A Florida Adventure - Alligators and Milkshakes - Föräldrar & Barn No.3 - 2016

As of today the latest issue of the mag Föräldrar & Barn will be available in Swedish stores. As always the mag offer a wide range of interesting articles on parents and their kids. For instance you can read a number of helpful articles on kids and their sleep habits. Also a great article by Jesper Juul speaking about the value of kids being bored sometimes. Inside the magazine you also can read my article about the Florida adventure me and my family had last Fall.

Hope you'll have a relaxing time reading the magazine sitting in the warm Spring sun. Please let me know if you have any questions about the article or our trip through the Everglades. Stay tuned for more post here on the blog about this trip.

To see my other Föräldrar & Barn articles; click HERE.

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Canoeing Black Canyon

Foto: H. Lück

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Foto: H. Lück

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Foto: H. Lück

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Place: Black Canyon, USA

Time: 4 days in October

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Me and my friends take the six hour drive north-west of Tucson to the border of Nevada. There we put our canoes in the Colorado River to paddle upstream through Black Canyon. This canyon is the extension of Grand Canyon with the Hoover Dam as a divider. During the weekends they limit the flow through the dam and this makes this upstream paddle possible. after a good day's workout we make camp half way up to the Hoover Dam. We keep this camp a couple of days and go on with the canoes to take a close look at the dam. Seen from a little canoe its indeed a majestic sight looking up at the Hoover Dam. Also interesting checking out the construction site of the bridge that will stretch along the dam when its finished. Now and then we make stops on the river bed to make short expeditions up the mountains climbing this beautiful surroundings. A relaxing feature of the canyon is the hot springs hidden in the mountains, giving us nice and warm baths. We also found a dark cave, hot as a sauna, really exiting to explore. This warmth was well welcomed as the river water is pretty cold. The last trip day we break camp and head downstream back to our van. This trip offers amazing landscape with a rich fauna. We got to see allot of mountain goats, fish and birds. I'm truly grateful for this beautiful experience.

Please read more on our new website jonasvildmark.com 

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Canoeing Chocolate Mountains

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Foto: K. Kacerek

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Place: Chocolate Mountains, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, USA

Time: 3 days in November

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The Chocolate Mountains is  rises besides the Colorado River in Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. The river outlines the natural boarder between Arizona, California and Nevada. Me and my friends are canoeing in the south parts of the Yuma area. We are going down streams along the Colorado River with the Arizonian desert on one shore and the green California on the other. It's a funny feeling when traveling along the more narrow parts of the river, to have also the time difference of one hour pending on what shore I'm standing on. This is a very peaceful and beautiful 57 km long stretch to paddle. The sun is just right, warming my happy body and when ever I feel like it I can take a refreshing dip in the calm river. I get to see a lot of fish and I understand why this area is a refuge to over 200 different bird species. Luckily I get to see; canada goose, blue heron and white pelican. This is probably the most relaxing trip I've ever done here in the States. Thankful to be able to spend this fantastic time with my friends.

Please read more on our new website jonasvildmark.com

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Haigler Creek

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Place: Haigler Creek, Tonto National Forest, USA

Time: 4 days in September

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It's a hot Friday afternoon and I'm off to meet up with my hiking buddy's in Downtown Tucson. There's eight of us and we're planing on doing some canyoneering at Haigler Creek. The van heads off at 03:00 pm and there's a cheerful atmosphere within the group. We have been planing and training for this trip for a while now and it feels good to finally be off. After six hours of driving we reach our first goal, Hellsgate Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona. We're gonna sleep under the stars here tonight so we can get an early start in the morning. Feels great to be sung to sleep by the coyotes in the black night.

After breakfast and reorganizing our gear we say farewell to our driver that will meet us on the other side of the canyon in a couple of days. We sett our compass and head out through some heavy vegetation to reach the water that we'll be following throughout this trip. Haigler Creek is a part off the beautiful Tonto Creek and it feels like no other human ever sat their foot here, it's truly wild country. There's no trails to follow and the easiest way is to walk in the nicely cooling water. It's +15°C (59°F) in the water and +40°C (104°F) in the air. It's not just the temperature of the brown water that is refreshing, there's a lot of interesting creatures living in it to; spiders, insects, crayfish, snakes, fish, leaches, frogs and lizards.

The group consists of great gang of experienced hikers and we feel well prepared. We're just hoping that we have interpreted the Tonto Nationalparks Rangers right in their estimation on how long time it'll take us crossing the canyon. We have planed this as a three day adventure.

After some hours of wading, swimming and rappelling (at the big water falls we use our climbing gear) through amazingly beautiful and wild nature we make camp for the night in a quiet clearing. New dry clothes and some warm food makes you go to sleep quickly under a magnificent moonlit sky.

The next morning we greet the morning sun as we head of for another day of wet adventure. Today the plan is to meet up with our driver and head back home. So to keep our schedule we move as fast as we can without jeopardizing the safety, but pretty soon we realize that the estimate we got from the parkranger isn't realistic. By the time we get to the spot where we're planing to start out climb up the canyon its already getting dark. As we don't wanna climb this passage in the dark we decide to spend one bonus night out in the wild. Along with two of my buddy's we try climbing the nearest hill to see if we can get our cellphones to work. We realize that soon people back home will start worrying and wondering where we are. But as we already guessed there's no signal out here. As we wanna get a really early start in the morning we hit the hey as quick as possible.

We have one more section to swim before we can start climbing. So we get to greeat this morning's sun from the water. The climb is very steep and requires full concentration. The last thing we want right now is someone hurting themselves. Cacti and sharp rocks give us some scratches but noting we can't handle. When we finally reach the top we burst out in triumphant cheer as we realize we have navigated just right; there the trail is, right where we wanted it to be. This is the first trace of humans we've seen for almost four days. The thin air in combination with the heat is starting to take its told on our group. But by respectfully sharing the last of our snacks and drinking water we're able to keep focus. At 01:00 pm we reach our pick up point one day late. We are truly longed for; cheering and hugs is exchanged. After calling off the rescue chopper and refreshing ourselves with some water we head off to the nearest village for some well earned food. Around the restaurant table our newly won war stories are shared eagerly. And during the following six hour drive back home to Tucson we all together gratefully reflect on the fantastic adventure we've just been blessed with. And the fact that we all made it back home in one peace. Now the next challenge awaits; telling our families where we've been.

Lessons Learned
Always be a bit reserved when getting information from someone else on how long it will take to cover an distance. Always add a couple of extra days to the time schedule when expecting rough terrain. You are constantly wet when canyoneering.  :)

If you're a knife nerd like me you probably have been trying to figure out what knife I'm carrying in the pictures. If you want the answer; click HERE.

Please read more on our new website jonasvildmark.com

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Climbing Mount Lemmon

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Foto: a friend

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Place: Mount Lemmon, Pusch Ridge Wilderness, USA

Time: 1 day in August

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The Buick's V8 gets a good workout climbing the curly roads in the +40°C (+104°F) heat of Arizona. We are a couple of friends driving up to the starting point of today's hike up Mount Lemmon and Marshall Saddle. The higher we get the air gets cooler and the backpack lighter. I brought a lot of water on this trip and the refreshing and steep hike makes me drink a lot of it. that's why the pack is getting lighter pretty quick. Not too long ago this side of the mountain suffered from a forest fire. It's exiting to study the traces of the fire. Finally at the top, 2791 m, we get to enjoy the magnificent view. We can see the city of Tucson from the northeast. Back at the car, and now its not the engine thas up for the main test, its the brakes that'll get hot on our way down from an really nice hike.

Please read more on our new website jonasvildmark.com

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Hiking Kings Canyon Trail

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Place: Kings Canyon Trail, Saguaro National Park, USA

Time: One night in September

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If our planing turns out correct we'll have a clear sky and a full moon to enjoy on our midningth hike. My friends and I head off to the foothills of Tucson Mountains and park the van by the Sonora Desert Museum. Just as we are done suiting up our light gear for the evening, the Arizona sun start to disappear in the horizon. It gets dark quickly, turns pitch black for a moment and then the full moon starts rising over the mountain. A magical start to our hike up the Kings Canyon Trail. We move quietly up the steep trail, enjoying the exiting sound of the awakening of the creatures of the night. We get to see a lot of beautiful insects, tarantulas and rattlesnakes going about their thing among the giant cactus. From the top of Wasson peak, at 1428 meters, you can study the magnificent Tucson city view from a distance. This is were we take a nice rest before our decent. The hike took eight hours and we definitely will sleep in tomorrow morning, we've earned it. 

Please read more on our new website jonasvildmark.com 

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