Las Vegas Lights to Utah Sites

Sarah and I were fortunate to meet up with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend in Las Vegas on the way to Utah. We decided to start the trip off with a classic Vegas buffet. After stuffing our faces with mass amounts of mediocre food we were off to the pool of the gods. Nothing beats 7 pools and a hard lemonade in the 104 degree heat. After a relaxing day at the pool we got some amazing sushi with my parents for my "birthday dinner". Next we were off to try our hand at gambling. Sarah played roulette while I reaped the benefits of the free drinks. We ended winning a few bucks and decided to celebrate by going to Margaritaville. A few brightly colored slushy drinks loaded with shots later we were dancing to the music of a live band. Vegas was fun but now we are both ready to see some beautiful sites and breath fresh air. To Zion we go!

Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas Bound!

After several trips to many grocery stores, target, and Scotty's second home (REI), we were all set to head out on our trip. We were shocked that we squeezed everything in the car the first time, so we figured we would just jump in and head to Vegas a day early. Immediately I started thinking of all the things that I forgot. After a coffee stop Scotty announced "I feel really confident about remembering everything". Since then he has rattled off about five things that we left behind. The most disappointing being his "Mexican hat". I think we will survive. Since this is my first official time going to Vegas I am excited and also terrified of the 108 degree heat. At least I remembered my hat!

-Sarah

Planning: A Camping Trip Through Utah

For the past month or so, Sarah and I have been planning a road trip through Utah.  After going back and forth about where we want to go and how much time we have, we finally have a plan!!  Although Sarah has been to a couple of the parks before, it wasn't hard to get her to agree to go again.  We will be spending most of our time camping in the upper 90° weather with the exception of Vegas and Bryce Canyon, where we will stay in hotels.

Here is our plan:  
Thur 28^th - Prepack Cars

Staying at home

Fri 29^th - Drive to Vegas and party/ relax

Staying in vegas hotel

Sat 30^th - Drive to Zion

Staying at Watchman Campground

Sun 1^st - Go explore Zion and the area, maybe mountian bike 

Staying at Watchman Campground

Mon 2^nd - Hiking The Narrows, all day like a boss

Staying at Watchman Campground

Tues 3^rd - Angels Landing, then drive to Bryce

Staying at Bryce Canyon Resort

Wed 4^th - Explore Bryce canyon

Staying at Escalante Petrefied Forest SP 

Thur 5^th - Drive to Moab and check out awesome places on the way  

Staying at Devils Garden Campground

Fri 6^th - Arches/ mountian biking or Colorado River Raft

Staying at Devils Garden Campground

Sat 7^th - Moab/ mountian biking

Staying at Devils Garden Campground 

Sun 8^th – Check out moab/ Driving home

I have been doing a lot of research about hiking, camping, and biking in Utah and have learned some very important things so far.  1. You don't have to worry about any bear attacks, but there are coyotes, foxes and snakes to worry about.  2. Bring your booze in with you.  The Mormon population makes it hard to get alcohol.  That brings up a good question.  Do the Mormons in Utah have awesome full suspension bikes to ride around on?  3. Make sure to bring lots of water and a knife on your hikes with you (I knew I shouldn't have watched 127 hours). 4. Stay away from anything that even resembles poison ivy/oak/sumac/poodle dog bush. It took a week and some strong drugs to get Sarah to stop itching from her last run in. 


Sarah and I are both extremely excited about this trip and cant wait to switch up the scenery.  We will be taking lots of photos, and documenting cool tips, and advice about the area we are in.  If you are planning a trip to Utah soon and have any questions let us know!!  If you just came back from a trip and have some tips let us know in the comments below!! 

New Poisonous Plant in the Angeles National Forest

Look out!!  The pretty flowers that Sarah and I were frolicking though at the Chilao Campground are poisonous.  The Turricula Plant AKA Poodle-Dog bush usually springs up after a wild fire.  They give off a poison similar to Poison Oak.  I some how came out not getting a rash but Sarah wasn't so lucky.  It seems you will break out with a rash or even hives and it's supposed to last 2 weeks.  Also, people hiking the PCT should keep an eye out for this plant.  Read More Here

The pretty (evil) purple flower all over near our campground.  Don't be scared, just don't touch it.

Angeles National Forest - Chilao Campground

Our first post!!!!!!

This weekend Sarah and I decided we wanted to check out a local campground and some hikes.  I have always been apprehensive to go the the Angeles National Forrest as I have heard a few negative things about the rowdy campers, but I figured we would give it a whirl.  We packed up the car Thursday night, then Friday I took the bus to work with a plan of leaving straight from Burbank.  The drive from Burbank takes you up the winding Hwy 2 and drops you off an the campsite in about an hour, which is where you completely lose all cell phone service. (Including some crappy LA traffic).  We stopped at the only restaurant/ shop in between La Canada and Palmdale to see if they had any batteries for sale and learned that you need to pack EVERYTHING you will need on your trip before driving up the 2.  Some really nice guy gave us some batteries and told us that the campground we were originally going to stay at (Buckhorn) was full and that we should check out Chilao Campground, Manzanita loop.  We were fortunate as you don't get service anywhere up here.  We headed the campground where Sarah scooped out a few spots and picked the perfect one.

A view from our campsite

Chilao campground, Manzanita loop is full of single, double and quad camping spots.  They all have a fire ring, picnic table and tent area.  There are a bunch of faucets with potable water and even one in our campsite (26).  The bathrooms are vault toilets and can get pretty stinky and full of flies. That is, unless you are lucky enough to have someone place incense inside them, like we were.  There are no showers but plenty of places to hang a portable shower.  Some of the campers sounded like they were having somedrinks and lots of fun, but it wasn't anything too rowdy.  We both agreed that the best sites were on the upper loop because of the views.  We were able to see amazing wildflowers and sunsets over the mountains.

HIKING DAY 1:

Well, we were going to start off with a nice Mt. Bike ride but I rolled right into a huge angry bush 2 minutes into the ride and popped my tire.  With no spare tubes (dummies), we looked into a local hike and decided to hike  the Burkhart Trail from Buckhorn Campground.  There is a small parking lot for day hikers near the trail head along with a single bathroom.  The hike follows the mountain down to a creek then follows the creek to a small waterfall with a pool.  After that you will contine to follow the creek until you meet up with the Pacific Crest Trail.  Past this point the hike becomes more desert like and continues to Devils Punch Bowl.  We turned around at about 7.5 miles into the hike and came out doing 15 miles.  While on the last portion of the hike we met a trail blazer and his two horses.  His horse conveniently named Rascal had his bags stuck on a part of the mountain, and refused to move any further. So I helped take them off and became a pack horse myself by carrying them for a quarter mile up the road.  All in all it was a really pretty hike but I think next time we will turn around at the PCT.

After a long hike it was nice to get back to the campsite, take a shower (from our portable shower with our neighboring campers peering in) and relax.  We popped open a bottle  of wine since it happened to be our 6 month anniversary of dating, and took some photos while watching the sunset. Beware of the beautiful, but poisonous, poodle dog bush! Later that night we munched down some fajitas and some s'mores for dessert.

Checking out the sunset

HIKING DAY 2:
After a slow morning we were packed and heading to our second hike, Mt. Waterman Loop.  The entrance is on the right hand side right before the Buckhorn Campground.  Park in the lot across the road (there are no bathrooms here)  You will see a big silver sign but nothing is really legible on it.  From the sign you continue left and follow the trail through beautiful views, trees and rock gardens to a trail crossing.  If you head right, go 3/4 and stay right you will head up a steep incline to the top of Mt. Waterman.  This is an amazing lunch break spot.  You can head back down to the sign and continue the hike but we decided to head back down the way we came as we didn't have a map.

Climbing some of the granite

Funny shaped rock

Scotty and Sarah

This was such an awesome trip for something thats so close.  We can't wait to go back!

Some things to think about before you go:

No cell service (bring maps and backup campground info)

Sites are $12, bring cash

No stores for miles, make sure you bring enough food and batteries :)

No ranger stations are open nearby, bring hiking maps

If your going Mt. Biking the plants are angry, bring spare tubes
Watch out for Poodle-dog Bush

- Scotty and Sarah