Technically speaking, the first several miles of Sol’s Redrock Backpacker, Southwestern, Utah trip are not too challenging. What does exist of the Virgin River is underground at this point, creating a compact and flat dry river bed. Occasionally we would opt to follow the 4-wheel drive road instead, which would take us up small sand …
You all saw my prize rattlesnake in an earlier post, but the reconnaisance for this trip wasn’t all fun and games. Here’s the real story of the pre-Redrock Backpacker: Zion Outskirts, Utah scouting trip. It began around 7 am, when Lindy and I hit the road and left Orem to make the 5 hour drive …
What does one say after an encounter with the wild like we experienced on Sol’s Zion National Park backpacking trip last week? The excitement alone makes everyday life feel mundane, the spectrum of canyon reds fades all the green of the city to colorless. I feel like I’m coming off of a high. I think …
It’s always an anticlimactic return to the pavement. After 4 days of Sol’s Redrock Backpacker: Zion National Park Outskirts trip my hair has turned to dreads and I notice that people don’t want to stand too close to me (must be my natural aroma). But I feel ALIVE! I have found strength I didn’t know …
In 1872 John Wesley Powell, one of the great early explorers and cartographers of the west, explored Sol’s Redrock Backpacker: Southwestern Utah trip with a mule train. It’s hard to imagine how he did it, afterall, this is “roaring water canyon.” Enjoy a journal excerpt of one of Sol’s Zion canyoneering guides, Aaron Ogden. ” …
David Bassett is an endurance athlete who moonlights as a Sol Zion canyoneering guide and amateur photographer. Enjoy this journal excertp from his 2007 Redrock Backpacker: Soutwestern, Utah trip. “On our second evening, we head up off the canyon floor in search of a bivouac. We find a flat patch of red earth and I …
Aaron Ogden is one of Sol’s favorite Zion canyoneering guides. He’s busy hiking the slot canyon at the moment, but you can enjoy this journal excerpt from his last trip. “Hiking terrain is beautiful. This is truly one of God’s wonders, such diverse terrain: steep sandy hills, scorching red rock vistas…towering plateaus, and water eroded …
Greetings from Zion National Park, Utah! One of the most visited parks in America, Zion is the gateway to Sol’s Redrock Backpacker: Zion Outskirts multi-day trip down the Virgin River. Our adventurers, not content with the Zion National Park Tour from crowded shuttles, are about to leave the pavement, exit park boundaries, and embark on …
It’s another day in the life of three wild western women, and we’re gearing up for a Zion National Park backpacking trip. I teamed up with my sister, Lindy, and Jeep guide guru Cathy Church in Kanab, Utah, to scout an exit route for Sol’s Redrock Backpacker: Zion Outskirts trip and ended up with one …
She’s a good old mountain, Old Rag. At just over 3,200 ft, Old Rag is the highest elevation within a 2 hour drive of D.C. and well worth the trip. With spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and open fields below, the hike was great training for my upcoming Utah backpacking trip. Sol Sistah …
