Is BASE Jumping On Your Bucket List ?

I'm proud to be "The First Russian To Tandem Base Jump Off A Cliff !" It was an amazing, once-in-a-life-time experience !

BASE jumping is not something I'd personally do on a regular (every weekend) basis ( like skiing/surfing/kiteboarding ). In my opinion, this is the activity that is strongly influenced by location.

I'd love to do BASE jumping at different beautiful and exotic places. I'm sure, even going back to Canyonlands in winter and jumping off the same cliff would be totally different !

Have you ever considered adding BASE jumping to your Bucket List ? Where in the would would you love to jump ?

Winter Adventures In Oregon : Crater Lake National Park

...I hope to have a few days off in February, and since I'm broke ( after all that traveling ), was thinking about some local adventures ... May be Oregon ?

 Been planning to visit Crater Lake National Park for a while ( and even put it on my Bucket List ! ). Heard it offers amazing XC skiing opportunities in winter ... Also, would love to take my SUP for a long paddle around the lake !

Among other things to do:  I'd like to go skiing/riding at Mt Hood, ski-biking at Hoodoo Ski Area, and chillaxing at one of Oregon's famous hot springs !

Living In The FUTURIA

... the idea of living in RV or a trailer still seems to be exciting to me ! But why live in an old, beat up camper, when you can live in the FUTURIA !!!

The FUTURIA sports+spa is the first show truck worldwide with an integrated whirlpool on the nearly 11 m sun deck with yacht flooring. The lifestyle trailer truck also houses a roadster garage, a luxurious lounge, a berth, a powerful sound system, a fog machine and under floor illumination.

The best thing about this luxurious caravan ? It's only $ 840,000 !!!
I'm just $839,000 short :(
Can you spare some change ?

ExtraHyperActive Adventures And Achievements of 2012

The end of the year is my favorite time ! It's time to look back and reflect on your goals and achievements, and time to make new exciting plans for the upcoming year !

As you remember, last year I started using a new ( and extremely popular by now ) social site Pinterest. As I mentioned in my last year's post, "My Bucket List on Pinterest"  this web site helped me keep visual focus on my goals, dreams, and aspirations.

The more clearly you are able to visualize, the faster you will be able to get your goals achieved. If you don't believe in goal setting and  visualization, let my Bucket List on Pinterest be a living proof that whatever you can imagine, can be real !

Let's look at some goals/dreams/plans I had a year ago, and see how I made it happen :

1 - Learn to kiteboard.

Not only did I have a great time kiteboarding in Bellingham, I spent three glorious months in Florida working on my skills.

2 - Go on my first cross country road trip

I've been dreaming about taking a cross country road trip for that past 5 years (!!!).
But a goal without a plan is just a wish. All I had to do was to start visualizing it ! I created a Pinterest board " Road Trip USA ", and later this year, not only did I travel around Southwest, I drove Seattle-Florida-Seattle !

3 - Visit Mexico

After more than 10 years, I was super excited to get my US citizenship ! The one and the only reason I wanted it - so I could travel !!!

My first "foreign country" was Canada ( or British Columbia, to be exact:))
The next one ? Mexico ! 
Though, I did a lot of touristy things, I had a lot of fun ! And the highlight of my trip was .... -

4 - Try cenote diving

5 - Go Mountain Biking in Utah

Moab, Utah is considered to be the birthplace of mountain biking, and since the first time I saw a picture of a mountain biker on the rim of Canyonlands National Park, I knew I had to be there ! Not only did I visit two of the most beautiful and unique National Parks in US ( Canyonlands and Arches ), I got to go mountain biking on the iconic Slickrock Trail !

6 - Try Tandem BASE jumping in Idaho or Moab

 Honestly, this is one of my dreams I thought I wouldn't cross off my Bucket List in a long time ! :)

A few months before my Southwest road trip, I wrote a short post about tandem BASE jumping...wrote and forgot about it...
It wasn't until I was in Moab that I realized, "oh my God, I'm in Moab, one of the places I wrote about BASE jumping !!! I can totally do it right now !!!"
Long story short, here I am , standing with Mario Richards and his beautiful wife Steph Devis ( my " I want-a-girlfriend-like-this" idol :)) getting ready for my first BASE jump

7 - Try Canyoneering

You have to realize that some dreams/goals/plans take time.

I've been wanting to try canyoneering for a long time, but it wasn't until I was in Utah, that I got to try it. And you know what ? It's true what they say : "Good things come to those who wait". It was an amazing experience !

8 -  Learn how to ride a motorcycle

Just like with canyoneering, it took me two years to reach this goal ! But this year, not only did I learn how to ride a motorcycle, I got my enhanced license, and even bought my first bike !

9 - Grand Canyon: Hike rim-to-rim

Here is another weird thing about goal setting : you have to be flexible with your plans/goals.
Sometimes, what you get is not what you originally planned/hoped for. This is what happened to me when I found myself in Grand Canyon NP.

It was the middle of the summer, the busiest tourist season, and I just visited Canyonlands/Arches NP's ( which, let's agree, are mini versions of GC :)).
Hiking rim-to-rim ( or even going to the bottom of the canyon ) wasn't something I was ready to die for.

Does it count as "goal achieved" ? I don't know... what matters is that I had a great time, and I know I'll be back for more adventures in Grand Canyon ( multi day rafting trip, may be ? )


10 - Camping at Palouse State Park

This "achieved goal" actually reminds me that some of our goals can be plain disappointing. When goals turn into expectations, disappointment often results because real life gets in the way. Sometimes, what you see, is not necessary what you'll get...

But no matter what, a few things I've learned over the past few years :

“Everything you can imagine is real.”  ~ Pablo Picasso
"If you can dream it, you can do it" ~  Walt Disney
"Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe, that you have received it, and it will be yours." -Mark 11:24

Driving Through Death Valley And Mojave

After visiting Grand Canyon NP, I headed towards California.
#1 attraction on my "Bucket List Of Things To See" - Death Valley National Park.

This is the "weirdest" National Park I've ever visited. There is no "official park entrance". Basically, Death Valley National Park is HWY 190 that runs through the park ( Death Valley got its National Park status only in 1994. The earlier legal status of Death Valley as a National Monument rather than a National Park was largely a political consideration ).

What does it mean to you ? No "official entrance fee" !!!

The Furnace Creek Visitor Center is the major Park Service interpretive effort in Death Valley. When I asked a ranger for a map, his first question was if I'd paid the park fee. So, if you don't care about the map, no need to pay !

TIP: Once again, don't be lazy and stupid ! Do your research before the trip ! If you just GOOGLE "points of interest death valley", you will find more helpful and interesting information than any ranger can provide !

My first point of interest was Zabriskie Point -

Zabriskie Point is an elevated overlook of a colorful, undulating landscape of gullies and mud hills at the edge of the Black Mountains, just a few miles east of Death Valley - from the viewpoint, the flat salt plains on the valley floor are visible in the distance

It's right be the HWY, just a short ( 5 min) hike. Snap a picture, and off you go...

TIP : If you REALLY want, make an extra effort to drive to Badwater Basin, the lowest place in North America and one of the lowest places in the world at 282 feet below sea level. Other than taking a picture by the sign, you really won't see much ( since I visited the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, I didn't want to waste my time just for that ).
 

Next was the Furnace Creek Resort. It was also weird. In the middle of nowhere, a resort !

Targeting wealthy visitors, they set out to create a luxurious oasis, hoping it would become as much of a must-see attraction as Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

Long story short, it didn't become a "must-see attraction". It hardly deserves spending 10-15 minutes, walking around the Borax Museum:

The Borax Museum at the Ranch at Furnace Creek provides the history of the property and key figures involved in the history of Death Valley and the resort. It offers a pictorial history and showcases artifacts from the past such as antique stagecoaches, mining tools and a railroad steam locomotive. It is the oldest structure in Death Valley.

TIP: Are you an avid golfer ? The resort features the world's lowest golf course (18 holes at 214 feet below sea level).

But my BIGGEST DREAM was to see SAND DUNES !

For me, "desert" has always been associated with sand dunes. Unfortunate, only less than one percent of Death Valley is covered with dunes.
Mesquite Flat Dunes are the best known and easiest to visit in the national park. From the parking lot, it's an easy hike to the dunes, but if you want to wonder a bit further, it'll become a challenge. Although the highest dune rises only about 100 feet, hiking in the middle of the summer is no "walk in the park".

Which brings me to my last TIP : when is the best time to visit Death Valley ?

ANY TIME !!!

Check out a new video of our road trip through Death Valley in winter ! 

👇👇👇

Scuba Diving: Dos Ojos Cenote The Yucatan Peninsula

... Chac-Mool cenote diving during my trip to Cancun, Mexico was THE MOST EXCITING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE !

Though before that, I had done 2 more tropical dives ( Underwater Museum and a one tank reef dive near Playa del Carmen ), cenote diving was the experience to remember for the rest of my life !
It's one of those things when "you've got to be there" :)

 If you're a certified diver, definitely put Cenote Diving on your Bucket List !

Meanwhile, here is a short video to give you a general idea of what to expect...( but trust me, even the best edited video will not substitute the real life experience )

Photo/Video credit Expert Vagbond

Tips On Visiting The South Rim Of The Grand Canyon

Visiting the Grand Canyon has been on my Bucket List for the past 5 years...

The Grand Canyon is one of the 7 "Natural Wonders Of The World" ( don't forget, there are many different types of "Wonders Of The World" ), and though it happens to be in this very country, I still can't believe it took me so much time to finally see it with my own eyes.

....unfortunately, it was absolutely opposite to how I dreamed/planned to visit this world famous Natural Wonder....

 NOTE: There is a big different between "visiting" and "exploring"  the Canyon.

"Visiting" mostly implies "stop by/drive by, take a bunch of pictures, and ,may be, do some light "exploring" ( short hiking, biking around the park, camping...)

 "Exploring" ( for a small number of people ) means hiking rim-to-rim or multi-day backpacking or rafting.

Hiking rim-to-rim and getting "close and personal" was my original plan/dream. But as I happened to visit the park during one of its hottest months ( middle of June with day temperatures in high 80's ), I had absolutely no desire even to try to reach the bottom of the Canyon.

So I lowered my expectations, and settled with the idea to see the Grand Canyon like a tourist ( yeah, I still hate myself  for that :) )

So, here are a few tips:

Driving Through Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona

Monument Valley provides perhaps the most enduring and definitive images of the American West. The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures. Because of this, the area may seem quite familiar, even on a first visit, but it is soon evident that the natural colors really are as bright and deep as those in all the pictures. The valley is not a valley in the conventional sense, but rather a wide flat, sometimes desolate landscape, interrupted by the crumbling formations rising hundreds of feet into the air, the last remnants of the sandstone layers that once covered the entire region.

There is only one main road through Monument Valley, US 163, which links Kayenta, AZ with US 191 in Utah. The stretch approaching the AZ/UT border from the north gives the most famous image of the valley, and possibly of the whole Southwest - a long straight empty road leads across flat desert towards the 1,000 foot high stark red cliffs on the horizon, curving away just in front.

The Valley Drive passes 11 numbered stops at the most scenic places, and a typical journey around the loop takes at least 2 hours. Tourists are not allowed to hike away from the road closer towards any of the formations, but even so the trip is very enjoyable.

Surfing, Alaskan Style

I wrote before about incredible surfing and stand up paddleboarding opportunities in Alaska. Recently, I came across a great photo site by Scott Dickerson.


Scott, raised in Alaska, has been pioneering the waterman lifestyle in the last frontier for 15 years. As a photographer, sup distributor/dealer and surf charter boat captain, he enjoys sharing the breathtaking scenery of Alaska with the world, especially from a standup perspective.

Please, check out his site, even if you're not a surfer, you'll find his pictures amazing and breathtaking !





Visiting Alaska is already on my Bucket List, and along with things like sea kayaking among icebergs, climbing Denali, heli-skiing, I'm going to add "Surfing/SUPing".

You might also like :

Surfing and SUPing In Alaska

Extreme Glacier Surfing In Alaska Video

Boretide SUP Surfing In Alaska

First Russian To Tandem Base Jump From A Cliff !

The Guinness Book of World Records, here I come !

It doesn't always have to be a world record. Even an amazing "first" can be remembered in the GWR book.

During my recent road trip around Southwest, I had an amazing opportunity to try tandem BASE jumping in Moab, Utah.



Withing the past 3 years, there have been many things that I'd done for the first time. But it never really felt like it was such a big deal. Before me, there have been tons of people who've done skydiving, kayaking, paragliding, surfing, scuba diving and etc. for the first time.

But personally, I don't know many people who've done tandem BASE jumping off a cliff !!!

And after my jump,I realized that I'm one of few who can proudly say: " I did it !"

The company, Moab B.A.S.E. Adventures, has taken dozens of people from around the world on this exciting journey. And I just happened to be the first Russian to experience the extreme adventure of cliff B.A.S.E. jumping !

It's Time For A New Motorcycle

Following my Bucket List, little by little I've been crossing things off of it. In 2011 I got my motorcycle enforcement, and in April 2012 I bought my first bike - 1985 Honda Rebel


It was love at first sight ! I had a blast riding that bike ! It was only 250cc ( which are generally lighter and easier to maneuver, easier to balance, and less likely to get the beginning rider into trouble ), but I had tons of fun, and it was a great experience !

One of my favorite rides was to Point Defiance, its 5 mile ride was peaceful and beautiful !



But even the most romantic fairy tale comes to an end :(

The day has come to upgrade to a bigger bike.

As you might know, one of my childhood dreams was to buy my own Harley. But right now, I'm debating between a Harley and a sports bike...

I like style and comfort that Harley offers, and I love speed and thrill that most sports bikes share.

Having ADHD doesn't help to make the choice :)

I also want to try dirt biking, and, who knows, may be plan to follow Che Guevara's bike route ...


Note to myself - Re-read "The Motorcycle Diaries" )...