Waterfall – On the Loose Live

Chasing Waterfalls and Taking the Plunge, Upper Calf Creek Falls, Escalante, UT

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022livevigorously

Short, steep, and super sweet waterfall and pools hike. The upper sister to Lower Calf Creek Falls— both doable in a day if you’re into chasing waterfalls and plunging into icy pools.

Elevation gain/loss ~600ft (per alltrails), 1,476ft (per Garmin) – uh, idk, split the difference? (Felt like more than 600ft and less than 1,400.) Let me know what elevation reading you get.

Miles: 2-3 RT, depending on how much you wander and explore.

Difficulty: Easyish, depending upon knee health and fitness level—Starts and ends with a half mile of steep slickrock descent and ascent, respectively – daunting to many – all the better for the few.

Highlights: Dramatic Navajo Sandstone slickrock landscape with expansive vistas, an 87-foot-high waterfall, and a couple cool (in more ways than 1) pools set in a shady riparian oasis.

Getting there is half the fun: The trailhead is 22.4 miles NE of Escalante between mileposts 81 and 82 off of UT-12, which is one of the most beautiful scenic byways in Utah, and many would argue in the entire US. Parking is free.

Post Hike Rewards at Escalante Outfitters—their Pizza is the Best!!!

Ravishing (but overrun) Red Reef, Hurricane, UT

March 14, 2021June 17, 2022livevigorously

Short and splendid, this incredibly scenic area features a waterfall, a creek, a slot canyon, a cave, a mini-rock / rope climb, cliffs to scale—oh, my! So much is the span of a short out and back trail (2 miles total). It’s like a mini-Zion. The bad news is that it has the crowds to match. (Sigh.) (Reality pic is the last one in the slide show.) Thankfully everyone is respecting the natural beauty and leaving no trace. The good news is that solitude it just an upcliff scramble or mini-rope rock climb away…

My friend, Robin, easily managing the moki steps in the pics below – looks more treacherous than it is.

Beyond the Moki steps, you’ll find more scrambling “opportunities” and more great views.

Getting there: Exit 22 towards UT-228 N, right on old highway 91 to the Red Cliffs National Conservation area

Fee: $5

Mae Wang Bike & Trek Day 1

April 16, 2017May 23, 2017livevigorously

Tour company: Green Trails Guide: Tui My rating: Excellent, highly recommend

After lunch, we drove another hour climbing steadily North alongside a river and happy Songkran celebrants young and old. (Thai New Year Festival is April 13-15.) Songkran traditions include visiting local temples and offering food to the Buddhist monks and drizzling water on Buddha statues. This water ritual symbolizes the cleansing of one’s sins and bad luck. Paying reverence to ancestors and returning home are also an important part of the Songkran tradition.

The holiday is perhaps best known for its water festival, which is mostly celebrated by the young and young at heart. Basically, it’s a countrywide, good natured water fight.

Traveling in the back of a tourist transport truck we were sitting ducks for playful ambush by hoses, buckets and hopped up water guns from both sides of the road and passing trucks. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this as I didn’t have a waterproof case for my camera. (I do have one for my cell phone so I will try to capture some of the fun upon return to Chiang Mai.)

We started trekking in the heat of the day. (About 103 F.) My travel buddy Walter and I were on a “join in” tour, but no one else joined so it was our private tour. We didn’t see any other foreigners until the end of the last day.

Trek Geeks

Starting the climb out of the valley

It was a hot, dry, upward slog. Far drier and a bit scrappier of a trail than I’d imagined. Of course, April is the hottest and driest month of the year. How hot was it? So hot there were no mosquitoes even along the stream that we followed up to a waterfall. Ahh, what a refreshing reward at the halfway point and an our first introduction to a couple of Karen tribesmen.

As my Dad used to say, “How refreshing!”

Some of my favorite pics of today’s trek are these of a local at the waterfall and a farmer and his ranch. The crop is peanuts, rotating from rice. I’m using my new Nikkon D3400 for most of these. (My first “real” camera.) Can you tell the difference?

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What an incredible experience this is! Up a hill and around the corner, an unexpected surprise…to be continued…

Mae Wang 3 Day Bike & Trek Adventure: Bike Portion

April 16, 2017June 2, 2017livevigorously

Tour company: Green Trails My rating: Excellent, highly recommend

Cycling level: Easy (While this was pitched as a half day tour it is very slow paced and doesn’t cover that much ground, but it is followed by 3 hours of moderately tough hiking in tropical heat so it’s a nice warm up.

Trekking level: Moderate++

Guide: Tui (Interesting fact, our guide does many different types of tours, and took Anthony Bourdain on a street food tour of Chang Mai. Hey Anthony, you missed out because Tui is also an incredible chef. He made us a couple of incredible dinner feasts in the mountain villages of the Karen Hill tribe. Video, pics and posts to follow.

8AM Our tour guide picked us up at our hotel in Change Mai. We loaded up and jumped into the back of the truck. (A bit rough and tired, but excited to embark.)

Notice the sky in this picture? So much for fresh mountain air. My first impression upon arriving at the airport in Chang Mai was “YIKES”. I haven’t seen smog as bad as this in a while. I was hoping it wouldn’t be like this in Mae Wang where we were heading. My second impression was hey, I thought it was supposed to be cooler here than Bangkok.

9:30 We started our adventure cycling dirt and narrow concrete roads through the rural lowlands, passing seldom visited Lanna style temples and various agricultural fields. We also stopped at paper making factory that was closed for the holiday. We were saw some of the materials they use mulberry trees pulp and the vats they use with natural dyes. Just had my cell phone on me for this portion. Wish I’d taken more photos en route, but I was in a bit of jet lag fog. Lots of great photos of the trek and tribe experience to come.

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We hopped back into the truck after our ride and headed further north into the mountains, stopping for a savory and sumptuous lunch (chicken and pork dishes) and supplies at a local market.

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Stay tuned for the trekking portion. It was AMAZING!