{"id":30086,"date":"2018-12-03T03:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/?p=30086"},"modified":"2021-08-11T06:44:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T12:44:04","slug":"12-photos-from-2018-that-will-inspire-you-to-get-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/12-photos-from-2018-that-will-inspire-you-to-get-outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Photos From 2018 That Will Inspire You to Get Outdoors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Lanza<\/p>\n

What adventures did you take in 2018 that inspired you? I hope you enjoyed at least a few. I did. The\u00a012 photos in this story are favorite\u00a0images from some of the trips I took over the past year. They included hiking in Zion (twice) and Bryce Canyon national parks; backpacking off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in spring and returning in fall to dayhike the canyon rim to rim to rim over two magnificent days; rock climbing in Yosemite; backpacking and scrambling peaks in Idaho\u2019s Sawtooths; and putting an exclamation point on the year with a 90-mile traverse of Glacier National Park on the Continental Divide Trail.<\/p>\n

Scroll through these photos, each of which is accompanied by a short anecdote from the trip and links to existing stories at The Big Outside. I hope they help inspire you to start planning your adventures for 2019. After all, these are the experiences that give meaning to our lives.<\/p>\n

Watch for my upcoming stories about some of the places in these photos to be published in coming months at this blog, each with numerous images and my expert tips on planning those trips.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to hear what you think of any of my photos or the places shown in them, or upcoming plans you have. Please share your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this story.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Joanne Lanza (me mum) on the Canyon Overlook Trail in Zion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hiking in Zion National Park<\/h3>\n

En route to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for a backpacking trip (see below), three friends and I spent part of a day in Zion, dayhiking the Observation Point Trail with the side trip to Hidden Canyon, where we explored as far as hikers can go up that slot canyon\u2014at one point walking beneath an owl napping on a tree branch. I\u2019ve been to Zion several times now; these days, each return feels like a visit with an old friend whom I don\u2019t see nearly enough.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
An owl in Hidden Canyon, Zion National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Angels Landing<\/a>, The Narrows<\/a>, and the Subway<\/a>, and other trails in Zion may be better known, the Observation Point Trail delivers classic Zion scenery as soon as you step onto the trail. It passes through a narrow side canyon with water pools and soaring walls on an ascent of over 2,000 feet in four miles (one-way) that culminates at a point on the rim high above Zion Canyon\u2014even Angels Landing looks small from up there.<\/p>\n

I was fortunate to return a second time to Zion, in October, to spend three days hiking with my 81-year-old mom (whose hiking resume includes climbing Mount St. Helens<\/a> and trekking hut to hut in Norway\u2019s Jotunheimen National Park<\/a>\u2014both in her seventies). She and I made it nearly to the top of the Observation Point Trail\u2014not bad for someone who\u2019s 81\u2014dayhiked partway up The Narrows, and hiked the half-mile Canyon Overlook Trail along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway to a stunning view from the rim of a broad tributary canyon of Zion Canyon. Those hikes featured sightings of about 10 bighorn sheep.<\/p>\n

See a menu of the many stories about Zion National Park<\/a> at The Big Outside.<\/p>\n

Click here now<\/a> to get my e-guide The Complete Guide to Backpacking Zion’s Narrows.<\/h4>\n
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\"\"<\/strong>Hi, I\u2019m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several\u00a0top outdoors blog<\/a> lists.\u00a0Click here<\/a> to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Subscribe now<\/a> to get full access to all of my blog\u2019s stories. Click here<\/a> to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Please follow my adventures on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Youtube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>
Jeff Wilhelm at a waterfall on the Deer Creek Trail in the Grand Canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Backpacking and Dayhiking in the Grand Canyon<\/h3>\n

Any year with two trips to the Grand Canyon is a good one, and I managed to pull that off in 2018. In May, three friends and I backpacked for four days on the 25-mile Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop off the North Rim. While the heat was a constant challenge and the hiking is tough, we got to explore a unique corner of the Big Ditch, with rare desert oases along vibrant creeks and some of the canyon\u2019s prettiest waterfalls. One, the spring-fed Thunder River, erupts from the face of a cliff.<\/p>\n

Read about that trip and see more photos, a video, and my tips on how to plan and pull it off in my story \u201cBackpacking the Grand Canyon\u2019s Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
David Ports hiking the Grand Canyon’s South Kaibab Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I returned to the canyon in October, this time to the South Rim with my wife and another couple to dayhike from the South Rim to the North Rim and back again over two days. On our first morning, we descended the South Kaibab Trail\u2014one of the 20 best national park dayhikes in America<\/a>\u2014as glorious dawn light spread across a vast sweep of the Grand Canyon splayed out before us. (My advice: Hike down the South Kaibab in early morning\u2014at least once in your life.) The hike up the North Kaibab Trail to the North Rim is twice as long as the South Kaibab, but more varied, going from the narrow canyon of lower Bright Angel Creek to the trail\u2019s upper section in Roaring Springs Canyon, where you walk a footpath blasted out of the face of a cliff. Little wonder that I list it among \u201cMy 25 Most Scenic Days of Hiking Ever<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

See my \u201cPhoto Gallery: Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim<\/a>\u201d and scroll down to Grand Canyon on my All National Park Trips page<\/a> for a menu of all stories about the Grand Canyon at The Big Outside.<\/p>\n

Click here now<\/a> for my expert e-guide to hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim.<\/h4>\n
\"Rock<\/a>
My son, Nate, atop Eichorn Pinnacle in Yosemite National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rock Climbing in Yosemite<\/h3>\n

My teenage son, Nate, and I arrived in Yosemite for a few days of rock climbing the day after the Ferguson fire blew up in mid-July. While that fire grew, choking Yosemite Valley in smoke\u2014forcing us to abandon plans to climb the Snake Dike up the Southwest face of Half Dome\u2014we had some smoke but stunning scenery nonetheless while climbing domes and cliffs in the Tuolumne Meadows area. The trip highlight was climbing the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak.<\/p>\n

We climbed several hundred feet of beautiful granite, getting increasingly more expansive views of Yosemite as we got higher. In calm air and comfortable temps on the pointed summit of Cathedral, at nearly 11,000 feet, we felt on top of the world\u2014and it was pretty darn special to be up there together. Given the good weather and abundant daylight left, we climbed Eichorn Pinnacle, the dramatic spire on the shoulder of Cathedral. I nabbed the photo above of Nate atop Eichorn, minutes after I had rappelled off.<\/p>\n

Find your next adventure in your Inbox. Sign up for my FREE email newsletter<\/a> now.<\/em><\/h4>\n

My 17-year-old called it the best day of alpine rock climbing he\u2019s ever done. Yuh, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

Read my story about that climbing trip, \u201cWhen Your Kid Gets Better Than You<\/a>.\u201d And see my stories \u201cRoof of the High Sierra: A Father-Son Climb of Mount Whitney<\/a>,\u201d \u201cBackpacking 150 Miles Through Wildest Yosemite<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe 10 Best Dayhikes in Yosemite<\/a>,\u201d and a menu of the many stories about Yosemite National Park<\/a> at The Big Outside.<\/p>\n

Yearning to backpack in Yosemite? See my e-guides<\/a> to three amazing multi-day hikes there.<\/h4>\n
\"A<\/a>
Robert Elliott on Horstman Peak in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Backpacking and Climbing Peaks in the Sawtooths<\/h3>\n

Since I moved to Idaho 20 years ago, it has come to feel like a year isn\u2019t complete until I\u2019ve walked through the Sawtooth Mountains. Fortunately, I made 2018 very complete with a few trips there, starting with backcountry skiing in late winter, followed by a pair of August hikes: backpacking with my family and various adult and teenage friends, and a long, mostly off-trail dayhike to scramble a pair of 10,000-foot peaks with three friends.<\/p>\n

On that four-day backpacking trip of a bit under 30 miles, from Redfish Lake to Pettit Lake, we hit some of the nicest valleys, passes, and mountain lakes in the Sawtooth Wilderness: the Redfish Creek valley (which always looks to me like it belongs in Yosemite), Cramer Lakes and Cramer Divide, Edna Lake, and personal favorites Toxaway Lake, Twin Lakes, and Alice Lake, plus the magnificent pass that separates them.<\/p>\n

I can help you plan a Sawtooths trip or any other trip you read about at my blog. Find out more here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n
\"Backpackers<\/a>
My son and two buddies backpacking in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two weeks after that, I was back to hike-scramble the highest peak in the Sawtooths, 10,751-foot Thompson<\/a>, and a neighbor a few miles to its south, 10,470-foot Horstman Peak<\/a>. Both involve steep hiking and exposed scrambling on rock that no sane person would describe as stable\u2014especially Horstman, which has very complicated route-finding and a summit ridge that\u2019s both thrilling and unnerving. Both summits, cold and windy that August day, gave us vistas spanning most of the Sawtooth Mountains, the bucolic valley of the Salmon River, the White Cloud Mountains<\/a> to the east, and the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness<\/a> to the north. We made that long day even longer by descending off Horstman into the bushwhacking-and-swampy hell of Fishhook Creek\u2014a mistake I\u2019ve made in the past and vowed never to repeat, and this time I mean it.<\/p>\n

Watch for my upcoming stories about both of those trips at The Big Outside. Meanwhile, see my stories \u201cThe Roof of Idaho\u2019s Sawtooths: Hiking Thompson Peak<\/a>,\u201d \u201cAsk Me: What Are the Best Hikes in Idaho\u2019s Sawtooths?<\/a>\u201d and all of my stories about the Sawtooths<\/a> at The Big Outside.<\/p>\n

Want to read any story linked here? Get full access to ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus a FREE e-guide. Subscribe now<\/a>!<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Todd Arndt at Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Backpacking Glacier National Park<\/h3>\n

After wildfires forced three friends and I to abort plans for a roughly 90-mile, north-south traverse of Glacier National Park on the Continental Divide Trail in September 2017, we returned in September this year with a permit for the exact same itinerary. And once again, wildfires threatened to nix our plans\u2014an annual threat to backcountry plans anywhere in the West under the new normal of climate change (and as you\u2019ve read, wildfires affected three of the trips I\u2019ve written about in this article).<\/p>\n

\"Backpackers<\/a>
Backpacking the Piegan Pass Trail in Glacier National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But snow and rain right before our arrival tamped down the flames and smoke, and we pulled it off this year in bluebird late-summer weather. We hiked for six days from Chief Mountain Trailhead at the Canadian border to Two Medicine, mostly on the CDT, but adding on the wonderful, high traverse from Pitamakan Pass to Dawson Pass above Two Medicine, overlooking a sea of icy peaks in the heart of Glacier.<\/p>\n

The trip gave us the complete Glacier experience: glassy lakes reflecting jagged peaks, mountain passes with panoramas of endless chains of rocky peaks and soaring cliffs, plus sightings of bighorn sheep and one grizzly bear that refused to politely yield the trail to us. After almost three decades of wilderness\u00a0backpacking all over the U.S.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0around the world<\/a>, rarely does a new trip immediately leap onto my list of all-time top 10 backpacking trips<\/a>\u2014but this one did just that.<\/p>\n

Watch for my upcoming feature story about this trip at The Big Outside. Until then, see my short blog post about that trip, \u201cPhoto Gallery: Backpacking the CDT Through Glacier National Park<\/a>,\u201d and all of my many stories about Glacier National Park<\/a> at this blog.<\/p>\n

Click here now<\/a> for my e-guide to backpacking the Northern Loop in Glacier!<\/h4>\n
\"A<\/a>
My mom hiking the Peek-a-Boo Loop in Bryce Canyon National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hiking in Bryce Canyon<\/h3>\n

In October, after our three glorious days of hiking in Zion, my mom and I moved on to the higher and chillier terrain of Bryce Canyon National Park for a dayhike that, in my humble opinion, is the best one in Bryce.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Wall of Windows on the Peek-a-Boo Loop in Bryce Canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bryce may not have the scale, area, or diversity of scenery and experiences that\u2019s found in Zion, Grand Canyon, and other Southwest parks.<\/p>\n

But going back there reminded me just how inspiring it feels to walk amid that stone skyline of multi-colored hoodoos\u2014especially once you venture beyond the busier (but still very pretty) Navajo Loop onto the Peek-a-Boo Loop, which sees fewer hikers even though it has some of the finest scenery in the park.<\/p>\n

See my blog post \u201cPhoto Gallery: The Best Hike in Bryce Canyon<\/a>,\u201d and a menu of the numerous stories about hiking and backpacking in southern Utah<\/a> at The Big Outside.<\/p>\n

Tell me what you think.<\/h3>\n

I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons below, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I\u2019d really appreciate it.<\/h4>\n

The Big Outside helps you find the best adventures.\u00a0Subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to read ALL stories and get a free e-guide<\/span>!<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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&n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Lanza What adventures did you take in 2018 that inspired you? I hope you enjoyed at least a few. I did. The\u00a012 photos in this story are favorite\u00a0images from some of the trips I took over the past year. They included hiking in Zion (twice) and Bryce Canyon national parks; backpacking off the North Rim of the Grand … <\/p>\n

Read on<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[18,20,19,21,3894],"tags":[1652,1636,843,3881,1786,3780,3781,1673,3784,3870,1676,3882,22,73,1994,783,1230,1370,2438,159,3880,847,3783,1184,745,74,1231,1645,3869,3872,1659,1500,2418,97,3753,2820,211],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/06230044\/DSC_1719-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Michael Lanza","author_link":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/author\/michaelalanza\/"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/06230044\/DSC_1719-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNGJs-7Pg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47509,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30086\/revisions\/47509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}