Last night, we camped along the Mogollon Rim. It was our first night away since—I kid you not—the middle of January! Much needed, and much deserved.
We were treated to this sunset, “enhanced” a bit by a wildfire sparked in the afternoon between here and home. Since the highway is closed, we’ll take the opportunity to explore the long way ‘round.
With the combination of dad stuff and COVID, I totally missed any wildflower trips this year. But that doesn’t mean I can’t reflect on some of the amazing blooms we got to experience last year.
One of my favorite things is water in the desert—and specifically, saguaros near water. With the coronavirus still raging on, in spite of our desires to reopen, I see a lot of local kayaking in my future this summer. So I’m choosing to look at the bright side of things. And that means many more opportunities to see an army of saguaros cresting a ridge and sneaking down to the lake or river for a quick sip.
I’m looking forward to another early morning paddle down the Salt River tomorrow, hoping to capture another morning meal.
This was the scene early yesterday morning, several hours before our kayaks would pull ashore at this very spot. Quiet, serene, inviting.
I arrived early, spent several reflective minutes here being grateful for the fun trips I’ve taken down this river, and then headed back to parking lot to prep for the day’s paddle and to meet two friends who I’d soon be introducing to the river.
After getting my gear in order for the vehicle shuttle, I returned to the shoreline with a trash bag and a grabber tool to rid the area of careless trash. These places require our constant stewardship and love—not our selfish entitlement that ruins the experience for everyone else.
I miss swimming with this guy in December.
The last travel I’ve done was a weekend camping trip to Mojave National Preserve a decade ago—aka January 2020. The day after I returned was when my dad’s health crisis started, occupying most of my time until the start of quarantine life. Like many, I’m just dying for a weekend away. Can’t wait until it’s appropriate to travel again.
Some color from yesterday’s off-trail meander in Sonoran Desert National Monument.
This month’s theme over at the new Go Questing Community (send me a message for an invite!) is focused not on the big epic quests that take you a decade to complete, but on the small local quests that help you explore more of your own local community. Local quests are great ways to finally get around to visiting those nearby places you’ve always intended to go, but haven’t quite found the time yet. And they often include places you never even knew existed! And because they’re close by, you can make progress on your quest within the confines of your everyday schedule—no vacation time needed. It’s a great way to use the structure of a quest to inspire a bit more adventure and exploration in your life.
Pictured above is Tovrea Castle—aka the Wedding Cake Castle—a landmark here in Phoenix that took me more than a decade to visit. It was one of those “I should tour that someday” places that you drive past constantly but never quite make it to. But once I adopted a quest to visit the Phoenix “Points of Pride” I finally found the motivation to make it happen. It’s a great example of how a local quest can enrich your life, even when you’re not traveling far from home.
What local quest would you adopt? Tell me in the comments.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Community of questers I’m building, send me a message and I’ll give you the low down.
Last weekend’s adventure.
I was reminded today of my visit to Shenandoah National Park in May 2016. It was intended to be a birthday trip for Jen, though we arrived to find a very foggy park.
Undeterred, we embraced the circumstances and decided to adopt a scenic overlook “mini-quest.” Whether we could see a damn thing or not, we would stop at all 75 overlooks and snap a photo. We expected to end the day with an album of foggy vistaswhich is exactly what we got, but the quest aspect made it more fun than it otherwise should have been. It’s a good reminder for when things don’t go quite as you had planned or hoped they go.
Wish I could be transported back to summer to float down the Buffalo National River. It looked so inviting during our last visit, but we only had a couple of hours available—too short for a paddle.
We’re picking some new photos for our living room wall this week, and this aerial shot from Gates of the Arctic National Park has made the cut. We had had no idea how amazing flightseeing in remote Alaska would be until this day—my first significant exposure to bush planes in the backcountry. Holy shit it did not disappoint!
Still missing being up on Montana, where I finished my Treasured Places quest, comprised of the 478 specially-protected public lands in the country. Check out treasuredplaces.us for more on how you adopt the quest too.
It’s been awhile since i’ve planned a trip to Arizona’s “West Coast.” It’s probably time to change that… [launches calendar app to look for appropriate weekends]
Earlier this week I visited the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. This photo is taken from “Decision Point,” where Lewis and Clark made a critically important decision on which riverway to follow during their expedition westward.
The Breaks was the final place I needed to complete an incredible public lands journey—one that involved visiting all 419 National Park units, plus all 124 National Monuments, plus all 17 National Conservation Areas in the United States. After accounting for overlap, that’s a total 478 protected public lands areas (managed by many agencies) that represent what I call our “Treasured Places.” While I’m the first known person to complete this mega quest, my goal is get as many people as possible to adopt this quest of visiting our Treasured Places. Whether or not you might or might not finish the quest isn’t the point—it’s simply about visiting more of our special public lands, especially the places that don’t include the iconic words “National Park” in their official name. America is fortunate to have sooooo many amazing places, and I hope you make the effort to visit as many of them as you possibly can.
To this end, I’ve set up a (still somewhat draft) website at TreasuredPlaces.us to inspire and help people in this endeavor. Soon I’ll add a tool for keeping track of your visits, and we’ll have stickers and other merch that can help you spread the word.
So please, adopt the TREASURED PLACES quest. I promise you that you’ll have an amazing time visiting these incredible places!
#GoQuesting #TreasuredPlaces #OptOutside #FindYourPark #MonumentsForAll #PublicLands
I’m currently plotting out some kayaking trips for the rest of the year, and I’m realizing how few Arizona lakes I’ve actually paddled. Guess I should change that. #optoutside #kayakarizona
It was great to finally get back up to Blue Ridge to paddle last weekend. #kayakarizona #optoutside
If you want to catch a fish, you’ve got to get in the water.
