The Grand Circle
After ingesting Last Month's Inspirational quote from
Chris McCandless' (Into The Wild) about man's need for an endlessly
changing horizon (I know you remember...if not
click here) I decided to make my
own, much tamer, journey.
So, I will be spending (10 days) backpacking through
Utah's National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Arches, etc) on what is known as the
"Grand Circle" adventure.
Click Here For Trip Outline
I am doing my best to walk the fine line between planning
enough to ensure survival but not so much that I am a slave to an
itinerary. In my next edition I will link to my daily blog featuring
pictures and rants about cold weather, hunger pangs and undomesticated
squirrels and other wildlife. If anyone has any advice or places I must see
along this route, let me know.
All the best
_________________________
Off-Road Jeep Adventure
I recently had the pleasure of escorting a group from a
local Midwest university on a day trip to the dunes in Northern
Michigan.
I drove up on a Wednesday afternoon because I wanted to test out the
new mobile office package I bought
(Picture
of New Mobile Office)
I picked up this great Jeep Grand Wagoneer ('86) with wood panels, and
bought a hammock, thinking I could use it in place of a tent when
hiking (hammock , not the Jeep). So, I got a space along Lake Michigan, tied my hammock from a
tree to my Jeep and settled in for the night. (Picture
of
Setup)
At about 3am it starting
pouring, which gave me a valid excuse to climb into the jeep. I say
excuse because I could not sleep in the hammock, but was not going to
let it beat me.
So the next morning I cooked a little breakfast and headed over to
meet the group for lunch.
They happened to be the Alumni Relations Department from the
University Notre Dame,
and since it was before the football season actually started, we were
discussing our potential national championship run (I went to Notre Dame
back in the day). As the season has played out, we found that the
championship is a bit further out of reach than first anticipated.
After having lunch at the Sands restaurant, we split up into 5 jeeps,
slipped them into 4-wheel, dropped the tire pressure down to about 15 psi and hit the dunes.
It was a shaky start as no one made it up the initial hill on the first
try. You really had to punch it and everyone was a bit skittish.
Well, after that first hiccup, speed was no longer a problem, in fact,
my group made sure we did not lack momentum ever again. I was riding in
back trying to take some pictures, but I spent most of the time bouncing
off everything, barely staying in the vehicle.
Halfway through I switched seats and took shotgun for the second half, letting
someone else enjoy the amusement ride going on back there. It was a lot
more chaotic then I expected, as you had Dune Buggys and ATVs
buzzing around and if you were not careful, you can really get into some
trouble. We came extremely close to burying our jeep into a dune and
ruining the transmission as we nosed into a hill at about 30 mph. Not
normally a big deal but we happened to be airborne and on the way back
down to earth when we hit the upslope.
We survived, headed back to base and they headed back to South Bend
covered in sand
Until Next time.
Darren Hitz
Hitz Adventures
p:248.910.8152
f :480.393.4077
darren@hitzadventures.com
www.hitzadventures.com
