07.05.2010

Capitol Reef
So our pal Kelton Russenberger took us to Capitol Reef National Park for some hiking and camping on his day off from Bryce Canyon National Park. This was one of the many beautiful view while driving into the park on the gravel road towards Cedar Mesa.

Capitol Reef
Hitting a trail.

Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef
So this hidden treasure that many overlook for the sexier nearby parks (like Zion, Bryce, etc.) is pretty neat. Being a geology and geography nerd, I was simply astonished to be in a waterpocket fold, which is a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth), that extends almost 100 miles in the park!

07.04.2010

Valley of Fire
Celebrating the Fourth of July proper — by hitting the trails in Valley of Fire before it got too hot. It was nice not to see anyone else there on our hikes.

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire
An of course we saw many petroglyphs.

Valley of Fire
Love these rolling hills, all of different colors!!

And then we hit the road again, heading to Bryce Canyon to visit our caving friend, Kelton Russenberger, who’s working there for the summer as a ranger.
Bryce Canyon

06.29.2010

Backpacking El Cap
The sun warms up the Valley at dawn. Folks brought rope (and we took our vertical gear) to rig the spot where we would have rappelled. But I couldn’t bring myself to go down to the Diving Board to see the view that could have been. It would have broken my heart.

So instead we decided to leave Yosemite. But first thing first, get off the huge rock called El Cap.
Backpacking El Cap

06.28.2010

Backpacking El Cap
Since we travel all the way to Yosemite with our backpacking gear, we decided to do a trip to the top of El Capitan.
Here is Robin Mitchell blazing the way along Yosemite Creek during our 12-mile hike to reach the summit of El Cap, where we planned on spending the night.

Backpacking El Cap
Chris hikes towards the summit of El Cap. You can see the opposite wall of the Valley in the background.

06.05.2010

Wild Oak Backpacking
So Chris and I did a 15-mile backpacking trip on the Wild Oak trail in the George Washington National Forest. It was past of training for our upcoming El Capitan Expedition in Yosemite. But after we got to our camping spot with 4 hours of light left, we had a serious calling for pizza and beer.

Wild Oak Backpacking

07.20.2009

072009 cranberry us
Backpacking in Cranberry Wilderness
Day 3: A quick portrait of Chris and I before out 9-mile hike out.

072009 Cranberry Nikki Flowers
Me pushing through a thicket of bee balm.

072009 cranberry usgs
A USGS geological marker . . . you never know when you’ll find one of these suckers!