We ended up spending three wonderful weeks in the Bay Area in June visiting friends and family and then pushed back to Jackson to make it home in time for our friends, Keith and Genevieve, to get married. Not even a week later we were back in the van and heading towards Boise to spend 4th of July watching fireworks, wakeboarding at Lucky Peak, bowling, and go cart racing with BJ’s dad’s side of the family. Back in Teton Valley, we spent a “free” weekend camping and hiking up Table Mountain with Tim and Mary Lynn (see their photos and blog here) before our big weekend at the 3 day Targhee Music Festival (once again … see Tim & ML’s photos here). I hope you two don’t mind us poaching your blogs

My mom and stepdad arrived the following week and we spent some time in Yellowstone, listened to a lot of live music (including Big Head Todd at the Spud Drive-In), had an amazing and totally local dinner at our friend Martha’s, and enjoyed a few days camping out along Crystal Creek with the entire Vertical Media crew.

The day they left, BJ and I trucked up Darby Canyon to a waterfall just below the Wind Caves. And yesterday I joined a small group of ladies to hike the Paintbrush Cascade Canyon Loop.

Weather and wildflowers are amazing right now and it’s hard to believe it’s already August. Amazingly, this month is plan-less. We are looking forward to exploring our own backyard on foot and bike. Will update again soon.

Top of Table Mountain, Looking at the Grand Teton

Camp at the Targhee Fest

Mom and Stepdad at Music on Main

Along the Madison River in West Yellowstone

At the Waterfall up Darby Canyon

Holly Lake in Paintbrush Canyon

Following the concert we began our drive south, stopping for a night in Hood River to celebrate Sam’s 31st birthday, a few nights in Bend with Shannon and Jimmy, a soak in the Umpqua Hot Springs (super cool Yellowstone-esque springs in the middle of Oregon), and then made our way, all too quickly, down the California coast. Plans with family in the Bay Area and a need for a solid internet connection seemed to dictate where and how long we could stay along the coast, so we now have a list of places we need to return to, like the Lost Coast, Mendocino, and, well, pretty much everywhere else in between Bodega Bay and the Redwoods. Some day we’ll return. For now we are San Fransico-bound and looking forward to seeing family and friends.

But when we arrived, it was as if the plague had swept across the mesa. All parties were down and out with a stomach bug. But we couldn’t resist joining camp. With views overlooking Zion, nice shady trees, and an entire camp to ourselves, life on the mesa is just too good. So we drew a line in the sand, whipped out the hand sanitizer and baby wipes, and spoke to our fellow campers from a distance. Luckily our tummies felt fine all week and eventually the rest of the crew came around.

We have never visited the mesa without mountain biking and I am somewhat ashamed to admit that our only outings on the bike were the quick pedals to the pit toilet every morning. Our excuse? My rear shock for my bike was spending a fortnight at the Fox repair shop and we would be one bike down for most of our time on the mesa. Even without biking the awesome slickrock trails on the mesa, it was still hard to pack up and leave camp this week.

One of the highlights of our time down in Zion was an overnight hike we discovered last weekend. If we had had two functioning bikes, I’m not sure we would have opted for an adventure on foot. So I have my busted shock to thank for a weekend of hiking.

On Saturday morning we drove down from the mesa, parked our car at the Checkerboard Mesa turnout inside the national park, and stuck a thumb out to hitch a ride to the nearby town of Mt. Carmel Junction where we would begin hiking. The Barracks Trail is a 20 mile one way trek along the East Fork of the Virgin River. The West Fork actually runs through the main Zion National Park canyon. It seems that the only ones who explore the East Fork are cattle and ATVers … that is, until you reach the “narrows.” We didn’t realize that the “trail” was actually a river. There was no trail marked on the map, no signs along the river, and no defined track on the terrain.

We followed a dirt road in from Mt. Carmel for a few miles, crossing the river numerous times. In an attempt to keep our shoes dry, we continuously removed our shoes and either forded the stream barefoot or in flip flops. After so many crossings, we finally just started walking barefoot or in flip flops for long sections of the sandy road. I mentioned the cattle … let’s just say they have a way of murking up the water and banks so that the mud squished just perfectly between our toes. “Gross,” we would say at almost every crossing. The first part of the trail was obviously not our favorite. But when the ATV trail finally veered off course and the walls began to narrow in around the river, we started to get a glimpse of what we were in for. From this point forward, we didn’t see another soul until we reached the road on the other side, 15 miles away.

After 4 hours, we hadn’t made it very far by the time we decided to make camp up on a sandy shoulder in the red rock. We attributed the very few miles to our dawdling in flip flops and bare feet and after putting a few numbers together, we came to the realization that we would be tackling roughly 12 miles down a river bed the following day. After a little debate and “what ifs” we agreed that as long as the weather looked good in the morning, we would push on. I can’t say I’ve ever been on a hike that even comes close to comparing. Because the trail was the river and the river was the trail, it was pretty easy to follow. But at some point we would be hiking out of the river on an unmarked trail. This made it important for us to know exactly where we were along the river. We referenced our trail guide and maps often.

As we set out on day 2, we wore our shoes with intensions of getting very wet. While our shoes were soaked, the water level never rose above our thighs. We would splash down the narrow river, ranging from 3 to 10 feet wide, for a ways and then bushwhack along a sort-of trail on the bank. The bank would run into a cliff wall and we would have to re-enter the river. We might cross to the bank on the other side until that bank ran into a wall or just walk down the river for a ways. We reached a few sections of narrows, where huge cliff walls met the river on either side. The cow crap that we walked through the previous day quickly became well worth it.

While there was no need for ropes on this hike, there was one crux move where we would either go for a swim or a short climb. Although we had to remove our packs to fit through some of the rocks in the “climb around,” it was much easier than we expected. Just down river from this pool, we entered the most impressive narrows of the hike. In this section, the cliff walls were close together, rising up from the river, and actually blocking out all sunlight and sky.  We soon left the river, following a much more defined trail than we had anticipated up a steep climb and then across a series of rolling rock hills to the Checkerboard Mesa from the east side.

Having explored most of the trails in the park, hiking the seldom visited Barracks Trail made for an epic day in the wilderness. It was a total treat.

We returned to the mesa to reunite with everyone for another couple of work days on the mesa and then finally packed up for good, said goodbye, and pointed the van towards Boise. A shower, laundry, and a detailed van cleaning were deeply in order and BJ’s dad and stepmom let us bring our dirty selves in and clean up. After a 24 hour visit with BJ’s dad and brothers, we once again said goodbye and pointed the van to the northwest. Unlike last weekend spent with no one but ourselves, this weekend we head to a three day music festival at the Gorge Amphitheater in central Washington. We are looking forward to some great music and that festival feeling.

Filmed with GoPro® HD Helmet HERO™ Camera

Not long thereafter, we packed up Ron and made plans to head out on the road once again. This time, we would be driving southeast to Denver, Colorado to visit a few friends, across the state to Fruita for a bike race, over the border to Utah to continue biking, and then up to the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington for a three day music festival. From there, we may head south through California and will eventually be home in late June for a wedding and to spend the rest of the summer under the shadow of the Tetons.

At the moment, I am camped at the base of the Book Cliffs in Fruita, Colorado with friends Tim and Mary Lynn, while BJ is riding waves just off of the coast of San Jose del Cabo, Mexico for a week long bachelor party / boys only surf trip. Two weeks ago we drove through a very cold Wyoming to spring in Colorado where we caught up with old friends and met two new families. My college friends Katie and Dave had Iris not 3 weeks ago and Tara and Will had Reed about a year and a half ago. Iris was the littlest baby I had ever held and Reed was all smiles.

It was then off to Fruita. Three months ago, eight ladies from Jackson got together over margaritas to come up with a couple team names that we would enter into a race called “18 Hours of Fruita.” A seven mile loop marks the course and the idea is to complete as many laps as possible within the 18 hours. What a wave of emotions: from utter exhaustion and lack of motivation to total excitement and raging energy. Mary Lynn and Tim’s blog provides a great description and photos of the experience: Click Here to Read It. And we made the local paper: Check it out Here.

After the race and a good night’s sleep, we stopped for a ride along the Kokopelli Trail above the Colorado River and returned to our campsite at the Book Cliffs. Many fun rides surround us and it’s hard to beat the free camping, but I’m sure we’ll be moving along to another radical destination in the southwest soon.

Our “down” days were spent on a moss covered nearby hiking trail, playing dodge ball in the local gym, eating way too much food, catching up with Kevin and Jess, and spending time with the PNH crew and clients over a couple beers.

We had booked a 5pm flight out on our last day and had accepted the fact that we wouldn’t be able to ski without making our groups call it quits a few hours early. We planned to spend the beautiful blue bird day on a sea kayak or a walk into the small town of Cordova. That is until Kevin (the owner of Points North and long time friend) came up to us and said “go get ready … you’re skiing with me.” We were thrilled and quickly ran to our room to pack up our bags so we would be ready to head to the airport right after skiing. And sure enough, after an epic day skiing in the Chugach with Kevin, we were dropped off by the heli at the lodge, ran into our rooms and changed into a pair of jeans and sweatshirt, packed our skis, and hopped in the van to head to the airport so we wouldn’t miss our flight.

Nothing like finishing off a great week with a great day … flying around in a heli above glaciers and snow covered peaks and skiing run after run of 3,000 vertical feet.

Click on the image below for a slideshow of the past 2 months that we have spent back home in Wydaho.

Click on the image to see the slideshow:

We spent our first day together exploring Melbourne with a visit to a couple of the popular Sunday markets and a long walk across town to the beach side neighborhood of St. Kilda. It didn’t really matter where we ended up, we were just excited to see each other and catch up.

Day two we rented a car (Slim isn’t suited to take four people on a scenic drive) and headed to the Great Ocean Road. Although the entire day was spent in the car, save a few delicious burgers in Lorne, the sights were beautiful. The guide books warned that the scenic part of the drive doesn’t start until you reach the 12 Apostles, what is today 6 rock stacks just off the coast. The funny thing is that it was the opposite for us. The initial part of the drive from Lorne to Apollo Bay was stunning … turquoise blue water, lush green hills, and a curving skinny road. Despite the fact that it was Monday, it was the perfect Sunday afternoon drive. Once we reached the highlight of the drive at the 12 Apostles we also encountered every single tour bus and its occupants in the country, as well as the flies. Yes, it was really pretty, but the crowds took a bit of the splendor away and we only truly appreciated where we were when we looked through the photos at the end of the day.

A theme was quickly building during our visit as Randall was engulfed by the intricacies and wonders of the sport of cricket. This is a sport that BJ and I have continuously looked upon with a set of rolled eyes … boring! Oh, but how wrong we were. It just so happened that Australia was playing Pakistan in Melbourne for a test match. A test match is old school cricket, spanning over 5 days. Players start at 10am and play until 6pm daily, with breaks for lunch and, of course, afternoon tea. We hadn’t made any plans for our final day together and at the last minute decided to catch a half day of the match. I won’t go into all the details but after prying Randall with questions over and over again during the match, I think we all discovered a new found respect for the sport.

One of Shalyn and Randall’s favorite activities while on vacation is finding and eating at great restaurants. They had done their research and had picked out a handful of places to eat before flying into Melbourne. I could go on and on about every place we ate but nothing will compare to our final lunch together at Movida. We were denied the evening before because we had failed to make a reservation, but we were able to sneak in for lunch the following day, just after a morning of cricket and right before Shay and Randall had to head to the airport. Movida is a tapas restaurant so all but a few of the dishes were single servings. We must have ordered about 20 things all together and my mouth is starting to water just thinking about it. At the end of our many-course-meal with dishes like anchovy with tomato sorbet, croquettes, truffle custard in a perfect egg shell, shaved lamb in macadamia gazpacho, and our favorite, smoked mackerel with pine nut sorbet, I honestly felt like we should go hug the chef. If you love food, go drool over this menu for a while: www.movida.com.

We said goodbye to Shalyn and Randall as they were on their way to spend New Year’s Eve in Sydney, home of unarguably the best firework display in the world. We were almost convinced to drive the 10 hours as they flew the 1.5 hours to meet them to ring in the New Year in Sydney, but we ended up with no plans but to head downtown Melbourne on New Year’s Eve. Just as we hit the streets, dark clouds started to close out the evening light and we soon found ourselves trying to dodge rain drops. We spent most of our evening in a bar just below Federation Square with fellow travelers and others avoiding the rain, but made it back outside just before midnight to join in on the countdown and firework display over the city. 2009 was an eventful and fun filled year for us but we can’t deny our excitement to return home, see friends and family, and of course, plan out a number of adventures for 2010. Happy New Year!

We drive barely two hours to Melbourne (southeast Australia) today to pick up my sister and her husband and Western Australia seems like ages ago. It’s hard to believe that we were there, 1800 miles away, just last week. Since our last post, we spent a couple more days in the town of Esperance, the highlight of our stay being a visit to Lucky Bay and climbing Frenchman Peak. At the summit a huge cave, called the “Eye,” looks out over the coast line. To everyone in Jackson, I think this climb was the equivalent of climbing about half way up Mt. Glory and the most vert we’ve hiked since we arrived in Australia. We are going to be in tears when we get to Jackson and back on our skis in January.

The much anticipated drive across the Nullarbor Plain was painless and, in fact, covered in trees. The road follows the southern coast of Australia, which in most places is one seamless cliff wall. We took a few detours on some not so well maintained roads to look out over the cliff edge and to the sea below. I’m not sure what made the drive go by so quickly but all of a sudden on Monday night we arrived in Adelaide where Christmas cheer was definitely in the air. Every RV and family size tent at our caravan park had twinkling lights and even full size Christmas trees. Other than a bright red $2 Christmas t-shirt that BJ found at a thrift store and a Christmas tree headband that I found at the grocery checkout, we felt a little unprepared.

For Christmas Eve and Day we splurged on a cottage in the shadows of Grampians National Park. The air is pleasant and cool up here and the rocky terrain and mountainous relief are a nice change. We spent Christmas morning (yesterday) reading, drinking coffee, and making heaps of phone calls to family in Idaho, Arizona, California, and North Carolina before whipping up somewhat disastrous eggs benedict (it tasted good, but didn’t look very pretty). A few rounds of coffee later we headed out to tour a couple of the top attractions in the Grampians, including a huge waterfall. When we returned “home” we were still bouncing with energy and decided to pick up a game of tennis at the on-site court. Neither BJ nor I have played tennis since P.E. in high school but the court and rackets were just sitting there beckoning us to give it a shot. The game was highly entertaining, especially since we were barefoot.

This Christmas has hit us harder than we were expecting. We definitely miss home and the feeling of being around family at this time of year and I can’t wait to pick up Shalyn and Randall this afternoon.  Everyone in Australia loves talking about plans for Chrissy. I can’t tell you how many people (including a number of grocery store clerks) asked us “So, what are you doing for Chrissy?” On behalf of Australia, Merry Chrissy!