A 600-mile trail system spreads throughout Winter Park and the Fraser Valley. These trails are great for either hiking or mountain biking, and have something for every skill level. Also known as “Mountain Bike Capital USA”, Winter Park hosts many bike races throughout the summer that are open to the general public. Winter Park Resort offers 50 miles of trails that can be accessed by chair lift, and it’s all downhill from there. You’ll need to purchase a lift pass, but your bike rides up for free. Before heading down you may want to stop at the Sunspot for lunch and enjoy 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. There is also a 18 hole disc golf course that may keep you up top for awile.

Winter Park Resort is also home of the longest Alpine Slide in Colorado! A 3000 foot long slide, with a 600 foot drop winding through the wilderness. At the base you can also find a miniature golf course, a climbing wall, Rock N’ Roll Gyro, Human Maze, Leaps & Bounds Bungee and a whole lot more.

If you are in search of fishing holes, you can wade 1,000 miles of streams, wander around 1,000 acres of high mountain lakes, or troll 11,000 acres of reservoirs. Rainbow, cutthroat, brown & brook trout can be found in most of the rivers, while mackinaw and kokanee salmon cruise the depths of the larger bodies of water. Having so much water also provides ample opportunities for rafting, canoeing or kayaking.

Music always sounds better with a backdrop like the Continental Divide, and free music concerts can be found just about everywhere in Winter Park all summer long. Music and food festivals also take place in the area, but generally cost up to $40 for admission. Events like the Jazz Festival and the Food, Wine & Beer Festival may require advance planning for stays in Winter Park.

Stay just a five minute walk from the base of Winter Park Resort. Slope View Bed and Breakfast offers views of the Continental Divide, unique amenities and a knowledgeable staff. 970-531-2386

Enjoy Great Summer Activities in the Heart of the Rocky Mountains is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

It was about an hour after dropping our lures in the water that we had a huge wahoo strike. All at once four of the rods bent to the extent that they looked like they were going to break. We were fishing with really light tackle and even lighter fishing line. We are only out there for the sport of it, so we take no fish that we catch, only pictures. Anyways as everyone on the boat was going crazy from the four rods screaming like they were about to blow up. You could feel the excitement in the cockpit of the boat, it was so think you could have cut it with a knife. We reeled in the other lines that didn’t have fish on them to get them out of the way, and started to fight these four fish that we had hooked up. After we lost one due to our own fault we got our first wahoo to the boat, and she was big about sixty pounds. It is a little tricky to get these fish un hooked and released but you can do it once someone with some experience shows you the right way to do it. Well we did the same with the other two witch went as big as the first but still nice size.

Once that first hookup came it seemed like we were just on fire, with fish practically fighting to eat our lures. That day we caught over 14 wahoo and 6 stripped marlin, all tagged and released. I will never forget this day and I can guarantee that the guys that were with me wont either. So if you ever get the chance to fish baja don’t pass it up, but please release what you dont need and keep conservation in mind. Its a very fragile ecosystem out there and we need to help preserve it.

Please keep conservation in mind.

Craig

http://www.savethepacific.org

East Cape Wahoo Strike is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

These safaris normally take place at a time the sun just starts lowering down on the western horizon and the sand dunes begin displaying larger shadows. The excitement of traveling straightway down from Dubai into a vast deserted land can be immeasurable in these circumstances. One normally encounters scattered villages and well-bred camels straying across on earth while being on these expeditions. The purple Arabian skies provide a very fitting backdrop for camping out in the desert as the evening finally sets in. Dubai is appreciated not only for its trade and commerce but also for the tourism activities it presents these days, and desert safaris may without doubt be stated as one of the key areas where these activities generally lay around at.

There are several available options for the tourists to get their safaris selected from. Generally all major hotels and resorts will get such trips organized when asked for by their clients. Guides are provided with all traveling parties for the duration beginning from the late afternoon start of any journey to the same night return later. Travelers should keep aware about the kind of topsy-turvy ride they might be about to undertake, as miles of sand dunes will be lying ahead in the path to be taken care of. Any lack of carefulness on part of the driver may cause the jeep to be overturned or get stuck inside the sand. Somehow, the fun and excitement of traveling like a gypsy will make out these stressful parts insignificant.

Once deep inside the desert, one may witness camels ferrying tourists across from one souk to another. It’s not only entertaining but challenging as well to be placed at the top of mounting and dismounting camel backs. The long-necked mammals on their part are well bred and nicely taken care of by their masters, and would start acting somewhat like puppies whenever pampered by someone. Just scratch behind any camel’s ears and it would start flattening its necks as if asking for more of the same massage.

The late evening outings normally include visiting souks in the desert and having Arabian dinner along with some entertaining folk dance and music shows on. Liquor drinks may cost between $7.00 – 10.00 and beers in the range of $5.00 – 7.00. You will enjoy watching stars at night provided Dubai is not very near the place where you have landed for your outing. The return journey takes place soon after all you camp fire itineraries, including having dinner and spending time around in shops, have ended to the best of your fulfilment. You will be back to your hotel just before the midnight and get on with your usual Dubai holiday making.

Dubai’s Great Desert Safari is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

Trout Creek was a small side creek to the Anthracite in western Colorado between Paonia and Crested Butte up on Kebler Pass. I was 13 years old, and trekking into the Raggeds Wilderness with my buddy Steve, his dad and brother. We followed an obscure overgrown trail around Marcellina Mountain down into the fabled Dark Canyon to fish and camp, following Anthracite Creek out to the other trailhead.

My family had driven over Kebler Pass many times, and Marcellina Mountain stood tall and daunting right near the road, jutting up in the Colorado backcountry to a lofty 11,348 feet within the Raggeds Wilderness. That we were actually going to backcountry trek around that peak, hiking through the Raggeds Wilderness and down legendary Dark Canyon – a childhood dream come true.

To get there, we followed Highway 133 around 16 miles east up the North Fork of the Gunnison River from Paonia, Colorado to the road fork below Paonia Dam. Turning right the road leads up Anthracite Creek 5 miles to Erikson Springs Campground and a switchback, the road leading up Kebler Pass. Around 5 miles past the switchback, forest Trail 836, leads east into a tall stand of aspens. Trail 836 leads to Trout Creek following it down to Anthracite Creek and the heart of Dark Canyon, connecting with Trail 830.

Our trail circled Marcellina Mountain looming tall south of Dark Canyon. North of us, the Raggeds Mountains rose tall and inaccessible as we worked our way down toward Anthracite Creek. Herein lay the wonder of the trek into this rugged backcountry. Crossing into the Raggeds Wilderness, we hit Trout Creek, receiving our fishing instructions from Steve’s dad. Issuing each of us a small barbless hook, we tied them to our lines, and were then instructed to enjoy.

Never since have I experienced such amazement. Trout Creek, true to it’s name was teaming with trout as this wild little stream crashed through the brush . With no fly or bait on the hook I expected nothing. Instead to my disbelief, every cast into a pool below a rock prompted a rush of trout, all fighting to grab that shiney treat hitting their waters. Every time – boom – a set of trout would strike, one of them seizing the prize and the point of a hook. The majority of course, were far too small to be of any use whatsoever and were all tossed back – hence the barbless hooks. As Steve’s Dad pointed out, we would catch more than enough for our dinner and breakfast down on the Anthracite.

We boys whooped and hollered at cast after cast. It was beyond unreal, falling into a category of sport fishing I had never encountered before. Working our way down the small creek through the brush we finally hit Anthracite Creek, and headed down through the fabled Dark Canyon, a deep and mysterious gorge through surrounding benchlands of aspen and spruce. The canyon narrows with rimrock cliffs and caves in the outcrops above. The narrow valley and the walls of Dark Canyon close in high above, casting deep shadows as the rock cliffs rise 1,700 feet above the river in the darker stretches. As the day waned, the trail grew dark and narrow, as it led through a deep forest of aspen and enormous spruce trees.

Following our narrow trail around 5 miles from our beginnings up on Kebler Pass road, and down into Dark Canyon, Steve’s dad knew the perfect place to set up camp on the banks of Anthracite Creek. We set up our meager sleeping quarters in a park-like setting under the towering spruce. I strung my best tarp between two trees, staking the corners and figuring a good spot to sleep on the ground with a couple of wool blankets Mom was able to spare for this adventure. Within minutes after hitting the nearby pools of the Anthracite, we had more than enough fresh trout to ccommodate our evenings dining pleasure. Fortunately for us boys, Steve’s dad was skilled at wrapping the trout in foil with butter, quickly cooking them in the campfire coals to nothing short of gourmet erfection.

The shadows grew longer with a deep, dark night settling upon us, far down in Dark Canyon, a prime Colorado habitat for bears in the heart of the Raggeds Wilderness. Despite that brief concern, our exhaustion from the days journey and excitement brought a deep, restful sleep to the bunch of us. Dawn came early even as the sun seemed to take forever to pierce into the canyon and warm us. As another of those wonderful memories of this journey into Dark Canyon, Steve’s dad had rustled up a morning catch of trout, and was again foil cooking a mouthwatering breakfast on the campfire to start our day.

We packed our gear and later that morning hit the trail for the next 6 miles of trail to follow the rest of the way down through Dark Canyon. As the day progressed we paused along the trail to pull in yet more wonderful trout, filling our limits working our way down stream. The canyon and the surrounding forests were a wonder as we worked our way through old-growth spruce and aspen, with views back up the small side canyons toward the surrounding peaks. Finally in late afternoon we straggled out the other end at the trailhead at Erickson Springs Campground where Steve’s Mom picked us up.

What an outstanding adventure through Dark Canyon! Years later that journey will be revisited beginning and ending in the comfort of nearby motel accommodations in Crested Butte or Delta, Colorado found at: http://www.montanaadventure.com/out/state/us-co.html. The memories and the anticipation come flooding back.

Descent into Dark Canyon: Kid’s Wild Fishing in Colorado’s Raggeds Wilderness is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

If you’ve’ ever wondered what creatures are out and about on Dartmoor at night, why not go along for a two hour stroll at Newbridge on Monday 14 August at 8 pm. Situated in the beautiful Dart valley, the Newbridge area is a haven for a great many species.

Younger wildlife enthusiasts can join a Wet and Wild stream dipping activity, or a Dartmoor Family Play Day, helping them learn about Dartmoor wildlife while having fun. On Thursday 10 August, a three hour Dartmoor Family Play-Day takes place, from 10 am, at Norsworthy Bridge, Burrator.

The whole family can join in the fun, with nature games and activities suitable for children aged 6 to 12 years. These events are extremely popular so booking is essential. Please telephone the High Moorland Visitor Centre, Princetown, on (01822) 890414. On Friday 25 August there is another chance to take the children along to a Wet and Wild Stream dipping activity, this time at Bellever, near Postbridge, at 2 pm.

The full programme of guided walks and events can be found in the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Guide, the Authority’s free information newspaper, available from Information Centres. Many of the guided walks are accessible by public transport. If you arrive at the start point by public transport, and show your ticket to the guide, you can join the walk free of charge.

The whole scheme has proved such a success that several other national parks are looking into similar programs for the coming year.

Dartmoor National Park Guided Walks a Huge Success is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

Kayaking is an activity that you can do almost anywhere you go, especially on tropical vacations. Sometimes you will find the best kayaking tours in the tropics or the ocean. These tours teach you how to kayak in great weather, take you on a thrilling adventure and much more!

In tourist locations such as Costa Rica, Belize, Florida and other tropical islands, you will find many kayaking tours.

On these tours, you are accompanied by a professional guide who will assist you in case you have any problems. Of course, they know the area and are familiar with their location.

Tours in the U.S. and Canada are less tropical. But there, you will get to go whitewater kayaking, and participate in competitive kayaking, as well as the recreational and relaxing kayaking activities that everyone enjoys. Where you find tours, you will also find that lessons are available. The lessons can often be a part of the tours. On the same day, you can learn to kayak and go on an exciting tour and try out your new abilities!

You will be able to find a great kayaking holiday no matter where you go! Even if you are not an experienced kayaker or have never kayaked at all, these tours are perfect for you. You can quickly learn kayaking and will immediately fall in love with it!

Kayaking is an activity that you can combine with many other hobbies. That is the best part of it! On your next vacation, find a kayaking tour and you will find lots of various options for your family and yourself. You can easily take advantage of this awesome sport and its variety.

There are many web based resources that will help you find combine a holiday with a kayaking adventure. You will soon be relaxing and taking part in a great sport.

Combine Your Next Vacation With The Great Sport Of Kayaking is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

Dude ranches in Colorado offer numerous trails for riding or hiking. You can ride your horse over mountain trails, alongside rivers, or through open meadows. Your level of experience and comfort will determine your rides, and friendly staff are there to assist you at every turn.

There are also a number of adventures to be found off of the horse. River-rafting, mountain biking, and hunting trips are available at many ranches. On working ranches in Colorado, guests can help with the cattle alongside the cowboys and cowgirls at work.

Lodging can range from log cabins, to simple rooms, to full suites. Fireplaces are provided in many rooms and cabins, perfect for cold winter nights. Log furniture is commonly found, and the rustic charm is often paired with modern day luxuries.

Whether looking for a romantic retreat, bringing the family on vacation, or traveling as a solo cowboy, a Rocky Mountain adventure awaits you at any one of Colorado’s many dude ranches.

Colorado Dude Ranch Vacations is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

The impending sense of panic is familiar to any individual stranded on a windward shore with a gale coming on, disoriented in a maze of bike trails or caught, like Theissen on an exposed ridge with foul weather on the horizon. In many cases, what happens next is the crux moment wherein survival or full blown disaster ensues. In the case of Theissen, survival started with the acronym, S.T.O.P.

Sit … Think …Observe … Plan …

Rather than giving in to an all-too-human panic response, Theissen sat, took stock and acted in a way that likely saved his life. What follows is a briefing on what went through his head … it’s a lesson applicable to all hikers, hunters, canoeists and others who find themselves exposed and unprepared in falling or already frigid temperatures.

Shelter / Warmth

In cold temperatures, exposure can kill before anything else has a chance. In Theissen’s case, staying above the timberline was untenable; thus getting below the treeline was his first priority. After that he would need to find or create shelter, and finally (if possible) create warmth.

While it’s beyond the scope of this article to describe shelter making or fire building in detail (shelter can be found in tree wells, in snow caves, and in the hollows of river banks; tinder is less available in winter than summer, none-the-less evergreens will often yield dry needles, pitch impregnated bark can often be sourced and if the snow-pack is not so deep as to disallow it, reserves of dry leaves and grass can be found under trees, rock overhangs and in tree wells), suffice it say that without either, chance of survival diminish.

What Theissen did was find a root cavity that provided both shelter and tinder; he sealed it as completely as possible with packed snow, and insulated himself from the ground using evergreen boughs. He managed to nurse a fire which, while it really never took, provided a certain degree of comfort and localized heat.

Route Finding

There was no way Theissen was going to find his way back to the trailhead in the impending whiteout. And it needs to be stressed; there was NO way he should have tried … even descending to the treeline was a challenge. That said, he was not lost and he had to keep it that way.

Route finding depends on visibility; thus traveling at night, in a white-out or in heavily wooded terrain increases the chances of becoming lost. It’s doubly important in these conditions to think, observe and plan … and to acknowledge that it’s not always prudent to act. It’s often better to stay put than it is to flounder around in unfamiliar terrain risking further disorientation and injury.

By marking his return route to the ridgeline, and traveling only so far as required to ensure shelter, Theissen knew that once visibility returned he would be able to find his way back to the trailhead.

Creating Visibility

If all went well, Theissen would hole up for the night in his makeshift shelter and walk out the following morning. This presumes of course, that he wasn’t lost. If he were, creating the conditions to be found would be his next priority. Experts agree that the three following elements will increase the chances of a rescue party locating a lost hiker…

Visibility – created by smudge fires, markers, signals

Positioning – on ridgelines, open riverbanks, at the treeline

Mobility (or lack thereof) – stationary targets are easier to find

Had Theissen been lost, he would have returned to the ridgeline when conditions allowed, created visibility (stamped a signal in the snow, anchored his foil blanket, built a smudge fire … ) and not strayed from the area.

Hydration

It hardly needs said, that if you’ve got fuel and a means to light it, the ice and snow you’re surrounded with are a viable source of hydration. If not, there are other sources. Depending on how cold it is, flowing water is frequently available under the snow pack in the bottom of creeks and at river bends. Animals and birds will keep patches of swamps and ponds ice-free. In the alpine, solar radiation can be powerful enough to create ice-melt against dark rock faces.

Nutrition

Nutrition can be more difficult, and needs to figure heavily in any self-rescue plan. Cold weather requires more calories from the body and, while it is possible to live weeks without food, hunger is debilitating and lowers the bodies resistance to cold and the ability to cope.

There is good reason why survival literature frequently describes frozen landscapes as arid … there’s not much alive, and there’s not much to eat. As flippant as it seems to say it: getting out sooner than later is a very good idea. Once the situation has stabilized all efforts need to turn towards positioning one’s self to being found or logically and methodically finding one’s way out. One dies of starvation sooner in winter than summer.

As it turns out, the Theissen’s storm passed and by 3am the White’s were lit by a brilliant moon. There was enough light for Theissen to return to the ridge line and find the marked descent by dawn. The previous day he had stupidly decided to ignore his turn-around time. Every decision after that however was the right one, and by early afternoon the following day he was back at his car hungry tired and sheepish … but alive.

Cold Weather Survival is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

It’s also easier to climb when the guide drives you to 15,000 feet. Don’t get me wrong. Climbing the last 5,600 feet was incredibly difficult, but not for the skill required. The air missing half of its oxygen is what had me quitting twenty times on the way up. It just gets difficult to move up there.

The Chimborazo Graveyard

The monuments near the first refuge weren’t for climbers without skill. The graveyard is a warning of the unpredictability of all high places. Chimborazo is very high, it randomly shruggs off large rocks, and has weather that changes by the minute. While hiking to the second refuge, we could hear the rocks and pieces of ice falling somewhere above.

El Refugio Edward Whymper is an unheated hut at 16,000 feet, named after the English climber who first summitted the mountain. Okay, it isn’t entirely unheated. There’s a fireplace, and if somebody feels like carrying wood up to 5000 meters, the fire may raise the temperature in the hut by 3 degrees.

We had hot mugs of “mate de coca” a tea of coca leaves, which are also used to make another product – one that’s taken up the nose. We went hiking for twenty minutes – my acclimatization. We ate, and I slept for an hour before starting the ascent at eleven that night.

About Mount Chimborazo

Chimborazo is in Ecuador, near the Equator (100 miles south). The elevation in the center of the country, and the moderating effect of the Humboldt Current along the coast, gives the country near perfect weather. A bit hot in the lowlands, but spring-like in Quito (the capital) , with highs in the sixties to low seventies every day of the year. Great weather almost everywhere–until you get high enough.

The summit of Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. Our planet bulges at the equator, making Mount Chimborazo even futher out there than Everest. It has the distinction of being the closest point to the sun on the planet. Unfortunately, it’s also the coldest place in Ecuador.

Climbing Chimborazo

Paco, my guide, didn’t care for the lightweight part of my mountain climbing adventure. He frowned at my sleeping bag, which packed up smaller than a football, and weighed a pound. My 13-ounce frameless backpack didn’t impress him either. It did get below freezing in the hut, just as he said it would, but I stayed warm – as I said I would. No problems so far.

Unfortunately, Paco didn’t speak any English, and I was just learning Spanish. Since our whole group consisted of him and me, we had some communication problems. I thought, for example, that the $11 fee for the “night” (a few hours) in the hut was included in the $130 guide fee. He thought I was a mountain climber.

I think he said he didn’t like the papery rainsuit I was using, and he frowned at my homemade ski mask. When he saw my insulating vest, a feathery piece of poly batting with a hole cut in it for my head, I just pretended not to understand what he was saying.

I hadn’t intended to go climb Chimborazo with such lightweight gear, but I’d come to Ecuador on a courier flight, and could bring only carry-on luggage. I had12 pounds in my pack to begin with, so by the time I put on all my clothes that night, the weight on my back was irrelevant. The weight of my body, however, wasn’t. Paco had to coax me up that mountain.

Hiking On Glaciers

The glaciers start near the hut, and hiking became mountaineering. I put on crampons for the second time in my life (there was that sledding hill). During one of my many breaks (”Demasiado” – too many, which I pretended not to understand), I noticed my tiny, cheap thermometer had bottomed out at 5 degrees fahrenheit. I wasn’t cold, but I was exhausted at times – the times when I moved. When I sat still I felt like I could run right up that hill.

We struggled (okay, I struggled) up Mount Chimborazo, hiking, climbing, jumping crevasses, until I quit at 20,000 feet. Of course I had quit at 19,000 feet, and at 18,000 feet. Quitting had become my routine. Lying had become Paco’s, so he told me straight-faced that the summit was only fifty feet higher. I wanted to believe him, or the lack of oxygen had scrambled my brain. I started up the ice again.

The Summit of Mount Chimborazo

We stumbled onto the summit at dawn. Well, okay, I stumbled. Paco, who seemed slow and tired down at the refuge, was energetic at 20,600 feet. Dirtbag Joe, a nineteen-year-old kid from California with ten bucks in his pocket, borrowed equipment, and my Ramen noodles in his stomach, was waiting for us, smiling.

The sky was a stunning shade of blue you can never see at lower elevations. Cotapaxi, a classic snow-covered volcano, was clearly visible 70 miles away. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes.

Handshakes all around, and it was time to head down. I was told you don’t want to be on Chimborazo when she wakes up. She wakes up at nine a.m.

Paco kept looking at his watch and frowning. He got further and further ahead, like he planned to abandon me on the mountain. When I finally caught up, at the hut at nine a.m., I heard the rocks falling out of the ice above as the sun warmed it. Now I understood – we really did need to get down by nine. A thousand feet lower my mountain climbing adventure ended with a photograph that mercifully can’t show my shaking knees.

Note:

To climb Mount Chimborazo, it’s cheapest to wait until you get to Ecuador to make arrangements. Talk to almost any hotel manager in Riobamba, and he or she will find a guide for you. It’s also cheaper if you’re part of a group.

Chimborazo: Climbing Glaciers Near The Equator is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel

Children summer camps are really good for your children if they provide the following activities for your children.

1) Teens summer camps should provide skill activities, which entertain, teach and prepare students for the rest of their lives.

2) Youth summer camps should cover topics like note taking, reading, writing, relationships and communication, problem solving and creativity, test taking, memory, and more.

3) Unique learning environment with extensive trained counselor will provide supportive environment to enjoy summer camp.

4) If your child is interested in music, drama, sports, or computer camps then it is better to send them in day camps.

But it will be better to make an intensive research and questioning before your child attend any camp. You should know what will be the daily schedule of your child, how he or she will enjoy free time, what will be the menu, how often they will be allowed to take food and the ratio of counselor to camper. How you will be informed in case of any emergency and what kind of medical facility and training the camp offers.

The best way to know about any individual camp is just by visiting someone who has had child at the particular camp. The main thing, which should be considered, is the age of your child and his interest. Give your child lifetime memories from children summer camp. Choose the proper summer camp for your child and then send him to have the time of his life without any hesitations. Childrens summer camp is a gift any parent would love giving his child.

Children’s Summer Camps – Are They Really Good For Our Children? is a post from: Bradley-austin.com Travel - Airline tickets, cheap hotels, cruises, vacations & honeymoon travel