Destination: Beautiful

“In my case it was love at first sight. This desert, all deserts, any desert. No matter where my head and feet may go, my heart and my entrails stay behind, here on the clean, true, comfortable rock, under the black sun of God’s forsaken country.” -E. Abbey •••• Great to be back in an amazing place with an amazing group of people. Hoping to be back ASAP for more romping! #desert #gsenm #escalante #slotcanyon #slickrock #utah #utahisrad #vsco #vscocam (at Escalante, Utah)

PILLOWS. @tim.rfuller spreading it for the gram. #earnyourturns #skitouring #skiing #idaho #sawtoothmountains #powder #yurtlife (at Stanley, Idaho)

"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon." - Brandon Sanderson ••••• @whereisxian breaking out the blad and catching the last light. #flyfishing #fishing #kingscanyon #nationalpark #hasselblad500cm #california #sierranevada #sunset #vsco #vscocam (at Kings Canyon National Park)

"We fishermen constantly overestimate the intelligence of fish so that matching wits with them doesn't seem too ridiculous, but at the risk of selling the fish short, that seems doubtful. I think trout are more like your average fisherman: they snoop around because it's in their nature and they're just smart enough to know when they've stumbled into something good." -J. Gierarch •••••••• Had an incredible week #fishing in the #sierras. Thanks for the guided trip @whereisxian. #flyfishing #freestone #trout #sierranevada #mountains #california #roadtrip #hotsprings #slowmo #catchandrelease #vsco #vscocam (at Mono Hot Springs, California)

“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part." -A. Leopold •••• Find your own blank places. Fill them in. #wildernessculture #wilderness #water #creek #canyon #conservation #nationalforest #utah #utahisrad #vsco #vscocam (at Quitchupah Creek)

"Where the sun isn't only sinking fast, every night knows how long it's supposed to last, where the time of our lives is all we have, and we get a chance to say, before we ease away, for all the love you've left behind, you can have mine." -Iron and Wine •••• Chilly Labor Day spent at the #lake with #family, helping to wind down a busy summer. Found out I can still get up on #waterskis, Iowa #whiskey makes a pretty good old fashioned, and @katiefulll and I make a decent #sailing team. I need to get back here more often, especially during warmer weather. #boating #fishing #clearlake #iowa #isthisheaven #cabin #sunset #ironandwine #vsco #vscocam (at Clear Lake (Iowa))

"Here is yes. Here is you may. Here is the good turn, the fortunate meeting, the fever that broke just before the dawn and left your blood calm. Here is the wish that came true and the understanding eye. Here is the kindness you were given and thus learned to pass on. Here is the sanity and clarity you thought were lost. Here, everything is all right." -Stephen King •••• Hiking to Mistake Lake was not a mistake. Diving naked into Mistake Lake - also not a mistake. Not catching a state-record size golden trout... eh, I guess I can live without it. #backpacking #hiking #swimming #exploring #flyfishing #fishing #alpine #lakes #windriver #mountains #wyoming #vsco #vscocam (at Titcomb Lakes)

Incredible trip with some incredible folks.... more pics to come! #windriver #mountains #backpacking #flyfishing #totality #solareclipse #vsco #vscocam (at Wind River Range)

"Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language." -Aldo Leopold ••• Watching the wind through the grass. Finally feels like we're in #wyoming #grasslands #nature #art #vsco #vscocam #movie (at Rawlins, Wyoming)

"The most vexing thing in the life of a man who wishes to change is the improbability of change. Unless he is an essentially sound creature this can drive him frantic, perhaps insane." -Jim Harrison •••• Finding a lot of hungry brookies in Uinta lakes these days, this one seems like he's been fighting flies for a while. Couldn't ask for a more scenic place to take a few casts. #uintas #mountains #wilderness #backpacking #flyfishing #trout #catchandrelease #vsco #vscocam (at High Uintas Wilderness)

"I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling." -J. Kerouac •••• Quick trip to Red Castle Lake with @jamal_jones_ last weekend, I will definitely be back. #redcastle #uintas #wilderness #backpacking #flyfishing #utah #utahisrad #mountains #vsco #vscocam (at High Uintas Wilderness)

"He sat on the logs, smoking, drying in the sun, the sun warm on his back, the river shallow ahead entering the woods, curving into the woods, shallows, light glittering, big watersmooth rocks, cedars along the bank and white birches, the logs warm in the sun, smooth to sit on, without bark, gray to the touch; slowly the feeling of disappointment left him. It went away slowly, the feeling of disappointment that came sharply after the thrill that made his shoulders ache. It was all right now. His rod lying out on the logs. Nick tied a new hook onto the leader, pulling the gut tight until it grimped into itself in a hard knot." - E. Hemingway •••••• @jamal_jones_ hitting our honey hole in preparation for lunch, stealing trout right out from under the previous fisherman. Remember: Brookies taste BEST. #uintas #trout #flyfishing #lakes #redcastle #utah #utahisrad #mountains #backpacking #vsco #vscocam (at High Uintas Wilderness)

"Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying" -Bear Grylls Also jump into ice cold water whenever possible. That's definitely a part of it. .... The bros hanging out at Leigh Lake on our rest day. Banged out another 14 miles of trail the day after, straight up the side of Disappointment Peak. #hiking #swimming #reflection #beargrylls #mountains #grandtetons #nationalpark #nps #vsco #vscocam #wyoming (at Leigh Lake - Grand Teton NP)

Come down, Come down sweet reverence Unto my simple house and ring And ring ••• Chasing single-track in Moab on a trip for work. Now it's back to the mountains to chase some #trout #moab #utah #singletrack #slickrock #sand #mountainbiking #desert #mountains #vsco #vscocam #utahisrad (at Moab, Utah)

And yet it seems impossible to believe that these mountains, old as anything on the planet, do not partake in some dim way of the sentience of living tissue. Genealogies: From these rocks struck once by lightning gushed springs that turned to blood, flesh, life. Impossible miracle. And I am struck once again by the unutterable beauty, terror, and strangeness of everything we think we know. E. Abbey (at Yant Flat)

#flyfishing (at Huntington Canyon)

Go then, there are other worlds than these. •••• A quick #hike through the #carpathians. At this point, the #transfagarasan seems like it was a world away. For now, it's back to work, but more worlds are waiting for future #adventures. #transylvania #romania #hiking #mountains #vsco #vscocam (at Bâlea Lake)