The Wandering Begins in....

Well this has been a crazy one to figure out as earlier this years I was planning to start in Costa Rica and I had booked an airfare there.  Then my friend in India invited me to her wedding so I was open to the possibility of starting there.  I ran into visa problems with India, as they really don't want more Indians coming into the country. haha!  I finally came back around to the possibility of traveling with my roommate Llewellyn.  We decided we should start in Argentina and go trek around in Patagonia and go all the way to Cape Horn.  Our adventure begins January 22.  Here's a glimpse of some of the views we most likely will see down there.

You can you see why traveling is far more appealing to us than a life of this...(The reason he looks happy is because its almost feeding time! haha!)

I encourage you all to get out of the box and go....

Nomadic Packrat

What should a nomadic person take for world wanderings...this is what I've been asked quite a bit in the lead up to the trip.  My response is a backpack and an awesome camera :)  But what goes in that pack.  Hmmm...well this is what this nomadic packrat is packing away.

Yup that's it and I'm almost concerned I might have to much. Haha!  But yes it will all fit in my MacPac.  So here's the break down of it.
85lt MacPac back (more than enough space for what I'm taking)
Travel book for people to write in (I'm not journaling, the blog is for that)
Marmot down jacket
Patagonia rain jacket
Merino wool thermals
3 t-shirts
3 pants
underwear & socks
BigAgnes sleeping pad
REI 20° down bag
toiletries
black shoes
flip-flops
rock climbing shoes
REI Flash 18 daypack
camp mess kit (I might not bring this,  what do you think?)
Canon 5D mark II SLR camera with 24-105mm L series lens
GoPro camera
Travel Adapter
unlocked cell phone
2 hard drives for backup of pics
Acer Chromebook laptop

Not pictured: quick dry towel, headlamp, usb cables to connect devices, dry bag for electronic gear, emergency blanket to put my sleeping pad on when camping,

Possible addins: water filter

That's it so far.  If you think I should be bringing some other things, let me know.  The passport is missing since I sent off for a visa.  I really hope I get it back soon. Haha!

One More Southwest Trip

I love the southwest (Utah, northern Arizona) and this is my 2nd trip since 2012.  This time a group of us did the Subway top down and the Narrows in Zion.  The group consisted of Llewellyn, Marty, John, Cat, and Lorelei.  It was a perfect time of year with 70 degree weather and amazing fall colors.  Enjoy the pics :)

 The Subway canyon

 The Narrows with its amazing fall colors

 Penguin Marty watching over Cat and Llew

 A faster way to travel down the river...

After Zion our group got split and 4 of us went on to Havasupai to backpack down into that amazing place.  On the drive there, we stay the night camped next to a water tower in the middle of a field.  The stars were awesome and Marty let me use his wide angle lense to capture the shot.  The sunrise was spectacular and went on for many minutes.

The hike into Havasupai is not a hard, and is only 8 miles to the Supai village and 2 more to the campground. (I could see it being a miserable hike if its extremely hot.)  Its quite amazing having all that greenery in the middle of the Grand Canyon with a aqua colored creek flowing through it with majestic water falls.  The flat bread was a delight to eat every day.  We decided that taking a helicopter ride out would be an experience to not miss.  It took 3 hours waiting around the heli-pad before we boarded.  It was still worth it. haha!

 Havasue Falls

 Mooney Falls

 Wild native in the canyon! ;)

After Havasue we drove to Page, AZ and dropped off Marty and Lorelei.  John and I went on to attempt Buckskin Gulch.  Well the attempt was not good as we did not have the proper gear for wading in cold water.

Here's the pool we decided it wasn't worth going on

We definitely made a good choice, since John wouldn't have been able to keep me out of the water if he'd carried me ;)

Just a few good views we beheld as we drove back...

And so concludes another awesome Southwest trip with great mates. I highly recommend going there to anyone that wants something different from the great outdoors :)

Learning to Paraglide

I've been meaning to post this page on paragliding for some time now.  As soon as I got back from New Zealand, I signed up for lessons with Jason Shapiro of Air Addict. If you're in the Sacramento area, I highly recommend taking lessons from Jason.  He's a very safe teacher and keeps his class small so he can give you the attention you need while learning.  Anyway, enough of my talking, lets go air surfing :)

Here's one of my first flights at Cronan Ranch, near Auburn California.  I call it "Pull Brakes, Pull Brakes!"  You'll see why. haha! :)

Half Moon Bay: https://vimeo.com/98835968

I love my new Sky Anakis 2 wing

Getting a site briefing from Jason at Hat Creek.  Had some nice flights that lasted longer than the training hill.  Whoohooo!

 

My excitement on the landing is because I landed in the dark colored dirt that my instructor wanted us to try for.  Plus landing safely is always something to be excited about. Haha! :)

Jared enjoying the view from Hatcreek launch

Excursion to Burney Falls.  Cameron and Omar

Headed to launch on Potatoe Hill

Potatoe Hill take off (compliments of Mark Zinkel)

Potatoe Hill 

Omar Argentina and Me at Cronan. This was my last flight at Cronan.