The EPIC Southwest Adventure of 2011

I am starting a blog today because we are preparing to take our first EPIC road trip and my sister has requested a "blog of some sort" so that she can live vicariously through us. I am more than happy to oblige her on her request because I love to share photos and stories from all of my trips.

So, here is the background...Paddy and I have been married for 5 months and 17 days. For our half-aversary we decided we wanted to take a road trip as a kind of honeymoon to supplement our week in Ponte Vedra right after the wedding (as if that needs a supplement, but part of me felt the need for an adventurous trip in addition to the relaxing one). Knowing that we had to take full advantage of all the amazing nature that is near San Diego, we knew we had to make our trip a South Western adventure.

Paddy has never seen the Grand Canyon, so that was a must on the list. The second must was Zion National Park in southern Utah. My dad, who has been EVERYWHERE in the world, once mentioned to me that Zion was on his bucket list. So, even through I had no idea what Zion was all about, it immediately became a part of my list. I knew that the end of the trip would have to be Vegas, because Paddy has never been and it makes the perfect end to the loop. To fill in the middle of the trek we will head north from Grand Canyon and intercept Utah route 24 near Capitol Reef National Park and then down the scenic Route 12 through Bryce Canyon to Zion and then to Vegas.  Here is the map of our proposed plan. I say proposed because it is subject to change. As I like to say, you only make a plan so that something a whole lot better can come along and make you break your plans.

It is a lot of driving during a very cold and snowy time of year, but we are going to power through it. The most daunting part of it all is our plan to hike all the way down to the bottom of Grand Canyon and camp overnight. I am not a camper. The most camping I have done consisted of a tent, a car and lots and lots of beer in a can. Not so much the kind where you wear all your stuff on your back and have to live off of the food you bring in and then you have to pack out your dirty toilet paper. That should be interesting. And challenging. I am focusing on the toilet paper part and not really accepting the whole hike down for 7 miles and then a pretty much vertical hike out for 9 miles with a one mile elevation change. It is pretty much a marathon. And it is going to be cold. Have I mentioned the cold? Possibly snowing.