Sunday Surfing ~ Willow Lake Loop, Prescott AZ

5.7 miles of white dot marked easy trails with panoramic views...if this sounds like your cup of tea, this trail is for you. Three quarters of a mile were all that stood between closing the loop around Willow Lake and with the addition of this new segment you can seasonally make it all the way around. This newest part of the trail, the East Bay trail segment does pass along shallow lake bed which sometimes fills up with water, making it in passable for part of the year.

I am really excited about this new addition and can't wait to hike it myself...hope to catch you on the trail, soon.

Challenging Life's Challenges

Sometimes the shortest distance is the greatest challenge. Whether it is scaling a steep rock by fingers and toes or limping down a gentle slope with a grievous injury, circumstances often provide greater challenges than Mother Nature herself. And it's with overcoming these obstacles that we often find our greatest source of healing and release.

How many times have you looked at a challenge and taken it to find empowerment on the other side? Crossing the Grand Canyon, hiking alone into the desert for an over nighter, vision quest, or maybe just pushing a temporary condition past it's limit to prove to yourself that everything was going to be ok? We need our obstacles to have something to master, to prove to ourselves that yes.we.can.

Earlier this month on vacation I had a mis-hap that left me unable to even step up a curb without help. A scant week later I stared up the little mountain on Airport Mesa, wanting so much to feel the air on my face and gaze at the valley below. A gentle upward slope, trail cut with stair steps, only maybe 50 steps between the parking lot and where I wanted to be. 50 steps bigger than the curb of a week before. Walking stick in hand, leaning heavily, pain coating each movement, I slowly made my way to the top. And standing there, a desert breeze rustling my hair, I knew that somehow, eventually I would be ok.

Sunday Surfing ~ The Kitchen On Your Back, Aussie Style

I ran across this vid and was enchanted by the girl in it...she is just plain "spunky"! While it doesn't look like the Aussies have an secrets over us, she does give a couple of ideas that I had forgotten about (like searching Asian Markets). Give a listen and see if you do everything she does, and if you try some of her recipes, well, don't forget to wash your "billie"...

Sunday Surfing ~ Freezer Bag Cooking

Haven't tried this yet on hot foods, but I am intrigued by the possibilities :)

Where I've Been and Great Local Bulk Food Offerings

So, although I didn't mean to, I've been strangely absent from blogging in general and this blog in particular. I looked so forward to January...after the Holiday rush and deliciously cool weather to explore the Arizona Trails. This January though, something special happened. It seems that this was the year that I was destined to learn some new skills. I received an opportunity to be part of a certification program for an industry I have always been interested in and I jumped at the chance to learn a little more. Long story short, the program was such a success for me that I opened up a second business and, well, that's where I've been. Now, even with running two businesses, there has been some downtime and while I would have loved to go hiking, new skill number 2 came into being, really learning to paddle. My husband and his buddies have been doing it for a few years and I would jump in and sit off shore a bit, but this year marks the time I decided to really be active with this. So, between these couple of new things, I haven't much made it anywhere except a few yards up Thunder Mountain Trail in Sedona (which I really need to tell you about sometime because it was a short but momentous hike).

With all that said, I did want to share a special find with you. Winco recently opened here in the Phoenix area and I was really impressed with their bulk food section. They boast over 600 items in their bulk department and there is so much for us Outsiders in terms of dehydrated foods. This is truly a "just add water and your imagination" situation. My current favorite find there is the # 2172 Soup mix, vegetable blend. So far I've used it to bulk up dried chicken soup, added it to tuna salad and tried it just on it's own.  I've also gotten the dried refried beans, cheese sauce powder and based on how good these were, looking forward to making the dried grits. Along with having a huge selection of items great for the trail, many of them come with recipes, making it easy to understand the basics so you can advance to your own crazy concoctions. I highly recommend you check it out. Phoenix currently has two locations, both on West Bell Road. Hope to see you there!

Sunday Surfing ~ The Peavine Trail, Prescott, AZ

Prescott has such a varied landscape, from acres of grazing land (where I saw my first herd of pronghorn antelope) to the monoliths of Granite Dells. This vid shows just a bit of the variation on a very easy hike with great views of Watson Lake. One of the few Rails to Trails projects, this six mile trail was actually cut by the Santa Fe Railway in 1893. Take a walk from your couch now and plan to visit it in person, soon.

When Good Things Go Bad...My Experience Yesterday At One Of My Favorite Outdoor Stores

I want to preface this by warning that this is a rant...a long one. I'm frustrated and need to vent. If you choose to read from here, know that this is a blog post of textbook proportions...and a eulogy to what I considered one of the great events of my outdoor world.

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REI, you had such a good thing going...why, oh why...

Sometimes an event lives great because it offers so much more than it intends. When it's a store putting it on for the sake of it's customers (and I'd like to think as a thank you for loyalty) it goes far beyond a vehicle for making a sale.

We have loved the Garage Sale that this location put on for so very long. We would get in line at 5am with the other die hards and laugh at the people waking up in their sleeping bags (while secretly wishing that we had the cojones to do the same since they were going to get the VERY best deals). A couple years running Krispy Kreme came across the street with boxes of donuts to cheer our early morning wait.

But it was the people that made it. We'd hang out in the early morning hours with other outdoor enthusiasts trading stories and secrets about local trails, lakes and camping sites.

...and then, with nervous excitement we'd charge into the parking lot like mad men, snatching up sleeping bags and hiking shoes for pennies on the dollar, thanking the REI gods that we, the chosen few, the members, would have such an opportunity to feed our equipment cravings at unheard of prices.

Flash forward to yesterday...I evidently missed the memo that the "new and improved" garage sale was happening in the store, up in the clinic room. Clutching my 20% off coupon we made our way through the crowded parking lot, J. with visions of using it for a new bike seat while I ready to fight him for a chance to restock my hiking sock drawer at 20% savings. We walked in to signs advertising the garage sale and  a very long line of people waiting to go up stairs for their finds of the year. J. got in line and I went to hunt for new feet cushions. Several minutes later, he found me to let me know that he had to get out of line to get tickets for the sale, but was assured that it was a 30 minute wait and he was going to  the bike department until our numbers were called.

I was dubious...the line looked like it was for an E-ticket ride at Disneyland and the people in it weren't looking any happier than if it was 98º with screaming kids at said park. Long story short...it was 2 full hours before we were called to that upstairs secret clubhouse. Once there, we were told we had a very generous 10 minutes to shop...we picked up a few things. set them down in frustration when neither of us could get to the clothes and walked out of the store empty handed.

REI management, this is an epic fail in my opinion. You turned a wonderful community event into a vehicle to hold your members hostage in hopes of their making full price purchases while waiting for a disappointing chance to make the killer buy that we dreamed yearly about...and worse yet, you didn't even make the sale that we intended...you didn't sell the $53 bike seat, you didn't sell the $17.95 socks but you did manage to piss off a couple of members who have been on your roster for 25 years.

Sometimes a sales event is more than the sum of the profits or in this case the decluttering of the returns bin. Sometimes it's a way to show your customers the loyalty they've shown you... we heard repeatedly that this was much easier on the employees and management than the old parking lot sale. This was much harder on us as consumers and so unsatisfying to wait two hours for a 10 minute opportunity. The parking lot sale was  one day of chaos for the employees a couple times a year...is that too much to ask from a store that we've been loyal too for half our lives?

Pinnacle Peak, A Scottsdale Favorite

I love this hike...can I just say that up front? Even though it is often heavily trafficked, I always feel like I have enough space to cruise along at my own pace, able to stop and enjoy the changing view.  I'm intrigued by the pinnacle, walls of granite that seem to change shape to me as the light changes, I could watch them forever.

Smooth trails take you up about 1300 feet to beautiful views of Scottsdale and beyond. The Sierra Club has rated this a moderate hike but I do feel that the mountain itself has enough little nooks and crannies to stop and sit or lean against that it's doable for most people, taken slow enough.  Whether meandering like I like to do or jogging to the summit the wide, groomed trail takes you through beautiful plants and vistas along it's 1.75 miles. It's a one way trail for hikers (meaning you double back) that summits at 2889' and there are multiple areas for experienced rock climbers, too. This is a very popular hike so be prepared for both hikers and joggers to share the trail with you. Also be aware that dogs and bikes are not allowed here. 




Parking is ample and water, restrooms and shade are provided at the base. I love hanging out after I get done and just watching the birds and other small animals from the shade of the ramada. The hours change according to the season, but basically run sunrise to sunset. Detailed info can be found here.

Me and The Peak.