Summer Adrift Episode 1: Leaving Quarantine
The day has finally come! Our Summer Adrift series is officially live over on YouTube!
Each week I will be posting a blog post to accompany the video so we can share some behind the scenes photos from each episode and I can write a little more in-depth about our experiences! First up, episode one: Leaving Quarantine.
When things warmed up around the country and travel restrictions started to lift, we all felt that it was time for us all to get back on the road. Instead of going solo, Karissa & Linhbergh decided to come with us as long as they didn’t have any work back in California. Being back on the road was a breath of fresh air. When I think back on how it felt, we were so in awe of wide-open space. Unfortunately, traffic caused us to drive late into the night to get as far as we’d hoped for the day.
MAK driving to the first camp spot after leaving quarantine
Our first camp spot with Karissa & Linhbergh post quarantine
The following day we made it to our first destination, Escalante National Monument, where we met up with our friends Chase and Aimee. We planned to settle into a remote spot for a few days of hiking and enjoying our new found freedom.
Kyia and Stella stopping for a water break on our first hike from camp
Owen and Chase looking for a route down into the canyon below
Even though it was early June this area was already getting really hot during the day, but that didn’t stop us from heading out on foot to explore the area. In fact, it was so hot that poor Kyia had to start hanging back and resting at camp because the ground was too hot for her little paws.
This is our favorite type of hiking, we love to set off on foot from camp with no real destination in mind, just the idea of getting to know the area around our camp. While we were in this spot we hiked to a distant cliff line, and down to a small creek in the bottom on the canyon to try to escape the heat. We were mildly successful in escaping the heat until our inevitable steep climb back up to camp.
Chase's arrowhead find
On one of our return trips, we started to see a lot of evidence of arrowhead building. You can tell because you will see tons of tiny sharp rock chips that don’t match the native types of rock in the area. Shortly thereafter, Chase bent over to pick up a piece that caught his eye and this is what he found! We were so excited for him!
A lot of you may not know this, but I have a strong love for Native American art and history and it’s a massive bucket list item for me to find an arrowhead, so just being around when someone found one made me VERY happy!
Our little camp
What we cherish most about these first few days back on the road was life at camp. As much as we love a good sufferfest and all the adventures we get into on the road, it was so nice to settle back into our regular camp routines. Having some of our favorite people to share it with was just icing on the cake. We spent many-a-night gathered around the fire pit talking late into the night catching up and discussing what quarantine life looked like for each of us.
Our spot nestled in the trees on the cliff line
It’s crazy to think that this year, 2020, is one that we’ll likely reflect on for the rest of our lives. and feel its effects for years to come. This felt like the first time we could take a step back, take a deep breath, and access how it had affected to this point. Everyone processes adversity differently, but these evening chats were the perfect way for us to unpack everything and try to move forward in a healthy and productive way.
Karissa & Lin’s Monterro
Lin getting the fire started for the evening
On the way back up from our creek expedition we stopped for a break and spotted a cave back down in the canyon that we hadn’t noticed before. Even though we planned to leave the next day we decided to wake up at sunrise and try to hike down to it before we left, and the heat of the day set in.
First light over Escalante
Before the sun came over the hills on the horizon Chase, Aimee, Owen and myself set off down hill in search of the cave. We didn’t know how to get there but we figured we could route find as we went to get us there. The journey was a bit farther an we expected but eventually, we made it to our destination.
As we entered the cave we spotted some Native American rock art on the walls of the cave! JACKPOT! It’s not every day that you spot a cave in the distance, figure out how to get there, and then find Native American art that is hundreds of years old inside. Needless to say, we were all very excited by our discovery!
Native American rock art that we found inside the cave
Native American rock art that we found inside the cave
We spent some time admiring the art before we needed to start heading back to camp so we could drive to our next destination. A team photo was taken in film to commemorate the occasion!
Please note that if you ever come across Native American art in your travels that you do not touch them in any way. The oils on our skin can damage the long-term preservation of these precious artifacts!
After the team packed up we rolled towards our next destination. We made a stop along the way in Capitol Reef National Park to do a small hike out to the view of the Waterpocket Fold. It’s a long crease in the earth that is hard to appreciate from lower vantage points, but from up here you can see it stretch out for miles in both directions.
That concludes episode one of A Summer Adrift! We’re so excited to have this series underway. It was something we conceived of back in June, and it’s hard to believe that it’s finally a reality! Join us every week here and on our YouTube channel as we release the episode for the next 16 weeks!
Enjoy my dear friends!
MAK (& Owen)
Thank you to our sponsors
Our work life is powered by Battle Born! They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power and solar system that makes working from the road possible! It took an incredible amount of power to create Summer Adrift, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
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We’ve now been living our of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 2 years now. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that a FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all of our years on the road!
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our incredible rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable of everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you to anywhere you ant to be!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails near you no matter where we are or the time of year. On X allows us to access saved maps to locate ourselves in the wild. The GPS works perfectly offline, even when service is nonexistent.
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and get us out safely no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
