OK so I grew up in Southeast Idaho (an outdoor enthusiast paradise) and my parents LOVED!!! to go backpacking and canoeing and fishing and... well you get the picture we were outside a lot! It was an awesome childhood! Fast forward a few years and now I have a few kids of my own and the same passion for the outdoors that my parents had. This blog is dedicated to the adventures and travels of my family.
Palisades Creek Trail, Swan Valley, ID (April 18, 2016)
Selfie at the bridge near the trail head.
Palisades Creek Trail is one of my all time favorite hikes. It truly is a hidden gem. A beautiful year round creek runs down this gorgeous canyon framed by towering cliffs and snow covered peaks. Wildlife sightings are almost a guarantee. Deer, moose, elk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, bear, everything is in this canyon! I have always loved destination hiking. I'm a little mission oriented that way. So, trails with some cool or interesting location that you are hiking towards appeal to me. This trail has a small lake and awesome campsite near the 4 mile mark then another much large lake and camping area at the 7 mile mark. Both lakes have repeatedly been awesome fishing for me and one can almost count on a fresh trout dinner if they chose to.
One of the joys of the outdoors is sharing it with your family. My youngest, Alice, loves to be outside. Her vocabulary is still growing so she just calls it, "side" but often enough you can hear her little feet patting around the house and a tiny voice saying, "side..side..side?" She loves to collect dandelions, sticks, and rocks than throw them in the creek or the house...
Like a BOSS! Alice is cruising up the trail with grandma.
My mom is one of the best hikers I know. She on numerous occasions has on a whim drug the rest of us out on 10+ mile hikes and then power shopped at Walmart immediately afterwards as though her feet were impervious to pain and blisters. It really is quite amazing. Growing up we backpacked a lot and we would frequently cross paths with guided adventure groups out on multi day backpacking trips. It was always (and still is) comical for me to watch the expressions on young athletic 20 somethings faces when my mom cruises past them on the trail, normally with several small kids, and acts like its totally no big deal to walk a 4 mile/hour pace with a 35 lbs pack over rugged terrain for hours. I guess sometimes college kids need a pride check!
A little rest and a baba after an intense one mile sprint!
Now I'm the parent and I'm dragging little ones out into the woods to do the same things my parents taught me as a kid. It pretty cool really! And my mom still kicks butt on the trail! She cruised with me and Alice on this little hike up Palisades Creek Trail. Love you Mom! Life is good!
Left to right- Brad, Chris, Tyler at the Mag 7 trail head.
“May your trails be crooked, winding, dangerous, and lead to the most amazing views. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds” –Edward Abbey. As the prodigal son returned to his home and family after wasting his time and money
on other things I too have returned to mountain biking! And what better way to return to the fold then to make a pilgrimage to Moab, UT with some old friends and adventure on the mind.
Trail map of the Mag 7 area.
Left to right- Tyler, Tyler, Brad, Michaelen, and Nicolette.
Panoramic shot on Bull Run.
Tyler and I at the the trail head.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time wandering and exploring in the wilderness of Utah but somehow up to this point in my life I haven’t ever made the drive to Moab. I’ve read many articles about the area and heard the stories of friends and
family after they returned from a memorable trip to Arches or Canyonlands. The draw of the unusual red rock and the access to thousands of trails and climbing spots seems as though it should have been irresistible but the powers to be had yet granted me access
to this temple of adventure.
Taking a break and goofing around.
Tyler checking out a bolted climbing spot we found.
Tyler photo bombing my selfie.
Sitting on top of Gemini Bridges.
Tyler on top of Gemini Bridges.
One of my favorite travel partner’s, my very own brother, Tyler managed to pull away from his busy life for a weekend so that we could meet a group of friends for mountain biking, exploring, and rock climbing. After a long day at work I
was happy to collapse in the passenger seat of Tyler’s Civic and munch on granola bars and Mountain Dew while he drove us South. Tyler and I were operating on about a $150 budget for the whole trip so we were pretty much in dirt-bag mode (the act of traveling
whilst spending little to no money on food or amenities such as a hotel room). I had a cooler full of old backpacking food which I had robbed from my dad’s camping stash. Tyler had stuffed a bunch of Dew’s and granola bars from his house into the car. So,
we pretty much thought we could tackle any trip.
A view of Gemini Bridges from the opposite direction.
A panoramic shot of the Moab area.
Action shot of Tyler riding down the trail.
An excellent mountain biker and close friend, also named Tyler, had rallied to bring a group of us together for this trip. He had suggested a camping location to me near Moab which he had thankfully also sent GPS coordinates to. Close to
the one o’clock hour…am we pulled into the Moab area drove down a red sandy road called Mill Canyon and found an empty camp site to set up our tent. We were so tired that I don’t think it mattered much but I remember thinking the soft red soil made an excellent
tent platform before I fell asleep.
Me at the entrance to Arches.
Tyler at the visitors center.
The following morning we arose, earlier than either of us wanted to but still excited for a day of mountain biking. I was borrowing Porter’s, my other brother, Cannondale mountain bike and I had mistakenly purchased 26 inch spare tubes
before the trip not knowing that Porter’s bike had 29 inch rims. So, we had to make a quick stop at a bike shop in town before we hit the trail. This is when it first hit me that I had truly been missing out. Moab is an awesome town! If you follow my blog
at all or if you know me then you probably know that I like outdoor gear… a lot. If one is good two is better and when it comes to my diverse interest in adventure sports there is always a new life changing gadget that can be added to your kit. Well, Moab
is like a mecca of outdoorsy shops and gear. Every street corner has a rental equipment shop or gear store all packed with cool new toys and interesting people getting ready for their next adventure. I was immediately enamored and simultaneously ruined that
I made it through 31 years 6 months and 9 days of my life without visiting such a cool place and at this point I hadn’t even hit the trail on a bike yet!
Tunnel Arch.
Like a kid in a candy shop I was a little overwhelmed and Tyler had to remind me that we didn’t have time to visit every shop that morning. We finally decided to try a particularly cool looking shop named the Moab Cyclery. I totally recommend
this spot to anybody in the area who needs to pick up some last minute items. The staff was super friendly and they had some awesome gear inside. We found a good tube of the correct size and were soon back on the road.
Landscape view near Pine Tree Arch.
Tyler at Pine Tree Arch.
After a quick phone conference with the rest of the group and some dollar menu McDonalds items we were headed out of town to a trail system called Mag 7. Mag 7 sits to the East of Utah Hwy 313 about 15 miles northwest of Moab. Traditionally,
Mag 7 is a combination of 7 smaller trails linked together to make one long system. The area has continued to develop and now a number of alternate options exist to change up the original route. Our intent was to ride down Bull Run to Great Escape then up
Lower Goldbar to Goldbar Rim Rd/Goldbar Rim St then out Spider Rd to Utah Hwy 279 where we would be picked up by our shuttle car.
Tyler in front of Skyline Arch.
Me pointing at Skyline Arch.
This route allowed us to mostly have a downhill ride. I would rate the trail at intermediate difficulty. There was a fair number of obstacles in the 6-12 inch range that had to be navigated over or around and the trail continually goes
up or down steep drops frequently 12-18 inches in height. I’m certainly not an expert mountain biker and there was only a few times I had to get off my bike to push around a tricky obstacle. All in all it was giggle worthy (meaning I was having such a good
time that I involuntarily would burst into giggles while ripping down the trail over small jumps and obstacles).
Tyler in a narrow slot canyon hiking to Sand Dune Arch.
Tyler posing under Sand Dune Arch.
Bull Run, is an approximately 5.1 mile stretch of trail that has it all, slick-rock, corners, downhill, obstacles, scenery it was a great stretch of trail. Near the end of Bull Run we stopped at a short side trail that lead the group to
Gemini Bridges a huge natural arch that has split into two different bridges crossing a deep canyon. This was a gorgeous site and well worth the short hike in bike shoes. We had a quick lunch here and took a ton of pictures.
Landscape shot near Sand Dune Arch.
Great Escape is another 3.3 mile stretch of similar trail with some packed sand areas that you can really open it up on. Near the end of Great Escape one member of our group, Nicolette, had a pedal break on her bike which made it difficult
to continue on the single track trail. At that point we split the group into two parties and half of us continued on up Lower Goldbar while the rest took a sandy walk down Gemini Bridges Rd. Lower Goldbar is a 2.1 mile stretch with lots of slick-rock and a
decent uphill portion.
Landscape shot of the Fiery Furnace area.
After 10.5 miles of aggressive trail riding and numerous crashes (due to our own rusty skills and pushing it a little harder then we probably should have) we decided as group that we would have to finish Mag 7 another time and we turned
around to catch the rest of our group on the Gemini Bridges Rd. FYI for those who decide to do this same path Gemini Bridges Rd is a sandy mess in the bottom of the canyon where it meets Great Escape and then it climbs about 800-1000 feet in less than a mile
before the road drops down to Hwy 191. It is a road suitable for 4x4’s but in retrospect I would have just finished out the single track trail on Spider Rd.
Tyler at the Fiery Furnace.
Tyler on the Balanced Rock trail.
Jumping into a 15+ mile bike ride on aggressive single track trail basically cold turkey is probably not the best way to get back into a sport and we paid the price with a fair amount of bumps bruises and soreness but I don’t regret it
for a second! It was an absolute blast and I can’t wait to hit the trail again. In attempt to recover we opted to pay for dinner at The Atomic a local bar/grill with burgers and other American eats. It felt a little nice for post mountain biking while I sat
there in my sweat stained shirt with bruises and scrapes all over but the food was excellent and the service was acceptable (I don’t want to be to judgey it may have just been an off night and I may have been a little impatient after killing it on the trail).
Me at the base of Balanced Rock.
Awesome shot of Balanced Rock.
After dinner we followed the rest of our group back to the hotel they were staying at and enjoyed an amazing soak in the hot tub (highly recommend). Now, as you can imagine after a hard ride, food, and a soak in the tub the idea of driving
30 minutes out of town and setting up a tent was a little hard to wrap my mind around so when Tyler and Brad, the friends we were riding with, suggested we just stay on the pull out bed in there hotel rooms we didn’t argue!
Tyler standing near a pool at the base of Middle Earth Waterfall.
The Base of MiddleEarth Waterfall.
After a great sleep Tyler and I got up and set out to explore Moab. I know I already said this but it’s a cool town! I can’t wait to come back. After checking out several stores we decided to cruise just outside the city limits to Arches
National Park. The National Park system just happen to be celebrating its 100 year anniversary that week and admission to the park was free! Super bonus! We didn’t have a lot of time and we still wanted to get some rock climbing in before we went home so we
did a rapid tour of the park by driving straight to the East side and stopping at all the major sites and arches to take pictures on the way back out. Arches is a beautiful place and after getting a little taste of what’s there I’m definitely going to be returning
to more thoroughly explore the park.
Hoping to get at least one sport route checked off the list just so that we could kick off our 2016 season we raced out of Arches and up Potash Road to a popular climbing area called Wall Street. It was amazing to see how many people were
out climbing and enjoying the area when we first got there. Wall Street has to have close to a hundred different routes and most had somebody set up on them. A quick search on one of my new favorite apps, Mountain Project, gave us just enough BETA to pick
an available route in our ability range. We set up on a little 5.7 single pitch sport climb call Slab Route. Truth be told this was to be my very first lead climb on a sport route! The slick rock was grippe and the route had chalk marks at the normally used
holds so it was easy to follow the route up. I would’ve loved to stay all day and climb or try every route there but alas adulthood and responsibility called me home! It was a brief and low key intro to climbing in the Moab area but it was just enough to give
me the climbing bug and start off my 2016 season with some motivation to do more!
Tyler climbing at Slab Route.
Tyler on belay!
Me on Slab Route.
I had a phenomenal time in Moab and I’m already planning my next trip! Big thanks to Tyler Jacobson for organizing the trip and to his family for helping with bike shuttles and offering a bed at the hotel! Also, to Brad Jacobson you’re
always a pleasure to go riding with and your family was crucial for the shuttles. Nicolette and Michaelen Jacobson also rode with the group and it was awesome to see you guys out there killing it on the trail! And of course my brother, T-man, Tyler Rix, you’re
an awesome adventure buddy and I can’t wait till next time!
DISNEYLAND AND CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, ANAHEIM, CA (MAR 24-25, 2016)
Left to right: Scarlett, Hunter, Erin, Me, Alice, Rhiannon, Kristen, and Marcus. The Disney crew ready for the park!
Disneyland....California Adventure...x2 days!
Well, it's that time of year again for the annual trip to the happiest place in the world! My in laws, Mike and Julie, are way to good to us, serious they are awesome! I joke about the marathon of two consecutive days at the theme parks but in reality it is a great time! Watching the kids race around in excitement trying new rides (Scarlett is finally tall enough for Indian Jones) or old favorites is extremely rewarding as a parent! I can't thank Mike and Julie enough for taking our family every year! The kids love their trips to D-Land with "Mimi & Papa"
I've been trying out a new video editing app. This clip was done on VivaVideo. I like how it turned out. Now, I just need to work on my video shooting skills....I see a GoPro purchase in my future!
Day 1 at the park entrance.
My angle wasn't great on this photo, I was trying to cut the building crowds out of the frame but if you look in the background you'll notice the 60th Anniversary decorations near the entrance to the park. I thought it was kinda cool to visit the park on its diamond anniversary!
Scarlett at the Pearl Jewelry factory.
So, when Erin and I were dating we visited Disneyland several times. On one of our visits we found this little jewelry shack that lets you pick out a clam from a bucket then pry it open and recover the pearl inside. You can then have the pearl mounted in a piece of jewelry. Erin thought this was a really fun and special memory so this year we decided to let Scarlett pick out a clam and make her own piece of jewelry.
Scarlett with her new necklace!
Scarlett expertly dug through the bucket and found just the right clam. Soon the clam was pried open and we were on to picking out the right piece of jewelry to mount it in. Scarlett finally decided on this miniature Cinderella carriage and as you can see in the picture she is pretty happy with her choice!
Scarlett, Marcus, and I on the tractor ride in Cars land.
I love how kids smile in pictures! We started referring to Scarlett and Marcus as, "The Littles" They really enjoy cars land and the Littles have a particular appreciation for the tractor ride!
Erin, Alice, and I on the Toy Story ride.
OK, so, this is one of my favorite rides! Competition and shooting.... My wife is laughing right now as she reads this! Literally the most important part of this ride is having a higher score then Hunter, which is hard because he is like a video game ninja but over 9 years of his life I have managed to remain undefeated! Gotta enjoy it while I can!
Hunter showing off his 2016 pin selection.
For the past 7 years or so Erin and I have been collecting Disneyland pins. It's just a fun thing we started doing and the kids seem to really enjoy it as a way to commemorate their trip to Disneyland each year.
Splash Mountain!
Well, I guess Hunter was trying to impersonate Goofy or something in this picture! To funny not to post! Splash Mountain is always one of our favorites and on the must ride list!
Alice in the Tiki Room.
This little girl cracks me up. For some reason she figured out how to stick her tongue out on this trip and now sticks it out at anything that gets her attention, like ALL of the talking creatures in the Tiki Room!
Scarlett and Hunter at the Mad Hatter.
Hunter sported his Donald hat from 2015 for most of the trip and Scarlett got a new Mini Princess hat to replace the tragic lose of her hat from last year....it worked out though because that tall red hat made her easy to spot in a crowd!
Scarlett, Rhiannon, and Hunter posing in the teacups!
These three buddies chased each other all over the two parks and went on every ride together! Cousin's are great fun! And all three of them are Disney addict's just like their moms! Good job moms! You made some good fun kids!
Me and the Dweeber (Alice).
Lots of pictures on this blog post! I cut back on the writing a little bit and just offered some insight to the photos. Not all adventures include a backpack and technical gear.....Lol, we had a great time as a family! Thank you soooo so much to Mike and Julie!
I once read a quote by an unkown author that said, "When you love what you have, you have everything you need. " I find this to be such a true and powerful statement. I truly love and enjoy spending time with my family! Even if we aren't fishing or backpacking or on some other outdoor adventure.
After arriving in Southern California to visit family and enjoy a little vacation my mother in law, Julie, invited us to spend the afternoon at Irvine Park, one of our favorite Socal parks!
During the holidays the park sets up themed activities and carnival games. On this particular vist Scarlett had her face painted like a fox, Hunter worked on cub scouts requirements by visiting the zoo, Alice got play in bounce house, and we all participated in a big Easter egg hunt!
The kids loved exploring the park and enjoying the warm Socal weather! Alice was so excited to see all the different birds in the park and she even got to go for a walk with a friendly peacock!
Hunter was interested in the Ocelot, a large endangered cat that lives in the wilds of North American. Hunter filled out an information scavenger hunt as we toured the zoo to help learn more about all the cool animals.
It was an awesome afternoon with the family! Thanks to Julie, Erin, and the kids!
