Mountaintop adventures
November 11, 2024
I touched down at SFO on a rainy November Monday for a work onsite. This was the first time I’d ever personally experienced robust rain in California (I was beginning to think it was a myth!). Water dripped from the terminal ceilings as I made my way to the cabs. The Bay Area is among the richest communities in world history. But apparently that didn’t guarantee much of anything in terms of public works.
Continue reading “San Bruno Mountain”
October 20, 2024
It was late October, and we were nearing the end of “dry” hiking season in the Colorado Rockies. The aspens were bare. The bushes had turned orange and brown. And a recent snowfall dusted talus fields on the highest summits.
Continue reading “Mystic Island Lake”
October 13, 2024
I spend a lot of time in Eagle County, Colorado. So it was only a matter of time before I tried the much-hyped Booth Falls trail. The timing was more or less an accident. I’d overheard that this weekend in October was the last for the “hiker express” bus between Vail Village and the Booth Lake/Booth Falls trailhead.
Continue reading “Booth Lake and Booth Falls”
September 20, 2024
I arrived shortly after 9am at the carpark in Craster. It was a moody morning in late September in this tiny coastal village in Northumberland. I walked down towards the small harbor, where I could see the misty North Sea beyond its walls.
Continue reading “Dunstaburgh Castle (Northumberland)”
September 19, 2024
I was mostways through my roadtrip through the United Kingdom, driving from London to Edinburgh. As I reached Northumberland, and the uppermost reaches of England, the trip very obviously needed to include a short hike along the famed Hadrian’s Wall. And so I arrived at the carpark at Walltown Crags to enjoy what English Heritage refers to as “arguably the most spectacular bit of Hadrian’s Wall.”
Continue reading “Walltown Crags (Hadrian’s Wall)”
September 17, 2024
I arrived at the car park in Dovedale around 8am. The sun already lit up select aspects of nearby hillsides. But the car park was still largely empty. I’d only just arrived in England’s bucolic “Peak District” that morning. I was excited to enjoy my first hike in the country.
Continue reading “Thorpe Cloud and the Dovedale Stepping Stones”
September 17, 2024
Fall 2024 I finally pulled the trigger on road tripping through the UK. I drove from London to Edinburgh, over about nine days, taking in as many cute hikes, castles, and opulent historic homes as time would allow.
Continue reading “Stanage Edge (Peak District)”
August 18, 2024
On my bucket list of “Colorado things” the line item “Check out Fort Collins” seemed to languish near the bottom of the list. And I knew that wasn’t really fair because I’d only ever heard wonderful things about “FoCo”. I’m neither a college student, nor particularly into beer. But it still seemed worth checking out. Plus it was an excuse to stop at the new Colorado Buc-ee’s.
Continue reading “Horsetooth Rock Trail”
August 16, 2024
I left my apartment in Denver around 12:30 am, passing bars and sidewalks still populated with the Thursday night crew. I headed northeast, skirting past Boulder before heading into the foothills towards Rocky Mountain National Park. That’s when the rain started. “Uh oh” I thought … “already this is not going to plan.”
Continue reading “Longs Peak via the Keyhole Route”
August 11, 2024
Around mid-afternoon on a Saturday in August, I found myself heading south through the Ozarks of Southwestern Missouri. I crossed into Arkansas, soonafter crossing its eponymous river on a long, narrow trestle bridge. This felt auspicious, as I’d spent countless hours hiking and exploring the Upper Arkansas River Valley in Colorado. 700 miles to the east of those headwaters, the River was absolutely massive by comparison. In Arkansas, its waters moved slowly, forming giant muddy braids through the broad valley.
Continue reading “Mount Magazine (Arkansas High Point)”