friday no. 4

Jun 24

One year ago this week, Callen and I were on our first big road trip together! We learned so much during that trip and have really fallen in love with this on-the-road lifestyle and the American West, so this post dedicated to that trip and the things we've done since!

1. In order, here are the blog posts from our first big road trip one year ago!

Texas to Colorado // 30 Mile Backpacking Trip // Exploring Colorado // Exploring Utah // Exploring Arizona

2. On this trip, we saw 8 new National Parks (Great Sand Dunes NP, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Colorado National Monument, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon NP and Saguaro NP), drove through 5 states (Texas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico), hiked over 35 miles and drove over 3,000 miles.

3. Since this trip (over the past year), we have visited 14 states and 18 National Parks and camped 38 nights.

4. The best part? We're not slowing down anytime soon! In a little over a week, we are driving from the gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Rockies on our first ~international~ road trip! We'll be driving through new states, new national parks, and of course - a whole new country! We can't wait. If you're on our route and would like to meet up, be sure to contact us through the form on this blog post!! And follow us on snapchat @abbihearne and @callenhearne for live updates!

5. Lastly, you might've already seen this on instagram, but yesterday, I read an article published by Outside Magazine about Moab; explaining the fringe lifestyle that attracts most of it's inhabitants, why they choose BLM over National Parks, and what it all means for the future. There were so many good quotes, but I think my favorite one was [talking about Andy Lewis] "Like other Moab types, he didn't so much choose Moab as require it." I feel like that perfectly described the pull to Moab for so many people. It's the vast availability of real adventure. Whether you're canyoneering, slack lining, swinging on arches, crack climbing, BASE jumping, or off-roading, there just isn't anywhere else that compares. And most of those things are illegal in National Parks, so the 1.8 million acres of BLM land really make this place special. It's one of the only places I've been in the US that I've felt like I could live a lifetime there and never run out of nearby places to explore. You can read the article here.