Adventure Doesn't Find You
Squeezing through a slot canyon that was so tight, I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d ever reach the end. With my feet wedged into the narrowest section on the bottom of the canyon, shimmying myself along the wall, my hips would go no further. I was stuck…
When your friends tell you they have extra permits for a canyoneering trip in Zion National Park, you don’t think, you just say, “Yes!” And that’s exactly how I ended up in a wetsuit, in the middle of the Utah desert, descending on a rope into a dark slot canyon. Keyhole Canyon was an excellent first experience in Canyoneering. Technical, yet manageable and short. It had everything I could have ever hoped for in a canyoneering trip. Big rappels, stemming off narrow canyon walls, pools filled with water, it was epic! Located in Zion National Park, Keyhole Canyon was first …
To say that I was nervous might be the understatement of the century. I couldn’t sleep the night before and my hands were shaking the entire hike leading up to the moment. Little did I know that the hard part wasn’t going to be asking Courtney to marry me, rather the descent through Dang Canyon turned out to be 10x more difficult. All said and done, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The people that walked these lands before us, have a history that most of us do not know about. As early as 13,000 years ago, the Clovis people hunted in the Cedar Mesa. After them, the Ancestral Puebloans came into the picture 2,500 years ago. These people occupied these desert landscapes up until the mid 1200s when nearly all of them disappeared from the San Juan Region and settled elsewhere in the Southwest. They left behind the pots and baskets they created, along with their homes built into the cliffs that scatter across the desert canyons. This is the reason …
There are only a handful of photographs that I regret not taking. Whether it’s because I was too tired to hike up an adjacent peak to get a better view of the landscape, or I was just too lazy to bring my camera out and make the stop for a photo. Well this shot falls into the ladder category. And I remember the day, I didn’t take the shot, like it was yesterday. Courtney and I were moving out west to Utah, and were just about to reach the town of Moab, when we saw the first arch of our …
From one side of Park City, to the other. Running South to North, from Deer Valley to Canyons. One trail, that covers well over 15miles of ski area terrain, and is now my new favorite trail in Park City. And even though I’ve ridden sections of this trail before, I’ve never linked the whole Mid Mountain Trail together. That is, until yesterday. My buddy Bill and I used the Purple Line bus to shuttle ourselves up to the Montage at Deer Valley where we could hop on the Mid Mountain Trail. Sure, we could have left a car the side …
The summit of Mount Timpanogos can be view from nearly every direction whether you’re down in Provo, from the summits in the Cottonwoods, or just driving through Heber City. And ever since we saw its snow capped ridgeline when first visited Salt Lake, back in February of 2017, we knew we just had to hike it. On Saturday, September 14th, five of us, with two dogs, hit the Aspen Grove trailhead in hopes to be on the summit a few hours later. At 11,749 feet, Mount Timpanogos (or Timp), is the second-highest summit of the Wasatch Mountains. From the Aspen …
The Cirque Series has been on my bucket list ever since 2017 when I saw them for the first time. The idea of running all the way up to the peak of a mountain, and then back down seemed crazy. But at the same time, I couldn’t help wanting to throw my hat in the ring on race day. Well, on Saturday, September 7th, my “wish” came true. Holy Sh!t… this was the toughest single event I’ve ever done, including the Grand Teton, and it was worth every, single, painful stride. The mapped race was 8.7 mile course with 3,566 …
Are you the type of person who shows up to a crag, with your rope and cams stuffed into a cramped, old pack, spending the first 15-minutes of your “climbing” time trying to get your gear ready? Do you look over at the other climbers and their fancy crag bags, standing upright on its own, with all their gear neatly organized and easily accessible with just a slight jealousy? Well, I’ll tell you right now, a crag bag is just as crucial to your climb as the rope. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but it has made my time climbing …
The Cirque Series has been on my bucket list ever since 2017 when I saw them for the first time. The idea of running all the way up to the peak of a mountain, and then back down seemed crazy. But at the same time, I couldn’t help wanting to throw my hat in the ring on race day. Well, on Saturday, September 7th, my “wish” came true. Holy Sh!t… this was the toughest single event I’ve ever done, including the Grand Teton, and it was worth every, single, painful stride. The mapped race was 8.7 mile course with 3,566 …
