Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

Family

Hiking and Hunting For Treasure in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

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One of the many highlights of our week-long family camping trip in southwestern Utah was a hike to Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Our sons at the start of the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which was set aside as a national monument in 1996, contains 1.9 million acres of land in southern Utah. There are three main regions: the Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante.

Family photo in front of Lower Calf Creek Falls.

Our trip started in Goblin Valley State Park. On Day Three of our trip, we were going to be traveling along the north boundary of Grand Staircase-Escalante on our way to Kodachrome State Park. Even though we were only traveling through the Escalante area, we wanted to experience it more intimately than simply driving through it, which is how we experienced it a few years ago.

After only brief investigation it became clear that we would be remiss – nuts, even – if we didn’t hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls. The hike is three miles one-way (6 miles roundtrip), and the reward for hikers is big: a 126-foot, beautiful waterfall, at the head of Lower Calf Creek Canyon, which plunges into a perfectly round green pool. Its upper tier fall, which isn’t visible from the base of Lower Calf Creek Falls, is 88 feet tall, making the waterfall’s total height 214 feet. Hikers who want to see the upper fall can scramble about a mile further up to catch a glimpse.

Lower Calf Creek Falls is glorious. The “ribbon-like” waterfall is outlined with green and yellow colors from algae growing on the sandstone, which thrives on the waterfall’s year-round flow.

My boys, all five of them, enjoying a picnic at the waterfall.

After a wonderful picnic near the waterfall, we had another adventure to tend to: To find a geocache that was reportedly in the vicinity. Our older sons, Wolf, 11 and Hayden, 9, and I scrambled above the trail in search for the treasure. After using our GPS to determine its location, and some fun exploring and mystery, we were successful in our “hunt.” It was very exciting! Finding the geocache marked our first official geocache find. And, I might add, our family is now hooked on geocaching.

We had big expectations for the hike, and our expectations were exceeded. Our almost-four-year-old son hiked the entire six miles with not too many complaints and after only a handful of bribes. His brothers, ages 11 and 9, were great “adventure leaders” on the hike.

Yeehaw! Our older sons, Wolf and Hayden, pose with the geocache they found.

I highly recommend this hike. The trail is wide and mostly packed dirt. It’s level and easy-going, beautiful, and includes 15 interpretive markers. A bonus are the pictographs hikers can glimpse on the massive, tall cliffs while hiking past interpretive marker #9.

Here’s a short video that shows you some of the scenery included in the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike, as well as a little bit of the geocaching adventure:

Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about Kodachrome State Park and Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

Utah’s Goblin Valley is a Hit for Families

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We recently returned from a week-long camping trip in southwestern Utah for spring break. About every other year we head for southern Utah’s state parks and national parks to get dirty, hike, climb on big rocks, camp, play games, sit around a camp fire, star gaze and eat as many s’mores as possible.

Our boys had fun climbing the formations near our campsite in Goblin Valley.

For this trip, we headed to Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park, then to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to hike to Calf Creek Falls, then to Kodachrome State Park and finally, to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Normally we spend time at Zion and Arches national parks, but since we had our puppy in tow this time, we invested our time in the more pet-friendly areas of the state.

Jerry and our boys begin exploring Goblin Valley.

It was our second time to Goblin Valley. This is a magnificent place to visit, especially if you have young children. It is home to thousands of “hoodoos” — mushroom-shaped rock formations that range in size from a couple feet to several yards high. The uniquely shaped formations are formed of erosion-resistant rock that is on top of softer sandstone.

Hayden, 9 and Wolf, 11, check the GPS as they get close to a geocache.

Our three sons played hide-and-seek, and climbed up and over and lounged on top of weird formations while looking for any goblins that might be “fleeting” by in between the odd formations. We also enjoyed our first official “geocaching” adventure here. Members of geocaching.com, we researched geocaches for the area during our trip planning. The one we were looking for in Goblin Valley was reported to have “3 stretchy skeletons” and a recently-activated geocoin in it.

Lounging on hoodoos called 'goblins.'

We followed the hints that were provided and the GPS coordinates to find the area where the treasure was supposedly cached. According to our GPS, we were hot on the signal, but could find no cache. After lots of hunting but nothing to show for it we determined someone had probably taken the skeletons and the cache and left the geocoin behind. Despite our not finding the geocache, we had a blast during our four hours of hiking, climbing, and adventuring throughout the cool landscape of Goblin Valley.

Hayden, scrambling.

We camped in Goblin Valley State Campground, which is a few minutes’ drive from the aforementioned hoodoo-filled area. The campground is situated wonderfully, right below a bunch of towering formations with narrow passages, providing yet more interesting terrain for our boys to explore.

The boys and I proclaiming victory on a formation above camp. 🙂

Here’s a short video of our almost-4-year-old son, Finis, leading us on a geocache adventure:

Stay tuned for upcoming posts, including photos and videos, for our adventures in Grand Staircase Escalante, Kodachrome State Park and Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Please check back soon, and thanks for reading my blog. 🙂

“Surprise Adventure” Was a Splash

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Last Sunday morning, I roused my husband, Jerry, and our three sons, out of bed. I told them to “rise and shine” and get their clothes on because we were going on a surprise adventure.

We started their surprise adventure off right by stopping at the local bakery to get ’em a box of donuts. Next, we pointed the adventure wagon north and headed out of our town of Lander, WY, on Highway 789 and then Highway 20 through the scenic Wind River Canyon.

The boys were excited, but curious. They pounded us with questions in an effort to get clues. They asked if we were going hiking? No. To the cabin? No. Sledding? No. Camping? No. Skiing? No. Biking? No.

Wolf, our oldest, and almost-11-year-old son, admitted he was excited, yet anxious. When I asked what it was like to not know, he said, “Well you say it’s an adventure, and I remember you once telling us that what makes an adventure an adventure is to have some hard work involved and some unknown challenges that come along. Also, the backpack you take on your ‘epic adventures,’ is in the back of our car, and, well, that makes me kind of nervous.” Smart kid. 🙂

Hayden, our middle and 9-year-old son, said he was, “Curious. Just really curious.” To which, Fin, our youngest, and almost-4-year-old son, said, “like Curious George!”

Just creating an adventure that was a surprise for our boys was an adventure for Jerry and I. We enjoyed the heck out of it. For quite a while, it was great to have this surprise to hold over our three young, eager sons. It was a 90-minute road-trip that had a backseat full of anticipation. It was a riot, and I highly recommend other parents do the same if you’re looking to shake things up and create some new fun for the family one of these weekend days.

Our surprise adventure was swimming at the Star Plunge, located in Hot Springs State Park.

Located at the edge of the town of Thermopolis, WY, Hot Springs State Park was built around the world’s largest mineral hot spring. Big Spring pours forth millions of gallons of mineral water every day at a constant temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Wyoming Tourism‘s website, “The perpetual fountain forms a seething caldron from which some of the water is channeled into pools to be cooled and then piped into bathhouses for public use. From another stream, the water flows over enchanting Rainbow Terrace and then spills down into the Big Horn River.”

Star Plunge has two large pools, one indoor and one outdoor hot tub with jets, two outdoor slides and one tube side, steam room and sauna. The indoor pool temperature ranges from 94 to 98 degrees F, and the sides and bottom of the pool are lined with a porcelain-smooth layer of pale pink mineral deposit, the result of decades of contact with the thermal water. The pools and steam room at Star Plunge are supplied with hot water from nearby Big Spring.

The boys loved the slides and the jumping board. They even triple-dog-dared me to jump off the jumping board. It was scary but I did it. Just one time. I especially liked the “Vapor Cave,” and Jerry liked the “Lobster Pot” extra-hot hot tub.

My guys.
Hayden enjoying one of the slides.
Wolf, pulling the rope to signal to his brother the slide was clear for takeoff.
Fin, having a 'Fintastic' time.
My boys, just soaking.
More like, 'Caution: Mommy is Flying.' (I did this on a triple dog dare from my boys).

The Day Pink Power Ranger Skied 50 Miles

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I recently returned from West Yellowstone, Montana, where some girlfriends and I dressed up in super girl costumes and skied. For a very long time.

This is me, the Pink Power Ranger.

The occasion? The Equinox Ski Challenge. This annual event, which is named for the time the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth, is awesome.

It’s basically a supported ski-a-thon on some of West Yellowstone’s world-famous (read: awesome) ski trails. Categories include: 24-minute kids’ race, 3-hour, 6-hour, 12-hour and 24-hour. Skiers can enter solo or as a team. A small team can have 2-4 members, or a big team has 5-8 members. We each entered “solo,” in the 12-hour, figuring that would give us all day to ski and take it easy in our base camp. We had set up chairs and a cooler and bags full of sustenance that included mountains of energy bars and waters, plus some more tasty items, as well as a bunch of Hotties, and additional layers of clothes.

Logging laps in falling (wet) snow.

The weather forecast for the day of the event was not favorable. It was to be warm — as in 44 degrees warm — with a good chance for snow, which could very likely be rain. (Yuck.) However, we were pleasantly surprised by a partly sunny sky when we arrived at the event.

Each lap measured 8.7 kilometers. However, for some reason (I always round up?) I got it in my mind that each lap was 9k. I had a personal goal to ski 50 miles — or, about 9 laps.

As readers of this blog know, I like to be outside working hard for a long period of time. Plus, I am in training for an epic (54+ mile) “day” hike from north to south of Zion National Park in May. So I figured 50 miles on skis would be great training.

So I skied, and skied, and skied. All of us did. Around and around and around.

The first two laps included great trail conditions and some sunshine. It was looking to be a great day. It was taking me about 39-40 minutes to ski a lap and I was having fun. My skis were gliding and everything. Yeehaw! So far, so good.

Stocking up at the aid station and getting ready to start yet another lap.

Originally my plan was to ski three laps, then take off my skis, go to the restroom and “lounge around” in my comfy little chair, and eat some food and drink some water, then repeat, several times over the course of 12 hours. But like often is the case during an adventure, things didn’t go as planned.

As my third lap started, and so did the falling snow, and the wind. Conditions were rough for the rest of the day, at least for the rest of the 12-hour window. I don’t have the greatest technique, or very much experience, so it was more work than skiing. Sort of like hiking or snowshoeing but with skinny skis on my feet and thankfully, poles in my hands. It was a wet snow, so I was not only getting worked over, I was pretty soaked. Somehow, I still very much enjoyed the experience.

I did change my plans. As the weather and conditions took a turn for the worse, I knew if I stopped, it would be harder to get going again. So, despite the worsening conditions, I kept at it, pretty relentlessly. I resorted to listening to my iPod midway through my fourth lap, and thanks in large part to the Heartless Bastards and the Dirty Heads, it was still a pretty good day and I was able to keep skiing around and around.

The scenery was beautiful and I was able to enjoy a lot of solitude, which was from time to time supported by friendly, cheering people and an aid station stocked full of beverages and yummy, energetic treats. (I love Tram bars.)

There was no shortage of camaraderie, and it seemed the worse conditions got, the more supportive everyone was. We were all in it together, kindred spirits. You could feel this and it really made the event a special one for me. It did not feel like a race, although there were many kick-ass skiers out there logging laps at a high rate of speed.

I can’t help but mention two awesome women skiers who were set up next to our “station:” Becky Wheeler, of Casper, and Jen Ziegler, of Jackson. These two women were entered as a team in the 24-hour category. Their goal was to ski 300k, and looking at the results, I see they did 314k. Now that’s some skiing. With numbers that big I needed a calculator to compute that they skied almost 195 miles! Both women were really supportive and enthusiastic, even as they made the skiing look effortless.

I stopped skiing just past eight hours, after what I figured to be 81 kilometers, which meant I had met (surpassed) by goal of 50 miles.

Wind River Super Girls.

But wait! Upon my return, I was on Facebook and the Equinox folks posted the results on their fan page. I learned that I did 78.3k, which is — gasp — just short of 50 miles. On the upside, I got second place. Yeehaw. But really, this was not a race, but a super fun challenge to ski far with support. And that it was. Plus, I figured my short ski trips to the bathroom and back may have put me just at 50 miles. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. 🙂

Some people call the Equinox a “race,” and to a few people it may be that. But for most, it’s not a race, buta personal challenge. The event’s mission, which is stated on its website and influenced me to sign up, is: To hold a nordic ski event that brings benefit to our communities, encourages compassion and camaraderie amongst participants, and provides an exceptional opportunity for personal challenge.

A portion of the money raised from the race is donated to the West Yellowstone Ski Education Foundation, which race creator Sam Newbury believes promotes support and health for youth in the community. Funds are also donated to the Livingston-based Manaia Youth Programs.

I love to skate ski. I love being out in nature. I love being around other people who love the outdoors and skiing. I love camaraderie. The Equinox delivered all of these things. I love the Equinox Ski Challenge. Oh, and did I mention we got to dress up in costumes for the event? I was the Pink Power Ranger, and my cohorts dressed up as Padme and Elasta-Girl. I am sure that everyone felt protected and safer as a result of our presence.

Kathy, me and Holly, or, Wind River Super Girls for the weekend.

Finally, the Equinox Ski Challenge provided an excuse to take a trip with some of my closest girlfriends, Holly Copeland and Kathy Browning. Which meant we sang really loud, ate too much chocolate and drank some wine. In addition to the skiing… 🙂

Thanks so my mom for lending me her Pink Power Ranger costume, and to friend Shannon Kaminsky’s daughter for loaning me the mask!

Living and Working on the Frontier, Part 2

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In 1994, we founded a business in Wyoming called Yellowstone Journal Corporation. For 15 years we innovated and expanded. It was hard work. It was never easy. Yet it was extremely fulfilling — similar to climbing a mountain. It’s almost all work, but the rewards at the top are worth it. We sold the business to Active Interest Media, the publisher of Backpacker Magazine, Yoga Journal, Climbing, American Cowboy, and other niche magazines, in September 2008.

Now, I’m starting up a new mountain, developing a new business. Here’s that part of the story (Part 2, published in Wyoming Entrepreneur.)

(And, if interested, here is Part 1).