Hiking the World's Longest Slot Canyon!

Check out our not-so-exciting-but-pretty video of hiking through Buckskin Gulch!

Allegedly, Buckskin Gulch is the world's longest continuous slot canyon. So of course we had to hike through it!

To get to Buckskin Gulch, you need to drive to Kanab, UT and then go east from there about 45 miles to the White House Trailhead. Drive in and leave a shuttle car (or a shuttle motorcycle!) and then go back toward Kanab and turn down another dirt road to Wire Pass Trailhead. This is where you will leave your vehicle and start your hike. There are a few shuttle operations as well, if you don't want to deal with the hassle of shuttling a vehicle. This website was very helpful, giving detailed information and directions.

We wore our hiking backpacks, complete with tent, sleeping bags, and stove because we wanted to prepare for our longer, 160 mile hike around Lake Tahoe this coming August. A fit person could fairly easily do the 21+ mile hike in one day. We took two days, but the second day we only hiked for an hour before we were back at the White House trailhead.

We hiked for about 11 hours, with plenty of sight-seeing stops, on the first day, covering roughly 18 miles. There is really no elevation gain or loss to speak of, making this the flattest hike I think we've ever done! Most of the trail is deep sand, or sand with rocks, so wear old hiking shoes or trail running shoes and plan on washing your socks two or three times to get all the sand out when you're done.

Don't let the website scare you-this is a very accessible slot canyon, not technical, and has no elevation gain or loss to speak of. Now, we were there last week, in the first part of June, and it was hot, but not overly so, and most of the water that makes the hike harder was evaporated. There were only two knee deep pools, and plenty of places to collect muddy water from. If it were raining, or there was a flash flood, then it would be an entirely different, dangerous situation.

Here are some pics from our journey:

At the start of the hike...

Narrow canyon walls

Cool petroglyphs!
(Hal doesn't believe they are real...!)

This guy wasn't afraid of us!

Tall walls

Taking a break; it was nice and cool in the shade of the canyon

Probably the best light and picture of the whole trip!

Great primitive campsite, where we cooked up some dehydrated dinner-yum yum!

Swiss cheese rocks! 

Our new tent! And it was so warm out we didn't need the fly

As always, thanks for reading and please let us know if you're interested in doing this hike-we can provide you with much more detailed intel!

Belize, Part 2-The Island/Ocean "Surf"

For the second part of our Belize trip, we took the Belize Express Water Taxi from Belize City to San Pedro, on Ambergris Caye. It was over an hour, through smooth water, and even I didn't get seasick ;)

On our way out, the water was the crystal blue of all the postcards and travel websites. I hadn't seen water this clear since my study-abroad days in the Turks and Caicos, so I was excited to get to the island and get in the ocean!

On the water taxi...

We stayed at a small B&B, Changes in Latitudes, and it was clean and served a nice breakfast every day. They also included the use of cruiser bikes in their nightly pricing, which was a huge plus for us.

San Pedro is the capital, and it's noisy and there is a surprising amount of golf-cart and taxi traffic, making it smell like exhaust fumes throughout the town-kind of a turn-off.
But once you get through the main part of town, the island quiets down and you can experience the beautiful water and clear skies.

Other than snorkeling and diving, the two best things we did were to use the bikes to explore the smaller side streets, and rent a golf cart and drive it as far as we could to the northern end of the island.

San Pedro on bikes!

Belizean Firefighter Hal!

Golf cart island journey

The "road" rapidly disintegrates once you get about ten miles north of San Pedro. Then you come to appreciate why they would only rent you a golf cart, and not a car!
The road disappears and you head to the beach, which would be great, except that the beach isn't always passable. When that happens, you follow a smashed trail of literally trash (plastics, old fishing nets, bottles) and driftwood through the jungle until the beach opens up again. Of course, Hal had a blast navigating through all this, and I only wish I'd taken a picture of what we had to drive through!

One of the best local places to eat, 'My Secret Deli'!

The rest of these photos are from the various snorkeling and diving sites on the island. We only went outside the barrier reef once, and it was harrowing for me and made me seasick, so henceforth all other underwater expeditions were made closer to shore!
And contrary to what the locals tell you (and what the guidebooks say) you can access many beautiful snorkeling spots from shore, as long as you're willing to swim a bit...! Oh, and the water was warm, fantastically we-didn't-need-wetsuits warm!

Diving outside the reef...

Perspective...

Following the dive master...

Hal getting friendly with a nurse shark

Coral canyons

Blacktip reef shark coming in to say hello

Hal, the "Shark Whisperer"! 

Hal, floating in the abyss...

First time I've seen a moray eel in the wild!

Beautiful, healthy corals

Big sting ray

Snorkeling through shallow waters

Vibrant sea fans

Hal following a little hawksbill sea turtle

Under our dive boat

Goodbye Belize, until next time...!

Thanks for reading, and apologies for this second portion falling short on details. It really was all about the water and sea life while we were out on the island; hopefully the pictures do it a little justice!

Our surf and turf Belizean vacation-Part 1-The Jungle "Turf"

Hal and I have been to many places (Hal more than me), but none have been as amazing as Belize.

The culture, the animals, the climate, the cuisine, the people-everything combined to make this our most memorable trip yet.

I wanted to go somewhere tropical and exotic for my 30th birthday, and we were originally considering Tahiti.

When I started looking at airfare, hotels, activities, etc. I got scared by the price quotes I was finding-upwards of $6,000!!!

We went back to the drawing board.

Where could we go that would have pristine coral reefs for snorkeling, tropical weather, new animals to find, and easy accessibility from Denver? Costa Rica came up, but of course Hal has been there...

We grabbed a map and found Belize.

I always consult Lonely Planet guidebooks whenever possible because they are one of the only guidebook companies that actually sends their authors to visit the places they are writing about.

That's how I came to find the Howler Monkey Resort.

We booked three nights with Ed and Mel Turton at their resort, and bought their Weekend Adventure guided package.

Our wonderful hosts, Mel and Ed!

Ed and Mel and their family own the resort and they take care of everything. They pick you up from the airport and take you back to their secluded jungle paradise. 

We stayed in their Howler Monkey Cabin which had 2 double beds, air-conditioning, and plenty of hot water.

The best part was the back porch, complete with hammock and views of the Belize River.

Hal spent every afternoon here...

On our first day there, we had no agenda or tours planned so we walked about a half mile up the road to the Community Baboon Sanctuary, which is a must-see.

Our local guide found the howler monkeys (called 'baboon' in the local Creole dialect) for us and coaxed them to come down closer so we could hand feed them leaves-these are wild monkeys, mind you, the guides have just built up a rapport with them. Which was made more evident by the fact that when Hal and I went back the next evening on our own, we couldn't find a single monkey, let alone feed one!

Just hangin' around...

Our first howler monkey sighting!

These leaves are better than the ones on the trees!

I love monkeys!

This little guy surprised me and knocked my glasses off onto my neck to get to the leaf!

The next day we rented Ed's canoe and he drove us up the Belize River so that we could float back. "Float" was a relative term, because we actually had to paddle most of the way downstream because it was so windy that day-seems we bring the wind wherever we go...

Jungle river drifting

That afternoon (after a hammock nap for Hal, of course!), Ed took us to a smaller Mayan ruin, called Altun Ha. We had the place to ourselves, which was nice.

Hal, the ancient Mayan warrior!

On our last full day in the jungle, we played tourists. Ed and Mel drove us to go cave tubing, and their son Jusef joined us in the water. We arrived after the huge influx of tourists from the cruise ship, which was my fault because on the way there, I spotted a jabiru. This is apparently a rare treat, so we took time to get out of the car and take pictures, and thankfully Mel had a nice camera with her so that we could actually get good photos.

The jabiru stork stands up to five feet tall and is the largest flying bird in the Western Hemisphere and one of the rarest in Central America. Photo courtesy of Mel Turton.

This amazing wildlife spotting led to a less-than-stellar cave tubing environment-there were so many people that it felt like a ride at Disney Land! But it was still fun to do, and beautiful.

Jusef, Me, Ed, and Hal

Coming out of the cave... 

Floating down the river... 

More lazy river floating...

Hal pretending to be a river guide

After you finish cave tubing, you are carted off straight to zip lining (they have a whole tourist trap setup there), which Hal reluctantly did, mostly because we'd already paid for it. The most fun was listening to each tourist scream as they stepped off the platforms! One lady actually slowed herself down so much that they had to reach a pole out to her to get her to the end of the zipline!

Hal-pro zipliner

After our fun-filled morning, we stopped to refuel for lunch and then headed on to the Belize Zoo.

Having lunch with our hosts!

The Belize Zoo is touted as "the best little zoo in the world" and it most certainly lives up to its name. The best part about this zoo is they only have local Belizean animals that have been orphaned or rescued, so they never take any animals out of the jungle for their displays. The enclosures for each animal were clean and spacious, and we spent over three hours there!

The keel billed toucan-National bird of Belize

Then it was home to our little cabin in the jungle, and one last mouth-watering dinner, cooked fresh by the Turtons. Our favorite dish while we were in Belize happens to be the staple Belizean dish-stew chicken with rice and beans. Here's the recipe we plan on trying at home, but I'm sure it won't be as good as it was in Belize...

On our last morning, Ed was kind enough to drive us to Belize City, where we took the water taxi over to Ambergris Caye, Belize's largest island. And that's where Part 2 comes in...!

I can't believe we were only in the jungle for three nights! We saw SO many animals, it was a dream come true for me! Spoiler alert-the next blog will have photos of sharks and beautiful sunny beaches!
If you live in Colorado right now, you may become extremely envious when you read Part 2...!

Goodbye mainland Belize...

Sponsor Highlight-Honey Stinger!

We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful, local company, Honey Stinger, support us in our athletic endeavors and adventures!
Based in Steamboat Springs, CO, Honey Stinger makes amazing, honey based energy foods with natural ingredients. Most of their products are also organic.

Everyone loves Honey Stinger, even Delta Rose!

I have been a member of the Honey Stinger Hive for the past five years, and am so glad to continue another year with them! I really admire this company for their support of athletes, both competitive and non-competitive, and their support of local events. It's wonderful to see a company truly stand by their product and give back to the athletic community.
Last year, when I raced the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race in Breckenridge, Honey Stinger provided the neutral support for the race, which meant that every racer got to enjoy their fantastic energy food!

I know that finding an energy food that works is one of the hardest things an athlete has to do. What can you eat that will give you energy, not upset your stomach, and keep your blood sugar steady and sustained...? It can take years for people to find something that works just right for them.

Fortunately, Honey Stinger's all natural ingredients and honey base work very well for me, and for most of the athletes I've met. In fact, I've turned all the athletes that I coach onto Honey Stinger, and it works for people from 26 years old up to 50+ years old, males and females!

My favorite, go-to products are their Organic Waffles and their Organic Energy Chews. But all of their products are delicious, and I've had the pleasure of sampling everything they carry!

Last year, Hal and I trained exclusively using Honey Stinger Waffles, Energy Chews, and Energy Gels. And yes, Hal reaps the benefit of my sponsorship :)

So thank you Honey Stinger for supporting local athletes like me!
And to anyone who hasn't tried them, check here to find your local dealer.

Sponsor Highlight-DNA Skin Institute!

Hal and I are very fortunate to have DNA Skin Institute support us in our athletic adventures!

DNA Skin Institute's skin care products are all 100% natural and chemical and preservative free.
The product that we use most is their wonderful Ultimate Sol Protection SPF 28 sunscreen.
Living in Colorado and spending most of our time outside, above 5,000 feet, we certainly appreciate the value of this product. It isn't oily or greasy, like so many other sunscreens, and we feel good using it, knowing that it is coral reef safe.
That's something that we'd never really thought about (sadly) until we were introduced to DNA Skin products a few years ago by my fantastic Aunt Athena!
Dr. Noel and his team are committed to clean oceans, and since Hal and I are venturing more into diving and underwater adventures, it's something we feel strongly about.

Some of our other favorite products are:
-Phyto Collagen Moisturizer - Wonderful lotion that smells of roses
-Mediclear Skin Lightening Wash - Helps suppress melanin to lessen dark spots from sun damage
-Anti-Aging Eye Repair Crème - I can't get Hal to use this, but since I'm nearly 30 years old, I keep this on hand at all times!
-Liquid Vitamin D - You'd think we wouldn't need Vitamin D here in Colorado, but we use this from about November-March, when we are so covered up outside that we aren't really getting any benefit from the sun's rays.

Funny, we use Vitamin D and sunscreen, but that way we get the best of both worlds-normal levels of Vitamin D and soft, healthy, non sun damaged skin!

Thank you SO very much to Dr. Noel, our Auntie Athena, and the whole DNA Skin team! We are very happy and proud to be your Lifestyle Ambassadors!

Wondering where you can find these great products??
There are currently two spas in Boulder, CO that carry DNA products, and if you're not from the Boulder area, check HERE to find a distributor near you.