Bad info Have you ever taken a long hike with bad intelligence? That was our situation hiking the Taylor Cabin Loop in Sycamore Canyon, Arizona,late March, 2012. Our little group relied on trip descriptions that led to false expectations, frustration and some tense moments. The books we were using were A Guide to Northern Arizona’s Greatest [...]
Where is spring during spring break? Rarely in Wyoming. I think the schools call it “spring” break just to illustrate the word “irony.” “Winter break 2” might be more like it. But the title, and the numbing length of a high plains winter makes me yearn for spring each March. My daughter Rose, taking her [...]
This spring break we walked from winter to summer in just less than six hours. Breakfast was in the crunch of icy snow. Supper was prepared in the give of soft sand, an 80 degree sun baking the winter freeze from my old bones. The quickest way to summer is not to drive south but to [...]
I understand that in the middle ages people didn’t take vacations. They took pilgrimages. These were journeys, long or short, with a destination of spiritual import. Relic remains of holy men and women were a special draw. Central to the trek was a hope that something divine would happen to them There was interesting company, too, [...]
Havasu Canyon is a spell binding place where you would be sure to find spring buzzing and blooming around you. It’s not so much south but down, deep into a side canyon of the Grand Canyon, on the Havasupai Indian Reservation of Northern Arizona, a 943 mile drive from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Let me paint a picture [...]
The crowds at the Grand Canyon can scramble a person’s brain. There you are, wanting to take in nature’s big spectacle, having driven all those miles, stuck in traffic, gasping fumes, bus loads of foreign tourists getting their pictures taken, no places to park. Your bambinos just want to get out of the car. Your [...]