Adventure

Last week: walking through cactus, yucca, and a sparse desert landscape to a hidden palm oasis.  This week: walking along a rushing, clear, and cold river, through tall trees and a totally lush and verdant understory.  Quite the change. We did our first real hike with Mason, who is currently 7 months old.  We have […]

I really didn’t have a plan today, other than explore some of the maze of trails at Cuyamaca State Park. I ended up creating a nice 12.5 mile loop, that took me up near to the top Cuyamaca Peak. I’m probably one of the few people to to get that close to making it to […]

I need adventure.  I haven’t been able to do any large adventures recently, so for now, small, one-day explorations will have to do.  These aren’t necessarily always about exploring new stuff, but more like exploring new ways of doing the familiar. Today’s little exploration was to run Tecolote Canyon.  I’ve done this run several times […]

 One early fall afternoon, much like this one, I was randomly looking over the Amtrak route map. I quickly realized that it will take residents of Portland, Seattle, and Spokane directly to Glacier National Park. Even better, the time spent travelling on the train doesn’t really cost you any time–you can leave on a train […]

It used to be that I saw backpacking as purely a way to enjoy the backcountry and a chance to escape to wilderness. It was an opportunity to leave civilization behind and reconnect with the natural world that we were inhabitants of until only very recently in human history. It wasn’t until the Pacific Crest […]

It has been far too long since I’ve been backpacking. You would think that as someone who runs a hiking and backpacking website, that I would get out far more than I have in the past year, but the universe has conspired against me and kept me from overnight backpacking adventures. It wasn’t totally my […]

The Wallowa Mountains in Northeast Oregon are known for their beautiful granite peaks, clear lakes, and deep valleys. What makes the region even better, is a wide variety of loop trips that can easily be created to sample the wilderness. The hikes listed below require three to six days to complete. Swamp Lake – Wallowas […]

It had been circled on my map for several years. Up a small, trailless canyon was a waterfall that I had reason to suspect was at least mildly great. It was a beautiful, early spring day, perhaps one of those first days with a hint of truly warm summer heat in the air. We had […]

While the Columbia River Gorge is a great place for a hike any time of year, April, May, and June could very well be the optimum season for a little exploration. The weather is warming up, the trilliums and other wildflowers are blooming, the waterfalls are running hard, and the muted hues of winter are […]

How fast time goes by. It was four years ago tomorrow that we arrived in Campo, California to begin our six month hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (aka, “the PCT”). The trail was most definitely beautiful; the stark, subdued tones of the southern Californian desert, the jagged, whitewashed spires contrasted against the intense blue […]

It’s time to begin planning some epic summer backpacking trips! While getting out, strapping on a pack, and hiking is generally always a good time, I particularly enjoy loop trips – there’s just something satisfying about not having to backtrack while continually seeing new territory. I’ve hiked some fantastic loops, and I know I have […]