Zion National Park ~ Front Country
So after our 4 night cross park hike, we drove to St. George Utah,
and bought me new shoes, and loaded up on groceries.
After spending the night next to the river in a free “campground” we made
our way to the main entrance of Zion.
I wanted to do the “tourist” version of Zion also.
So we parked at the visitors center and jumped on their free shuttle.
We stopped first at the Zion Human History Museum.
It talked of the Native Americans, and then the White settlers that came through.
(What an AMAZING place to have a homestead!)
I can’t help but dream about what an area used to look like 100, 200 or 300 years ago.
What did it look like before White man got here?
My heart and soul wants to see it as it was when the Native Americans lived here.
I want to be immersed in it before there were roads, buildings, signs and cars.
We have become so separated from nature that now even when we take our
vacations in “nature” we have to be able to drive right into the middle of it.
We often have paved paths, and signs warning us what a treacherous place this nature is!
(signs warning of this, and stay off of that, and of course don’t do that!)
My mind, body and soul get wrapped up in being bombarded by the current
human impact, but I try to often transport myself to a place where
all I absorb is the nature that is left in between the deep grooves of society’s fingerprint.
The Virgin River is the shaping force of the Valley.
And what an amazing scene it has sculpted.
The Valley walls are amazing, the red rock hovers above you at every turn!
Next stop was Emerald Pools.
We hiked up to the Lower and Middle Pools.
This is the waterfall that falls from the middle to lower pools.
It makes a lovely spattering sound.
Even with the developed trails to these sites, and the immense amount of traffic they
get each year, you can still feel natures raw beauty.
We had no plan of what we wanted to do when we arrived in the Valley,
so we were simply moving toward what ever drew our attention.
What better place to go for inspiration than Angels Landing?
This was the beginning of my new path.
To let my mind, body and soul fly free!
So we started our climb.
The beginning of the trail is cut into the side of the steep red rock.
Beautiful craftsmanship went into cutting red rock into perfect squares and stacking
them as walls to keep the trail on the side of the hill.
Even some blasting so that the trail could snake even deeper into the side of the hill.
We got to the top of the first climb.
Several people were sitting at this point, some simply resting before moving on,
others with a weary look on their face as they looked up the trail,
resignation tattooed upon their features.
Without a pause we moved up the next part of the trail.
As you can see from the above picture it snaked along a knifes edge.
I loved to watch each person walking this part of it.
Some moved along with no effort, truely enjoying the journey along this unique trail.
Others inched and crawled along, but they were doing it!
I celebrated each step for them, because they were pushing through that fear to make it to where
the Angels dwell!
I felt good along my journey, fear that would have been there in the past,
perhaps even a week before were melting away.
Once in a while I would look down to see the ground next to me plummeting to the valley
floor, and a wave of fear would pass through me.
But I embraced it and would take a moment to stop and study the sheer drop next to me.
I marveled at the immense beauty of the place I was,
the unique formation that was this fin we were climbing out, and wondering
how the river shaped it.
All along the journey I was truely humbled.
How is it, for how small we are, how miniscule of a being,
we have managed to take over the earth?
We have explored almost every corner of this earth, and managed to manipulate most of it into
a “Resource” to be used.
How have we become so separated from our dear mother?
Even many of those that took this beautiful pilgrimage to the aptly named Angels Landing
took only a moment or two to look around, and then turned right back around.
I do understand that sometimes it is the journey that is the greatest undertaking for a person.
But how could one not spend hours, days, weeks on top just admiring the wonder of each nuance
in front of you?
I felt that our mere 2 hours on top was no where enough time to actually absorb what
was surrounding me.
I could have spent months up there and still not have seen, heard, smell or feel everything.
Here is one without me blocking the beautiful view. We were out on a fin that had this kind of view
almost all the way around us. It is just spectacular!
Almost everywhere you went on Angels Landing you were standing at the edge
of a cliff face. I really do not know how this fin was shaped the way it was.
I am endlessly fascinated by how nature shapes her landscape.
A true Artist!
While we were sitting on top of Angels Landing we saw many different people come up.
Some would stop for a little bit,
others would snap a couple pictures, catch their breath, and head back.
A lady and man sat near us for a little bit, and at one point she said
“Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a zipline from up here?”
Wow, what a way down that would be!
After an amazing sitting with the Angels
(and a few begging chipmunks)
We started our journey back to the bottom.
We did a couple more stops along the shuttle route, enjoying the rest of the Tourist
experience. And then made our way back to the car.
The evening light is truely magical on that red rock!
Zion entertained us for about a week.
The next day we explored around Springdale (I looked around the shops like a good tourist)
And then drove through the park one last time on our route toward Bryce Canyon National Park.
New Horizons
A New Adventure is expanding upon my Horizon.
It’s gentle call getting louder.
Offering new perspectives of the world from within and without.
What paths lay ahead of you?
This Tuesday night Bernie and I fly out of Seattle to Birmingham Alabama.
We will then make our way to our starting point on Wednesday.
We are starting about 285 miles before the Appalachian Trail,
In Alabama on a trail called the Pinhoti Trail.
This summer’s adventure is hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
We will hike a total of about 2,500 miles this summer.
I hope you all have beautiful Summers,
Filled with adventures and explorations of your own!
Always remember that Life is one big journey,
Enjoy each step of the way!
If you would like to see Photos of last summers adventure
along the Pacific Crest Trail visit Bernie’s Blog Here
A New Adventure
Well everyone, tomorrow a new adventure begins. We fly to San Diego to start the Pacific Crest Trail.
I will miss getting to interact with everyone in blog land.
I wish you all the best of summers!
I hope you have the most spectacular time doing what each of you love!
Thank you for all the kind thoughts and comments that you have all shared with me.
Crazy Times
Can you all feel the crazy energy that has been surrounding me lately? Well yesterday we did indeed pack up the car and head toward Arizona. BUT…… When we reached Bakersfield, we were really getting dumped on with rain, and thus the mountains we were about to cross over were getting dumped on by snow. Sooooo….. We had to turn back, the pass was closed. So here we are back in the Bay area. We have decided to stay for another two weeks, and take the train to Arizona.
The storms that have been hitting here have also been hitting Arizona, and where we start out is slightly higher elevations. So it will be good to start in a couple of weeks. Hopefully this weather will calm down a bit.
It is strange to get yourself into one mind set, all ready for an adventure, and have it change all of the sudden. I really hope to get the chance to come into the library a hand full of times before we leave in a couple of weeks, so that I can see what everyone has been up to.
Thank you as always for all your kind words. It’s amazing the warmth that I feel each time I log onto my blog and read the kind and beautiful things that everyone has writen!
A New Adventure!
Well, it looks like the blog will take quite a break this summer…… It makes the blogging part of me sad. But the adventure will be worth the break. We are headed out the end of this week to drive to Arizona with Bernie’s parents. They are dropping us off at the Mexican border, and we will be hiking the Arizona Trail. It is a 800 mile route that travels from the Mexican border to the Utah border through the heart of Arizona.
To see some maps and more information on our hike visit the Arizona Trail Association’s web site at http://www.aztrail.org/ . Bernie has had the itch to hike for a little while now, and its been a bit since we have done a real long distance trail.
And then if we are feeling good after the Arizona trail, Bernie would really like to make our way to southern California to start the Pacific Crest Trail. This is a trail that travels from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington. It is about 2,650 miles long. Bernie had finished this trail before I met him. He did it over 2 seperate summers. If we do happen to do it this summer, we most likely would thru hike, which means we would do the whole trail. For more information on the PCT visit http://www.pcta.org .
Hiking a long distance trail is an amazing experience. It becomes a way of life. When you hike one as long as the PCT you are immersed in nature for about 4 months or so (depending on your speed, and the length of the trail you are on).
Bernie and I have hiked quite a lot since we have been together. We started with the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) which is a 2,700 mile trail that travels from the Canadian border in Montana to the Mexican border in New Mexico. I only finished 2,000 miles of it, because of an injury, but Bernie did the whole thing. Then we moved onto the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) which is a 1,200 mile trail that travels from Washingtons outer coast to Glacier National Park in Montana. And then over a few different trips we completed about 3/4 of the California Coastal Trail.
It has been a good number of years since we have done a long distance trail, so it will be fun to get into that lifestyle again for a little while. We will be taking my camera with to get some nice memory shots along the way. I hope to share them with all of you one of these days when we settle down long enough to do that.
I wish everyone the best of summers! May adventures abound for all of you, and beauty surround you!! Everyone that is doing a garden this year, I wish you a wonderful crop, and lots of joy playing out in the dirt! To all the creative people out there, keep expressing yourselves with your beautiful crafts! Perhaps we will run across a Library every now and then, so I can drop in on my blog and let you know how our adventures are going!
Enjoy each and every moment! And always Do What You Love!
Adak Memories
Memories from our summer adventure in the Aleutian Islands have been drifting in and out of my mind the last couple of days, so I thought I would dedicate a post to them.
May 22nd 2008 Bernie and I departed from Portland Oregon on the Thomas G. Thompson research vessel. The size of this ship was impressive, and since it was my first time on open waters, I was happy to be on a substantial boat. We had a rough go the first couple of days out, unfortunately the weather was a little intense, and we were quite sea sick for a few days. Once we got our sea legs we emerged from our cabin and joined the rest of the crew, only to learn that a few of the well seasoned crew members even got sick, that made me feel a little bit better…..
After an eight day journey straight across the Pacific we landed on Adak, one of the many islands in the Aleutian chain. We picked up a crew of scientists, and headed out to the end of the Aleutian chain. We stopped at various islands along the way, most of the scientists were divers doing subtidal work. Bernie and I would walk the beaches looking for Sea Otter remains. We made it to the farthest point of the Aleutians and made our way back, stopping along the way. We had pretty wonderful weather along this journey out and back, a few days with swells here and there, but good weather in the Aleutian Islands is hard to come across some times. One day in particular was amazingly calm. The water was perfectly glassy, on the way back from a beach walk, the fog that had hung over the island all morning lifted, and I got some beautiful shots of the Thompson.
When we arrived back on Adak, Bernie and I were dropped off at our own personal retreat. Alright, retreat might not quite be the right word, but many aspects of it were spectacular. It was a small ‘cabin’ (more like shack), with a creek that did a big U turn right around it, and just a very short walk to our own private beach. We were out there doing Sea Otter research, and our main research site was about a 20min zodiac ride from our cabin. The landscape that surrounded us on our whole journey this summer was breathtaking! We really were blessed with our spot at the little cabin. Right behind the cabin the hills rose abruptly into twin mountains, to the other side rolling grassy hills spread out into a long peninsula, called Caribou peninsula. As you can guess, we had caribou around. They were introduced to Adak in the late 50’s early 60’s, for entertainment (hunting) and an emergency food source for the people stationed at the Navy base on the other side of Adak.
We lived in our little cabin located in the Bay of Islands for a bit over two months. With our zodiac we got to explore and do research on a handful of the islands nestled in our bay. Mount Moffet looked across the bay at us, when the clouds would lift long enough for us to see it. Many of our days there were cloudy, and a good percentage were rainy, but when the sun would break through we had wonderful vistas in all directions.
Every 10 to 14 days we would take our zodiac across the bay and hike over a pass to the other side of the island to take showers, wash clothes and relax for a day or two. After our time in the little cabin at Unalga Bight, we moved to the ‘base’ side of the island. We lived in the USFWS bunk house, and did research in a large lagoon. This area of the island is truly surreal. There is a full blown town that was built for the roughly 6,000 people stationed at this base. Houses, warehouses, shops, McDonalds, a bowling alley, and WAY more. In the mid 90’s the navy packed up and gave the place to the native Aleuts. Now there is a full time population around 100 to 200 people, with seasonal contractors and biologists that come throughout the summer. It really looks like a post apocalyptic scene, all these abandoned buildings everywhere. The energy of that place is very strange.
Toward the end of our stay, to add a little excitement a volcano 50 miles away decided to cascade itself out of dormancy, and erupt rather enthusiastically. The two biologists that had been working on it were rescued off Kasatochi just about 1 hour before it went off. It was amazing to me to be 50 miles away, I truly can not imagine being on it that close to its eruption. We got to spend some time with these two men, and hear their stories.
When we were done on Adak we traveled by boat the rest of the Aleutian Chain back to Homer Alaska. On the way we went right by Kasatochi to see what it looked like. It threw out so much ash that it extended the shoreline 100 meters and more in places, the whole island was covered in ash, along with some near by islands. The winds carried the ash away from Adak, so we were never hit by it except a minute dusting. It released so much sulfur that the cloud drifted out across the US and even made it to Europe.
Our entire summer was an amazing experience. It had its ups and downs along the way, but that’s what keeps it so interesting. I got to see some amazing scenery, and beautiful animals! So there is an extremely shortened account of our summer, I am leaving out so many wonderful details, perhaps I will elaborate more in future posts.
To see some more photo’s of our adventure, you can visit Bernie’s blog, he has a whole series of posts on our summer:
To see other peoples experiences visit:
