Anniversary Exploring in Utah's Parks

Five years have passed since our wedding. Five years of adventures, laughter, acceptance, chaos, exploring, and the occasional power struggle. I won't say they've been easy or perfect, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.


To celebrate our first five years, my sister threw us an absolutely gorgeous party! Isn't she awesome? Oh wait, that was her party. It was so fun celebrating Emily and James's wedding! Those two know how to throw a party! Oh and did I mention they're smart as well as beautiful?

Since we were already in Utah, we chose to explore some of the national and state parks we've been wanting to see (or return to, in my case). After brunch with my sisters and their men, we headed to Moab. It's a 4 hour drive, but due to all the rain this summer, It was green and beautiful.

We arrived at the trailhead to Delicate Arch one hour before sunset. Perfect! It's an easy 3 mile out and back. The national Park calls it a difficult trail, but they lie. The were tiny kids doing just fine. My mom took all four of us as little kids. Anyway, we caught a stunning sunset up at the Arch. It's truly amazing this thing is still standing. It looks like a solid wind or a slight rumble of the Earth would knock it over.

Finding camping ended up being significantly harder than I thought it would be. We finally found a rest area and spent the night in the back of the Mitsubishi Outlander we had rented. As we discovered, we had lost our tent out of our checked bag. It ended up working out just fine. The car was safe and the back seats laid flat. Oh and it was a free option, can't beat that.

The next morning we went straight to Arches. We filled water bottles and hydration packs and drove all the way through the park to Devil's Garden. This consumed our entire morning. It's an incredibly beautiful red rock area full of arches, interesting landscapes, and sand. So much sand.

We visited every arch on the trail. There are many, some requiring walking side trails. I personally loved Landscape Arch because of its fragility. There was never a moment where we didn't see other people. It's a busy place. We took the primitive trail (just a trail rather than groomed path) back. It was definitely less crowded and more beautiful.

Afterward, we did a quick little walk to Skyline Arch before stopping for another 3 miles wander around Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch, and Tapestry Arch. They were lovely and far less crowded.


Our feet were feeling pretty tired by this point but I made Mike go over to visit Double Arch and the Windows with me. Double Arch would've been our favorite by far had there been less people. It's massive, gorgeous and you're allowed to climb all over it! Finally, we went into Moab for some bomb Mexican food and WiFi. It was a much needed rest after our 15 miles of trekking.


The next morning, I made Mike go walk park avenue to finish out Arches. I lost a contact, but the sun was low enough to make it not a big deal as we walked among the towering walls of the Courthouse.

We drove into the Colorado River BLM land and finally arrived at Hauer Ranch. After a few minutes of paperwork, we were each assigned a horse, probably based on our weight, but who knows. I was given a black and white paint named Cash while Mike was assigned a wildly painted Appaloosa named Scout. Since all we did was walk in a nose to trail line, it probably didn't matter which horses were given to whom. The ride was about 3 hours through the BLM land with lovely desert landscapes. I loved the ride, but I think we were super spoiled in Mexico where we were actually allowed to go faster and our horses were allowed to have personality.


This area was the land of John Wayne movies and Westworld. The view was lovely in all directions, made incredibly interesting by the color contrasts: red dirt, brilliant blue sky, green and yellow plants, dark gray gnarled dead juniper trees. The skyline was made up of mesas and towers.

In a cruel twist of fate, we ended up spending that afternoon in Dead Horse Point State Park. This is a sky high Mesa that overlooks Canyonlands National Park. There's an awful legend accompanying it that makes me hate people. However, aside from that, it's a beautiful place with spectacular views.



We followed that up by actually entering Canyonlands. We only spent a few hours here. We visited the lovely Mesa Arch and hiked to Second Lookout of Upheaval Dome in time for sunset. Sunset was one of those deceptive events. I thought it would be fast since there weren't many clouds in the sky. However, after sinking below the horizon, the sun illuminated wispy cotton candy clouds all over the sky for a lovely ethereal end to the day. Central Utah is a dark sky area due to its isolation from major cities. The stars there are worth a few minutes of Wonder. The milky way is highly visible and stars pepper the sky.


The next morning was spent dealing with a flat tire and actually going out for breakfast. We then drove an hour and a half to Goblin Valley State Park. It's a formation of dried mud hoodoos that resemble little goblins covering a remarkably large area. Basically, you're allowed to explore the whole area, climbing on things and imagining creatures or animals in the statues.

We started with the Carmel Canyon and Goblins Lair trails. The canyon was a nice little loop that dropped is back in the parking lot, oops. We headed back out along the edge of the formation to a big cave that was fun to play in. We climbed all the way down in. There was a dark little tunnel off to one side that we crawled around in until Mike decided that he didn't like the idea of going in any further without gear or real lights. We explored a few more caves along the back side before heading back for a picnic lunch and to wander the valley of goblins.


We spent over an hour wandering the valley. There were goblins to climb, handstands to do, and things to spot in the formations. It was really fun. Finally we snuck into the campground for much needed showers. I mean it was definitely time. Yikes!

We found a campsite under a big Mesa on San Rafael recreation land about a half mile from the next morning's trailhead. If the stars at Canyonlands were fabulous, the stars near Goblin Valley were even better. I wish we'd had a telescope. Also, I need to learn to use my camera for long exposures.

We packed up early the next morning to hike Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon. I had seen on a blog somewhere that it was a really cool slot canyon. It more than lived up to the hype. I had no idea it was there and was beyond thrilled to have written it down. Little Wild Horse is a 3.6 mile slot canyon. The trail follows a stream bed, so it's obviously very important to know what the upstream weather conditions are. Since it had been very dry, we were safe. The canyon was amazing with cool rock formations, sandstone curves, and huecos. I may have taken way too many photos.

We did a short dirt road walk surrounded by tall vertical faces that promised fabulous rock climbing routes. The sky was a super intense blue and the waning moon still glowed overhead.

Bell Canyon is half the length of Little Wild Horse Canyon. It still has some fun little things to jump on or climb over, but wasn't as contained or winding. Still, I love the red sandstone cliffs. We saw a bunch of little lizards and a couple of birds.

The hike was a perfect send-off for us. From there, we drove back up to Northern Utah to spend a day with family before flying out.

Sailing the Sea of Cortez

Mike and I met our friends Sean, Caroline, Angie and Duane in Mexico for a little Baja sailing adventure. While we had some fun land days too, I'm going to focus on the sailing days in this post.

Just before noon we pulled out of the harbor with Capitan Sean at the helm. They'd said we could have the boat at 10 as opposed to 5 because it was in port, but it wasn't quite ready. Oh well, five hours early is still way better! Since the winds in La Paz seem to die at noon and pick up at 6pm every day, we spent the first day motoring, which was TOTALLY ok, because on the way we saw ALL THE THINGS! The water was absolutely silky smooth. Our first sighting was a pod of humpback whales. This is super significant since it's not whale season. Even the guy who runs the charter company was surprised when we said we saw them. They were spouting and surfacing far away, but before long they were closer and we could see them arcing through the water. There were a bunch of them. A short time later a pod of dolphins surrounded the boat. Sean cut the motor, but I told him they like to play in the bow wake and to keep going. They were right under our boat for a while.

To cap off all of that, we saw manta rays swimming with their little wing tips on the surface. Then they started jumping into the air and belly flopping on the water. This was fabulous! As we passed the sea lion colony on Isla Partida, we saw a few of the animals out hunting for dinner. Can you say perfect day?

Sean pulled the boat into the bay of Isla San Francisco where we anchored for the night with two other boats. Duane and I used the grill on the back of the boat to make fajitas for dinner. The winds picked up at 6 pm causing a lot of movement and a ton of noise on the boat. We all sat outside and watched the amazing stars before bed. I played with the bioluminescence in the water. No one slept very well the first night. Sean was unsure of the anchor, and the rest of us struggled with the noise.

We took the dinghy out for a little hike in the hills above the bay. The dinghy had a little struggle starting which meant half the crew looked to be stranded on land while Sean and I waited on the boat for Mike to figure out a balance between starting it and paddling out away from the waves. The hike itself wasn't long, but it was pretty!

We set sail since we actually had winds. The weather was gorgeous! Captain Sean sailed us north to Isla San Jose where we stopped at beautiful Punta Salinas where there is an abandoned salt mine. As we walked down the beach, we picked up cool shells. I found a paper nautilus shell. It's so pretty and delicate.

What remains of the salt mine are cinderblock structures (one bizarrely full of old shoes), the cab of a truck, and the mechanics of a bulldozer (we think). The salt fields spread out behind looking so wild with their bright orange color and white edges. The super saturation of color in that spot was surreal. Turquoise ocean, white sand beach, bright green plants, white, red, and orange of the salt ponds, backed by cactus and scrub covered reddish hills and all framed by a rich azure sky. Sensory overload! The picture really doesn't do it justice. There was dried salt water on the case.
Since we lost our wind, we motored back to Coleta el Embudo on Isla Partida for the night. On the way, we caught a big pod of whales and cut the motor so we could just sit and marvel in their beauty. Mike jumped in to see if he could hear or see them but the vis is not good in the Sea of Cortez. One whale swam beneath us and surfaced on the other side close enough to actually see its blowhole. We were surrounded, but they kept a distance. There were also mantas jumping out of the water all around us. I've never seen this anywhere else and I absolutely love it!

The sea was ours all day. Not a single other boat after we left San Francisco until we were anchoring for the night. We set anchor having to share our cove with another boat that beat us in because we were marveling at the whales and finished the night with a game of Taboo. This was the loudest night of all. The winds were coming from the front of the boat while the current caused a huge amount of wave slap on the back of the boat. I wore ear plugs, which actually helped, thank goodness.

The wind was perfect the next morning so we went for a sail. There were mantas jumping all around us in the cove as we left. Caroline and I wrapped up in our Mexican blankets and we all enjoyed the wind on our skin, even if it was almost just a bit chilly. Before we lost the wind, we headed back to Isla Partida and anchored in Ensanada Grande which is a super gorgeous cove with white sand beaches, interesting cliffs and apparently tourist groups. We took the dinghy out for a snorkel and saw trumpet fish, starfish, crown of thorns starfish, clams, a ton of sergeant majors and some king angelfish. Cool, but not great vis. There were a couple of little swim throughs to play in. We decided to check out the other side of the cove which was also listed as a snorkel site. The vis was better, but there didn't seem to be much there. It was fun to explore anyway. The rocks were almost perfect blocks as opposed to the interesting sandstone of the other side.

A quick late lunch on the boat had us fueled for a little hike up to a saddle between peaks. This hike was super duper fun because it was so much rock hopping along a stream bed. There were cool tall cactus the whole way. It was straight out of a movie set. The top had views of the east side cliffs which were shear and abrupt. Absolutely lovely!


Duane, Sean and I jumped in the water when we got back to the boat "to get the moist off" as Duane put it. It felt amazing and was totally worth it. We cooked up some food, played more Taboo and actually slept well thanks to the fact that there was no wind overnight. That was far more wonderful than I would've thought. Girl needs her sleep.

We started the day by moroting over to the next tiny and gorgeous cove to see if we could spot any blue footed boobies, but the colony looked abandoned. Bummer. We had breakfast there anyway since the views were unparalleled. Deep turquoise water surrounded by pinkish cave-pocked cliffs.

From there we used the winds to sail south to Isla Espiritu Santo. On the way we saw one whale and FINALLY saw a tail fluke. It was our last whale sighting and we were so excited about it. We anchored at a lovely cove called Playa Gallena. We took the dinghy out for some snorkeling at Isla Gallo. There were tons of seagulls and vis was bad. When we dove deep, there were some really cool big fish down there. Sean found a huge octopus which was the big find for the day. Duane, Mike and I would have spent more time there, but the girls were cold. So we headed back and had lunch.

Mike and Duane went out on the dinghy to fish while Caroline and I drank rum and sat out on our pool floaties in the amazing water of the bay. We found ourselves invaded by a swarm of bees driving Angie off the deck to hide in her stateroom while Sean attempted to battle them with Off! spray. We finally convinced him to come play in the water with us instead.

We spent the night anchored just past Balandra in Playa Pichilingue. There were two other boats moored there. Being so close to the city made me a whole lot more edgy overnight. Yes I'm super paranoid. Suuuuper paranoid. It was loud on the boat again, so that didn't help.

We finished off the food and played a ton of rounds of act it out on Heads Up. It was hilarious and atrocious. I laughed until I cried multiple times. Duane was all in usually using a napkin shaped different ways as a prop. Sean and Mike waltzed together. Angie was trapped at the table and laughed at the rest of us. It was a great end to the sailing adventure.

The boat had to be back by 10 am. So we packed up by 8 and drove the boat back. Sean let me drive for all but pulling into the cove. It was fun. I looked like a salty old sea dog. Extra salty. We all needed showers at that point. Don't judge.

Fueling and returning the boat took almost no time. Angie and Duane went into town and picked up a minvan to take us all back. What a fabulous trip! Everyone got along well and had a great time! There was never a single cloud in the sky and we saw whales four days in a row! We spent the next few days in La Paz, but that's a story for another day.

Riding Horses in the Mexican Countryside

Last year I found out about a horse resort in Mexico that looked absolutely incredible. I followed them on Instagram, joined the newsletter and dreamed about galloping across the Mexican desert. When we planned a sailing trip to the Sea of Cortez with friends, I wanted to add on some days to go ride. I waffled on it because of cost, time, general business. Finally Mike told me he'd been working overtime and that we were going!

We flew into Mexico City and arrived at the Rancho around 6 pm. The other guests were enjoying the pool and hanging out before dinner. There were a group of five from London, a pair from New York City, and two friends from Atlanta. Dinners were impressive four course meals with a soup, appetizer, main and a dessert. We sat with the London contingency and laughed and chatted until fairly late.

The next morning came early with a lovely dawn. Breakfast is a little buffet held in a gorgeous sunroom. The manager, Shaun, came in to ask which horses we wanted and where we wanted to go. Today's itinerary was a town called Daxthi. It was a full day ride with a stop for lunch at a tiny restaurant in town. We rode with the other Americans. I started on a cute flea-bitten stallion named Diamante. Mike's horse, a big Chestnut stallion named Atila, was being difficult and we ended up switching. Both were dreamy. Diamante has a funny walk, but it doesn't slow him down a bit. Atila has a gorgeous canter that I let ride instead of running full tilt toward the end of the ride. We rode through acres and acres of farmland and a couple of tiny towns. At times we galloped, other times we walked. It was incredible!

The ride started at 930 AM. After a long day of riding, we made it back to our room to shower at 500 PM. The pool and an amazing frozen margarita were calling my name before dinner.

The next day all of the guests we knew went to see the pyramids. We opted to ride. There were a group of airline workers (pilots, cabin crew, etc) on a layover. So they came to join us. Three of them were on our half day ride. We did a half day ride to Xochitlan de Las Flores, another darling little town. I rode a palomino named Versace and Mike was on a bay called Tequila. Tequila ended up being a favorite of both of ours for the trip. Versace was a good boy, but had super bouncy gaits.

We returned to the Rancho for lunch, which was way too much food between rides, and switched horses for an hour of riding around the hills above the rancho. Tequila was an absolute joy! Mike did not enjoy his ride on Versace. Too much bouncing was really uncomfortable for him.

The Rancho has a yoga room that overlooks a waterfall. Since we were back so early, we went down and visited the falls then did some yoga on our own. It was absolutely lovely. The Rancho definitely needs a good yoga teacher. Maybe I'll quit my day job, live there and spend my days teaching yoga and riding horses.

Our third day of riding was with a fantastic wrangler named Franco who took Mike and me out to a gorgeous canyon and a rock formation called Los Organos. I rode Versace again though he was not the horse I had asked for. Mike rode a big gorgeous palomino stallion named Valiente. He rode him for half the day then switched with me but still struggled with Versace's gaits, so Franco traded him for Calypso, a stout roan gelding. That went much much better.


Los Organos is at the bottom of a canyon. It consists of a little stream winding down the canyon and surrounded by stone fingers. Franco told us the legend is that many years ago there were a lot of small villages around and they all wanted exclusive rights to the water. Each village prayed to the river god to give the water to its people. The river god told the villagers they had to share it amongst all of the peoples. They refused and resumed bickering among themselves. Later they all returned to demand the river god to make a choice among villages. He turned everyone who was there to stone, thereby creating the rock structures. Legend has it when the wind blows through, it sounds like the people whispering "help me" from inside the rocks.

A herd of wild horses including two foals roams the valley. They were curious, but unafraid. They seem to be respected and left alone by the people in the area. We climbed out of the canyon by following a little trail almost straight up the canyon wall. It was amazing! Franco stopped us for lunch at a little restaurant in a corn field before we continued back. For our last night, we stayed up talking and playing pool with other guests.

We went for one more short ride before we left. Mike rode a giant dappled gray named Bronco who was coming off a year of being out of service for an injury. He was so happy to be out. I took a black gelding named Zorro, who ended up limping the entire time. After he almost fell over cantering down the road, I took Bronco and Mike jumped on white Mariachi for some runs through a field. It was glorious! Bronco ended up being the favorite horse of the trip for both of us. Mariachi was a fun smooth ride for Mike. My phone pouch fell off the saddle and there was a mad rush to find out before we left. Thank goodness for the Find My iPhone feature.

I HAVE to go back! I had such an amazing time and can't wait to take out a few more of the horses that everyone else seemed to snatch up before I could ask. I could spend months there and not get everything out of it that's available.

Exploring the Halekala Wilderness

My dad and my step-mom Lorrie came to visit for a few weeks. Since they've both been to Oahu a couple of times, I decided we should visit the lush island paradise that is Maui. It's a nice change from the crowded business of Honolulu. We sent them over a day early so they could do a bit of island exploring before the bigger adventure I had planned: Haleakala. Yes, I know anyone can go to the top of Haleakala. However, there's a wonderful and unique backpacking trip through the crater that was my real aim.

Technically the Haleakala crater isn't a crater because it's not bounded on all sides. It's an erosionary depression with new cinder cones growing up and up. I'm going to just call it a crater because it's easier. I found an article on this hike shortly after moving to Hawaii. The logistics were such that I put it off until Dad was looking for a little adventure. None of us had been backpacking in a while, and Lorrie was brand new to the sport. (Spoiler: she did great!) I stressed myself out reading everything I could find on the hike. It was actaully fairly hard to find info if you're not staying in the cabins. So, I included it here in case anyone other than my mom reads this post. (Hi Mom!)

Permits are required to camp and are given out at the visitor center on a first come first served basis. You can pick them up day before or day of your hike. They are free with your park entry fee or annual pass. There are a limit to the number they give out, but it's rare for them to sell out. There are three cabins with pretty much anything you could want for camping, but they book up fast and cost $75 per night. Each cabin is rented to one group only and can hold up to 12 people. We didn't stay in cabins, though. We stayed in tents. Camping is available near two of the cabins, Paliku (9.8 miles from the Sliding Sands trailhead) and Holua (3.9 miles from the Halemau'u trailhead).

Some people choose to do this hike the hard way and start at Holua. We chose the downhill route. This meant Mike dropped us off at the Sliding Sands trailhead with all of our packs. He drove the car down to the Halemau'u trailhead and hitchhiked back up. This was one of the logistical pieces I was worried about. Turns out, it was no big deal. In no time, Mike came cruising up in the back seat of a bright red convertible Mustang looking for all the world like he expected such a stylish ride. It was the first car that passed that picked him up. Since it's a dead end road to the top, I think people are more likely to give hikers a lift. You definitely want to do this at the beginning of the trip. No one will want to pick you up after three days of hiking and no baths.

As soon as Mike arrived, we set off along Sliding Sands trail down into the Mars-like landscape. The trail has panoramic high desert views the entire way to the base of the crater. The sand is finely crushed volcanic rock of varying colors based on age: black, gray, orange, and red. Beautiful little succulent-like plants called silverswords break up the landscape here and there. Silverswords are unique to Haleakala and only grow around 8000 feet in elevation. They're actually in the sunflower family. So, they're not succulents. I'm just full of useful trivia today.

The first cabin is Kapaloa. It sits in a grassy meadow under the rim of the mountain. It has water and an outhouse, which are both kind of nice to have after 5.6 miles of dusty walking. Remember, water needs to be filtered. The taps are outside of the cabins (another of the answers I struggled to find). We sat at the picnic table out front, had some snacks and watched a nene (Hawaii's endemic goose) and some chukar birds wandering around looking for crumbs. This was the first view of actual life inside the crater.

The next part of the trail was a field of dark gray a'a (rough lava formed by splatter rather than flow) that was starting to grow in with plants. The contrasting colors with the vivid blue sky made this a favorite section of the trail for me.

Eventually the landscape turned to grasses and actual trees as we neared the campsite. The Paliku cabin is at the base of one of the crater walls. The wall itself has trees growing all over it. It's pretty impressive. At this point we're above the clouds. We chose two campsites and set up our tents in the grasses. Everyone was pretty tired. We made simple dinners of pouched chicken and instant mashed potatoes with the jet boil. The minute the sun went down the temperature plummeted and we retreated to our sleeping bags for warmth. We woke later to a sky full of stars. There was some sort of haze in the air that made it almost look like static.

The next morning we woke up to frosted tents. We packed our stuff, topped off our water and walked the 6.5 miles to Holua Camp. The trail takes the opposite side of the a'a field and across the Ko'olau Gap. The a'a field on this side has far less flora. At the end of the field the earth turns to dark gray sand. Against the crater rim, big jagged rocks split the hillside looking for all the world like a laying down dinosaur with stegosaurus plates ,amiright? No? Like the big boulder is the head, and the tail trails off up the hill on the left side? Ok, fine. I'm an adult child, I get it.

Shortly after that section I took a step and nearly squished a big wolf spider. On closer inspection she was carrying tons of babies on her back. Way cool! The spider, with legs included, was about the length of my pointer finger. I'm super glad that wasn't in my house/bed/sleeping bag, but was cool to see along the trail.  We were back to the gray and red sands when we found this gorgeous painted section.

The trail took us through the Ko'olau Gap's dark sands with little bits of lava strewn here and there to a little side trail called the Silversword loop. It lived up to its name and was totally worth the extra .1 mile it added to the trip.

Walking into Holua camp was similar to the other side, but with more lava rock. The plants started coming up and the views were, of course, spectacular. The cabin came into view a short distance later. There's a little cave above the cabin big enough for an emergency holdout for a couple of people. The campground is actually not next to the cabin. It's up a hill further than you'd actually think to walk. Our site was surrounded by a little fairy ring of black a'a and backed by the giant wall of the crater. There's an outhouse up there and a stable for the horse tours that operate occasionally. We're still mostly above the clouds here, but the winds brought in airy clouds and mists that occasionally socked us in completely.

We arrived early enough to enjoy the area for a bit. Mike and I played with the drone for a bit. A few large groups of day hikers came and went. We set up camp, had an early dinner, talked over tea. The sunset didn't bring on the cold like the previous night. It was pleasant, but once the sun goes down, there's no real reason to be awake since campfires aren't allowed. Mike woke me up around 3 AM to check out a clear sky full of incredible stars. Whatever haze had blocked the view the previous night was gone. The stars were clear, bright, focused. We could see the Milkyway arcing across the horizon. Between the new moon and the low cloud cover, no light dulled our view. It's crazy to realize how much there is to see when you fully escape human influence. Being in the middle of the ocean has its advantages.

The following morning took us along a ton of switchbacks up Halemau'u trail back to the car. It was a beautiful and remarkably comfortable hike for its elevation gain. Every switchback brought fantastic views across the crater. The car was right where Mike left it, undisturbed. The trip went super smoothly.

We grabbed lunch (real food!) at Grandma's in Kuya. Then we checked out a nearby lavender farm, which was beautiful and fragrent. Finally, we took a dip in the ocean to clean some of the dirt off. It felt amazing!

Things to note: Hawaiian doesn't allow trekking poles as a carry-on. It also doesn't allow camp stoves or fuel. Mokulele, on the otherhand, let us take both. The ride is far more awesome too. Support the little guy! We picked up jetboil fuel at Maui Adventure Sports in Kahului. We flew in the night before and stayed the night. The other option is to fly in morning of the hike. There's plenty of time. The sun is super intense, so I strongly suggest hat, glasses, hood, long sleeves and sunscreen. Our lips were totally chapped for a few days after. Sunscreen them and use chapstick. Oh, and don't forget to charge your phone or camera. I took over 500 photos in three days.