Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Subway at Zion National Park

*If you're reading this because you want to do this hike, skip past the personal stuff and the pictures and read the "Information Only" at the end of this post*
Gavin and I spent the weekend and then some in St. George for my best friend's second reception/ open house. Because we were going down there anyways, we decided to tack some adventures on to the trip. On Saturday, we went with my friend's family to Zion National Park to hike the narrows. It was fun and beautiful and I need to find a program to edit my videos because I recorded the whole thing on my sony action cam and I can't wait to get it posted!
Monday we did the Subway. I have wanted to do this hike for years but they let less than 100 people in a day, which makes it hard to get a permit. When I checked online a few months ago, there was only one permit left for this Monday, so I snatched it! A week in advance, I entered Gavin in for the last minute drawing to get a permit and guess what- he got it! Tender mercies people, tender mercies. This hike was all it was cracked up to be! Words can't even describe it!
I actually love the permit system because it keeps the natural beauty of this place safe. Also, it was nice to have a quiet, peaceful hike. We hardly saw other hikers.
Almost the whole trail was waterfalls, ponds, and bouldering. The water was so clear! We saw a lot of frogs and fish and lizards. 
The thing I love about these pictures is they took absolutely no editing. I took the pictures with my $200 camera and put them straight on the blog. If I knew anything about lighting or editing, these pictures could be gorgeous, but everything you are seeing is completely natural!
The following picture was back behind the subway. This is where the water got deep and we had to swim a little bit to get to the waterfall where the trail ends.
This hike gave me hiker's high (it's like runner's high, but it actually exists)! I hope to be an excellent repeller one day so I can do this hike top-down, but bottom-up was completely satisfying... no shame in it! I'd highly suggest it to anyone!
 Let me know if you need a tour guide!

Information Only
We went bottom-up so I don't have any information to help you top-downers. Also, we went mid-May and the hike changes depending on the time of year. You need a permit to do the hike. Go to this website to get one. You can either get a permit 3 months in advance while supplies last, or apply for the last minute drawing, which is 2-7 days before the day you want to hike. You have to pay $5 to apply for the permit then another $5/person to pick up your permit. You pick up your permit the day of or the night before at the Zion National Park Visitor's Center. 
The trailhead is about 40 minutes away from the Zion Visitor Center. To get to the trailhead you drive (there isn't a shuttle to this one) about 20 minutes toward the town of Hurricane (assuming that's the way you came in) and just after hitting the town "Virgin", you take a right on Kolob Terrace Road. Drive about 8 miles on this road until you see signs for the Left Fork Trailhead. This is where you'll park.
Reading reviews on the hike almost scared me away from it. Everything I read said this hike was very difficult and required a lot of preparation. My husband and I are in decent shape and we hike pretty frequently, but we are nowhere near expert hikers. We did not think this hike was extreme or super challenging. You need some upper body strength for some bouldering, and you need some balance and coordination. The water was only ankle deep, except for the pools in the actual subway were about chest deep. I don't want to make it sound like this hike was easy, because I could see how people would have problems with it. BUT, don't let other people's reviews scare you away if you think it sounds a little too difficult for you.
You start the hike by hiking down to the river. The hardest part of the hike is hiking back up this rocky part as you are headed back to your car. The hike is 9 miles round trip. It took my husband and I about 5 hours, even with stopping and taking pictures. When you get to the river, use that as your trail. There are also some rocks stacked along the way to help guide you through the best routes.
Feel free to comment or email and ask questions. I had a hard time finding accurate information about this hike beforehand so I would love to help. Have fun!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Hawaii

Gavin and I were lucky enough to for his parents to take us and his siblings to Oahu a couple weeks ago. Neither Gav or I had been before. Gavin had planned on a relaxing vacation, whereas my idea of paradise is seeing and doing everything! For the most part, I won that battle... we experienced a lot!
I recorded the trip with my video camera and I will get the shots up soon, but for now we have pictures stolen from the in-laws! Here's a glimpse of our vacation.
[Macadamia Nut Farm]
[Turtle Bay]
[Makupu'u Lighthouse Hike]
 [Pearl Harbor]
 [Diamond Head Crater Hike]
 [Snorkeling at Sharks Cove]
 [Oahu LDS Temple]

When I get our little videos up I will go into detail about how to have our same adventures. Thanks Scott family for the great time!


Oahu 2014 from Madi McCleary Scott on Vimeo.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Busy Season

I haven't been here in a while and it's not because I haven't wanted to. My dad is a CPA so growing up, my family always referred to February-April as busy season. As a lacrosse player and coach with a husband who is going into accounting, the term "busy season" lives on.
I just finished another season of coaching a high school JV team. We actually had enough girls try out this year that we ended up with two JV teams (plus a varsity team). I pretty much took the JV program and ran with it until we found a coach for the second JV team, then I head coached my own team and helped with the other two. I learn so much from it every year and I love it. Throughout the season I had a lot of profound things to blog about but because it was a sort of whirlwind I will just be vague about the season for journaling purposes. 
My team ended the 7 and 3, for season games. I am not sure what our overall record was. Mostly what I care about is that they all improved as players and as a team.
The second JV team ended the season 2-8, which looks like a horrible record but the team consisted of 6 girls who had ever played lacrosse before February; they played many of the same teams that my 'experienced' JV team played. This team made incredible improvements and it was fun to watch.
Varsity ended their season 11-1, and first place in their region. They have won their first playoff game and I sincerely hope they take state this year. 
The past 8 years I have learned so much from lacrosse- playing and coaching. I still love it now as much as I did as a senior in high school and so what? I love being able to give back what the sport gave to me.