Happy Holidays, everyone!

• NIKON D850
• 26mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/160s
• 100

Even my family know I'd rather be outside making tracks!

• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• 9mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/30s
• 320

It almost always pays off to be the first one up in the morning. A group of cyclists flew past camp and left a bit of dust in their wake. The White Rim is amazing in a 4x4—it's got to be something really special when you can take it all in at bicycle speed.

• NIKON D850
• 52mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/800s
• 100

We camped near the river on our second night on the White Rim trail. We had the permits already, and pushing through to finish White Rim right as the sun set didn't feel like the right course of action. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to get in the river to cool off, but we made the best of it anyway.

Due to fire restrictions all summer (and perhaps all the time on the White Rim) we opted to bring the propane fire pit. Hate the weight, but love the ?.

• NIKON D850
• 24mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/15s
• 6400

After a couple of years of something always getting in the way, we got permits for the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park. And the beginning...well, it's a long way down.

• NIKON D850
• 24mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/500s
• 400

Another amazing rally sunset, this just west of the Great Salt Lake on our way to the Idaho/Nevada/Utah corner.

• NIKON D850
• 70mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/60s
• 200

More from our fall rally event—here's a sunset from Day 3. Or was it Day 4?

• NIKON D850
• 38mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/30s
• 200

Every two years, a group of old friends stages (and even sometimes completes!) a rally. It's not entirely about speed like a rally race, but it's still a fast-paced off-roading and camping event. It's always 1000+ miles, and sometimes our routes have as few as 13 miles on pavement (we need fuel!). We don't have sponsors, and we don't often invite new folks into the group. I live for these events, have spent countless hours in the garage preparing for these events, and yet...as quick as they're over, I want to do it all over again.

This year's event topped them all. Beginning at four corners, we rallied for five and a half days of slow, calculated off-roading combined with flying across BLM roads at 60+ mph and camping wherever we could find a halfway flat spot for the night. You lose track of time and date, of emails and the office, and of every other kind of thing that remotely resembles "normal." (You do keep track of the ⛽️ gauge—the deserts of Utah are no place to be stranded!)

We're never without breakages that press us for time and keep us driving halfway into the night. But we always persevere, and this Jeep made it all the way to the end.

• NIKON D850
• 70mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/6s
• 3200

You wouldn't know it looking at the weather we finally got in this picture, but we had a few miles of poor weather to get to this. The desert is slick when it's wet. And get to it we did—this might be the best family camp we've found yet.

(Ed. notes: this was a second choice. Our first choice was on an amazing overlook at Ferron Canyon, but as quick as we unpacked, we noticed the dogs coming back with bones...that we didn't give them. After a quick search, we discovered a dead and decomposing cow just a hundred yards or so from camp. Far enough away that we couldn't smell anything, but our jerks smell everything.

• NIKON D850
• 24mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/100s
• 100

When you host family in your adopted state, make sure to take them somewhere special. And if your adopted state is Utah...the task becomes 1000% easier.

• NIKON D850
• 70mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/100s
• 100

It pays to wake up early every now and again. It was frosty out, but so worth it. We've camped here a TON—it's an easy exit out of Moab on a busy weekend—but we randomly caught the moon setting this morning.

• NIKON D850
• 27mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/400s
• 100

It's called Face pareidolia when you see faces in things. At least according to a 5-second Google search.

• NIKON D850
• 45mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/125s
• 100