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Rafting the Green River in Colorado and Utah

Roaring 44 miles through northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah, the Green River is one of the most desolate runs in the States. The Class III whitewater snakes through rarely seen Dinosaur National Monument, where red walls rise sharply to some 2,500 feet to effectively block out civilization. In its place, you’ll find one of the largest concentrations of endangered peregrine falcons in the States, bighorn sheep, and mule deer. John Wesley Powell explored the Green in 1869 and was so impressed with the river that he gave the most exciting rapids names like Disaster Falls, Triplet Falls, and Hell’s Half Mile. Adrift Adventures features a four-day run on the Green during June and August. Cost is $785 for adults and $250 for kids ages 6-12. Also ask about their Jurassic Journey and Rock Art and Rafting options, which add an extra day to the trip before heading down the Green. Jurassic Journey takes you to Dinosaur Quarry, where dinosaur bones have been found. The Rock Art package visits several sites near the Ute Indian Reservation to view southwestern Indian rock art. 
 

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Win a Spot on a Biosphere Expeditions Trip

All you have to do is tell Biosphere Expeditions a little bit about yourself and what you can contribute to one of their projects and you could be one of two lucky buggers who win a free one or two-week jaunt with the volunteer-oriented wildlife conservation organization. What exactly do these expeditions entail? How about photographing whales, dolphins, and loggerhead turtles off the shores of the Azores to help monitor their migration patterns in the Atlantic, tracking jaguars and pumas in the Brazilian bush, or finding the elusive Arabian leopard in the desert and mountains of Oman. Deadline for entry is November 1, 2010, and you can submit either a 300-word essay or a 1-minute video clip.
 

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Backroads Announces New Slate of Trips in 2018

This is the time of year that I usually receive press releases from tour operators announcing new trips in 2018. Since I just returned from an outstanding Backroads trip to Switzerland, that one caught my eye. They are introducing 38 new trips in 2018, expanding greatly into South America and introducing more ocean cruise trips after the great success they had with Iceland this summer. The multi-adventure family trip to Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park sounds intriguing to me. My good friend, Eric Lucas, who writes regularly about Alaskan travel, has told me this is one of his favorite parts of the state—spectacularly beautiful with far less people than Denali. Biking around Cuba sounds like a great way to see the island. There’s also a new trip to northern Iceland that focuses on the Northern Lights. If interested in any of these trips, let ActiveTravels know and we’ll look into availability. 
 
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Acadia National Park Week: Sea Kayaking Frenchman Bay

The first time I ever stepped into a sea skirt and tried a sport I now cherish called sea kayaking, I was in Bar Harbor researching my first book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England. Learning to sea kayak at Acadia National Park is like learning to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. Give it a try here and you’ll be hooked for life like I was. One of the finest ways to see Acadia’s mountains is from a distance, with your head and feet only inches away from the water line. 20 years later, I returned to the same outfitter, Coastal Kayaking, for another paddle on Frenchman Bay. 
 
Our guide, Jared, fit us for life jackets and sea skirts at their store on Cottage Street and then drove us to the bar of Bar Harbor, a sand spit that juts out of town and connects to an adjacent island, Bar Island, at low tide. When we returned after our 4-hour paddle, people were actually driving on that spit of sand all the way over to the island. Jared unloaded the kayaks and passed out paddles, teaching us some basic strokes. We then got acclimated to our cubby holes, threw on our gear, and set off on the wild blue yonder. In a double kayak, Jeff and I found our rhythm as we made our way around the northern shores of Bar Island on soft rolling swells. As we continued around the rock ledges of Sheep Porcupine Island, we spotted the unmistakable white head of a bald eagle atop a tall pine. Minutes later we would find a seal in the wake of a lobster boat picking up traps and then porpoises gliding through the unusually calm waters of the bay.  
 
We stopped for a 20-minute break on a sandy section of Long Porcupine Island, just enough time to eat the incredibly addictive kale salad from our favorite pitstop in town, A&B Naturals. On our return trip, we would spot loons and black guillemots, a cross between a puffin and a duck, divebombing their plump bodies into the waters around us.  Jared pointed to a speck of an island called Rum Key and told us how Canadian rum runners provided the Rockefellers and their affluent friends with scotch and rum during prohibition and used this island as their holdout. The ridge of mountains—Champlain, Dorr, and Cadillac—rose above the town of Bar Harbor, inspiring awe. Yes, the paddle was just as memorable as the first time. 
 
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Top 5 Travel Experiences of 2012, Spotting Scarlet Macaws Outside of Jaco, Costa Rica

My kids weren’t too pleased to wake up at 6:30 am on summer vacation, but I wanted to be at Carara National Park at 7 am, when it opened. I knew from prior trips to the country that Carara was one of the few places to see that majestic bird, the scarlet macaw. Last time here, I heard a loud noise, only to peer up at a family of four vibrantly colored macaws. That is an image I was hoping to recreate. We arrived early and the gate was closed. In summer, Carara opens at 8 am read the sign. Screw it. The kids were already giving me grief for waking them up, so we sneaked in through the gate and started our hike. An hour later, we were covered in sweat from the sweltering rainforest humidity and had only spotted one very large Jesus Christ lizard. No macaws. We drove back to the hotel and I was bumming big time. 

 
Later that afternoon, we were driving south on the coastal road outside of Jaco to our next stop, Manuel Antonio National Park. Out of nowhere, I heard that unmistakable squawking and suddenly seven to eight large macaws flew overhead, landing in an almond tree to our right. I stepped on the brake and pulled over, upsetting the truck driver behind us who started honking. As he drove by, he swore at me in Spanish, which fortunately I can barely understand. I could care less. My wife and kids were in their glory taking snapshots of the multicolored macaws. It made my trip. 
 
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Two New Vermont Properties to Try This Winter

Skiers will want to know that two Vermont hotels are about to open in the state. The Taconic, the first Kimpton property in Vermont, will make its debut in Manchester. The hotel has 87 rooms with views of the Taconic and Green Mountain ranges, three standalone cottages, an indoor/outdoor restaurant, and a large wraparound porch. It’s a great option for folks who want to ski at nearby Stratton or Bromley, a 30-minute drive. In Stowe, Lark Hotels purchased Ye Olde England Inne in late 2014 and is now ready to unveil the 30-room Field Guide. 

 
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Gamirasu Cave Hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey

    “Urgup?  You stop in Urgup?” I asked the bus driver slowly in English as I pointed to our ticket.
    “Yes, Urgup.  Coming.  Coming,” the man replied as he continued driving like a maniac. Something was seriously wrong. We had passed Goreme about an hour ago and, according to my trusty guidebook, Goreme is only five miles from Urgup in the heart of Turkey’s intriguing Cappadocia region. 
    “Urgup, we’re going to Urgup!” my wife repeated loudly, approaching the point of hysteria. The driver nodded in agreement and grinned.
    We eventually arrived in Urgup seven hours later, in the middle of the night. A pack of wild dogs howled as they followed us to our inn. There was nothing wrong with my guidebook. In a rush, the driver had sped past Urgup to the next city. He didn’t speak our language, we didn’t speak his. Insanely frustrated, we arrived at the bus station, only to learn that the bus back to Urgup didn’t leave for another five hours.
    When we awoke the following morning in our Urgup hotel room, the strange scenery surrounding us seemed more bizarre than the previous evening’s events. We were inside a 1,000-year-old Byzantine monastic retreat carved out of a cave, now an 18-room hotel called Gamirasu. When Mount Erciyes poured lava over this region thousands of years ago, the volcanic ash formed a surreal, lunar-like landscape consisting of cone-shaped monoliths and layers of soft volcanic rock called “tufa.” Early Christians found the pervious terrain ideal for escaping persecution by Romans and Arabs. When wet, the tufa could be easily carved like soap to make caves out of the pinnacles as well as underground cities descending hundreds of feet below the surface.
    The first Christians came to the valleys of Cappadocia in the 4th century, led by St. Basil. They formed communities within the caves building living areas, bakeries, and workshops. The people of Cappadocia continue to live in these caves. The rooms are cooled by volcanic rock, which helps protect the 8th-century frescoes seen on the hotel walls.

I’m off to New York on Monday, back on April 11th. Have a great week!
 

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