I have to admit, Japan has never been a country high on my list of must visit places. Being called one of the most expensive countries to visit, it’s a place Louis and I decided to splurge for ten days on our way to visit family in China. The trip all started from Louis’s mom insisting we pay homage to his relatives in China after our wedding in the U.S. When I saw plane tickets to Tokyo for $700, I knew this was the perfect chance to loop in Japan during our mandatory family visit. Continue reading
Antelope Valley Slot Canyons
I’ve always wanted to tour the Antelope Valley Slot Canyons in Page, Arizona. Since The Wave in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness was located only 35 miles northeast of the famous slot canyons, we convinced our friends to add this stop to our road trip before heading home to Southern California.
There are different portions of the slot canyons to visit, since most are on private Indian reservations, all visitors are required to be accompanied by a tour guide. After doing a bit of research on the different slot canyon tours, I decided to go with Ken’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tour because of the cheaper price and no advanced reservation was necessary.
Trail Report: The Wave, Arizona
After spending a day hiking around Zion National Park, we spent another night in Hurricane and left early Sunday morning and headed towards The Wave, in Arizona.The drive from Hurricane to The Wave is about 2 hours. One thing we forgot to take into account was the time difference between Utah and Arizona, since this was before day lights savings time, we actually gained an hour going from Utah to Arizona and made it to the trail head around 7:30 AM. Once you turn off from Hwy 89 onto Red Rock Canyon Road, the road becomes unpaved and this last 10 mile stretch will take about 30 minutes depending on the road condition and weather. Based on our permit, a high clearance, 4WD vehicle came highly recommended but since there was no rain in the recent forecast, we decided to test out the road with our 2WD. The trail was surprisingly well maintained and luckily, we arrived at the trail head with no problems.
My recommendation for anyone who wants to drive a 2WD to The Wave is to check the weather forecast and make sure there is no rain predicted in the forecast. The soil is fine and clayey on the road, with rain, it would be VERY easy to get stuck.
The start of the trail, note the bright pink permit I had to hang off my backpack. Only 20 people are allowed on this trail per day.
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Trail Report- Zion National Park Angel’s Landing and Canyon Overlook Trail
Back in July, I was selected as one of the lucky lottery recipients with a day hike pass to the Wave, in Arizona. For more details of how I applied for the lottery, see old post HERE.
On the last weekend of October, the trip to The Wave finally came. Since our day hike for The Wave was on Sunday, we decided to string on a couple stops to make the weekend trip more memorable. First stop was an old favorite, Zion National Park to hike the famous Angel’s Landing.
Gear Review: Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Quick and Dirty
Gear Type: Water Filter
Trail weight: 2 ozs
Price: $20-25
Link: Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Pros: Ultralight, Reliable, Compact, 0.1 microns, modular.
Cons: Fragile bags, slow gravity filtration.
When Sawyer released the Squeeze Point One Filter (Squeeze), it immediately became a hit. At 3-4 ozs for 0.1 microns, it was light enough for non-filter users and iodine tablet users to make the switch. We have been using the Squeeze filter over the past few months and love the weight savings.


