Tomorrow morning I’ll hit the road and head to my first stop on the Utah Expedition – Zion National Park.

With any luck, it will look exactly like this:

Image by Jim Trodel

We’ll see if I can overcome my fear of heights to get up to Angel’s Landing … otherwise, I’m sure I’ll have plenty to do in the four days I’m planning on spending in the park before heading on to who -knows-where-else.

Needless to say, I won’t be updating the site much for the next few weeks, but I will be making occasional posts to my Twitter and Facebook accounts if you’d like to follow along / offer advice / goad me into toughing up and doing the Angel’s Landing Trail.

I have to thank Big Agnes, Mountain House, and Backpackers’ Pantry for supplying some much-needed gear for the longest time I’ve ever spent on a solo expedition, and to the guys at Carhartt and Terramar for chipping in with a few cold-weather items just in time. Additionally, a lot of the stuff that’s coming with me is from Columbia, which has been incredibly kind to this site since I was asked to join their first #OmniTen group last year.

And I have to say it, but this trip would literally not be possible without Honda. I love taking my car hiking – but that shows, and now it’s got over 206,000 miles on it, which means it’s probably staying inside the Golden State for the rest of its life. So without them graciously lending me a 2013 Crosstour for three weeks, I’d just be hiking around L.A. (which, admittedly, wouldn’t be that bad either).

Since I started this site in 2006, I have been continuously and endlessly surprised by the kindness of the outdoor community – big companies, small companies, strangers in camp, and of course you, the readers. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, emailing, retweeting, sharing, and supporting this labor of love.

Keep a good eye and some sturdy boots on the local trails while I’m gone!

Tags: backpackers pantry, big agnes, crosstour, expedition, honda, mountain house, site news, utah