Congratulations to Tom Rathke of Layton, Utah, the winner of our “Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest” pack o’ goodies giveaway. Tom won a North Face backpack filled the following:
2 Tickets to The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest at the Clark Planetarium
TIMEX Expedition watch
Complete set of National Geographic (every page of every issue) on DVD
Official National Geographic Mt. Everest map and movie poster, sponsored by The North Face and REI
25% off coupon for the National Geographic online store
We recieved a bunch of great, creative, and wild entries, and we thank everyone who sent in their “Wildest Dream.” You can read Tom’s winning entry below:
I have been a hot air balloon pilot for 24 years. I even operated a scenic flight operation out of Moab, UT, in the 1990’s. However, one adventure I have always wanted to complete is to fly a balloon from one end of the state to the other. This is not possible with a standard hot air balloon as the fuel capacity limits you to about a two-hour flight. No, I want to do this as a multi-day adventure where the flight begins somewhere near Nevada in Southern Utah (say Veyo for example). The balloon takes off in the early morning and flies as high and far as possible. Then lands somewhere near a road so a support vehicle can meet it. There camp is set up and the rest of the day’s activities are dictated by the landing site’s surroundings. The support vehicle would have camping gear, propane to refuel the balloon with, mountain bikes, etc. The following day the balloon is inflated in camp and the adventure continues. This sort of “Wildest Dream” has some logistical complications (like Canyonlands National Park is too large to fly over in a day) so perhaps some segments would need to covered by bicycle. Imaging hot air ballooning combined with camping, mountain biking, photography, hiking, endurance cycling… gives a whole new aspect to ‘tour of Utah’.
Thanks for your entry, Tom. We hope you enjoy your prize and we wish you luck in achieving your “Wildest Dream.”