Aaron McHugh, Author at Aaron McHugh

Trip Report: The Pfiffner Traverse High Route

I recently completed another mountain project, The Pfiffner Traverse. It’s history is steeped in multiple pioneers like world-class mountaineer Gerry Roach, and most recently, Andrew Skurka dusted off Gerry’s original route from the 1980’s. Still an obscure adventure, I needed to finish what I’d started four years ago.

About the Pfiffner Traverse route

From the expert, here’s what Andrew Skurka, writes about his creative pioneering, “The Pfiffner Traverse is a 77-mile backpacking high route that follows the Continental Divide and the crest of Colorado’s Front Range between Berthoud Pass and Trail Ridge Road, navigating through the James Peak and Indian Peaks Wilderness Areas, and Rocky Mountain National Park. It can be attempted as a thru-hike (in 6 to 10 days, on average), or completed in sections with overnight trips, long day-hikes, and adventurous trail runs.

Scale is always challenging to communicate verbally, visually one can ingest the grandeur and breath of this route. Longs Peak in the distance towering over the front range.

As an end-to-end effort, the Pfiffner Traverse is an expert-level project, requiring excellent physical fitness and backcountry skills and a favorable weather window. Forty percent of its length is off-trail, with up to Class 3 in difficulty. Oxygen is always in short supply: the route drops below 10,000 feet only twice, and it climbs five 13,000-foot peaks. Vertical change is never-ending, with 760 feet of ascending or descending per mile. And there are no convenient resupply opportunities.”

What is a high route?

Borrowing again from the pioneering Andrew Skurka, here’s how he defines a high route ” A high route is designed to be the finest backpacking experience available in a single mountain range, watershed, or canyon system, offering an unrivaled concentration of best-of features.” Want a detailed explanation of the mental adjustments required for high route adventures? Read more from Skurka.

In Rocky Mountain National Park, most people stick to the pavement and maintained trails. Beyond there lies big wilderness.

Stand out moments of the route

Two National Geographic moments stand out as visceral proof we walked where few people tread. Three regal bull elk reigned over evolution valley as we crept upstream after the thunderstorm passed, the fog cleared to unveil the monarchs of the protected glen. We walked in silence, aware our steps were on hallowed ground.
The second, a heard of hundred and fifty elk migrating up a broken-backed alpine spine, mom’s audibly prodding their calves, bulls leading the processions. Not a quarter-mile behind, the herd, a brown bear spooked by our presence, thrusting with NFL juking power up impossible terrain. Another silent moment of awe for our trio.

My brothers in arms, Dave and Chris, waiting out the hailstorm before we encountered our bull elk.

The low point that I won’t soon forget

Typical of high routes, we walked endless miles on talus, loose rock, and boulder fields. Unstable, and precarious surfaces are part of the package when navigating these unseen trailless landscapes. Unfortunately, I took a hard tumble after stepping onto one boulder that jettisoned me into a full summersault landing hard. At first, in disbelief, we realized I was not critically injured, just bloodied and bruised. My first thought was, how far am I from the nearest road, and can I walk out? After the spiked adrenaline cocktail diluted in my bloodstream, and my friends Dave & Chris prayed over me. Advil, a cup of hot tea and grace, we proceeded on. After our adventure, I learned that I hid my car accident like pain more than I realized.

Not the most attractive photo that’s worth 1,000 words. Boulder fields and soft tissue don’t mix well upon impact.

Why did it take you four years to finish the route?

Dave, Chris, and I traveled the first 57+ miles together, and I peeled off early to return home for a previous commitment. They proceeded and finished the route 36 hours later. I vowed to return to complete the remaining Devils Thumb Pass, five thirteen thousand foot peaks concluding at Berthoud Pass. Without an available buddy, I went for a satisfying solo adventure and a nice shuttle ride from my mom back to my car after we stopped for a Dairy King soft-serve ice cream in Empire, CO.

Off-trail high route adventures are what Skurka calls “a step-up from conventional backpacking trips.” Steep, alpine thin places where marmots out number people.

After the long miles, after the alpine glow fades, and after our dinner settles in our bodies as fuel, we slept like logs.

Without the benefit of a maintained established trail, we followed the compass and map up, up, up which can make for really slow progress.

The unending beauty guaranteed our campsites were exquisite. Rarely did we linger in camp, the miles were always calling.

(Virtual) Explorers Wanted

Hey friends,

I hope this warm message finds you well. I’ve been thinking, and I want to bring you in closer. While finishing backpacking the 500 mile Colorado Trail, I had three questions on my mind:

1) Where am I?

2) Who am I?

3) Where am I going?

They felt like pressing questions to answer while spending five days solo in the vast Colorado wilderness. I needed to know where I was on my map and where I am going to sleep tonight. But the central question, Who am I? that one took a lot longer to answer. Returning to civilization, I realized, “oh no, these are big questions worthy of engaging in my everyday life.”

Maybe you’re also someone who wants to start with big questions and figure out how to live into them? Fellow explorers read on.

Here’s what I’m cooking up: My experiment

(Who) A small group of 8-10 fellow (virtual) explorers. Will require an application process to be accepted.

(When) This Fall lasting between 6-8 weeks

(What) Virtual (Zoom) weekly group sessions, pre-work before each session. Working with other explorers outside of the weekly group session. Requiring 2-4 hour+ weekly commitment.
Meeting together as fellow explorers pressing into big questions about our lives and how we operate in the world.

(Cost) A paid program TBD $$. It’s mostly about you prioritizing your growth and having skin in the game.

(Possible In-person adventure) I’d love to kick off or conclude the program with an in-person adventure. Pandemic & autumn weather dependent. TBD

If you’re a hell yeah! (or a i wanna learn more 🙂

Fill out this form and we can decide if we’ve got a worthy experiment worth advancing to the next phase.

Keep going-

Aaron

Trip Report: Mountain Bike the Colorado Trail (and hike sections you can’t ride)

Hey, y’all! This summer, I finished the 488 mile Colorado Trail (over 562 on a bike). In 2015, I joined a team of dirty dozen, over twelve days to mountain bike The CT from Durango, CO to Denver, CO. This summer, I returned to the Collegiate Peaks wilderness area (CT West loop near Buena Vista) to backpack an unfinished 70-mile section where mountain bikes are not allowed.

Above Camp Hale we discovered unending fields of wildflowers and bluebird skies.

Never heard of The Colorado Trail (CT)?

A few stats to bring you up to speed.

Shorter than the Appalachian Trail (2,190 m) or Pacific Crest Trail (2,650 m) means that you don’t have to quit your job to engage this epic trail.
Most of the trail is above 10,000 feet, the high point of 13,271 feet.
The total elevation gain for a thru-bike/hike is approx 90,000 feet, equivalent to three Mount Everests.
Lots of resupply mountain towns and places for friends to join in, e.g., Silverton, Buena Vista, Breckenridge
The thirty-three segments enable adventurers to bite off a small section or two over a weekend or take on the entire trail over a few weeks.
The mountain bike Fastest Known Time is held by Jakomait, finishing the 562-mile course in a record-breaking 3 Days 20 Hours 46 Minutes. OUCH! (It took us 12 days).
Hikers take 4-5 weeks to thru-hike the CT.

On top of Stony Pass above Silverton, CO was an amazing flowy, alpine playground. In parts, pushing our bikes up steep inclines but rewarded with other-worldly beauty.

Why did you do it?

Moving to Colorado in 1994, the allure of the CT pulled on me. I want to see every corner of Colorado, and I knew this was the grand tour. Secondly, our buddy Gill McCormick had cooked up this trip of the decades-each member representing a decade of life. One member of our party, Jim, was in his 60’s (fantastic guy who had a Mary Poppins like Camelback that produced anything you needed), multiple guys in their 50’s, 40’s, Alex in his 30’s Connor (20), and Grant (17). The story was the hook for me. The dirty dozen, spanning six decades, two CT veterans, and a support vehicle to shuttle our gear between camping spots (Thanks Skyler). I was in.

The team at the beginning. The Dirty Dozen beginning the Colorado Trail 500+ mile ride.

What was the hardest part?

“Yesterday was the only easy day” is the quote I remember replaying in my head. I don’t recall any part being easy, but I think the most significant mental challenge was the day we carried our bikes for 8+ miles through the Lost Creek Wilderness. It is illegal to ride your bike within Wilderness Areas, and we were at a fork in the road. We had two options 1) to ride 75 miles around “wilderness detour” or 2) to hike 8+ miles carrying our bikes attached with bungee cords to our Camelbacks 😜. We chose option 2.

We were 8-9 days into the epic adventure, and everyone was exhausted already. Before the hike-your-steed section, required a tough 25-mile ride to access the Wilderness Boundary. Dismount. Disassemble and jury-rigged, we began the bike carry (sufferfest). Across the trek one guy lost a linchpin bike part, which would have rendered his bike unrideable. Miraculously another guy picked it up in the forest. We remount bikes and rode 20+ more miles to find camp.

There were a lot of expletives gurgling in those woods. Still today, we refer to that carry-your-bike as the “Chernobyl Meltdown.” It wasn’t glamorous. Afterwards, forgiveness needed extending between a few of us, and like every low point, we’re either better or bitter from it. Everyone expanded their capacity to dig deeper that day.

A picture is worth 1,000 words. Look at our faces and imagine if you were with us.

What was your favorite memory?

Alex and I shared a tent for two weeks. Rain, snow, sunshine, snoring, and twelve-hour grueling days together deepened our friendship. Our friendships among many of us deepened from the shared transformation and joy we experienced on the CT.

The infamous high point of The Colorado Trail 13,271 ft which is amazingly high altitude to be riding your bike. After this section, we were met with a punishing twenty+ miles of tundra-talus-shale.

What was your favorite part of the trail?

It was foggy, rocky, and steep to the summit of this 12-13,000 foot peak. The dozen of us strewn like pearls on a necklace across the spiny alpine swatch, I knew that moment was special.

Early in our ride optimism was high and everyone still feeling great and happy to be on this big adventure.

What did you learn about yourself?

How to keep going at a new level. My suffer meter maximum moved forward a lot. Previously competing in endurance events like Ironman triathlon defined my one-day effort threshold. Substantial efforts no doubt, and at the end of the day, I went home and slept in a warm bed after a nice hot shower. The CT demanded that I expend a similar level of endurance effort today, and then do it again tomorrow and the next day. Holy crap! My boundary limits transformed in the cauldron of the CT. “Hard” now has many levels.

The combination of duct tape and Hello Kitty bandaids to help reduce the friction on my back where my Camelback rubbed daily.

Why did you go back to backpack the Collegiate West section?

In 2015, each time we encountered a wilderness boundary, we would “ride around” via the bicycle detour and rejoin the official CT again once bikes were allowed. There are five bicycle detours in total. We rode three, bike carried one 🙂 and accepted a ride for #5.

Watching from the truck’s passenger seat, for me, that 70+ mile Collegiate pristine wilderness section always felt unfinished. In the moment, I was too tired to deny the transport. Years later, like a developing ulcer, skipping that section ate at me, and I wanted to touch every mile I could officially. My solution? I did a five-day solo hike from Tennessee Pass south to Cottonwood Pass and celebrated with ice cream from K’s Dairy Delight in BV.

I believe just beyond Bear Lakes on my first night solo effort to complete the CT. Amazing beauty, no motorized vehicles, very few people and untamed wilderness for miles.

What advice do you have for anyone considering the CT?

Know your Why
With a trail this long and arduous, you will need to know, “WHY am I doing this?” before you start. Decide what style you want to define your experience
-Slow, steady to fast?
-A section at a time over many years or all at once?
-Supported by friends bringing you supplies or self-supported?

I’m aware of the importance of defining your style and not attempting to repeat another person’s adventure. I met a few folks along the trail that depict the saying, “Run your own race.”

A guy in his 50’s that said he’s 0-for-5 starting from Denver ejecting for different personal & professional reasons. We gave him a ride into town, aborting his 5th attempt.
The previous fastest known time on a mountain bike was four+ days. I hear that he has permanent nerve damage in his hand and ankle.
In the Collegiate Peaks sections, one guy passed me flying by. Later I learned that he was speed hiking 48 miles into his 58 for that day. Most people hike between 13-20 x day. I bet he’s one of the Avengers.
A young woman just finished grad school and was ten days into a four to five-week hike. She was craving fresh fruit. Her East Coast mother, who doesn’t camp, texts her nightly on her Garmin InReach to confirm bears hadn’t eaten her.
A couple seasoned in age helped each other across a creek—half-way into their 488-mile trek. I can only imagine their kid’s phone calls, “Have you heard from Mom and Dad? What are they thinking?!”

Our Dirty Dozen in 2015, atop Fooses Creek nearing Monarch Ski area, working our way towards 1/2 way to Denver.

What hard lessons did you learn?

Two stand out. Saddle sores are real and check for the latest maps before you go.
Saddle sores: By far, the most significant source of pain our mountain bike crew experienced was from saddle sores. Yep precisely what you think of. Sores on your undercarriage resulting from twelve-hours of daily friction. Some guys needed to dial back their daily ride time to accommodate for their pain. It was no joke.

I don’t recall which pass this was early in our ride leaving Durango. As we pushed our bikes, we learned carrying them on our back was more effective.

Latest maps: Returning five years later to hike the Collegiate West section, I assumed that my old data book was reliable. I pulled together two additional supporting maps from my library and felt a pause in my gut. “Maybe I should swing by the gear store in BV (The Trailhead-love these guys) and grab a map?” The moment of truth and reconciliation unfolded while crossing Cottonwood Pass, out of water, at 12,000 feet and chased by a thunderstorm “What? Where am I?” It turns out that sections of the CT are now rerouted to share the Continental Divide Trail (missing on my older maps). Glad I stopped for the new map.

The Colorado Trail data book outlining each of the 33 segments. The “New” map showed the correct route, but my older edition data book didn’t. Great lesson to learn again.

Trip Report: Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park

Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park is “big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time.” One of the least visited National Parks, which means if you venture below the rim, share your experience with a reverent few. Hard to reach, steep, rocky, poison ivy, unmarked trails reward the adventurer, climber, fly fisherman.

Two-miles down the S.O.B draw to meet the infamous Gunnison River

Exploring The Black Canyon

Length: One to three days

Description: From the top, the Black Canyon is impressive, and her dizzyingly steep canyon walls are best witnessed from below where direct sun reaches only a few hours daily. We packed in our fly rods to experience the legendary Salmon Fly hatch and gorging trout. We opted for the The North Rim accessed by a dirt road climbing out of Crawford, CO. What became evident was how the preservation of this ancient place is aided by its no frills amenities. Void of a big lodge, plentiful rim hugging campsites, and gnarly descents, the Black Canyon is wilderness at it’s best.

Route description down the S.O.B draw
“There are no maintained or marked trails into the inner canyon. Instead, there are “wilderness routes,” or unmarked scrambles to the river. Only individuals in excellent physical condition should attempt these routes; they are not meant for small children.

Hikers are expected to find their own way and be prepared for self-rescue. While descending, study the route behind, as this will make it easier to wayfind when confronted with a choice of routes and drainages on the way back up. The routes are the easiest, and sometimes only, path to the river.

Poison ivy is nearly impossible to avoid, and can be found growing 5 feet tall along the river.”

The rewards: Hungry trout, solitude, and timeless beauty.

Season: Spring, Fall

Two thousand plus vertical feet of Painted Wall.

Fly rod in hand, boulder hopping and fishing technical drifts where trout out number humans.

Flat and soft spots are rare for a tent in the Black Canyon

Fishing at twilight under the Black’s Mordor like gates

What Seeds Are You Planting?

Friend,

We’re here together, in the middle of the beginning of a pandemic story, with the future uncertain and, what if?

What if we…
invite simplicity back
find flow in life-giving rhythms and quiet moments,
remind our soul of connection’s promise and call an old friend
ask God for “help” now that our self-sufficiency isn’t enough
reclaim promises we’d intended to keep
listen longer
oil our rusty joints with movement
declutter our mind and garage
reclaim our attention
linger over meals
ask for forgiveness
leave love notes on pillows
wonder at the gift of our beating heart.
-Aaron McHugh

Here’s what I’m noticing, right now, our 1950’s-like analog life is illuminating realities about who we are, how we choose to live, what we value, our need for one another, and the stories we tell ourselves rudder our experience of this story. What we believe is easier to find again.

My brother witnessed what I imagine was panicked suburbanites at Bass Pro stockpiling guns and munitions for their stay-at-home last siege? Every kid ferried armfuls of rounds to the register as Dad locked and loaded. I’d be curious to hear their dinner table conversation their fearful narrative that’s driving their actions. There are also real stories of death of loved ones, job loss, and isolation. Here we are together.

A bright spot beyond the television and zoom calls is that our natural world is safe. If your city permits you to wander, leave your phone and venture out -heck yeah- even grab the dog and see, sense, smell what’s always awaited you out your front door. The treasures we might rediscover about our world, ourselves, and each other.

I’m a streaker. Not like Will Ferrell in Old School running through the campus quad-I’m running, yes, but with my clothes on and a mask. My app reads “108-day streak” of running 1 mile. Some days I run more, but at a minimum-snow or sunshine, I’m checking the green done box. I’m discovering the value of ritual, routine, and dailiness.

Our son Holden is streaking, 1825 days (and counting) of not drugging and drinking. His life-saving streak of “just for today” began with this seed of everydayness.

I called one of my mentors this week to check on him and his family “Staying safe and healthy?” As I expected, they schedule “Puzzle time, dog walks, and meals. When I was in prison, routines, and habits saved me. It gave me some sense of purpose and predictability.” Hope is easier to find when our routines and habits serve the story we want to be living into. Pick up meditation, go for a walk, ride your bike, pray, write, practice your piano scales or yoga, and do it every day. Start with a seed of today.

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Seeds are stories brimming to unfold made possible by the first step- planting. Life is happening, friends, and we either believe Life happens to us, or we are consciously and intentionally co-creating our Life today by planting seeds. For a quick read on the magnification allegory of seed planting, pick up The Man Who Planted Trees.

Since January, here’s my daily meditation about fruit in an orchard, which starts with a seed.

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard-things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” -Paul in his letter to the Galatians community

I want to become the ranch manager of an orchard of affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity able to marshal and direct my energies wisely. Somedays that story feels closer and more accessible than others. For today, I’m lacing up my New Balance and later will plant some new lettuce seeds in our outdoor garden for the summer BBQ season.

What seeds are already in you?

What’s true enough today-that you can believe-even if just for today?

Seed of gratitude: Write a hand written note to someone you are grateful for.

Seed of forgiveness: Say even if only to yourself, “I want to forgive (their name) for (……….)”

Seed of action: Find a post it note, small 3”x 3” size, write down one action step, to do, experiment that you will do, start today. (Has to fit on one side of the post it note).

I planted a seed ten years ago, it became my first published book. Don’t let the title throw you off, yes, it’s about work, and it’s about becoming wholehearted and how work-life balance is a myth. Discover sustainable rhythms instead. Fire Your Boss: Discover Work You Love Without Quitting Your Job. Pick up your copy wherever you buy books. My Work Life Play podcasts are released weekly.

Keep going,

Aaron

How to Manage Your Daily Energy

The When and What Strategy

When at my lowest point of burnout, the quality of my questions kept improving, aiding my recovery, and returning strength. Using two simple words, “When” and “What,” I started logging my experiences and related activities by the hour paying particular attention to my emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual +/- energy and engagement.

Here are a few entries to give you a flavor of what I captured.

When: + 6 am feeling zip and zeal. What activity: + coffee and journal.

When: – 2 pm malaise and indifference. What activity: – answering email.

When: – 10 pm ready for bed. What activity: – “Hey, honey, can we talk about our marriage.”

Illuminated over weeks were natural recurrences reflected in peaks, plateaus, and valleys in both the quality and amount of my energy. Scientifically these dips and troughs are known as Circadian rhythms-our twenty-four-hour body clock.

My eureka discovery was that my What, the specific activities, tasks, duties, and relationships I was engaged in were impacted +/- by When, the time of day, resulting in an increase or decrease of energy and engagement. My energy journal taught me how to start aligning the task, project, and Activity with the appropriate quality and level of energy required. Doesn’t it sound reminiscent of the same lesson that I started learning while running my first marathon?

Circadian rhythms plotted daily like a twenty-four hour clock.

When Circadian Rhythm questions

When do I

-Naturally, feel a zip in my step, optimism, and enthusiasm?

-Feel a lower quality of energy?

-Experience a dip in my productivity, optimism, and focus?

What quality of engagement What/Which

-Do activities require my creative juices, focus, and clarity?

-Are relationships easy to engage vs. require more energy from you?

-Topics, meetings, projects are charged with positive + or negative – energy?

My owner’s manual reads

I’m a morning person. My sweet spot for productivity is from 6 am to 11 am (green zone). That’s my flow state for performance and focus. Around 2 pm (yellow zone), the maritime mental fog starts rolling in, and I’m ready for a break. Back to humility and learning to pace myself, I’ve accepted that there is no sense in pushing and demanding more from myself. My owner’s manual reads, “It’s time for a quick power nap and a walk outside” to replenish my batteries for a potential second wind again around 4 pm.

Life’s apprenticed me that a 10 pm conference call or a “hey honey, can we talk about our marriage” conversation will be challenging for me to bring my best self (red zone). At about 9 pm, I start plotting my exit to find a book and my pillow. Why fight it? Why pretend that you’re going to do your best work, deep thinking, problem-solving, or navigate relational friction at a time of the day you know isn’t optimal?

Keep going by right-sizing the task to the energy zone

An easy pro tip that I regularly use is that I plan my creative work in the mornings (high green zone energy) and administration work in the afternoons (mid energy zone). Sending invoices to clients is essential work, but it doesn’t require the same level of creativity that writing does.

7 am (high energy): Writing project (requires high engagement & focus)

2 pm (lower energy): Accounting tasks (low engagement & attention)

Circadian rhythms plotted on a weekly energy cycle creating the ability to focus and align the optimal day.

To go the distance and make your highest value contribution, we need to align our energy and engagement windows. Be courageous. Choose the people you love and learn how to keep going.

-Aaron

Download my free guide on How to Keep Going: Learning to Pace Yourself.

Walk to a Friend’s House For Dinner

Our experience of life can become humdrum if we allow it. To interrupt the monotony of life, I propose you call a friend, invite yourself to dinner and then, wait for it, walk to their house.

How our dinner party became a reality

“Hey Jon, can we come for dinner at your house on Saturday night? We want to walk to your house over the river and through the woods.”
“Sure-are you serious?”
-Undaunted Courage dinner party

Our route became a combination of US Forest Service roads and off-trail bushwacking.

As the crow flies, Jon lives twenty-miles away, which made for the perfect adventure. We dubbed our party Undaunted Courage in honor of Stephen Ambrose’s book about the explorers Lewis and Clark. No doubt, our cross country trek of a few hours wasn’t comparable, but our explorer’s spirit lacked none of the potency of uncertainty.

Map, compass, trekking poles, and willing hearts were our equipment to help us create a permanent narrative of exploration, adventure, and intimacy. Even something as simple as dinner can become an adventure.

Reject the humdrum. Go big. Live on purpose.

Keep going,

Aaron

Our Undaunted Courage dinner party. We were few, but mighty.

An explorer’s spirit starts with curiosity about what’s out around the next corner.

Outdoor Showers and Mindsets

A decade ago, my daily stress level was off-the-charts. I used to think that even little chores like showering felt like an inconvenience to my anxious list of endlessness until I experienced baptism in an outdoor shower in Hawaii.

The Aveda shampoo aroma, the flower trestle overhead, and the lava rock wall conspired to calm my weary heart and rain hope over me. Since my Hawaiian rebirth, I now believe that a shower is a reason to pause, to celebrate and inhale life. We stock our home shower with expensive shampoo to serve as a reminder of my vacation discovery and my aloha resurrection mindset.

What’s the small task that can become your oasis and resurrection?

Over the years, I’ve captured photos of outdoor showers as symbols of resurrection and a fresh start. Enjoy them.

Keep going-
Aaron

Napa Valley at Carneros Resort outdoor showering in the vineyards

Found this outdoor shower in Maine tucked underneath the eaves of the roofline.

My favorite example of simple. Our vacation rental had this outdoor shower head sticking out of the garage alley wall. After long runs or beach swims we’d rinse and celebrate.

I discovered this outdoor shower in Costa Mesa, CA while running. I poked my camera over the fence to grab a shot.

My friend Doug made his outdoor shower in British Columbia on his dock.

In Laguna Beach, the surfboard and palm trees are the perfect vacation duo.

In Calistoga, CA these poolside outdoor showers at the retro Motolodge.

My friend Daniel’s outdoor shower reminding himself daily to breathe deep.

Trip Report: Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Antelope Canyon is an iconic slot canyon in the American Southwest, on Navajo land east of Page, Arizona. Usually, I wouldn’t recommend adventures that include a group tour bus, but Antelope Canyon’s tall winding walls are a photographer’s dream. Easily accessible and micro adventure worthy, the light beams and reflective beauty are timeless.

Infamous Antelope Canyon accessible only by local guide services

Exploring Antelope Canyon

Length: A few hours

Description: At first, a visit to Antelope Canyon feels like a grade school field trip with white vans caravaning and color-coded laminate cards to mark your departure group. The payoff is the natural cathedral of sandstone refracting light. A local guide service is required to access the canyon. Although famous for Instagram selfies, Antelope Canyon’s origins derive from native tribes driving herds of antelope into the slot canyon and speared hunters waiting inside to harvest dinner easily.

We visited the world-famous gem Upper Antelope Canyon as part of our Desert Southwest road trip. Nearby Lake Powell and Horseshoe Bend are equally stunning roadside “don’t miss” stops.

Season: Any season

The entrance to Antelope Canyon is a nondescript crack at the headwall of a wide sandy dry creek camouflaging the mystery.

Bends of light painted in Upper Antelope Canyon’s sandstone cathedral.

Horseshoe Bend, a short walk from the car and Ansel Adams worthy vistas await.

Trip Report: The Channel Islands National Park Adventure 25 miles off California Coast

Snorkel Sea caves by headlamp. Cliff jump into sublime mermaid enclaves and Sea kayak beginner-friendly pirate escape routes and dodge high-tide blowholes. Picture the Galapagos Islands of South America, but twenty-five miles off the coast of California. Wild, untamed wilderness awaits including seals, whales, dolphins, octopus, sea anemones, starfish, sea kayaking, snorkeling, sea caves, purple sea urchins, pink algae, volcanic steeps, cliff jumping and wilderness untamed by man. The Channel Islands National Park is a must visit adventure location.

Heading out to paddle Santa Cruz Island sea caves.

Getting to Santa Cruz Island & Scorpion Ranch

Island Packers provides daily ferry rides from Ventura, CA to Santa Cruz Island. $60 roundtrip x person for a day trip. Expect to pay a bit more if you plan to camp and return later. The open ocean ferry crosses the Santa Barbara Channel. Plan on arriving an hour before departure. The crossing takes approximately an hour each direction. Each time I’ve visited the island schools of dolphins escorted our ferry. The daily schedule varies by season. Best season to visit: April to October. Ventura Harbor 1691 Spinnaker Drive #105B, Ventura, CA 93001.

Cliff jumping and snorkeling sea caves of Santa Cruz Island

Sea Kayak Sea Caves & Snorkel in a marine preserve

Channel Island Adventure Company is my preferred sea kayak outfitter. I’ve used them for two different trips. Each time, the guides, the equipment, local knowledge, professionalism, and even their homemade sack lunches have delivered a perfect adventure. We booked their Caves & Coves Kelp Combo tour. Our five-hour tour included the combination of sea kayaking and snorkeling with the optional cliff jumping crescendo—$ 169 x person.

Camping on Santa Cruz Island

Scorpion Ranch Campground on Santa Cruz Island is a short hike from the bay. “Primitive camping” means there are no frills, prepare for pit toilets, potable water, and picnic tables accommodations. Above the camping area, rugged loop trails remain from the by-gone era when Santa Cruz Island was an active cattle ranch. When the Island Packer boat leaves the harbor, prepare for a feeling of quiet isolation to settle in ($15 x night). Details on backcountry hikes and backcountry camping are here.

Sea cliffs, marine preserve and backcountry trails makes you feel like you’re worlds away.

Length: One day to multi-day

Description: A visit to the Channel Islands is an exercise in preparation and self-reliance. There are no services such a food stores or gear rental shops on the islands, no remedies for poor planning once you have arrived. There guide services mentioned above can help you prepare for your visit including reservations and transportation. Make reservations before you leave as reliable cell service is not available on the island.

Camping reservations: For Santa Cruz island are through Recreation.gov.

Season: Spring, Summer, Fall