and disappearing,  prevent all of my

 organs from also going to sleep, and  of course keep from losing all

 of my strength. 

 Then using my good left leg to help lift the dead or sleeping oneas well as with my hands moving it through the movementsto remind it what it was supposed to do....so I worked at forcing my dead leg to hopefully wake up  and keep up with the rest of me.

In the middle of that giant struggle I had to be taken back to the clinic  groaning continually with pain in a wheelchair loaned to me by my good friend Garth Norman, with Jesse, my son,  pushing me.

  At the clinic they were shocked exclaiming,     

"That's not what was supposed to happen!" 

 X-rays and an MRI followed and then being wheeled again with  constant pain  to the hospital for an emergency surgery with my continual pain that moved me to the front of the line.....to get me out of there fast so as to not scare off the other patients. 

This was the 16th surgery since beginning my High Uintas Project in 2003, all necessary to keep me going through my last two 
Impossible Dreams.  

After the surgery Jesse took me home and he and Nephi, another wonderful son,  literally carried me into my little house (I'll show it to you below).  The procedure helped a little, but I still couldn't walk, nor stand up with a pretty useless right leg.....so I persisted with greater determination doing all the things I believed would work. 

But it took me  more weeks of  intensive exercises in bed in my tiny mobile home first achieving being able to maintain that sleeping right leg stiff so it wouldn't collapse and make possible standing up....otherwise I would immediately fall as the leg had no strength....like it was actually dead. 

Then I finally got outside with walking canes Jesse got for me and  then  a walker my daughter Mahana brought me. She also came daily to change my bandages, bring me treats, and always a more than welcome smile.

Jesse and Nephi were incredible during those difficult weeks and months doing things I couldn't quite do for myself yet..........some disgusting tasks, but never a complaint.

NOTE:  I feel I have to add something really important here.  My kids were smart enough to know even at 86...going for 90, I needed to do as much as I could for myself, so they let me do all I could, even some difficult tasks, as they knew it was for my good and an important part of my  recovery and survival!

Jesse went to work while I was totally shut-in building a porch at my entrance with a ramp that had a railing that has been a blessing.  He, Nephi and Mahana doing unending things to help.  

Marcia "Nita," my daughter, also helping with critical visits and special food I needed.  The special food needed was caused by first having had Covid-19 in March 2020 that I got through fine, but then the surgeries....all upsetting my digestive and sleep systems requiring the special foods and a new life schedule and routine aimed at solving, or at least coping with, each of my bodily functions that were not normal anymore.

 Challenges were always exciting for me from my childhood on as I relate in my autobiography, Part1: 0-22 years actually called simply:

THE VISION QUEST

This Part 1, available free in English and Spanish at:

 www.guatemalanfoundation.org  is followed by 3 Parts more that

 make up the book.....the last 3 parts are not available anymore. 

 Most people were not capable of seeing all the good, and divinely

 miraculous and be able to interpret justly..... and came  to

 misguided,  unjust conclusions.

There is in that great adventure a message of life or death, and I've

 twice attempted to make it available to those who need it for their

 own good and that of many others, but their reply is SILENCE!

  Maybe one day I will create a sanitized version and make it

 available to the public.....although I likely won't live long 

enough.......best get on with what I believe I can finish! 

But, in Guatemala it was a life of  living from 

"Crisis, to crisis" or "challenge to challenge!"

Including living there for 35 years

 during the entire GUERRILLA WAR in the mountains 

where it was fought along with there also fighting

THE BATTLE AGAINST POVERTY, IGNORANCE, 

SICKNESS  & DEATH!

It finally ended after 50 years with several boiling it all down to 

what was maybe said most succinctly by a good friend, 

Harold Brown:

"Thousands of lives were saved, and many tens of thousands of
 Lamanites aided in receiving an education!" 

He led the way interpreting correctly our life among the Mayans

 insisting that we had stimulated the Church to organize World Wide

 Welfare Services....but qualifying that telling us we would never be

 given credit for it.  He was a true friend until the end.

**************

BACK TO THE CHALLENGE FROM 2020 ON..... 

All my kids gratefully helped, but thankfully  let me do all I could for

 myself.  They were  life savers during a period when I was pretty

 useless with even the thought, perhaps mentioned already, that mybe

 I would have to be put in a Rest Home of some kind.

 

NOW MY TINY HOME....ALSO A LIFE SAVER! 

 The two or three  who visited me....were shocked to see my tiny 

7' x 11' home...a picture of which I'd best insert below for the rest of

 you. In my Mountains of the Maya book I tell the story with some

 detail how this all happened. 

One visitor, prior to me becoming a cripple, was a wealthy friend

 who was embarrassed with what he was seeing, and with grim

 determination blurted out,  

"How can you live this way?"

What he was really saying was very likely, 

"Aren't you ashamed to live this way?" 

I tried my best to explain that a simple life is what I actually believed

 in, especially now being alone after having lived for 35 years among

 needy Mayans where he had visited us once and went through the

 Great Earthquake of 1976 that killed 25,000 Guatemalans.

  

I went on to explain that most of our 35 years there we purposely

 lived a simple life not out of reach for our Mayan students and

 employees if they accepted the 

The Philosophy & Principles of the Good Life 

that was the formula we  set an example living and taught and

 helped them work for too....if they were willing to 

work hard for a better life.

 

I SHOULD OUTLINE BRIEFLY THOSE PRINCIPLES SO

 YOU WON'T MISUNDERSTAND:

1.  Cleanliness in all aspects of living...using a special system we invented to convince them of the invisible world of microbes.

2.  Proper well balanced nutrition...again convincing them of its importance with a special system we created.

3.  Live in a healthy, cleanable house & homesite that would be mentally stimulating.

4.  United families, parents loving children, children loving parents.

5.  Education for all...young and old.

6.  Hard work, but learn how to work more effectively with vocational education we offered to all interested.

7.  Once achieving the Good Life, share with others.

The effort to teach these principles at Valparaiso, Guatemala resulted in 3 consecutive years with NO DEATH, where the average for years had been 8 babies dying a year, plus others....in a population of 239 Maya/Poqomchi Indians.

During that period we did have a friend or two and had the

 opportunity of  making a slide presentation to the LDS Welfare

 Committee, then a 4 hour meeting with personnel from the then

 forming Church World Wide Welfare (or Humanitarian) Service, and

then a presentation in the Church auditorium.

Much of the first organization of that Service incorporated my

 suggestions and principles, disguising it all with somewhat different

 terminology, so in the words of Harold Brown, 

"You won't get credit for it!" 

  

The Philosophy & Principles of the Good life

and the battle cry....

Never Give in, nor give up....easily...Without a Fight!

was the foundation of my life seeking

IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS

The lyrics from the famous song will be spread throught this chapter:

************************

To dream the impossible dream,

To fight the unbeatable foe,

*************************************** 

I went on to tell my visiting friend that it,

 

"Warms my heart now....many of them calling me  Papa Cordell,  as it

 worked pretty good and today they are property owners, live in their

 own healthy homes in their own community I helped them

 create...and have smart phones, all being my friends on Facebook, so

 in many ways I achieved my objective as today they are all better off

 than me, which  doesn't embarrass me in the least, rather gives me

 that warm, fuzzy feeling....that you should understand!"

 I didn't let him off the hook and went on giving some examples,

 like:   At our Center for Indian Development  in Guatemala (I'll

 insert a picure of right now.)....that a sociological study made by

 Guatemala's National Electrification Institute...INDE, called:

"AN OASIS OF HOPE & JUSTICE FOR THE POOR."

 For example, one of my Vocational Students, Felix Rosales, from a

 remote village,  who we see below in 1976 as a student learning to

 drive a tractor...also became a convert and soon became the first

 native Q'eqchi'/Mayan to become a fulltime missionary for the

 LDS Church and ....

......THIS PART JUST HAPPENED so I couldn't tell me friend

 that...Felix just became the President of the new Coban LDS

 Temple!

Below we see the Valparaiso Community I organized for my people.

The Valparaiso community today that I personally surveyed,

 measured, drove the stakes, organized legally, and helped each have

 property and their own home they worked and paid for. With some

 help from me they worked hard to build their own potable water

 system, and get electricity for their community.

My wealthy friend and visitor knew much of this  and I reviewed some

 of it for him anyway , but apparently I didn't convince him as I never heard

 from him again and he soon passed on leaving his giant mansion

 behind!

IRONICALLY MY TINY HOME A GREAT BLESSING!
But, once my ordeal and challenge of becoming a cripple began, I must say that my simple tiny home has been a blessing and key element of my survival as when needing to sit up,  slide down to the end of my bed to use a portable toilet Jesse got for me, stand up,  get some food, or take sponge baths, and eventually a shower...no matter what...  there was always something to grab onto to help pull me up,  move me along, or prevent me from falling.   And,  having lost most

 of my balance ....especially when closing my eyes to wash my face,

 or dry it, pull a t-shirt over my head, or in the dark, etc. I would

 instantly begin falling, but I couldn't really fall as in every direction

 close by there was a wall, a cabinet, or something to prevent a

 deadly fall.  

 I have lived in it since 2013. During the cold months parked alongside Jesse's home in American Fork and with all of  my glitches since 2020 l permeantly parked at Jesse's place.

   From it I have managed the Guatemalan Foundation at no cost

 as a 50 year non-paid volunteer until retiring it on its 

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY in 2017 

 which I celebrated alone with a Hot-fudge sundae at McDonalds... and then I went to work writing a book about my 

"Impossible Dream" in the Mountains of the Maya.

My tiny home has also been my office from which I managed  my

HIGH UINTAS PROJECT, 

writing a two volume book I've already showed to you with full information on the Home Page. Now a 5th...this BOOK about the VISIONS of NATURE.

 SO,  BACK TO THE STORY and....

NEVER GIVE UP.....WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT!

****************************

To bear with unbearable sorrow
And to run where the brave dare not go

************************************

I was forcing my dead right leg to keep up with the good left one.
  Gradually it began to work, and with my fierce independant streak I gratefully inherited from my mom and dad, I even learned to drive my car tucking the useless right leg back under my good one, and driving with my left leg.....grateful for an automatic transmission!

  

The funny part of that was on my first venture out with the car.  My boys, Nephi and Jesse, noticed the car was gone and panicked,   worrying....A LOT....and waiting for me.

  

On my return 

They evoked  "THE 25th AMMENDMENT " on me and 

TOOK THE KEYS AWAY FROM ME,

 like as though I was some rebellious, untrustworthy teenager! I finally showed them I could do it safely and got my keys back. Now, a few years later I'm back to driving normally with both legs as my efforts finally worked and..... 

...MY DEAD LEG CAME ALIVE!

A major part of my COMEBACK  was when my good friend Paul Edmunds, one of my wonderful 400 customers from when I gratefully worked from 2009 to 2012 for LORIE PAULSON at REAMS SUPERMARKET  in Springville....  

......but Paul gave me a  "Luxury style walker," and to build back my leg muscles in the summer of 2022 I  began going on hikes..... gradually increasing the distance from American Fork, and months later finally getting up to Lone  Peak High School in Highland (9 or 10 miles roundtrip), and then....

I  decided to do the  HALF MARATHON  DISTANCE (13.2 miles) all the way to Alpine and back.      NOTE: From 1994 to 2007 I had done 14 consecutive half marathons in Guatemala's  famous Coban International Half Marathon competing with the Kenyans and other international stars until reaching 72 and not able to make more trips to Guatemala to supervise Foundation projects because of lack of funds....so no more Half Marathons.....

....UNTIL 2022!

           During the night before attempting to go all the way to Alpine and back,

I dreamed of doing again the International Half Marathon in Coban, Guatemala and ....

......I FINALLY BEAT THE KENYANS DOING IT WITH MY WALKER!  

 

NOW BACK TO REALITY....

The next day was a hot day, and I'll confess it took me all day.....at least 6-7 hours!  On the return along the North County Boulevard (a divided highway) I was stopped by two police cars who said that they were getting 911 calls from motorists  about...
... an old guy with a walker on the highway that 

maybe needed saving!

Apparently I didn't look too good,  but I assured them I'd make it home alright.

Then two beautiful young ladies, one in a Mustang convertible, stopped to save me. The one with the convertible, in her attempt to get me into her car,  told me it was 96 degrees!   WOW,  was it sweet talking to them  but..... I was one strong 86 year old guy, thanked them and finally made it home by myself with my virtue intact!

***********************

To right the unrightable wrong
And to love pure and chaste from afar

*******************************

I was finally building muscle again, and then moved to the parks on grass with no aids, learning to walk like a baby, in the beginning with the help of my infant Guardian Angel, TED...

.....you'll see TED again below a few pictures when we get to the hills where we are inserted  in the foothill montage of my 2023 efforts to 

NEVER GIVE UP....WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT! 

 Part of that was TED teaching me  to fall like a baby so I wouldn't  kill myself and learning to get up again with no gadgets to help me! 

NOTE: 

 With my misaligned spine you see below.....my spine surgeon told me  a fall would kill me, and gave me strict instructions to use trekking poles if hiking in the foothills. 

.......then to climbing stairs with a railing on the south side of the American Fork Fitness Center, where the stairs face south and the snow would melt quickly......

Always in the beginning with my little buddy TED!

I hope all of you friends know that Ted is a fun figment of my imagination who I haven't seen...yet...but maybe he's there as I couldn't have made so much progress by myself! 

Eventually I graduated from the 7" stairs seen above to 11" stairs at the American Fork Amphitheater that even in the warm months I would often do every other day alternating with hikes in the foothills.

Then, when the weather was too cold in the winter  

  or snowing I discovered  the.... 

.......INSTACARE 4 floor building..

...with a drinking fountain, restroom and soft chairs on every floor, as well as a snack bar near the pharmacy.....also of course with all the EMERGENCY SERVICES NECESSARY for an old guy maybe pushing himself too much! 

WOW, WHAT A WONDERFUL BUNCH of FREE EXERCISE

MACHINES....ALL OF THEM THAT HAVE HELPED SAVE MY LIFE.....for an even BETTER DAY IN THE FUTURE!

There I enjoyably and safely persisted with my preparations for 

SPRING IN THE FOOTHILLS 

 and when Spring 2023 came,  off to...... 

Behind the beautiful trees of Pleasant Grove we see  

THE FOOTHILLS OF MOUNT TIMPANOGOS  

 coming alive with Spring and we see here the fairly restricted area I mainly focused on during the summers of 2023-24.  

********************

To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

**********************

Below you see me all over using the previously hated trekking poles that I always said were for wimps!  

NOW LOOK WHO THE WIMP IS ........

In this montage I show two of my 2023 triumphs getting to the VALLEY VIEW SPOT going up the front of the hills, rather than the easy, safe way going up the canyon and switchbacking to the SPOT as I did  my first time in 2023 represented in  Chapter 2.

  

Chapter 3 will be built around a hike switchbacking up the front of the mountain the "LONGEST but SAFEST WAY." 

 

Chapter 4 will feature  THE HARDEST...and MOST DANGEROUS WAY but SHORTEST."  I will be honest admitting at times being in trouble and how I found  solutions. 

Chapter 5 will focus on THE BIRTH of OUR NATION and the PATRIOTIC ACTIVIES IN THE FOOTHILLS of TIMPANOGOS 

at the Grove Creek Canyon Trailhead & area.

  

Chapter 6  will be built around other hikes up the canyon and switchbacking to "THE SPOT," spiced up by my every-other-day shorter trips just in the foothills and in the canyon I did all Spring, Summer and Fall  to keep alive in 2023 and 2024 through December approximately 366 hikes.  

Chapter 7 will be built around my many new discoveries in 2024 plus

 4 hikes to  the Valley View Spot in 2024.... the last in October to

 document the largest of the 136 plants identified, plus the story of

Mosses, and will tell the 

STORY of NATURE DEALING WITH THE DROUGHT & PLAGUE

 in the SUMMER 2024

Chapter 8  Will be   A Summary of all  Identified  & all Unidentified

"VISIONS  of NATURE" and eventually will end with the 

THREE MOST DIVINE VISIONS of NATURE 

in all my years of experience in the 

FOOTHILLS of TIMPANOGOS. 

Chapter 9  is entitled:  

Our "Dynamic Earth & The Creation from Wence Cometh All the

 DIVINE VISIONS"    

All hikes with my Nikon camera and special 18mm x 400 mm lens

 producing over 5,000 photographs and counting....likely the best

 collection in existence of the foothills of the Wasatch.....what's

 maybe missing I will do my best to get during the 2024 season that I

 can tell you now May 25, 2024 has been an avalanche of new

 discoveries, new amazing photographs, and so far 

LIFE SAVING EXPERIENCE. 

**********************
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
***************************

I'll admit all my hikes are done carefully and VERY SLOWLY and

 SAFELY as a fall could kill me!  Actually  going slow—with the

  STALKING PACE,  blesses me.......my physical complications and

 age bless me even more by forcing me to go even slower which

 makes possible

 SEEING the STUNNING  WONDERMENT of NATURE 

I want to share with all of you.

**************************

I will level with all that in my hikes I experience constant back

 pain.......and other complications of being in my 89th year...but all

 made  bearable and possible as I am blessed being able to recognize

 inspiring beauty and fascination...in 

flowers, plants, trees, insects, arachinids,  animals, reptiles,   rocks,

 lichens , mosses & birds,  and wonderful sunsets...so I never tire of my

 hikes every day in the hills and canyons—and now in the Fall of

 2024, with the need of research, investigation and writing,  hiking at

 least three times a week.

With the oncoming winter, I'll do as I did last year  every other day

 hiking when temperature is  above freezing, and when not I'll have

 to resort to the stairs at INSTACARE —otherwise my blood pressure

 gets out of control scary, back pain worse and once 3 days of

"resting"  had both of my legs beginning  to go to sleep with no

 feeling,   brought on two mini-strokes and for the first time since 16

 years old when I experienced an NDE and shouted "I'm a dead man,"  I actually felt like it  was the end and I asked myself,

"IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE WHEN ONE IS DYING?"!

But I learned my lesson that I have to keep moving 

EVERY DAY or DIE!  

So, in spite of the pain and so far losing 5" in height, I exercise

 usually every day,  in the 

FOOTHILLS OF MT. TIMPANOGOS!

And, as I do so I have in my mind words I believe were from the 

Creator, who advised us to.....

 LEARN about all  saying:

 "And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another...... that you may be 

instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle,  in all things.... Of things both in

 heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, 

things which must shortly come to pass; That ye may be prepared in all things." 

 THE PLAN   

I began  early in the Spring documenting with photos each plant as

 they germinate and spring to life,  then follow their development to

blossoming, and continue  to the unique process of

reproduction...some plants with spectacular systems I'll show you

 with some...meaning....."the whole story" on a few, good detail on

 many and magnificent conclusions on all.

I will show briefly that whole process for a lot of plants, 

with more emphasis on  extraordinary plants that quite literally

 are STUNNINGLY SPECTACULAR and INSPIRING....wonderful

 witnesses for me of our WONDERFUL CREATOR.

*******************

To fight for the right

Without question or pause

********************

.....BUT HARDLY ANYONE NOTICES! 
 Perhaps because you're low on testosterone,  don't have a long zoom

 lens or you concentrate more on making long hikes fast

 like MARATHON BACKPACKERS wanting to set a record

or quickly get back down to......

 

ARBY'S..."where the meats are!"

NOTE:  A good level of testosterone, for man or woman, will help

 you have a better mood, and enhance your ability to recognize and

 appreciate beauty....yes in the opposite sex, but also in the  

beautiful VISIONS of NATURE, and even in the CHAOS OF

 NATURE! So, if you don't recognize amazing beauty in what I'm

 going to show you, you need a good dose of 

ANDRO 400 Max, or equivalent!

Just in 2024 AMAZON now offers this effective product and 

now an even more potent Booster

ONE MORE NOTE on THE PLAN

As the previous 8-9 month period (March to December) has been

 expanded to 12 months from the second year on,  I have been

 discovering so much more and the supposedly "finished chapters"

are being added to and by the end of the 2024 growing season I will

 complete the  Divine Visions of Nature with another 200+ mini-hikes

 in 2024 bringing my two year total to around 366+ hikes, and with

 January 2025 until publishing in February, the total came to 380

 hikes, with more discoveries, more identifications, expanded

 research on  medicinal & nutrition information, and other fascinating

 facts all of which will be included in the online BOOK.

The task of converting it to a printable  book with index is a very big

 task, so....we'll see if I can get that done too in 2025.

*****************************

LAST COMMENTS

This will be an online book with 9 chapters ...including after the

 seasons are over when the evolution of most plants go to sleep with

 their last gasp of life in the foothills until next Spring.  As you

 lmight have noticed in the beginning, the book also includes a

Chronological Listing  by Chapter of all identified plants, plus an

INDEX of all identified plants, including listing them with several

 names.....so you can find the whereabouts of what your looking for. 

  

 I will then see if I can tackle the big chore of converting that into a

 printable book version with page numbers, footnotes, references and

 a complete Index.......the link to download it to your computer might

 cost a donation to access ..and if you want it printed you can take it

 on a thumb drive to COPYTEC  or your favorite printer, or maybe

 I'll get it on Amazon too.

NOTE:  The color pictures will not be the tiny ones most reference

 books of  recognized organizations have in their FIELD GUIDES to

 WILDFLOWERS. The final print version will be large format, 8.5" x

 11.5" as are my other books. I might even try FOR ME 11" x 13" as

 is photographer Willie Holdman's wonderful book, TIMPANOGOS.

The finished version  will be  large format....quite expensive to print

 due to many hundreds of color photos.  But at least one will be

 printed as I'm old school and need that

 

ONE....FOR ME....

....to thumb through and be continually inspired  when I GET OLD

 needing to remember all the hundreds of enlightening and life

 giving  moments on my hundreds of life saving therapy/hikes in the 

FOOTHILLS OF TIMPANOGOS! 

 
With that done it will likely occur to you that this whole effort

 is actually selfishly...... FOR ME.... which is true as it actually

 began to keep me alive  with  a personal photo/journal.  

However,  remembering my NDE as a 16 year old teenager, the

 message being.... 

"I WAS RESCUED TO SAVE LIVES....in some way," 

my decision was quick to share with all interested.  

I sincerely hope it will be enjoyed by many and be life saving for a

 few others as has been the case with my HIGH UINTAS books, and

 with the  MOUNTAINS OF THE MAYA book  that describes 

saving thousands   with the potential of much more than that 

in the long run!

*********************

To be willing to march, march into Hell
For that Heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true

To this glorious quest

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

***********************

What I created came from my efforts to save my own life to be able to

 experience "ONE MORE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM" and as it

began to work my gratitude moved me to these several years of work

 putting it together done out of love for each and every one of you. 

I was moved to admire and be inspired by the

GOD OF NATURE & CREATION

and his 

infinite DIVINE VISIONS of NATURE ......and moves

me in the twilight of my life to quote the last verse from the song

Fill the World With Love
by Petula Clark.....

In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset,
At a moment in my life when the night is due.
And the question I shall ask only God can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through? 

I tried real hard & did the best I could with lots of love!

ENJOY!

************

NOW
LET'S GO HAVE SOME HEAVENLY FUN 

learning about all the unending, inspiring and  beautiful 

VISIONS of the LORD'S CREATION

in the foothills of Mount Timpanogos!  

 **********************************

APPENDIX 1 has to do quite importantly to the story told in this Chapter 1, so I am adding it here, rather than leaving it for the ending of the book which would be the end of VOLUME 4 - possibly quite some time from now, March 26, 2025.  

***********

 APPENDIX 1

This excerpt  from my website… from August 2020

CONFESSION:

I have been inactive for several months in my 85th year with three problems I’ll tell you about, but I will reshuffle the items mentioned in my post as the 3rd item actually came first, it was:

1.  I had a chance to be exposed to COVID-19, and except for my back, am in better health than others my age so I decided best build up my immunity now, so….

“BRING IT ON WHILE STILL HEALTHY.” 

When my blood pressure indicated something was going south in my body I started the 
CURATIVE LEVEL OF MY WELLNESS FORMULA,

The next day the blood pressure was solved, then had one day later with a temperature of  99.1 F, then one day at 99.9 then always normal. No body pains nor breathing problems, only daily headaches and my taste turned on end for three weeks with even my favorite foods and drinks being NASTY!  But mostly my life continued normally, the normal flu–had years ago before discovering the WELLNESS FORMULA, was many times more miserable & dangerous. YOU CAN HAVE THE WELLNESS FORMULA by buying my book, it being explained in Appendix 5 in the article entitled “THE ANTI-AGING CHALLENGE,” on page 635-636, along with solutions to most problems in the 55 page article, and my survival stories sprinkled throughout the book that can SAVE YOUR LIFE!

THE KEYS TO BEATING COVID-19 & ALL HEALTH PROBLEMS?
HEALTHY WEIGHT — EXERCISE —
BE AT PEACE
STUDY MY “ANTI-AGE CHALLENGE” IN APPENDIX 5,
plus
Chapter 5: “LIGHTWEIGHT, JOYFUL & SAFE BACKPACKING”

2.  On May 11th on an exploratory trip to be able to report to you the accessibility conditions I took THE WORST FALL OF MY LIFE THAT SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME.  Let me describe it for the survival lessons it teaches, I quote: 

“I decided for the report on my website I should include pictures of a wildflower in bloom at the lower elevations.  I noticed some in bloom up a steep slope and pulled off the road.  I’d been behind the wheel for an hour or so and as I started up the slope I felt very unsteady with awful balance.  I even strangely thought, “Wow, I could use a hiking stick or trekking pole!”  That I have resisted all these years as usually I had in my hands my camera, or my munchies.  But, I finally got up to the flower, and on the uneven steep slope with rocks and sagebrush, each time I’d try and focus I would lose my  balance, so sat down to get the picture

Then I started down, but completely forgetting what I have advised going down a steep slope—” ALWAYS LEAN INTO THE MOUNTAIN…because if you fall the OTHER WAY, YOU’RE MOST LIKELY DEAD!”  See pages 563-564 of my book. All of a sudden I began losing my balance–one of the first things you begin to lose as you get older.  I did my darndest with me feet to keep up with my body but couldn’t do it as all was happening so quickly and all of a sudden I went head over heels flying downward, apparently hitting the rocks a time or two I determined afterwards seeing the deep dirt and green scuff marks on the back of my shirt, then somehow quite miraculously my body got twisted around in the air–that saved me, before I hit the bottom so I landed with a thud on my back horizontally with the shock evenly distributed the length of my body.  If I had of hit on any angle I would for sure have broke something.  I laid there stunned thinking, “For sure there’s got to be  multiple fractures somewhere–MAYBE EVERYWHERE!”  I carefully moved one leg, then the other. Then each arm.  I raised my head just a little, and then more.  By then I was feeling warm blood on the back of my head.  My left arm shirt sleeve was  soaked with blood.  I carefully sat up, and slowly got to my feet, and noticed nearby my Nikon camera with Zoom lens that separate from me somehow had come down the steep hill with me, dirty with dust, but back in the car I checked it out, and it too had survived without breaking anything.  My first thought, I stupidly had violated the rule and NOT LEANED INTO THE MOUNTAIN.  The second thing that came to mind:  VERY LIKELY MY BACKPACKING DAYS ARE OVER WITH, BUT I WAS ALIVE! Thirdly, once again the supplements I promote in my “Anti-Aging Challenge” chapter in Appendix 5, primarily: Magnesium/Calcium and others, saved my body from any kind of fractures. I mention in the book Dr. Jackson saying, after my hip replacement surgery.

“Your bones are the hardest we’ve ever seen!” WHY? see Appendix 5

IMPORTANT NOTE: As indicated in the story of my fall, BALANCE is one of the first things we lose as we get older, and I’m convinced that some of those who have been lost in the Uintas and never found, very possibly–in the numerous dangerous places in the Uintas have just simply lost their balance as happened to me, and fallen into a ravine, or out of sight area, and are never found.

Like famous Australian backpacker ERIC ROBINSON doing the Highline Trail and disappeared for 5 years, before his bones were finally found at the bottom of a cliff–HE UNDOUBTEDLY LOST HIS BALANCE TRYING TO GET BACK TO THE HIGHLINE TRAIL, AFTER SOMEHOW GETTING WAY OFF COURSE. See pages 156-159 for all the details.

SO PLEASE….BE VERY AWARE AND TAKE SPECIAL CAUTION, especially in the first few days on a trip–until you get your “mountain legs working,” & IN DANGEROUS PLACES…..AND IF YOUR BALANCE IS LESS THAN NORMAL, I GUESS YOU’LL HAVE TO USE TREKKING POLES.

3.  Consequently my back problems that were already bad–having had two surgeries with titanium appliances in my lower back,  but now worse, with discs  worn out and missing in my mid back, my spinal chord being pinched in those locations and the Doctors feel at my age and the nature of the problems its too dangerous to repair with surgery.  The Dr. injected something into my spine, but its doing almost NOTHING! Consequently NO MORE BACKPACKING, JOGGING, but NOT GIVING IN YET–I’m doing daily my 40-50 good pushups, flexibility exercises, an 8 lb. barbell in each hand while watching TV, and walking every day at the American Fork Amphitheater park, climbing up and down holding onto the railing, and will…… somehow find a way to again do

 “the impossible!”

...that  by the Fall of 2020 was to get worse....
....and I had to have my 3^rd back surgery….but something went wrong.  My right leg was dead, or in deep sleep, and I couldn’t walk anymore.  I was confined to bed, and the muscles in my legs, especially the dead right one, began quickly disappearing.  Seeing them reminded me of holocaust victims.  I was shocked, and with the thoughts of me ending up in a Rest Home, had me going to work as I have explained in Chapter 1.

By 2023 the HIGH UINTAS became a bit difficult....cutting down a bit the size of 

THE FIGHT TO NOT GIVE IN.....to the FOOTHILLS of MOUNT TIMPANOGOS, and

400 mini-hikes in those foothills. plus unending work with many thousands of photographs, and never ending research,  investigations, and writing by early 2025 produced my

THIRD IMPOSSIBLE DREAM REALIZED.....

A 9 chapter online book with photos of the creation like many have never seen before!

Available free for all of my friends and lovers of the inspiring great outdoor's wonderment....at the retired Foundation's website:  www.guatemalanfoundation.org 

Throughout the 2025 season I will persist 

NOT GIVING UP....WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT, 

 doing my daily hikes to keep my body and mind from going to sleep, by keeping  track of all the plants, insects, mammals,  repitles, lichens, rocks,  and now BIRDS too,...... 

.....and not stop until having created a printable book with page numbers and index documenting like no one has done before the 

DIVINE VISIONS of NATURE from the FOOTHILLS of TIMPANOGOS....  

.......that I promise will WOW you unless you still need to take a testosterone booster!

Check here and .....once in a while at

https://www.facebook.com/cordell.andersen/

********************************************

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