Apr 7 2011

Maze Trip – May Not Happen!

Let me start out by saying: I hate making reservations in Canyonlands National Park…..which is why I haven’t been to The Maze yet (or the White Rim for that matter). Last year I finally decided I wanted to go to The Maze and actually made reservations, took the time off from work and planned the trip ahead of time…which is supposed to start on Saturday.

Things aren’t looking good, and I’m pretty upset about it!

Here’s an email I received from Canyonlands yesterday…..

Randy,

In the unfortunate event that federal employees are furloughed, the
national park system, including Canyonlands National Park, will be closed.
We wanted to provide advance notice that you may not be able to begin your
backcountry trip due to this closure. *If this closure prevents you from
using your current reservation, we will be glad to try and rebook your
reservation for a future date.

If you decide to cancel your reservation and you paid by credit card we
will refund your reservation fee back to your credit card.

If you paid by means other than credit card we will refund your reservation
fee once we are provided guidance on how to process these payments.

Canyonlands National Park Reservation Office
435-259-4351 M-F 8am-12:30pm MST
(fax) 435-259-4285
canyres@nps.gov

I have contacted the park, and apparently if they shut down, they will be kicking people out and making sure no one enters. Law Enforcement is considered ‘essential personnel’ and their only job during the government shutdown would be keeping people out of the parks.

Time to start making some backup plans…..


Jan 20 2011

My 2010 JK’s First Year

Well, as of today, I have owned my 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for a full year. If you recall, I bought it last January as my 30th Birthday Present to myself.

When I test drove it, it only had 9 miles on it and then 15 when I bought it. As of yesterday, it now has 25,850 miles! I have done a lot of driving and exploring this last year.

My JK has helped me take many adventures over the last year, and here’s a few of the many photos I took this year with my Jeep!

Rubicon
Rubicon

Dirty Jeep
Dirty Jeep

Roller Coaster
Roller Coaster

Dinosaur Track and Jeep
Dinosaur Track and Jeep

Richardson Amphitheater
Richardson Amphitheater

Getting Air by Alex Himes

Continue reading


Jan 1 2011

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011! Here’s to a great 2011!

GJ Fireworks 2010


Dec 31 2010

2010: My Year in Review

Sitting Under Fallen Roof

Let me start out this post by just saying that the year 2010 was an awesome year for me! At the beginning of the year I made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish throughout the year, and for the most part, I was able to complete almost all of them. There were a few that did not happen (some out of my control; like the closing of the White Rim Trail because of a major washout), but I am confident that I can complete those in 2011. Let me run down the list of some of the goals that I accomplished in 2010…

First off, the biggest accomplishment I had this year was losing about 70lbs and getting in shape. I’m now in the best shape I have been is for a long time. I accomplished this by doing a lot of walking, hiking, cycling and mountain biking. I also learned to ski at the beginning of the year and did a little snowshoeing. During this time my love for the outdoors has grown exponentially and hiking has become one of my favorite activities.

I’ve been tracking a lot (but not all) of my walking, hiking and biking through an iPhone app called RunKeeper. Since I started tracking with RunKeeper at the beginning of the year I have burned 125,756 calories. I cycled 423 miles, walked 363 miles, hiked 186 miles, and mountain biked 43 miles.

Since I was in better shape this summer, I was also able complete another goal of mine; which was to climb my first 14er here in Colorado. In July I hiked to the summit of Handies Peak (14,053 ft). I’m looking forward to trying at least another 14er in 2011.

Handies Peak Summit
Handies Peak Summit

During 2010 I also grew a lot as a photographer. I attribute this partly to the 30-365 Photo Project that I started back in February. While this project has certainly not been easy, and I’m kind of looking forward to it to being over soon, I do feel that it has helped me ‘learn to see’ a little better. Plus it has helped my technical knowledge of photography and my camera. I plan to continue taking my photography to the next level in 2011, but it will not be with another 365 day project…..I have something different in mind, so stay tuned for that project to start in January.

Sagers Flat
Sagers Flat

Doll House
Doll House

Amanda and I have been geocaching for a few years now, but it was always sporadic. This year I decided I wanted to reach the 100 finds milestone and also hide my very first cache. We just to happened to find our 100th geocache on the same day we hid our first geocache. Talk about perfect timing! If you are ever in the Dome Plateau / Yellow Cat area near Moab, go ahead and look for it, you won’t be disappointed by the view!

Animas Forks Geocache

Early in the year I also set the goal of submitting a photo to the Grand Junction City Hall art display that they do every year in October. I managed to snap a great stormy sunset at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and submitted it for display. It has been on display at City Hall since October and I am planning on submitting a new photo to next years exhibit. It’s kind of nice seeing my photo in print on canvas at work everyday.

Dunes on Fire
Dunes on Fire

I always have a long list of places that I want to go, but it always seems like I keep putting some of them off longer than others. At the beginning of 2010 I put a few places on my goals list that I needed to visit this year. A few of hose places included Hovenweep National Monument, Beef Basin, Rattlesnake Canyon, Negro Bill Canyon and the hike to Double O Arch in Arches National Park. I accomplished all of these, and will definitely be adding a few different locations to my 2011 goals list.

Cedar Tree Arch
Rattlesnake Canyon
Cedar Tree Arch

Hovenweep Castle Ruins
Hovenweep National Monument
Hovenweep Castle Ruins

Tower Star Trails
Beef Basin
Tower Star Trails

Late last year I set the goal of buying myself a new Jeep for my 30th birthday. As I’m sure you are all aware, I did manage to buy that Jeep in January and have used it extensively since then on all of my adventures. I actually just rolled over 25,000 miles on the odometer the other day….and I haven’t even had it for a full year yet….

Richardson Amphitheater

You also might have noticed lately that I have been pretty active on flickr (especially if you follow me on Twitter. I’ve had an account on flickr since 2005, but I never really used it. I started really using flickr a few months ago and am really enjoing sharing my photos and following others (especially the Rock Art groups). I’m hoping to keep it up into 2011, especially since I just upgraded to a Pro account 😉

Before wrapping up this post, I’d like to highlight a few of my favorite trip reports from throughout the year:

2010 was a great year for me, and I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going through 2011 and further! I already have my 2011 goals listed and will be getting to work on them as soon as possible! See you next year!

Me at the Doll House

Oct 11 2010

Clik Elite Hiker

Before I left on my trip last week, I ordered a new backpack from B&H. I need a good backpack for day hikes that can carry my photography gear and still hold my water and other personal items. Plus, I have set myself a goal to try and do an overnight backpacking trip next year, and am hoping this backpack will also work for that.

After a lot of research, the only backpack I could find that met all of my requirements was the Clik Elite Hiker, which is designed for the adventure photographer. I’m hoping it will work well for me!