skysworldadventures

Today we checked out the third entrance of the park, the east side by catching a ride from one of the out door companies.  In route we saw a big horn sheep which was pretty cool. We were dropped at the East Rim Trail head. Jeff and I were light on gear (camel backs only) and decided to switch between trail running and hiking. This plan worked really well the first 6 miles.  The terrain was not particularly spectacular and the trail was wide and sandy.  There were some ups and downs (more ups) but nothing too crazy. After the first 6 miles the trail got much steeper, narrower and rockier and much more down.  We slowed it down at this point and pretty much kept the pace to hiking speed.  The trail at this point went through a narrow canyon (Echo Canyon) and spit us out in the main canyon.  It was really quite spectacular.  At one point there was a completely vertical cliff next to the trail that shot up about 1500 ft.  Amazing! We finish...

We started the day with some amazing crapes that kept us full all day.  Mine was chicken, bacon, spinach, onion, mushroom and bell pepper sauce.  Jeff had eggs, bacon, avocado, tomato, hollandaise.  And huge hot cocoas! Today's hike included two Zion classics, Angel's Landing and Hidden Canyon. Angel's landing is a steep 2 mile assent up crazy little switchbacks.  It then splits off to an insane narrow trail that literally drops off 1500 feet on one side and 800 feet on the other and in places is a tiny ridge only three feet wide.  There are chains linking the trail in places that you can cling to in order to feel a little safer.  It's the most crazy and scary real trail that I have ever hiked.  I'm not entirely sure how its still legal.  I was fine with all of the rappels yesterday and scrambling along the creek bed but Angel's Landing had me pretty spooked in places and I almost turned back.  It is one heck of a view!  More tha...

Jeff decided that what we really needed to do this trip was go canyoneering.  In October.  In water.  I don't  like to be cold and I REALLY don't like to be cold and wet.  This seemed destined to end in disaster. Neither Jeff or I have much experience with technical canyoneering so he decided to hire a guide to a) make our trip safer and b) teach us so we can start looking in to less technical route on our own in the future.   The guide, Joe, shows up early in the morning and starts talking about how cold and miserable canyoneering is in October and how only tourists are silly enough to want to do such an unpleasant thing.  He sounded like he was 3/4 serious and offered us a dry alternative.  I was thinking it sounded like a decent idea but Jeff wanted cold, wet and miserable so onward we went. On the approach hike to the canyon Joe pulled a thin sheet of ice out of the water that was about 2' square to show us.  He said something...

We decided to do a short fall visit to Zion National Park this fall as a fun way to get out of Bpise for a few days and have a mini adventure.   We started our journey on Friday night and made it to Provo.  Saturday we made it to Zion's north entrance around noon. We started out fun with a 5 mile hike up Tailor Canyon in the Kolob Canyon section of the park.  This was a pleasant walk that criss-crossed the stream numorous times.  It offered stunning views of the sheer red clif walls on either side of the canyon and ended with a double blind arch.  What is a double blind arch you ask?  Well, a rock arch that is not fully detached from the surrounding rock is a blind arch.  This canyon happened to have 2 such arches, one over the other.  The caveren of the lower arch was supprisingly huge and helped put the massive scale of the surrounding canyon in to perspective. We finished off our fantastic day with wine, fruit, cheese and crackers that ...

I'm really not sure that this counts as an adventure, but my one and only loyal follower says that is so who am I to argue with my best friend and only fan? I'll start with a little history so you know where I'm coming from (just in case you are a random stranger who has no clue about my little bit of crazy).  I'm a running.  I like running.  I run far.  I run up hills.  For some reason this seems to make me happy.  If I workout really hard I'm more accepting of my flaws and faults and I feel like a better person.  I know, it doesn't really make sense but I've stopped fighting it and run bunches and the world is a better place (for both me and poor Jeff that has to live with my crazy). Anyhow...  So there is a race in Boise that has a reputation for being really difficult.  It is the "Race to Robbie Creek".  It is a point to point half marathon that goes up in to the foothills and is supposedly the toughest half marathon in the north...