Adventures

In the middle of the Arizona desert, just south of the Utah border, lies a paddler’s paradise.  Deep in a sandstone canyon that starts at Lake Powell and ends in the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River twists and turns across the rugged landscape. On the surface, hundreds of feet above the canyon floor, the surrounding desert offers little.  Its unforgiving land parched from a lack of rain.  Despite a few towering red cliff walls that steal a few moments of your imagination, there isn’t much of interest here… at least until you arrive at …

Perfect conditions and no lift lines set the tone for my “Search” The Need for An Escape This year’s winter storms have been good to our local ski resort. Consistent snowstorms have brought incredible conditions and plenty of fresh powder. It’s been years since I’ve been snowboarding, but with the growing stress at work and home combined with the recent snowstorms, I can hear the mountain calling. As I leave home for the high country, I feel a cloud of uneasiness….

Sailing is a blast anyway you do it, but sailing to a destination is another level altogether. We recently had the opportunity to sail to Avalon on Catalina Island. The trip was days of enjoying the ocean, exploring Catalina activities, and appreciating the outdoors in a whole new way. The Trip The first to spot Catalina Island wins. We departed for Avalon from San Diego Harbor and immediately set course for Oceanside Harbor. Avalon is an 80-nautical-mile sail. W…

There are more beautiful lands on this planet than one could hope to explore in one lifetime. Camping in the Valley of the Gods is a trip you should add to your list now. Monument Valley’s Less Famous Sibling On the Utah-Arizona border, lies Monument Valley – the setting of Hollywood films and a location that one critic called, “five square miles that have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West”. With its 1000ft tall, sandstone buttes it’s no wonder the Navajo people consider it to be sacred land. …

Arizona isn’t known for its trout fishing. Much of the landscape doesn’t allow for the ideal conditions for trout to grow big. But in Arizona’s White Mountains, there is some really fun fly fishing in Greer, Arizona. Growing up, some of my best memories were fishing with my dad.  We weren’t very good fishermen, but the reward of landing a fish was a feeling unlike anything else. Back then, we were lazy fishermen, usually resorting to some sort of smelly bait left on the lake bottom overnight.  We would wake in the morning hoping that a ca…

Sailing to Ensenada, Mexico from San Diego is a short trip by sailing standards, but it’s a fun and exciting day on the water….if you’re lucky enough to find some wind. The last time I sailed this route about a decade ago, we bobbed around in flat seas having to resort to using the boat’s engine the entire trip. Recently, I had the opportunity to sail from San Diego to Ensenada on a gorgeous, 46ft sailboat.  The journey, approximately 60 nautical miles, lasted about 8hrs and was filled with dolphins, beautiful landscapes, and just the r…