Basecamp Adventures

The euphoric experience one gets when the heart is full of joy and the soul has found its bliss in a state of “PLAY” is what led me to sport and into a life in the outdoors!

An athlete from youth to post college, I always felt most at home in a state of play. As I was heading into my mid thirties, and with quite a few post competition injuries and surgeries, the “adapt, adjust and trust” mantra led me into wanting to find a place of bliss in an area that was filled with room to adventure in the activities I was enjoying most which were hiking and biking. My soul was truly looking for a place that stirred it and where I could really safely engage so freely in those activities!

In 2005, I came out to Utah for an event for work and I was able to bike in a canyon that took my breath away. Never have I felt this way about a place as I did here in Southern Utah (and on that given Sunday) as I rode a resort rental bike up the gravel path and into a canyon that literally spoke to my soul!

I looked around and knew this is where I was to be, where I could feel like a kid again! This place spoke to me and I was so ready to fulfill my aching desire to adventure and explore! I had found my place, my new basecamp!

I was soon hiking and biking everywhere and if I was not doing one of these activities daily, my soul felt cheated! This was me making a life versus out on the road constantly trying to make a living. I have also never chased money or titles in life as my soul has always chased experiences and this place that I would now call “home” was offering plenty of them!

I adventured to the beautiful National Parks in the state (Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef) as well as some of the Backcountry Wilderness areas and State Parks in my backyard. I also explored other canyons outside of the state to include Grand Canyon National Park and others. These adventures were also inspiring the work I was doing in my “day job”. I can truly attest that this has been the most inspiring, creative and impactful chapters of my life!

In 2010, and in seeing my father’s last breaths, I knew I needed to complete my bucket list so I arranged for my buddy and I to hike the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim. That hike was LIFE changing. I soon started (literally the day after the hike) an official club – The Rim to Rim Club® (www.rimtorim.org) of the Grand Canyon as I wanted anyone that was called to hike this hike to have a club and a resource dedicated to that pursuit as well as a place to celebrate and share their story while inspiring others to hike this canyon responsibly, respectfully and successfully.

This calling on my soul also lifted me into wanting to think about the IMPACT we could make collectively. I learned through these experiences, and the Leave No Trace® and Tread Lightly!® principles, how to truly become a volunteer steward for the trails. I was truly building a relationship with all of it and I wanted to help in preserving and protecting these sacred places and the experiences others would have in them.

I soon realized that I was the outdoor adventurer I had been destined to become and now I wanted even more time outdoors in these places! I first purchased a travel trailer in 2014, then a small van and then in January 2018 for my 50th birthday (bought it a year earlier at 49), my adventure basecamp vehicle became a Promaster Van! The Van (aka, Vision Quest) and I have been everywhere, but we are happiest and most at peace near and around our basecamp in the Desert Southwest!

With such intimate and soulful experiences in the outdoors, I wanted to protect these places in the ways I was called to and also help to find ways people could have the same experiences I was having which were almost always away from the crowds.

We now arrive at another place that has called my soul, Zion National Park. I have been visiting and hiking Zion since that first drive through the canyon in 2005. Zion is so special and is just one hour from my basecamp here in Southern Utah. Over the years, I have witnessed the town of Springdale (the gateway town to Zion) with the quaint shops and local restaurants grow to where now every spot that could have a hotel or a place to put a head in a bed now exists and/or visitors zoom in and out of town after seeing the main spots (and also because the cost of a room in Springdale is sky high). That is not the kind of stay I am interested in people experiencing. I want them to see and experience the canyon the way I have been blessed to, which has been in a quiet and peaceful way where the soul is awakened and also where inspiration and healing can be found.

I have been blessed to be on all of the trails and hikes in the main canyons of Zion and in 2018 I was called to map out a Rim to Rim – Zion (www.rimtorim.org/zion) hike to help soul seekers find a hike and a place that would take them away from the crowds.

In 2019, an unfortunate rockslide (but part of how this was all created) wiped out the trail from the Weeping Rock Trailhead up to the East Rim and Observation Point and that part of the trail and hike has been closed indefinitely. With this trail being closed and the continual “draw” to Angels Landing and the Narrows (via Temple of Sinawava), the park is being inundated with crowds to those two spots. Many outfitters are now renting e-bikes as you can take the bikes via the Pa’rus trail up the main canyon via the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive and to those spots to avoid waiting on the shuttles. Bottom line, Zion and the town of Springdale is BOOMING with visitors and money being spent by those visitors.

Being a local to the area, I know the times to visit these parks (especially Zion). I can also go over even during peak visitation times and still find my peace and serenity spots. Through hiking and exploring over many years I have learned that a great option (when the park is crazy busy in the inner canyon) is to head over to the East side of Zion. Over there you can hike out to Observation Point or take the East Rim trail to Cable Mountain and/or Deertrap Mountain to hike and now you can also mountain bike on the East side of Zion!

This development of trails was made possible through the collaborative efforts of landowners, conservationists, the National Park Service, and the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation. These trails are now open, and at this very moment they are expanding those mountain bike trails and working on new hiking trails in the area. As well, a new Visitor Center is being built (as part of the East Zion Initiative) as I believe the East side of Zion will truly offer a new adventure for many to explore and find the outdoor recreation experiences they are seeking!

When I took my bike out to these new Applecross Mountain Bike Trails this week (www.rimtorim.org/zion), I was the only one out there riding! I looked down at spots and saw the Bison Roaming! It was awesome!

I even met the trail builders at the end of the trail as they are continuing to build extensions for these trails and I was able to thank them for the work they are doing! After the ride, I drove down to the Zion Mountain Ranch and ran into one of the landowners and thanked them for donating the land for these trails! After a lunch break, to include a delicious Huckleberry ice cream cone, I then took my camper van and I back in to explore on foot the East side of Zion!

I came back early evening down through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel (and the very tunnel I drove through in 2005 that opened me to this blissful spot in the West) and over to the South side of Zion and took a sunset ride of the Pa’rus trail and then rode my bike to hear one of my favorite local musicians play in Springdale and grab some awesome fish tacos! This is a “special place” where the staff always makes me feel like a friend/family stopping by!

The access road (Highway 67) to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon opens seasonally on May 15 and that where my camper van is usually headed as less than 10% of the over 6 million annual visitors to the Grand Canyon visit.