The Adventure Film Festival

JD is on the council for the Association for Experiential Education and just wanted to let everyone know:

We are super excited to have a special viewing of the Adventure Film Festival at the AEE Heartland Regional Conference this year.  The regularly scheduled stops for this film festival are Boulder, CO, Chamonix, France and Santiago, Chile.  You have got to see this!

The  Adventure Film Festival is the international arena for the best and most inspiring independent films of the year encompassing all aspects of adventure, from serious exploration to environmental heroism to gripping tales from the edge of the believable.

Don't miss this!

Dance Hall Rock

We saw a huge rock formation called Dance Hall Rock while we were driving down Hole-in-the-Rock Road one day.  It is said that the earlier settlers used to have square dances here while others in the group were out exploring routes.

Emily standing on top of Dance Hall Rock (this picture is from the backside of the rock).

Here is the front view. Can you see Emily up on top?

Slick Rockin!

Southern Utah is full of slick rock. Here we are near Buckskin Gulch at a trailhead called The White House Trail.  Rumor has it that the herders used to run their herds through this area so that they could take advantage of the spring that was close by.  They said the water was so good it was fit for the White House in D.C.  Therefore the name White House Spring.

JD, Arnie, and Aspen enjoying the views.

JD and Arnie navigating the slick rock.

Buckskin Gulch!!!!!

We have been waiting for this hike ever since we got out here.  It did not let us down.

Buckskin Gulch is considered by many as the mecca of slot canyon hikes.  The hike includes a section 12 miles long of endless slot canyon where the only way out is to go back or push forward.

Check out a picture and a short video:

Buckskin Gulch

The Toadstools

Today we hiked a short 1.6 mile trail to an area known as the Toadstool Trail.  What a crazy place!  The 160 million year old bottom layer of rocks are eroding faster than the 97 million year rocks on the top.

Check em out:

A Toadstool.

JD and Arnie.

A couple more Toadstools.

Broken Bow Arch

We hiked about 4 miles today in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area into Willow Gulch, which led to this arch.  Broken Bow Arch is enormous and amazing.  A long drive, but well worth the easy hike.

Broken Bow Arch

Arnie enjoyed the hike too, but enjoyed break time even more.

Tiny Desert Home

So we came across this rock structure on our hike today...I don't know if it was made by water, wind, rodent, desert gnome, or man, but i'm hoping desert gnome:) What it may lack in square footage it makes up for with view, don't you think?

P.S. That's Sunset Arch in the background.

Hickman Bridge

So, for the book revisions we are writing, we have been asked to include a few new hikes of our choosing. We selected the Hickman Natural Bridge hike in Capitol Reef National Park as one of them. It is a 2 mile round trip hike to this massive natural bridge that you hike under.

Do you think this looks like a good addition?

Hickman Natural Bridge

The Adventures of Arnie Continue

As Arnie continues to travel throughout Southern Utah, he wanted to take a few minutes of your time to show you some proper travel technique in the backcountry.

#1 - Climbing ladders that may have been placed on trails by land managers.

#2 - Crossing icy rivers in the backcountry

Stay tuned as Arnie continues to report on his amazing adventures.

Happy New Year!!!

I love New Year's Day and I always make a long list of resolutions for the upcoming year. This year one of my resolutions is to learn how to use my camera, so I made myself get out of my warm bed this morning so I could try to capture one quality picture of last night's blue moon.

I discovered that when you are tinkering with apertures, shutter speeds, and ISO levels the moon moves really fast. Anyway, this was my best shot - which doesn't really do it justice, but I got to see a lovely moonset and a gorgeous sunrise on the first day of 2010.

Hope you all have a wonderful 2010! Cheers!