Bypassing the long trail yesterday for an unscheduled rest day wasn’t in our original plan, so we were extra motivated to get out and hike this morning. Our B&B host kindly prepared our breakfast at 5 am, allowing us to get onto the trail early. We hoped this would help us beat the worst of today’s forecasted heat.
Continue reading “Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 3-4”Author: Chris
Until 2019, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia focused on Community Economic Development. Before that, I was a high-tech executive, small business owner, consultant and business broker.
Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 0-2
When walking the “French Way” of the Camino de Santiago last year, I learned about many other multi-day, inn-to-inn, through hikes in their countries from pilgrims I met. (I have built a database of these hikes that I will happily share with anyone interested – just let me know!)
Two such routes in central Italy seemed a good introduction for Joanie to this type of trekking. She is still working hard in her career and limited in her available time off, so the 6-day Via Degli Dei and the nearby 8-day Via di Francesco seemed ideal for this trip.
Continue reading “Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 0-2”Namibia 2023 – A brief visit to my second home
Between my trekking holidays in Utah and Italy, I returned to Namibia to take training hikes out in the bush and catch up with friends and former colleagues.
Continue reading “Namibia 2023 – A brief visit to my second home”Utah 2023 – Calf Creek Falls and the Valley of Fire
In our final days, we found a couple of shorter but no less spectacular hikes to wind up our trekking holiday. The first was near the town of Escalante (a target for future holidays, to be sure!), and the second was across the border to Nevada on our drive to the airport in Las Vegas. As much as we had seen on this trip, we agreed that we had just tapped the surface of what Utah offers anyone who loves being immersed in raw nature.
We look forward to visiting again!
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Calf Creek Falls and the Valley of Fire”Utah 2023 – Bryce Canyon National Park
To reach our last resting stop in Utah, we drove across the state through Canyonlands and Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon, three of the spectacular national parks in the state. It was a long day in the car over scenic Utah State Route 12 (which gives car drivers the same nervous ridgetop thrills as The Portal Trail gives mountain mountain bikers in Moab!). The steady climb to higher elevations brought overcast skies, lower temperatures, and fallen snow as we hiked the Peekaboo Loop Trail from Sunrise Point to Bryce Point. Words cannot describe the beauty around us, so I will let the photos speak for themselves.
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Bryce Canyon National Park”Utah 2023 – Around Moab
In past visits to Moab, I always focused my attention on Arches National Park. Having a few more days on this trip to explore and wanting to avoid the large crowds, we found some nearby gems: a treacherous cliffside trail from The Portal offering fantastic views of the town over the Colorado River and a path further down the river that some local folk recommended to us with arches worthy of Arches!
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Around Moab”Utah 2023 – Arches National Park
Our trekking holiday in Utah combined new areas for me to explore and a return to some old favorites. Imagining any place more special than Arches National Park is challenging in the latter category. While Monument Valley elicited many memories from my youth, Arches marks a milestone in my adult life due to a friend’s book recommendation in 1992, before my first visit: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Abbey’s autobiographical description of two seasons as a park ranger in Arches sits prominently amongst the books that have changed my life. Anyone visiting the American Southwest or interested in humanity’s role in preserving the natural environment would be well served by reading this.
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Arches National Park”Utah 2023 – Goosenecks State Park, Moki Dugway, and Natural Bridges National Monument
I think Utah should be called “The 3D State.” Nearly everywhere we went, there was our level – the one on which we were traveling – then levels above us (mountains, mesas, and buttes) and levels below us (arroyos, gulches, and canyons). In both our hikes and scenic drives, we rarely stayed at one elevation. We constantly went up then back down or went down then back up. Either way, we had good stretches for our legs when hiking and good stretches of our necks when enjoying the views. For two days out of Monument Valley, we got to experience this phenomenon firsthand as we visited some beautiful places a bit off the beaten path.
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Goosenecks State Park, Moki Dugway, and Natural Bridges National Monument”Utah 2023 – Four Corners, Valley of the Gods, and Monument Valley across 58 years
Escaping the cold windstorm by moving East, we made a long, shallow loop around Navajo Mountain to Four Corners, then back through the serene Valley of the Gods for a quick afternoon hike before approaching one of my favorite places on Earth: Monument Valley. I have been to this special place many times in my life, and always recall vivid memories of my first visit as an 8 year old. With the help of my brother, Eric (who was not even born at the time of that first visit), we found photographic slides that our Dad, the late Jack S Wilmoth, had taken in 1965, 58 years earlier. While I didn’t have access to his images during this trip, it has been fun to intersperse his shots with my own! You can see how we change much more dramatically than the formations do.
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Four Corners, Valley of the Gods, and Monument Valley across 58 years”Utah 2023 – Upper Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend
Well, actually not Utah, but just over the river-border into Arizona for a day to visit the iconic Upper Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend near Page, Arizona. For many years I have loved the imagery that photographers like John Gavrilis have captured of this magical place so it was a special treat to join a guided tour (the only way we’re allowed to visit this Navajo tribal land) and try my own hand at such artistry. The conditions outside were rough, with high winds sandblasting our faces as we entered and exited the famous slot canyon, but when we saw how those conditions delivered unique drifting “sandfalls” in the beams of sunlight, it was easy to ignore the discomfort. We could easily blame the swirling dust for the tears in our eyes, but the emotions that the beautiful formations evoked also played their part!
Continue reading “Utah 2023 – Upper Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend”