A recent article in the Sacramento Bee chronicled the sad death in 2008 of a 12 year old boy scout during a hiking outing with his Boy Scout group in Yosemite National Park. It was the boy’s first time ever in the mountains. Trail conditions and varying skill levels left the leader of the group …
So you want to spend 127 hours in Southern Utah? You just want to get away from it all for a little while, and 5.5 days is plenty of time. After watching the shocking survival story told in the movie about explorer Aaron Ralston, perhaps you’re wondering if you’re strong and adventurous enough to attempt …
I just returned from a fantastic weekend of adventure travel at Sundance Resort, Utah. The destination has everything Sol Fitness Adventures could possibly want for our sophisticated travelers: vast expanses of breath-taking natural vistas, unique arts and cultural offerings, top-rated restaurants and first-rate hospitality topped off with guided fitness workouts, hiking, and biking excursions. A …
Yesterdays NY Times article, ‘Ah, Wilderness’ has created a buzz on Facebook this morning among outdoor enthusiasts. The author questions the management decisions of U.S. Forest Service administrators to continue to refuse to add signage in certain wilderness areas, even after hikers and skiers have died from getting lost. It’s a dilemma that all of …
Santa Barbara Hiking Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about ways to improve training methods for outdoor athletic performance. First, thank you, friends, for picking my brain; and second, I’m getting some great feedback to share. My passion is training the body in a way that fosters the connection to the body and …
“Why do they call it Fat Man’s?” you ask. This shot of Frank and Carolyn downclimbing their way through one of the many slots in Fat Man’s repertoire should clue you in. Visitors to Zion National Park ready to venture off the beaten path and explore the backcountry have world-class canyoneering options to choose from. …
Summer’s over, and went out in such EPIC style that I can honestly say with the enthusiasm of a school girl “it was the best summer I ever had!” I spent my last month of summer in Zion National Park, having so many adventures that I utterly refused to blog. Who wants to sit at …
Slot Canyon Stupidity “That thing which makes you great also makes you an asshole,” Greg, one of my favorite Zion canyoneering guides told me, “and all of us guides fall into that category.” He was 100% accurate in his assessment of me. I had nothing to blame but my own arrogance for getting caught in …
I’m settling into my groove. I am a Zion canyoneering guide seeking a Mojave meditation on my own time. Fighting the wind on early morning bike rides up the canyon, afternoon siestas out of the blistering heat, and evening hikes under freezing rain drops call attention to the daily extremes and fluctuations of the Mojave …
I’m sure you’ve told yourself to “go to your happy place” before. It’s a mental exercise, a visualization intended to lessen the pain or fear of the current situation. I have routinely done this every time I’ve visited the dentist since I was 10 years old. I have literally “gone to my happy place,” on …
