#TinyHomeAdventure-Episode 1

After over four months of working over fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, we set off on the adventure of my dreams: The Tiny Home Adventure.

It started off with a quick trip to Zion National Park to tackle my first big wall, Spaceshot, an eight-hundred-fifty foot, five star aid route. I have done quite a bit of trad and sport leading, but this was something entirely different. Stepping up on marginally placed gear in soft sandstone hundreds of feet off the ground with no relief. There were no ledges to re-rack, eat food, drink water, or collect yourself. Primarily hanging belays until “Earth’s Orbit Ledge”, a three foot deep ledge just before the last and most exposed pitch of my life. You step over a missing dihedral which lends a nice view of the 800 feet of air below. We arrived at the top just as the sun set behind the magnificent canyon wall, packed up and rappelled in the dark; we got to the ground at around 11:00 PM. This was one of the most mentally difficult and draining days of my life; I was incredibly thankful to be back on solid ground. I took this photo immediately after we made it down.

We landed two and a half hours after the last shuttle, so our plan was to jog the ten miles back to our vehicle. We could see another climbing party across the canyon that was on the same time frame as us. We both touched ground around the same time and thankfully they had a car close by and offered us a ride to our vehicle. Apple and Erin were both living in Vegas and after a few minutes of conversation I asked if they knew the one of the two people I know in Vegas. Apparently Apple was currently roommates with the person I knew and it was possible that we had met briefly in the past. Further conversation with Erin exposed that she had gone to Singapore with one of my good friends from middle and high school; what a small world it is. Once we got to the parking lot we celebrated our accomplishments for the day as well as Josh’s birthday.

The next morning we ran through the slot canyons keyhole. A super fun, easy, short and technical slot canyon with a few rappels, quite a bit of swimming, and some really cool views of tight sandstone walls. Josh had to be back in Salt Lake by 4:30 to pick up his kids so we literally ran through keyhole in about twenty minutes and hit the road back to Salt Lake City.

I spent the next few days tying up loose ends and moving out of the four bedroom house I had been renting for the last two years. I had entirely furnished the common spaces and acquired a massive amount of stuff over the last eight years living in Park City, so I purged. I sold, donated, and gave away everything that wouldn't fit into the Tiny Home aside from one tote of keepsakes and important documents. This was incredibly difficult but satisfying at the same time. 

After getting everything squared away, I did a final pack on the Tiny Home Adventure Mobile (THAM) and hit the road. With rainy weather forecasted everywhere I figured I would head north in hopes to find wind and snow for some snow kiting. With it being such a warm, low snow year I was unsure if there would be any rideable terrain. After driving the 5 hours from Park City, UT to Togewotee Pass, WY, just northeast of Jackson,WY, the rain turned to snow. With whiteout conditions and it being 1:00 AM I had no idea exactly where we were or if there was any rideable terrain. Morning came and lent a wonderful view of stormy weather, high winds, and kiteable snowpack. There was about eight inches of fresh, heavy snow and sketchy storm wind; I was stoked! I put up my smallest kite as the wind was dangerously gusty and went for it. Having only been here once before, I explored some new zones. With low snow it exposed a beautiful winding river that I never knew existed.

Once the storm broke we headed down the road to Jackson, WY and stopped into Rendezvous River sports. Every time I had been in there the employees had been super friendly and knowledgeable, always inviting me to go paddle with them. They pointed me in the direction of Lunch Counter: a standing wave that you can surf on a surf board.

Lunch Counter looked pretty amazing. To get to the proper side of the river you had to paddle across the waterway and through the wave train to eddy out below the wave. Garbed in a light wetsuit I went for it; I crossed the river, swam through the wave train, and then eddied out, which was quite a bit more strenuous than I had expected. After watching a few other guys ride it I sent my first drop in. I caught the wave on my belly and then punched in at the bottom, tossing me ass over tea kettle. I tried a few more times but the freezing cold water and my lack of paddling shape got the best of me. I never stood up, but I plan to go back to get this!!!

After Jackson we headed to Bozeman, MT. We drove through the west side of Yellowstone National Park. Unsure of where we were, I pulled over to sleep. Not five minutes later a park ranger very politely let me know I was still within park limits and it was illegal to camp here. However, it was so late he gave us the OK to spend the night as long as we moved on before sun-up. He was extremely informative, polite, and compassionate. It was a very positive experience.

he next morning we caught up with my good friend, Mike, in Bozeman. Mike had just invested in a whitewater boat and wanted to take us on a paddle on a three and a half hour, five mile section of the lower Madison River. We had a fantastic day, saw a great amount of diverse wildlife, and somehow missed the pullout. We finally reached an obscure pullout after floating almost thirty miles and eleven hours. It had just gotten dark and we were hoping to be able to hitch hike back to the cars. Thankfully an officer pulled up just minutes after we landed. I asked if he would be able to shuttle me back to our vehicles, which he had no problem with. I had a very insightful conversation with the officer and he had a few great ideas for the adventure: first was to enter a rodeo and second was to go on a ride-along with him.

So far this trip has been full of amazing adventures, small world experience and outstanding luck; I am hoping to maintain this pace. I am already a few days into filming episode two and I can tell you this is going to be another epic journey.

Thank you so much for reading/watching!!! Next Episode drops June 1st. 

If you or anyone you know has some royal-free music they would want featured on the Tiny Home Adventure please email me at andrewmuse88@gmail.com

Special thanks to,

Josh Heiner

Rendevous River Sports

William taggart

Michael Stief

John O’connel

Dave Ward

Hannah Haeberle

Taylor Maag

Ally Dax

John Duda

Huge thanks to my sponsors

Rossignol

Maverik

Coast Portland

GoalZero

Backcountry.com

North Kiteboarding

RuffWear

Discrete

Nectar

Sandmarc

Bombas

Gnarly Nutriton

Spark R and D

SpreadStoke

Also follow me in on instagram!

 

@tmaag_photography and I went out this past new moon to shoot the stars. We rallied my tiny home past the closed gate, though a snowbank and up a snowy-road until we got stuck. From there we climbed for an hour up a super steep slope, scrambled a cliffband with a ton of camera gear, no sleeping bags and a hope the clouds would hold off. Following his expert advice on where the Milky Way would rise we set up. We spent the night tending a small fire sleeping for 10 minutes at a time while our cameras shot. The valley floor filled with fog, kissing the cameras every now and then. Once we saw the footage needless to say we both couldn't help giggling like sleep deprived little girls for several hours. This is a short clip of what we captured. Do your Instagram a HUGE favor and follow @tmaag_photography !!! Thank you @goalzero for making this shot possible!! #starporn #milkyway #stars #adventure #tinyhome #cannon5dmarkII @Rossignol @nectar @jamstik @discrete @gnarlynutriton @sandmarc @exultkitewear @bombassocks @3b_extreme @northkiteboarding @sparkrandd @backcountry @natgeo

A video posted by Andrew Muse (@andrew__muse) onApr 21, 2015 at 7:54am PDT