It was the mid-1990s when Zack Smith and I left our housekeeping jobs in Yosemite Valley, hit the road and headed south. First, it was a few months in Joshua Tree National Park in California, then Arizona and the Virgin River Gorge, followed by Utah and the crack climbing paradise of Indian Creek. That six-month trip was the first of many to come. Life on the road is a lifestyle, a dream, a way to see the world.
The friends I made during that first trip remain close ones to this day and the trip exposed me to some of the most beautiful places in the country—areas I continue to celebrate and visit whenever possible. These include Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Oregon’s Smith Rock and the amazing boulders found around Boone, North Carolina.