Bag Night Challenge 2021

1. Virgin Falls, TN
2. Sipsey Wilderness, AL
3. Big South Fork, KY
4. Savage Gulf, TN
5. Fiery Gizzard, TN
6. Big South Fork, TN
7-9. Canyonlands NP, UT
10. Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, CO
11. Walls of Jericho, AL
12. Sipsey Wilderness, AL
13. Cheaha Wilderness, AL
14. Cohutta Wilderness, GA
15. Big South Fork, TN
16. Panthertown Valley, NC
17. Mountain Bridge Wilderness, SC
18. Daniel Boone NF, KY


Guess I'm done for June, unless I talk myself into making another 5hr drive to hunt arches at ~90F come Tuesday.
That's a definite possibilty, as overnight hikes may soon end, at least 'til I head out West in September, because July and August are hot and miserable here in the South.
June has been pretty grand, though, with new trails, new arches, and back to back trips to North and South Carolina to visit places I hadn't been in 8yrs.

Sshhh, be vewy quiet, I'm hunting arches :D
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Panthertown for waterfalls...
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Rim of the Gap for feeling offtrail on the trail...
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"Pretty sure that's an" Arch(found where water apparently runs behind it) in TN...
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Right when I started a video to chronicle looking for Dead Deer Arch, I realized I was standing on top of it!
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Wrapped up June with Buffalo Arch in Ky:
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4 off nights, 4 road trips to hike in 4 different states. What a fun month!
 
Last weekend I spent some time on Boulder Top. I camped below the plateau both nights, but spent the days near or above 11,000' and had a wonderful time, hiking about 16 miles and enjoying the sights.

Total: 12 Nights

1/15/2021 - Dead Mountains, CA
1/16/2021 - Marl Spring, CA
1/17/2021 - Rock Tank, CA
1/18/2021 - Rock Tank, CA
2/26/2021 - Horse Canyon, UT
2/27/2021 - Horse Canyon, UT
3/26/2021 - Beaver Canyon, UT
3/27/2021 - Beaver Canyon, UT
4/30/2021 - West Tavaputs Plateau, UT
5/1/2021 - West Tavaputs Plateau, UT
6/25/2021 - Pine Creek, UT
6/26/2021 - Bone Flat, UT

Pine Creek camp with Thousand Lake Mountain to the north
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Pronghorn at 11,000' on Boulder Top
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Pretty rock
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Camp near Bone Flat
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29 nights

A week+ in Arizona at Saguaro, Chricachua, Organ Pipe etc.
A second week+ in Death Valley and the Grand Canyon
Three days on the Central Coast in Cerro Alto:
Four days in Sequoia National Park.
Five days in Kings Canyon,
A four day trip into Buckeye Canyon in the Hoover Wilderness, complete with daily thunderstorms, lots of ticks, and amazing views

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I'm trying to step up my camping game in the latter half of the year. I spent four days and three nights on Boulder Mountain this weekend, each one sleeping on a cot at one of my favorite places to camp. On the first day I hiked along Pleasant Creek and found an alcove with some old inscriptions and some pictographs. The next day I crammed some friends and a dog into my Jeep and drove the Hell's Backbone Loop. Day three it was a hike to Deer Creek Lake and then a dip in Lower Bowns Reservoir in the late afternoon. My hiking plans got vetoed today so everybody just packed up and headed home in the morning.

Total: 15 Nights

1/15/2021 - Dead Mountains, CA
1/16/2021 - Marl Spring, CA
1/17/2021 - Rock Tank, CA
1/18/2021 - Rock Tank, CA
2/26/2021 - Horse Canyon, UT
2/27/2021 - Horse Canyon, UT
3/26/2021 - Beaver Canyon, UT
3/27/2021 - Beaver Canyon, UT
4/30/2021 - West Tavaputs Plateau, UT
5/1/2021 - West Tavaputs Plateau, UT
6/25/2021 - Pine Creek, UT
6/26/2021 - Bone Flat, UT
7/8/2021 - Park's Pasture, UT
7/9/2021 - Park's Pasture, UT
7/10/2021 - Park's Pasture, UT

Pleasant Creek alcove
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Hell's Backbone
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The Box along Pine Creek
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The Henrys from camp (the next day they were completely obscured by wildfire smoke)
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My new, temporary hiking buddy Tallahassee
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Deer Creek Reservoir with very little water
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Lower Bowns
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Total: 16 Nights

March 11-14 | Southern Nevada | 3 Nights
March 25-28 | Central Utah | 3 Nights
April 7-11 | Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater | 4 Nights
May 20-25 | Gates of Lodore | 5 Nights
July 10 | Flat Tops | 1 Night

I’m back on the board! Oh, and this is my actual house now and this was my first night in it this past weekend. It’s been a busy year. I got divorced, sold my house, quit my job and I live in this truck camper full-time now. Still working out some details including a flatbed install before it’s fully road-ready, but it was more than fine for getting to this little slice of paradise.


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Total: 16 Nights

March 11-14 | Southern Nevada | 3 Nights
March 25-28 | Central Utah | 3 Nights
April 7-11 | Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater | 4 Nights
May 20-25 | Gates of Lodore | 5 Nights
July 10 | Flat Tops | 1 Night

I’m back on the board! Oh, and this is my actual house now and this was my first night in it this past weekend. It’s been a busy year. I got divorced, sold my house, quit my job and I live in this truck camper full-time now. Still working out some details including a flatbed install before it’s fully road-ready, but it was more than fine for getting to this little slice of paradise.


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Best wishes to you in your new home! Will you be staying out West or traveling all around the country?
 
Best wishes to you in your new home! Will you be staying out West or traveling all around the country?

All over the continent! Generally the west half of it though, since there’s just not that much public land out east. But I’ll still make it there. Planning on following the seasons north and south for the most part. Baja this winter and off to the Arctic next summer!

Wow, Nick, you don't mess around when you make big changes, eh? Nice rig and best wishes for your new life.

Ha! Yeah, go big or stay home!? My knee jerk reaction to the first big change was to hang onto all the stable things in life like my house and job, but as it all sunk in more, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to do exactly what I always have wanted to do. It feels so good to not be tied to those big obligations. Today is only my second weekday of being ‘retired’ and it all feels so surreal. But I’ve been walking a lot and enjoying every minute. I did a long wall up a beautiful canyon near Glenwood Springs this morning and there was hardly anyone out there. Weekdays for the win!
 
Have you been up No Name? I'm in Glenwood a lot as I have family there. @gnwatts lives up the road near Carbondale. Be sure you get up to Redstone - beautiful country and not a lot of people. Good boondocking up the road to the old MidContinent Mine.
 
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Have you been up No Name? I'm in Glenwood a lot as I have family there. @gnwatts lives up the road near Carbondale. Be sure you get up to Redstone - beautiful country and not a lot of people. Good boondocking up the road to the old MidContinent Mine.

It was actually No Name that I hiked today! I was going to hike Grizzly but it was closed so I did No Name. It was great! Now I want to connect them both up and packraft back to No Name on the river. And yes, I’ve been in touch with Greg and we’re going to get together soon.
 
@Nick, Your photo looks like you were maybe up by Deep Creek. I tried to hike down Grizzly Creek once from Coffepot Spring up on the top. My topo wasn't detailed enough to tell me there was an impassible cliff on the way down. I know there's a trail way lower that connects No Name to Grizzly, but I was way above that. Hope you and Greg have a great time!
 
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Total: 24 nights

3/14/21: Zion Wilderness | 1 night |
2/28/21: Zion Wilderness | 1 night |
4/8/21: La Verkin Creek, Zion | 1 night |
4/14-4/18/21: Escalante area |4 nights|
7/10-7/12/21: Arrowhead CG, Umpqua NF, OR |2 nights|
7/12-7/23/21: Mount St. Helens, WA | 12 nights|
7/23 -7/26/21: Columbia River Gorge, OR |3 nights|

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43 nights now...

A week+ in Arizona at Saguaro, Chricachua, Organ Pipe etc.
A second week+ in Death Valley and the Grand Canyon
Three days on the Central Coast in Cerro Alto:
Four days in Sequoia National Park.
Five days in Kings Canyon,
A four day trip into Buckeye Canyon in the Hoover Wilderness, complete with daily thunderstorms, lots of ticks, and amazing views

And just back from a three week trip to the Ruby Mountains--this is Lamoille Canyon

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Yellowstone,


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Grant Tetons,

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Rocky Mountain NP,

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and Dinosaur NM.

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Quite and adventure with some serious smoke in places, serious rain in others...and my sister's generous offer of a bedroom at her cabin in the YMCA camp in RMNP...

And we were joined by both daughters and one boyfriend in Yellowstone---

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The full trip report should be up shortly on our website:


Among the highlights:
Hiking in the Ruby Mountains with our younger daughter,
Having an elk bed down next to our tent in Yellowstone--effectively blocking access. Oops.
Watching as a bison herd wandered though the picnic area where we were trying to cook dinner. Hold the mayo!
Watching coyotes drive a wolf away from their den in the Lamar Valley,
Rock climbing in the Tetons with my older daughter, who is a much better climber than I am,
Hiking through both rain and smoke in RMNP...
Having a true campsite mixup in the Manti-Lasal NF...what a mess.
Both fossils and petroglyphs in Dinosaur NM
And smoke for hundreds of miles on the way home.

Lots of fun!
 
Total 9 Nights

March 8-10 | Escalante Area | 2 Nights
May 4-6 | Bryce Canyon | 2 Nights
May 28-30 | Donnelly, ID | 2 Casita Nights
June 19-20 | Donnelly, ID | 1 Night
August 13-15 | Donnelly, ID | 2 Nights

Been spending a lot of nights in Donnelly. We had people from 4 states show up to work on cleaning the spots and paths to have power set up on 8 lots. I didn't get a picture of our tent, but while we were driving home my mother-in-law texted this picture to my wife. Apparently by brother-in-law ended up dropping a tree on my father-in-law while he was in this truck. He was okay and I guess on the upside at least it didn't happen to his new F-150. We said that is what happened with the foreman left. My wife had a hardhat she wore the entire time with a big foreman label on it.IMG_5114.jpg
 
Hiking in the Ruby Mountains with our younger daughter,
My wife loves seeing the Fall colors, so as the first leg on our 2018 trip I planned to surprise her with a stop in Lamoille Canyon. The first snowstorm of the season had just dusted the Ruby Mtns. and I was thinking to myself "this is going to be awesome".
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However when we reached the turnoff that leads up into the mountains we were greeted by a roadblock staffed by a sheriff and forest service personnel. Unbeknownst to me the entire canyon had burned up just a few days prior!
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Fortunately one of the FS guys was able to give me directions into another little canyon a bit farther east which you could only access by crossing some private property. We had that all to ourselves.
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The next morning we continued east on mostly dirt backroads that took us almost all the way to Wells. It wasn't quite the day I had planned but it wasn't all bad.

From looking at the photos on your site it looks like Lamoille has recovered fairly well. I may have to give it another try this Fall.
 
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