I read about a 2 mile trail – round trip – to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The pictures were epic. The trail didn’t even look that steep. The only thing standing between me and the trail was a…
Pueblos, Lizards, and More on the Pueblo Alto Loop
There are members of my group who have wanted to hike the Pueblo Alto Loop for about 23 years. That was when they saw a photo of Pueblo Bonito on the cover of their AAA road map and decided to…
Honan Point: Best Views on Grand Canyon’s North Rim
I’ve always thought the views from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to be better than the views from the North Rim. Part of it is that the North Rim is more picturesque, so looking at it from the…
A Time for Everything (Even the Desert)
In our walk with Christ, there are seasons: times of refreshing, wilderness seasons, times of great growth and of living out that growth. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3, There is a time for everything, And a season for…
We, Like the Desert, are Beautiful
The desert is very dry, and as I said last week, it’s not very beautiful in places. But God created it, and so it is beautiful because He created it and He sees it as beautiful. There is a parallel…
The Ugly Desert is in God’s Design
Face it: many parts of the desert aren’t very pretty. I remember driving (well, I wasn’t driving, since I didn’t even have a learner’s permit then) across central New Mexico, and it was not particularly beautiful. In fact, it…
The 6 Best Day Hikes in Arches National Park
Arches National Park is one concentrated lot of sandstone – filled with arches, rock formations, and incredible views. Unlike many national parks, where you might drive an hour just to get between one hike and the next, Arches is small…
Walking the Zion Narrows
I first did the Zion Narrows in 1997. Or, should I say, I first set foot in the Virgin River in 1997, and we went around the first bend and turned around. The kids were too young; one of the…
Evening at Badwater Basin
We were crazy to go to Badwater Basin in the middle of June the week after record-breaking high temperatures in California. We knew we were crazy. But we also wanted to hike Telescope Peak, and since we had to travel…
5 Best Day Hikes in Bryce Canyon National Park
Rock Formations. Hoodoos. Creamsicles. Ever since our first visit to Bryce Canyon in 1997, it’s been one of our favorite parks in southern Utah, over Zion, Cedar Breaks, and Capitol Reef. It gets crowded these days, but it’s…