All posts by Brandon

About the Authors

We’re Brandon and Erin. Thank you for stopping by our blog. We started this blog to share our enthusiasm for the outdoors with the world! Read more about our mission HERE.

We’re not expert outdoorsmen. We’re professional artists with an admiration of nature and an enthusiasm for exploration and solitude. We love to travel! From our home base in North Georgia, we’ve trekked all across the country in search of exciting new places to hike, kayak, and camp. In fact, we’ve only been serious about our “outdoor lives” for a little over two years. For that reason, we feel like we’re able to write with a fresh perspective tailored toward the novice, while also being useful to experienced outdoorsmen.

We have been married 11 years and we have a 6 year old daughter, who we’re proudly raising to share our love of the outdoors.


 

ABOUT BRANDON:

Brandon

I was born in Atlanta and grew up in its suburbs. I had the good fortune of being brought up in a canoe (proud member of Big Cedar Creek’s unofficial River Rescue Squad) and around a campfire. As an early teen, I went on several family vacations to both Montana and western North Carolina. Once I reached high school, I had lost my interest in the outdoors, but in 2013, a Christmas gift from my parents changed all that. Erin and I both received new kayaks. I don’t believe my folks ever anticipated how life-changing that gift was. It quickly became an obsession, and a few short months later, we towed our kayaks from Georgia on a 5000 mile trek with stops in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

I have a Bachelors degree from Kennesaw State University with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, and a deep-seated fascination with business. In addition to hiking and kayaking, I also enjoy photography, playing guitar, autocross, and most-recently Crossfit.

My favorite place on the planet right now is the High Uinta Wilderness in Northeast Utah, although I am quite fond of Moab as well, and would like to spend some more time there.

My greatest achievement is raising my daughter, although it challenges me everyday!

Brandon kayaking in High Uintas Wilderness
Brandon kayaking in High Uintas Wilderness

 

ABOUT ERIN:
Erin

I was born in San Diego, CA and relocated to Georgia at the age of 10. Having family all along the West Coast has allowed me to develop a love for travel, and I spent several summers in Park City, UT visiting with my aunt and uncle. I am a formally trained as a ceramic artist and photographer, and I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with concentrations in both fields. I find landscapes to be more interesting to photograph than people, and hiking and kayaking allows me to explore some fantastic places for shots.

In addition to hiking and kayaking, I enjoy reading, knitting, photography, horses, and animals.

My favorite place on the planet right now is Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, WY, although I love the Uintas as well!

My greatest achievement is undoubtedly my daughter, however, I’m also very proud that I’ve resisted having to get a “traditional” job in favor of self-employment as an artist.

Erin & Kaydence Hiking in High Uintas Wilderness
Erin & Kaydence Hiking in High Uintas Wilderness

Together, we are the owners and artists behind BE Creations and Designs, Inc. We are working to build BE Outfitters, a lifestyle apparel brand focused on sharing our enthusiasm for the outdoors and fitness. We earn our living entirely through freelance work and sales via our website and Etsy store. If you find the blog useful, and think our work is awesome, please consider supporting us, this blog, and our adventure habit with your purchase.

We welcome your input! If you have anything to contribute to the blog, notice errors, or just have comments and suggestions, please feel free to contact us anytime at us@sasquatchsearch.com.

Brandon & Erin in beautiful Willemstad, Curaçao
Brandon & Erin in beautiful Willemstad, Curaçao

From “Oops” to Genesis – An Anecdote and a Mission

Tonto National Forest
Post author, Brandon Spangler, posing with kayaks at Tonto National Forest entry.

My wife and I once drove 40 minutes into Arizona’s Tonto National Forest en route to a kayak put-in, only to find out that I needed to purchase a Tonto Recreation Pass in order to park our vehicle.  There were no self-service fee boxes, as we had grown accustomed to in our home state of Georgia.  With no cell phone service available, we were forced to drive 40 minutes back into Mesa, AZ; the nearest location where the recreation pass could be purchased.  Once the pass was obtained, we returned to the put-in, and despite considerable frustration, we finally managed to launch our kayaks.

It was this frustration that was the first inspiration for this blog.  My hope is that by sharing personal experiences, we can prevent  others from making some of the same mistakes we’ve made, and hence provide a shorter, and more enjoyable road map to the outdoors.  Furthermore, this blog will motivate my wife and I to get outdoors more often, as we will need to constantly generate new content for the blog.  In that way, this endeavor will be mutually beneficial to both authors and readers.  It’s a win-win!

Please stay tuned.  We’ve logged a considerable number of miles of hiking and kayaking over the last two years.  We’ll be compiling and sharing information about the trips we’ve already taken, as well as posting fresh information about each time we go out.

And if you’re wondering about the name of the blog (sasquatchsearch.com), well,  it’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but the gist is this: we want everyone to enjoy the outdoors as much as we do, and we hope this blog will encourage everyone to go into the wilderness; or in other words “Searching for Sasquatch!”

Tonto Recreation Pass
The necessary Tonto Recreation Pass.