Just outside of Page, Arizona, you can see this pretty view of the Colorado River at the Horseshoe Bend. It is just a short walk from the highway and well worth it although it was really hot today.
Category: travel
Watson Lake, Prescott, AZ
Watson Lake is just outside Prescott. It is surrounded by granite rock formations some of which are very nice for climbing. It is possible to rent kayaks or hike around the lake. Popular also is to pack a picknick and spend a day in the park next to the lake. There are hiking trails around the lake and many just do some rock hopping along the water front.
The cliff we found for climbing was very close to the water and had 5 routes. The wall was well protected (easy to place gear that felt safe) and had a couple of very nice routes. It was not difficult but a nice start of our climbing holiday. 🙂
Want to see more photos from Watson Lake? Click here.
Climbing in Prescott
Yesterday, after having lunch with my ex-colleagues, we drove up from Phoenix to Prescott. We wanted to camp by Watson Lake but found that it is only allowed during the weekend. So with some help from a park ranger we found another place to stay by Lynx Lake. The campgrounds are really nice with benches, fire rings and toilets.
At the campground with new vacation hair cut. 🙂
After a good night sleep we drove back to Watson Lake to do some climbing. There is a nice wall with 5 or 6 routes in the correct level for us. The views of the area from the top of the wall were beautiful. After climbing today with our twin ropes we decided to buy a single rope for shorter climbs like the ones today. So we plan to go back tomorrow morning to try it out before moving on.
All packed and eager to go
The car is now packed and just waiting for it’s next adventure. Yesterday we left the apartment and I worked the last day in Phoenix. Now I am at the airport waiting for the flight that will take me closer to home. I will spent a couple of weeks in Sweden, Andy in Switzerland and we will meet back up here in Phoenix 4 June to start our trip.
It is starting to feel very real now with so little time to go. And it will go fast I believe, I have a quite busy schedule in Stockholm in order to meet family and friends and 4 days of work are still remaining too. Probably need a long holiday after that. 😉
Our soon to be home – FJ Cruiser
Last week we put together our soon to be home for 4-5 months this summer. The car is serviced, washed and all eager to go.
This is the car and the boxes we custom made for it. It is a bit of a hassle to get them in place. They have some sharp edges and are fairly heavy which makes it a workout to mount.
The drawers we usually use for our cool box, food, water and cooking stuff. This is what they look like in place.
In the images below you can see the front box which is basically a storage box with 2 compartments. These are great to store backpacks, camping gear and other things you don’t need if you are on the road. The second image shows what it looks like when the extensions are in place and it is all ready for sleeping. It might look short but we do actually fit straight lying down. Good thing none of us is very tall, then we might have had to get a different car.
It looks very clean and roomy right now but wait until we put all our stuff in there. The boxes are full and there is lots of things also on top of the boxes. Usually during the day we just fold the mattresses once without completely deflating them in order to make it easier to make the beds at night. This takes up a lot of space during the day but is all worth it when you just want to go to sleep.
Could you imaging living like this for a year or so? 😉
No return – full time travelling, hiking, climbing
I made a decision and now there is no return. I recently quit my job so that Andy and I can live a dream and go travel for a year or so. The main activities will be hiking and climbing. It has always been a dream of mine to do such a trip but it is not easy to find someone who wants to come along for the ride. A few years ago I met Andy who has the same interests and is willing to live cheap and out of a car for a long time. Although it sounds fantastic to not work and just play I realize that it will also be tough not to have a home and always have to live out of a suitcase (or backpack in this case). But what I am looking forward to and what was the main purpose of this kind of trip is to not have any responsibilities except to yourself, no work to go back to, not having to do anything if I don’t want to. Imaging the freedom of doing today what you feel like and not what you have to. Maybe that is not the correct way to express it, I guess we have all chosen our lives and even if it feels like we have to do things we have put ourselves in the situation where we have to do certain things to be able to maintain a lifestyle or care for other people. I did that too in a way. Before I worked a lot for some time to then take time off and go travel, dive and hike. The trips I made were quite expensive and although my job allowed me to take longer holidays on several occasions there was always a time when I had to go back. This time I have chosen to quit my job entirely and live on little money but instead be able to stay on the road for a long time. What will limit our trip is money or if we simply don’t feel like travelling anymore. I think the second one will happen first.
Andy and I have been talking about making a long trip basically since we met but it was never certain exactly when we would do it. Now seemed to be a good time for several reasons. So tickets has been booked and the route is USA-Canada-Hawaii-New Zealand-Australia-Hong Kong-Stockholm. The plan is to return to Sweden in July 2013 and spend the summer in Stockholm. After that we’ll see what happens. We might stay or move to Switzerland which is Andy’s home country. If we have not decided something else on the way that is.
The 23 May we will be returning to Stockholm from Phoenix, were we have lived since Jan 2011, and my last working day will be 31 May. 4 June is the day when it all begins. Then we are going back to Phoenix to pick up our car which we bought here a year ago. It is a Toyota FJ Cruiser which is prepared for camping and will be our home in USA and Canada for the summer.
Our home in Needles, Canyonlands, Utah
You will be able to follow our trip on this blog. I hope you will and that you enjoy it.