Outdoors

Just about a year ago, K was becoming much more sedentary as the end neared. She and I would take short walks in the morning, and then she'd watch my back while I worked on the garden. I was nurturing Columbine seedlings that had just sprouted. One of those Columbines is about to bloom. As I watch it becoming a delicate flower, it reminds me of the renewal of life, even after a heart-breaking

You can pack a lot into five miles — we’ve found slot canyons, redwoods, caving, 100-year-old via ferrate, sand dunes, summits, just to name a few. Sometimes you don’t need to hammer out 10 miles, or a full day, or really even get too far from your car to see the good stuff (or completely destroy your legs). Coast to coast, here are our picks for the best hikes under five miles (in no particular order): 1. Ding and Dang Canyon Loop, San Rafael Swell, Utah A step above “entry level” as far as canyoneering in the San Rafael Swell is concerned, Ding and Dang canyons form a loop cutting through the sandstone reef, its undulating walls closing down to as narrow as a foot wide in spots, but as high as a couple hundred feet. Depending on the level of the sediment on the floor at different spots in the canyon, a rope can be handy for climbing or descending some of the tricky scrambling spots. 2. The Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah Driving east along the Virgin River through Zion National Park, the canyon walls become steeper, higher and more dramatic until you reach the last parking lot, at the Temple of Sinawava trailhead at the back of the canyon. If you have water shoes and sturdy trekking poles or a hiking staff, the adventure starts where the trail ends — walking the riverbed back into the canyon between the skyscraper-tall walls (photo, above). Of course, the canyon is quite a bit longer than 2.5 miles, but you can get a couple miles in and turn around for a dose of hiking like nothing else in the United States. 3. Tall Trees Trail, Redwoods National Park, California Entrance to the 3.7-mile Tall Trees Trail is controlled by the Park Service and requires registration to get one of the only 50 first-come, first-served hiking permits issued each day. But then you’ll get a chance to walk around, and even into, some of the enormous redwood trees in the park, some as tall as 360 feet and 12 feet diameter. 4. Precipice Trail, Acadia National Park, Maine In 1912, Rudolph Brunnow looked at the the sheer granite cliffs on Champlain Mountain in what is now Acadia National Park and went to work, drilling holes and installing iron rungs for passage up and across the peak’s east face. One of the most famous hikes in the park today, the Precipice Trail climbs 1,000 feet over 1.6 miles and ends at the summit, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 5. Wild Cave Tour, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky OK, it’s not so much a hike as it is guided spelunking in Mammoth Cave — walking, crawling, squeezing through tight spots underground. You’ll be given coveralls to wear (to help minimize the spread of White Nose Syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in the eastern U.S.), as well as a hardhat, gloves, and headlamp for the four-hour tour through variable subterranean terrain. 6. Star Dune, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado “Sand” isn’t the first answer most people say to word-association tests about Colorado, but the Great Sand Dunes are the tallest sand dunes in North America, sitting at the foot of 14,000-foot peaks at the south end of the Sangre de Cristo Range. Star Dune isn’t actually the tallest dune in the park, but it looks like it, and the sand-slog to its 650-foot “summit” takes most folks one to two hours. 7. Piestewa Peak, Phoenix, Arizona Not many cities have mountains shooting 1,500-plus feet above their streets, but Phoenix has plenty, including the uber-popular Camelback and nearby Piestewa (formerly Squaw) Peak. Both are great urban hikes, but Piestewa has a fun bit of scrambling near the top and an equally commanding view of the valley below. It’s a crusher, though, gaining 1,200-plus vertical feet in 1.2 miles. 8. Vernal Fall, Yosemite National Park, California This hike up the Mist Trail gains 1,000 feet up to one of Yosemite’s biggest and most famous waterfalls — the Merced River spills over the booming, 317-foot-tall Vernal Fall at the 1.5-mile mark. Be careful on the rock steps, which are often covered in the n

After a long awaited, month-long source to sea paddling trip was forced into submission by Mother Nature, the crew decided we would treat our heartbreak with a healthy dose of sand and salt. After making a few minor alterations to our gear list, we loaded down the rumbling rust bucket and set the compass to 180 degrees. Upon hitting the coast we took a sharp turn East to avoid the hordes of minivans and drove until the road stopped and the sea began. As we broke through the surf and paddled along the pristine beach backed by an ancient maritime forest, the feeling of leaving the World and entering Nowhere settled upon us. Minutes merged into hours, hours into days, days into oblivion. All time was lost and no cares were given. Our days scheduled around the sea instead of the clock, our meals were prepared over a driftwood fire instead of passed through a driver’s-side window by a frowning teenager, the rhythm of a harder but easier life settled into our souls and it felt as if we could go on forever.

Springtime in Utah drives a lot of folks south to thaw out after a long winter: Moab and Zion/St. George being the most popular destinations to stretch the legs on a bike or hike.  While there’s plenty of exploring and lounging to be had in both destinations, the crowds can be thick.  My favorite spot to check out down south is around Boulder, Utah, a town of around 150 off Highway 12 between Torrey and Bryce Canyon.  Capitol Reef, The Grand Staircase NM, Escalante, 11,000 foot peaks, red rock plateaus, rivers, and slot canyons surround the area.  Peace and quiet are your neighbors. Boulder is a small ranching community with one stop sign, a nice lodge and a nationally recognized restaurant, Hells Backbone Grill.  I recently took my 2 boys down over Memorial Day weekend for a few days of exploring and working on the HBG farm – a 5-acre organic track that grows all the veggies and eggs for the restaurant. The restaurant is all about “Farm to Fork” and “Clean Food”. Everything is locally sourced from local ranchers and farmers and is a must visit when passing through.  We spent our days building fences, irrigation channels and collecting eggs.  Nights were spent counting satellites, patiently scanning the sky for shooting stars and listening to the moans and croaks of toads in the adjacent pond. One afternoon on a hike in Zebra canyon, we noticed a nest perched on a ledge deep in the narrows of the slot.  Fortunately this hike is well off the beaten path and we saw it in advance before climbing. We stayed just long enough to snap a few pictures of a less than 24-hour-old chick, then moved along to let mom do her thing. Life in the Utah desert is always a treat.  Springtime may just be my favorite.

We hung out at our sunset lookout point yesterday, with Shyla looking mellow. Then, she caught a scent. First, her mouth closed and her eyes squinted. Next, her nose went straight into the air, fully committed to sniffing. We were on a plateau where she could have been smelling all sorts of wildlife. She sure loved it! Bear mating season is underway so Shyla certainly could've smelled a

I finally got the call from the Dorais (It’s pronounced DOE-RAY, and the D is not silent) brothers last week and it was game time! Pack up the bags and drive 13hrs to Rainier. I’ve been shooting them and their “ski-running”, or randonee, or even worse SKI-MO (can we please come up with a better name) approach to big mountains for the upcoming film. We had been out around the Wasatch, but this was the big idea, to shoot them setting a record on another iconic American peak (they currently hold the speed ski record on the Grand Teton). I was excited to try and capture this event AND get to ski Rainier for the first time. Mixing business with pleasure? Don’t mind if I do. Simply put these guys strap on the lightest equipment available, strip down to next to nothing and run up, then ski down mountains as fast as possible. Our objective route, the Disappointment Cleaver. Their goal was to beat the 4hr mark. The current speed record was 4hrs 19mins. The volunteer ranger volunteered the information that it wouldn’t be possible because of conditions, not this year at least. We arrived shortly after a storm that had kept summit seekers at bay for a week or more. Lots of things had to come together for this to work out. The weather would need to cooperate,  snow would need to remain firm, folks would need break the trail to the summit. Until that happened we hung out low on the mountain getting sun tanned and acclimated while making plans and turns. Andy swears that matching won’t make you faster just makes you look good. And apparently Jason agrees. It was funny watching the bro’s trying not to go stir crazy. They dialed in the lower mountain and put in their own booter to avoid the sloppy mess of a trail left by herds of climbers. Our window of opportunity was only 3 days and it wasn’t until the final day that the route opened up. Many thanks to the guides and rangers and climbing parties that blazed the way. Filming this speed business is tricky. I obviously can’t hang with them especially with camera gear. My plan was to head up the night before, sleep for a few hours at Camp Muir then continue to the top the next morning. We would all meet up around 9am on the summit where I would film them victoriously sucking in thin air. I packed up as light as possible excited to get a sunset and sunrise on this mammoth mountain. I arrived at Muir around 11:00, cooked up some beef stroganoff and got a few hours of “sleep”. The hut can be a really loud and busy place with folks coming and going at all hours. It’s a great shelter from the elements though. I woke and brewed up some coffee while the sun percolated. These are the moments where work and play get blurry. Things were lining up really well. My hope was to summit, but soloing glaciated terrain is risky business. I told Andy and Jason that I would advance as far as I felt comfortable. If things got too sketchy I would just wait and film them from whatever point I was able to reach. The route was well traveled and there were many parties out climbing. Ascending was perfect and I found myself thinking about the fellas and randomly yelling out “C’mon guys”! I also told all the climbers I passed about the fitness they were about to witness, and that they should heckle the speedy chinamen when they blew by. I topped out and the clouds moved in. Winds were a blustery 40-50 mph so I snacked and hunkered down. They wanted to be to the top by 9:00. 9:05 came and went, 9:08 and still no sign. Shit, shit, shit! I kept thinking something happened. Then I saw Jason speeding along in the clouds and I flipped out, yelling and howling at the top of my lungs and almost forgetting to film. They saw me and shot over for a quick transition and in a minute or two were skiing off into the clouds. They were pretty cooked and Andy couldn’t mutter a word, but it was all downhill from here. They had covere

Saturday, May 25th celebrated the 105th anniversary and 47th running of the Mount Wilson Trail Race. It was another successful year with great weather, stellar finishing times, and a lively crowd. Friday night race festivities included the Pasta Dinner and runner check-in. The Pasta Dinner was catered by Zugo’s Café with additional items provided by Stonefire Grill. On display was the 2012 race video, photos from prior races, and point of view footage on the mountain. Attendees were also able to purchase Mount Wilson Trail Race merchandise. Saturday activities included the Race, Kids’ Fun Run, Beer Garden, and vendor booths. The Race started off with a bang from official race starter, Lono Tyson. The first place overall male was Eli Rodriguez with a time of 1 hour and 31 second; the first place overall female was Mireya Vargas with a time of 1 hour 14 minutes and 33 seconds. This year 184 youth participated in the Kids’ Fun Run which was sponsored by Sierra Madre Community Foundation and CATZ sports. Proceeds from the Pasta Dinner and Beer Garden were donated to Sierra Madre Search and Rescue, which provides race day safety support on the trail the day of the race. The City of Sierra Madre and Mount Wilson Trail Race Committee would like to thank the following sponsors and donors for making the 2013 Mount Wilson Trail Race such a success: Run With Us, Asics, Team CrossFit Academy, Santa Anita Park, Matt & Aaron Duda, Sierra Madre Community Foundation, HealthCare Partners, Methodist Hospital (Dr. Ken Wogensen M.D.), Zugo’s Café, CATZ Sports, Sierra Madre Civic Club, First Wilshire Securities, Joe Pacilio – Century 21 Earll, Ltd., Lantern Cycleworks, Samsung, Tommy Marshall, Arcadia Radiology, Matt Denny’s Ale House, Judy Webb-Martin, Mountain Khakis, Bob Okeefe, Dr. William E. White M.D., Mission Brewery,  Uinta Brewery, Dennis Hartman, Faulkner Design, Lucky Baldwin’s, Trail Runner Trophy Series, GoGo Squeez, Sierra Madre Woman’s Club, Trader Joe’s, GU, SGV Municipal Water District, S & S Construction Services, Kaiser Permanente, Simon Cooper, Jill Liston, Leonora Moss, Patagonia-Old Town Pasadena, Dr. Budincich,  Only Place in Town, Stonefire Grill, Mama Pete’s Nursery School, Best Buy Drugs, In ‘N Out, Mount Baldy Run to the Top,  Moving Comfort, Vibram, and The Peach Cafe. Additionally, the MWTR Committee would like to thank the following volunteers for their support of the 2013 Mount Wilson Trail Race: Sierra Madre Search and Rescue, Sierra Madre Civic Club, Ham Radio Operators, Sierra Madre Boy Scout Troop 110, Sierra Madre Cub Scout Troop 110, The Spero Foundation, and VFW Post 3208. The 2014 Mount Wilson Trail Race will be Saturday, May 24, 2014. Be sure to check out www.mountwilsontrailrace.com for the 2014 MWTR registration information. Registration will take place in early March 2014. In 2013 the trail race sold out in 2.5 hours, so sign up as early as possible!

The sun came out just in time for the second race of the Asheville River Bound trail running series. With 210 runners, sunny weather, cold beverages from Highland Brewing and winding forest trails, NC Outward Bound School was able to raise money toward scholarships for local youth, educators and military veterans attending its wilderness programs. The next race takes place in Charlotte on July 20 at US National Whitewater Center. To register or find out more visit the River Bound  website at: www.riverboundrace.com.

The most important photography tip I was ever given was just four words. Sabine Meyer had just come on board as the photography editor of National Geographic Adventure, and I wanted to take better photos so I asked her advice. I wasn’t sure exactly what “better” meant, but I knew that my shots weren’t where I wanted them to be. “Compose more, shoot less,” she said. But…but…what was the point of having a motor drive that shot 11 frames per second if you couldn’t machine gun as a mountain biker or skier whipped past? Shooting more meant I was guaranteed to get something, right? Well, yes. But not necessarily something that was good enough for National Geographic. From that point forward, I changed almost everything about my photography. I shelved my 35mm gear and invested in a medium format system from Mamiya, which would shoot, at best, three frames a second and whose film rolls only held about a dozen shots. It forced me to slow down. And whenever I came to a scene, I would sit with it for a minute or two and think about what I wanted from it — what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I thought about the elements that might be put into a photo, or left out, rather than just tried to find the “prettiest picture” in a given place. I deconstructed why some photos worked and others didn’t. One day, after years of this, I was in the middle of a shoot when it hit me that I knew exactly what I was doing. Not that I’d learned all I needed to know or that I’d stopped pushing myself or even that I thought I’d become a great photographer, but that I had developed my own voice. That when I came to a scene, I knew precisely what I wanted to do with it. After so many years, decades really, of just blasting away, I’d crossed from taking pictures to making pictures. Over the next few months, Adobe Photoshop Elements, the consumer-oriented photo software, is underwriting a series of photography lessons, tips, and guidance here on AJ. (At the end of the series, we’ll be giving away copy of the program.) And while I have a bazillion opinions about how to shoot better, I want to start by asking you what you want to know. The scope is wide open. Do your smartphone action shots stink? Are you tired of filters but don’t know how to make your photos look cool? Do you want to know more about working with light? Give me your questions about gear, technique, editing, workflow, post-production, working with models, anything at all, and over the next few months I’ll tackle them here. Adventure Journal’s Make Better Photos series is brought to you by Adobe Photoshop Elements. Learn more at adobe.com.

By my estimate, there is nobody who doesn’t like summer, except maybe polar bears and vampires, but this poll isn’t for them. No, it’s for all us other organisms, who thrive in long days and warm temps and warm water. But summer really doesn’t need an introduction, and neither does this poll. Let’s put our efforts into lots of things to choose from. In the spirit of summer freedom, you can pick as many as you like. Let’s see what comes out on top. Take Our Poll WIN SMITH SUNGLASSES JUST BY VOTING! This week, one poll participant will receive Smith Optic’s Lowdown shades. We’ll pick the winner via random number generator (and announce it here) — all you have to do to enter is vote and leave a comment so we have your email to contact you. Must have a U.S. or Canadian address. Contest ends Sunday, June 23, at midnight PST. Map by Shutterstock