Link of the Day: ConsumerGuides.com ~ This site has a great guide to help you choose the tent that is right for you. This link will bring you to their "Buying Guide for Three-Season/Convertible Tents," but they have buying guides and tips for purchasing just about anything under the sun.

 »»» Tough Decisions    August 16th, 2005:
  I've set a goal to finish an itinerary for my trip by this weekend. The permit issue is not working in my favor while planning this trip and the sooner I figure out where I need to go, the better chances I have of getting the necessary permits. I was lucky enough to have acquired two permits already for fairly-popular areas: one for camping at Havasu Falls Sept 22-23 in Arizona and one for a day hike through "The Subway," a famous canyon in Zion NP, Utah, on October 1st. Now all I have to fill in the gaps around these key dates.

  Easier said than done!

  My research in the last couple weeks has found some really amazing places, and I'm learning quickly that 2 1/2 weeks is not nearly long enough to do everything I'd like to do. In fact, I might have to cut out any plans of visiting the Glen Canyon area - the area that first inspired this trip - due to my time constraints. Since my goals for the trip include a 2+ day camping trip through a slot canyon, I've been scouring the web and looking at hundreds of photos of the many slot canyons located in Arizona and Utah. The contenders for extended trip locations are Coyote Gulch and/or Buckskin Gulch. Antelope Canyon near Lake Powell appears to be the ultimate slot canyon, but the more I read about it, the more I don't want to get near the place.
  As mentioned before, my main goal for this trip is to find serenity. A place to share with my thoughts. A time to relax and not use my voice for a while. A chance to be with myself. But the stories on the web about Antelope Canyon make it look like this is the last place I'd want to visit. With over three million visitors to the Lake Powell area each year, surely the surreal beauty and relatively easy access must draw in many of them to Antelope Canyon. And price doesn't seem to slow the flow. It apparently costs $6 for a permit to enter the Navajo Reservation plus an hourly rate to explore the canyon!! On top of that, all visitors must now be accompanied by a guide, effective after a tragic flash flood in 1997 which killed 11 people and closed the area for a year. Along with being the most beautiful slot canyon in the world, it also holds the title of being the most photographed. Quite frankly, I'd rather locate a less-photogenic slot canyon that isn't as popular than deal with possible herds of tourists and ridiculous fees.
  One the other end of the spectrum, I've found a place that is relatively unheard of and looks like a perfect location for an adventure. This month's issue of Backpacker Magazine announced the opening of a new hiking spot in Utah's canyon country. Range Creek, located just east of Sunnyside, is home to scores of ancient Fremont Indian ruins kept secret for decades by the ranchers who now own the land. An anthropology professor at the University of Utah is quoted in the article: "I've been working in archaeology for 25 years, and I've seen half a dozen sites that I knew were absolutely undisturbed. Here we've seen over 200." The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is still working on the best way to preserve the area from possible looting and being 'loved to death,' but they have been gracious enough to open the area to day hiking. As of now, only 28 permits will be issued daily for hiking in the area and they are working on creating campsites in the future. However, camping is available nearby under the authority of the Bureau of Land Management. It all sounds very exciting, but considering the fact that it is at least a 300 mile drive from most of the other locations I'm looking at exploring in Utah, I might not have the chance to visit Range Creek. I'll know for sure this Sunday, when I plan to have completed a full itinerary.

Link of the Day: Story: Raising the Dead ~ From the pages of the August issue of Outside Magazing comes a very sad tale of death and survival while scuba diving. "Diving deeper than almost anyone had ever gone, Dave Shaw found the body of a young man who had disappeared ten years earlier. What happened after Shaw promised to go back is nearly unbelievable-unless you believe in ghosts." A MUST READ!

 »»» A New Backpack!    August 12th, 2005:
  I spent the afternoon shopping for a backpack. It has been more than four years since I've done any serious shopping for one, so I had to recall all the advice I've read on travel messageboards over the years. Sage advice that has been posted repeatedly (and worth remembering) is that you should never purchase a backpack that you haven't first tried on and tested. Sure, shop online - but you need to find a store that carries it before you put down the cash for it. If I hadn't followed that advice today, I'd be stuck with a great-looking bag that was too short and uncomfortable on the shoulders.
  I should mention here that I've already got a great backpack that has been with me for all of my trips, but it will be too big and bulky for me to slide through narrow slot canyons come September. So I'll keep my 5,000 cubic-inch pack at home and bring a new medium-sized bag, but the question is: which one?
  I had my eye on REI's Catalyst 35L. It looks great, has a famesheet that will mold to the contour of my back, large enough fabric flaps and webbing straps to attach a ground pad, tent, or sleeping bag. One slight problem, though: it doesn't fit me!
  WHen shopping for a pack, there's two measurments you'll need to know: your torso length and waist size. Most outdoor stores will have a device that will measure your torso length, which is the distance from the seventh vertebra (the bump where your shoulder meets the neck) to the point even with the top of your hipbones (called the iliac crest). The device can also measure for your hipbelt size, which might be different than your waist size. With my 21" torso length and a 44" waist, the Catalyst 35L was much too small for me.
  I looked around and tried on packs at both Sport Chalet and REI before I found the Kelty Moraine 3600. With 3,600 cubic inches of space and weighing only 3 lb. 13 oz, this pack was a great match! After I wore it around the store (with 30 pounds of specially-weighted pillows stuffed into it), I knew I made the right choice. 8^)

Link of the Day: Article: Pack Fitting 101 ~ Following these seven commandments will guarantee pack nirvana.

 »»» Desert Solitaire    August 11th, 2005:
  I've been slowly sculpting out an itinerary and details have taken shape for the first three of my eighteen-day trip. My first campsite reservations were made yesterday and I'm pretty excited about it. Call me a dork, but it was thrilling to score reservations for two nights at this campground. If you have a chance, do a Google search for Havasu Falls and you'll see for yourself why I'm so excited. Ten miles from the nearest road, Havasu Falls and the nearby Mooney Falls look like places one could get in touch with their soul. If you have Google Earth, here's a placemark for Havasu Falls.
  If you already know all about this beautiful area and are planning a trip of your own to see if first hand, then you might be interested in hearing that the prices have changed. The Havasupai Tribe, the Native Americans whom own this area of the Grand Canyon, have recently raised their prices. As of September 1st, it now costs $25 for an entrance fee. Tack on the $10 for the camping fee and the tribal taxes, the total for one night of camping comes to $36.75. Add $10.50 for each additional night. Their site also says that a 50% deposit is required to guarantee the reservation, but they never asked me for a credit card when I called. (Maybe it's only asked for during the peak months?) If you plan on calling, give yourself a lot of time for their numbers (listed on their site) are almost always busy. I redialed the number over 100 times in the course of two hours before I was able to get through.
  In other news, I've started to read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Apparently, reading Abbey before or during an adventure into the Southwest is as required as reading Twain before floating down the Mississippi, or Bryson before backpacking Europe. As a volunteer park ranger for Arches National Park in the 1950's, (back when it was just a National Monument) Edward Abbey kept extensive journals on his experiences which became the text for Desert Solitaire. Critics have called him a "rebel and an eloquent loner," "a militant conservationist," and "a national treasure." I dunno about any of those, but I think I'll enjoy this book after reading this in the author's introduction:

If a man knew enough he could write a whole book about the juniper tree. Not juniper trees in general but that one particular juniper tree which grows from a ledge of naked sandstone near the old entrance to Arches National Monument. What I have tried to do when is something a bit different. Since you cannot get the desert into a book any more than a fisherman can haul up the sea with his nets, I have tried to create a world of words in which the desert figures more as the medium than as material. Not imitation but evocation has been the goal.

  Gear Update:
>>Shoes: My canyoneering shoes arrived in the mail today. I don't think that slogging through waist-deep slot canyons with heavy boots on will be such a good idea, so I bought a pair of Sebago Wave Extreme. They are as snug as spandex socks yet have soles tough enough to hike over rough sandstone. I can't wait to take them on a test run this upcoming weekend.
>>Camera: Unfortunately, purchasing a new camera for this trip isn't going to happen. There's something that makes me a bit reluctant to use a $1,200.00+ Canon EOS-20D in a scenario that might possibly involve swimming through canyons. Call it a hunch, but I might have a better time bringing an older camera that I wouldn't be worrying about getting wet. Besides, if I ruin a camera on this trip, it will give me an excuse to upgrade to the 20D!
>>Tent: the quest is still on for an inexpensive free-standing tent. I've got my eyes on REI's Quarter Dome UL Tent. Stay tuned...

Link of the Day: Article: Start Smart: Hiking Solo ~ Safety precautions are extra important when planning a solo trip. (Just ask Aron Ralston!) Backpacker Magazine has some helpful tips for staying alive when all by your lonesome, and it doesn't involve cutting off your own arm.

 »»» GearHead    August 6th, 2005:
  I went to REI this afternoon. I swear, that store is a drug and I gotta have my weekly fix! No reason is too lame to get me to drive the 2.95 miles to the store. Yes, 2.95 miles. There was a time I didn't know the distance from my front door to the sliding-glass doors of REI. But on one fine weekend, I used even that as an excuse to go to REI, measuring the distance on my mountain bike. However, I think that my reason to go this weekend was quite a good one: I need some advice.
  Since the peeps at REI are well-trained and well-traveled, I figured my chances were pretty good on finding one I could talk to who might have done some canyoneering in Utah. However, when I arrived, the store was busy and most of the employees were helping others, so I looked around for gear I might need.
  I started in the tent section. I might need a new one since 2-man tent is a little too big & heavy and my current 1-man tent isn't freestanding and wouldn't work if I had to pitch it on sand or rock (as I learned the hard way in Josua Tree). I grabbed one of REI's handy-dandy free guides to tents and moved on. I promised myself that there would be no big purchases today.
  I wandered into the rock climbing section just long enough to figure out that any sort of belaying or rappelling would be out of the question. In order to do any of that on my trip, I'd need to buy over $300 in gear. I suppose the spool of nylon cord will have to do for lowering/raising my bag if I needed to do any "chimneying."
  I walked over to the shoes section and, as I do in any shoe store, asked the sales person straight up if they carry any size 15 shoes. It usually saves a lot more time than shopping for shoes that look cool, then asking if it comes in my size. She took a quick look in the back and came back empty handed.
  Next stop: water purifiers. I think it's about time for me to graduate from water tablets and upgrade to a faster means of cleaning water. Although I'm a believer that most mountain stream water is safe without tablets (haven't contracted giardiasis yet, at least), the research I've done shows that water in Southern Utah's canyons isn't exactly pristine. So to save the time and energy on the trails, I purchased MSR's MiniWorks EX Microfilter unit.
  My final stop was the backpack section. Because my Jansport backpack is a little too big for canyoneering, and my messenger bag isn't enough to use independently, I think I'll be buying a mid-sized bag. The sales guy sounded like he knew what he was talking about and recommended a bag he said he has used himself for the past few years: the REI Catalyst 35L Pack. It looked nice on the rack, but I really haven't had a chance to shop and compare backpacks yet. Besides, I'll need an excuse to go back to REI next weekend!

Link of the Day: Google Maps Pedometer ~ Want to measure how far your grandfather really walked to school from his childhood home? This website might not be able to tell you if his stories are true and he did walk up a hill both ways... in the snow... barefoot... but it does do an excellent job of measuring points that you place on Google's mapping application. If you don't live in New York, simply click in the link to the left to find your location (or your Grandfather's) on the US map.

 »»» Permit Nightmare    August 4th, 2005:
  As I write this, I've got my arms resting over an opened Utah Atlas the size of a doormat. This was one of a half-dozen books I received in the mail today; much needed info for assisting me in organizing my trip through Arizona & Utah this fall. The planning is in full swing right now and if there's one thing I've learned since I started planning this trip a week ago, it is this: permits are a bitch!!
  So far, the biggest issue I have for this trip is acquiring the necessary hiking and camping permits. The National Parks in Utah seem to be very firm in their goal to keep their land from being loved to death, so they issue a regulated amount of permits each day. From how I understand it, the park's natural features are so fragile, hiking and camping permits are needed for just about any major site - even for just day hikes. Reservations can be made up to a year in advance in some parks, and they usually book up fast. The more I look into getting permits, the more I think that I should have started planning this trip a very long time ago. There are some amazing areas in the Southwest that are so protected, only a dozen or so people are allowed into the area daily! One of the most jaw-dropping facts I learned this week was regarding the length of the waiting list for paddling the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in your own watercraft: There are approximately 262 noncommercial launches each year and according to 2002 figures, there are at least 7,601 people on the waiting list! The permits are in such high demand, the National Park service placed a hold on adding names to the noncommercial river permit wait list well over a year ago. People who booked their trips in 1992 were contacted earlier than expected about recent cancelled spots in 2002!
  Even before hearing these ridiculous figures, I had no plans on rafting through the Grand Canyon. However, I recently read about a place near the Arizona/Utah border that looks so amazing, it skyrocketed to the top of my "must see" list for this trip. The place is called The Wave and I will do everything humanly possible to acquire a permit. Just twenty fortunate souls are allowed to step into this canyon daily. Just ten permits are issued eight months in advance and they are usually immediately snatched within minutes of becoming available. However (and this is what I'm aiming for), rumor has it that if you appear at the local ranger station at 8:30am, you have a chance to purchase one of ten additional permits that go on sale at that time. If more than ten people are present, they have a lottery. Until now, I have never had any desire to enter a lottery. Now I lay in bed and dream of winning this one, allowing me a chance to see what should easily become one of the Ten Natural Wonders of the World someday soon.

Link of the Day: FreeCampGrounds.com ~ A site to search for free or low-cost camping opportunities in the United States.