We like to say we’re just playing the hand we’ve been dealt. That is, when current conditions don’t allow for certain activities, just go with what’s working. In this case, we had such a warm, dry November that hardly any snow fell, and the ski areas were pretty behind when the usual Opening Day arrived.
We love Bryce Canyon National Park. We just returned from four days of trail running and backpacking there and we were blown away by the beauty. Utah has no shortage of incredible desert scenery, the state has five National Parks to showcase it all. But through the years we had always set our sights on […]
Clearing weather allowed for a descent of the Pine Creek slot, one of the Zion classics. I hadn’t been through this slot before but a friend who was with us had done it several times. He said it’s usually not too wet. That wasn’t the case here today, due to the prior days rain there […]
The fall off-season wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the desert. I recently joined a group of friends on a trip to Zion National Park, a favorite spot in southwest Utah for some slot canyon adventures. If there’s one rule regarding slot canyons, it’s that they should always be avoided when the weather isn’t […]
The following morning, with lighter packs, we continued down Buckskin Gulch to the Paria River. It was about six miles downstream to the confluence. After a quick dunk in the river and a little playing around with quicksand, we were on our way back up the canyon. We stopped at the midway exit to grab […]
Christy and I returned to run the Bear 100 again last weekend. I guess we’re just gluttons for punishment. We gave it our best and finished the 100 mile course with 23,000 feet of elevation gain in respectable times, though we were both a bit slower compared to last year. We ran unsupported, that is […]
The Waterpocket Fold of Capitol Reef might be best described as a bend in the earth’s crust where subsequent erosion has exposed the underlying rock strata. Whereas the layers of desert rock are normally seen in a canyon wall stacked vertically, the layers of the Fold are tilted on their side and are eroded away […]
We decided to check out Capitol Reef National Park last weekend. Like many people, we had long known of this National Park in south central Utah but had never spent any actual time there. One of it’s major attractions is the Waterpocket Fold, a 100 mile long exposed monocline— a geologic uplift that has since […]
Start with a 100 mile race in the mountains, strip out any crew support or pacers and add a bunch of winter weather– snow up high, mud down low, and temps in the low 20s all through the night– and you have last weekend’s Bear 100. Lucky for us, Christy and I were both able […]
We ran the Zion Traverse last week– a linkup of existing trails across Zion National Park that measures about 48 miles and reportedly gains around 10,000 vertical feet. Christy and I are big fans of established courses such as the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim (or roundtrip) and the Four Pass Loop, so it was time to […]
Recent Comments