I fount this video of Ira Glass that inspired me. He was speaking to me. I have great taste, I have ambitions of creating great videos, but I know I’m in the “gap” he refers to.

So in the spirit of closing the gap, I’ve produced—and published—my first video podcast. My co-author Steve and I just launched 100hikesinutah.com, a video podcast where we talk about the trails we put in our book, share some of the experiences we had, and show a handful of extra pictures that weren’t in the book. Our first episode is about Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park.

It hurts just a little to see myself on film, but I’m hoping it helps move me along so I can produce something equal to my taste. You can view the site here:

www.100hikesinutah.com

The Narrows at Zions National Park are truely amazing. I remember vividly our trip down Orderville Canyon, which empties into the narrows. It was the last weekend in October that permits could be obtained. It was Sunny when we started, but by the time we reached the narrows it was overcast and very cold. The wetsuits helped, but swimming wasn’t any fun that day. I remember walking down the narrows with our wetsuits, packs, and ropes and having everyone just kind of stare. I’m sure they were thinking, “what a bunch of nut jobs.” However, I saw the climbers on their porta-ledges and was reminded that there will always be someone more nuts than me.

This hike can be found on page 197 of 100 Hikes in Utah.

This photo was actually taken in Willis Creek while hiking the Bull Valley Gorge. (100 Hikes in Utah, pg. 146)

Quandary Canyon was one of the hardest hikes we put in our book. I think we prefaced the discription with something to the effect of “if you don’t know what you’re doing here you may die.” This is one of two pictures we took because we were so busy trying to get to the end. We had just put down our packs to get our our climbing shoe. Just out of sight downcanyon was nasty litle ledge we had to scale with no good protection.

When I was 14 my best friend’s dad took us on a trip through Buckskin. It was my first real hiking adventure and the start of my love for hiking. The start of the hike through Wire Pass was mind blowing. Squeezing through the canyon, removing our packs in spots to get through, made the hike 100 times more adventurous than anything I had done to that point. Having the energy of 14 year olds, my friends and I hiked ahead of the group and placed rocks in the mud as stepping stones for the rest of the group. Eventually we came to a pool that was too deep for rocks. I’ll always remember wading through the cold, stinky water. To me, this hike was epic and will always be on my list of favorite spots in Utah to visit.

Photo by Steve Mann. A description for this hike can be found on page 132.

Photo by Steve Mann. A description for this hike can be found on page 132.