Trip Report: Backcountry Ski Hut to Hut

Description: The saying about backcountry skiing goes, “free the heel, and you’ll free your mind.” After a handful of Colorado winter backcountry ski adventures, I’m hooked. Last winter, we linked these two 10th Mountain Division Colorado Huts together. Ski into Jackal Hut from Camp Hale (4.7 miles) and then onto Fowler/Hillard Hut (via 7.8 mile Pearl Creek), back to Camp Hale. Skiing hut-to-hut deepens the backcountry experience of breaking trail and navigating between huts. For a smaller one night adventure, start with skiing or snowshoeing directly into Jackal Hut. Reservations required. 

Length: One to four days

The rewards: Hut trips, with the right group, can be extraordinary experiences. Our groups are always carefully selected with a match of great people and the appropriate experience level. NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) claims for everyone to have a good, safe time, you must display “Expedition behavior.” 

Season: Late Winter to early Spring

Keep going-

Aaron

Onward Camp Hale style approaching the winter storm. With a big group it’s important to use the buddy system. No one left behind.
When the sun is shinning, bluebird Colorado winter skies, a positive mental attitude is easy to find.
Fresh tracks, sunshine, close friends, miles away are the rewards of backcountry hut skiing.
Navigating between huts requires additional know-how using map, compass, GPS and breaking trail. Advanced level skills required.
Like a postcard, these rare moments, living fully alive.
Unlike the ski resorts, there are no groomed trails. Deep powder, mixed terrain makes for a playground of joy. Sometimes you might need a buddy to help you up 🙂

Trip Report: Bishops Castle in our VW Bus

Description: Bishop’s Castle is entirely built by one man, Jim Bishop, over the course of his lifetime. A quirky, intricate maze of stunning DIY artwork, engineering and imagination. This roadside Southern Colorado attraction used to be little-known. Today, likely made more infamous through Instagram, Bishop’s castle is widely known and visited. Watch your step, hang on and leave the pets in the car.

Length: A few hours

Favorite memory: We drove our 1974 VW Joy Bus to visit Bishop’s Castle after an overnight in Hartsel, CO. Jim Bishop himself was onsite three different times we’ve visited. Always leave a donation. Be generous.

Season: Anytime

Keep going-

Aaron

Bishops Castle fire breathing dragon
Nearing the top of Bishop’s Castle, the ironwork continues and so does the exposure.
Cathedral style enormity and stain glass windows meets Tim Burton.
Bishop’s Castle is 100% donation dependent. Be respectful. Be kind. Be generous.

Trip Report: 75 stories Underground in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Description: In 1901, eighteen-year-old cowboy James Larkin White witnessed a moving black cloud over the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. Brazilian free-tailed bats were feeding at dawn and dusk, swirling above one of the most spectacular caverns and underground wonder. Today, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is accessible by walking 1.25 miles down a long steep ramp, winding into the cavern’s mouth. Carlsbad is the largest easily accessible cave chamber in North America. Backcountry caves are also accessible for the adventurous, requiring permits and technical caving equipment.

Length: One to two days

The rewards: Our spring break father-son party explored both the famous main cavern and one backcountry cave, which I can’t recommend. Our teenage boys didn’t find the experience of bushwhacking through cactus and up tangled desert trails rewarding. After rappelling into the slit access, we opted for a retreat.

Season: Spring, Fall, Winter

Keep going-

Aaron

The main entrance into Carlsbad Caverns. Smooth walking trail of 1.2 miles descending into the main caverns.
Our boys after being dejected from our backcountry (non-tourist route) spelunking adventure at Carlsbad Caverns.
The mighty great room Carlsbad Caverns.
Adventure Carlsbad Caverns picking our way back to the car after aborting our spelunking descent into the abyss.

Trip Report: Hiking the Narrows Zion National Park

Description: There is no trail, only river and wet feet. Hiking the Narrows in Zion National Park is one of the most unusual slot canyon trail experiences you’ll find. Hiking up the Virgin River, most people begin at the Temple of Siniawava on the Riverside Walk. Walking upstream as far as your adventure spirit leads. Throttle your adventure from a two to ten mile aquatic romp walking, wading and swimming. Before you hike-check the weather.

Length: A few hours to a full day

The rewards: A challenge that you can throttle up or down based on your party. Family friendly, but probably not a place for kids under the age of 8-10. Endless beauty, unique and memorable desert experience. Time your adventure in the off-season of Fall or Winter to reduce the crowds and watch the weather forecast for rain. The canyon is prone to flash floods.

Pro tip: Rent gear including wetsuit and rubber booties.

Season: Spring, Fall, Winter

Keep going-

Aaron

Before you step foot into the Virgin River, the trail meanders upstream.
Starting the Narrows trail. Notice how wide the slot canyon walls are here at the beginning.
Exquisite beauty in the Zion Narrows with contrasting vivid colors from emerald green to crimson red.
The Narrows slot canyon pinches down to
The Narrows can be a zoo or you can find yourself alone in moments of solitude. In November, I shared the experience with a handful of other explorers.
Just outside of the National Park, Zion Adventure Company was dialed in for enhancing your Narrows adventure.

Trip Report: Below the Rim at Bryce Canyon National Park

Description: Bryce Canyon National Park’s infamous crimson-bandit hiding hoodoos and endless vistas remnants of erosions sculpting. I drove our 1974 VW Joy Bus from Colorado to locate a trail that my mother hiked in the 1960s. My only beta, a picture of a slide and a faint recollection of a family road trip story.

Length: One to three days

The rewards: Although the rim’s views are stunning, the real immersion experience of Bryce Canyon exists below the edge. A few hours to multi-day backcountry routes, get up close and intimate with this desert southwest bizarre landscapes. Find them under the rim trail guide here.

Season: Spring, Fall, Winter

Keep going-

Aaron

Snapped on a brief below the rim wandering, my mom’s 1960-era trail recollection was faint. Finding this Bryce Canyon trail became my mission.
These mighty giants commanding presence were inspiring. Very little water, enclosed by a hoodoo fortress, the hidden life of trees in Bryce Canyon.
I’m not certain, but my mom’s 1960’s trail had some similarities in this region of the park. Guess I’ll need to go back to certify my find.
As with any wild place, the further you get from the car, there are fewer people. Fellow explorers returning from a multi-night backpacking trip via Navajo Loop.
Bryce Canyon’s contrast of hoodoos and lonely pine trees is somehow a parable.

Go Sleep On a Hill

Adventure comes in any size. Make it-the smaller, the better. One mini-adventure that I’ve practiced is to sleep on a hill, any hill. That’s right, leave your house and find a hill you want to sleep on for one night. You don’t need a bunch of gear or a lot of planning. You will need a bit of courage.

Scout on google maps a place you’d like to visit: pack enough warm clothing, a sleeping bag, and a ground cover. Recently I bought a sleeping bag at Walmart for $8 and a ground pad for $25. Make it simple, and go.

Here is the upside, friends. You can experience a new place or an old place in a new way. Keep your plan simple and close to home. I’ve slept in parking lots, behind a woodpile, on a dock in Alaska, in my suburban neighborhood. You can do this. Make it happen.

Waking up to a cup of coffee after a cool night sleeping on Soldier Mountain

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

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

Paddling up into the sea caves exploring the wild places of the Channel Islands.

How To Ask High Profile People For Help

I often am asked how do I get high profile guests like Seth Godin, Greg McKeown, Guy Kawasaki, Ben Moon, Tommy Caldwell, David Wilcox, Conrad Anker, Rob Bell, (all 159+ episodes here) to agree to a podcast interview. Here’s how I think about reaching out to influential people. Your results will go way up if you use these simple tips.

1) I’m very cognizant of my intent while writing an email.

Do I want something from this person (that I’m writing) or am I writing it from a genuine place of wanting to help them, share their message, promote their film or book?

High profile people can smell intent from a mile away. Because they’ve heard from so many people, who wanted something from them vs. offering a genuine interest or connection. Pay attention to yourself as you write your request-motives-etc.

2) Keep it super brief.

Less than 2–2.5 short paragraphs. What I start with “This is why I love your work, or this is the impact your work has had on me. I’m writing to ask you -fill in the blank.” I’d skip all of the “I know you’re busy” and “maybe you won’t.” Cut that out and ask for what you desire.

Be clear and specific. I wouldn’t recommend telling a big long story. You want your email to be easily read on a phone screen.

3) I say something short about myself.

“I produce a podcast Work Life Play on doing meaningful work and I’d love to share your story with my listeners.”I don’t go into how many listeners I have or stats. That’s not that important. I focus on briefly what I do and how it aligns with their work.

4) I thank them in advance and look forward to the connection.

I don’t use words like “if” I assume we will connect and can be confident they will respond well to my request as their schedule allows.

5) Timing matters.

There are natural windows when they are more open to a connection. E.g. a book release or new movie. Great time to help support them. But if they are on tour -it may be a bad time w tons of travel. Check their website and social and get a feel for where they are in timing.

At the very least it shows you’ve researched-“I know you’re currently traveling “ based on a social post. It shows that your clues into their world and making the focus on them and not yourself-what you want or need.

Hope those help get you started.

Keep going-
Aaron