Mountaintop adventures
June 22, 2024
We zipped along State Route 149 around dawn, towards the tiny, picturesque mining town of Creede. The road followed the Rio Grande River, perhaps 50 miles from its headwaters in the rugged San Juan Mountains, and nearly 1,800 miles from its discharge into the Gulf of Mexico.
Continue reading “San Luis Peak from West Willow Creek”
June 19, 2024
I wound my way up the narrow, winding road to Taos Ski Valley late one Friday evening in June. Eventually, I arrived at my hotel at the base of the ski area. It was a super nice hotel, the sort of place that charged a small mortgage for nights in the winter, but had some sweet deals in the off season. There I’d catch some very comfortable sleep before ascending Wheeler Peak in the morning.
Continue reading “Wheeler Peak, New Mexico”
January 20, 2024
I pulled into the small trailhead parking lot below Monument Canyon around 8 am. Being mid-January, this meant the sun was only just beginning to rise above the tall hills and mesas to the East. Above me was Colorado National Monument, in my opinion among the most underrated units in the National Park system. Less than a mile in the opposite direction was the muddy floodplain of the Colorado River.
Continue reading “Monument Canyon (Colorado National Monument)”
October 13, 2023
I reached Chimney Top Gap, and the Beech Bottom Falls Trailhead, around 8 am. Morning sunshine already poked through the trees near the trailhead. It was a luxuriously late start for the final hike in my Southern Appalachians high pointing tour.
Continue reading “Sassafras Mountain (South Carolina)”
October 12, 2023
I drove winding roads, into the heart of the Chattahoochee National Forest. It was just after sunrise, on a rainy Thursday in October. Which is to say, I had these country byways all to myself. Fall colors were just coming in in these southernmost hills of the Appalachians.
Continue reading “Brasstown Bald via Wolfpen Ridge”
October 10, 2023
I left Gatlinburg well before dawn, in hopes of getting up and into Great Smoky Mountains National Park sans traffic jams. This basically worked. I wound my way through the pitch darkness of the forest, en route to the high ridge crest at Newfound Gap. The lack of views did not bum me out: I’d be coming back the same way later that day.
Continue reading “Charlies Bunion (Great Smoky Mountains NP)”
October 8, 2023
I pulled into the trailhead along the South Toe River well before dawn. I was deep in the remote heart of the Black Mountains of North Carolina, ready to take on the state’s auspicious high point: Mount Mitchell.
Continue reading “Mount Mitchell”
October 7, 2023
I pulled into the carpark at Massie Gap shortly after sunrise. The winding drive had already taken me well above 4000′ and I got the sense there were views to be had, even down at the trailhead. But low lying clouds and fog obscured all but the nearest forested slopes. It was a moody fall day in Grayson Highlands.
Continue reading “Mount Rogers (Virginia)”
September 30, 2023
We rolled through the small, sleepy town of Yampa, well before dawn. Already we had drove nearly an hour north from i70, passing only the occasional cabin or ranch. We had 40 minutes of driving left, along a narrow byway into the Flat Tops.
Continue reading “Devil’s Causeway”
September 24, 2023
We trundled up the bumpy dirt road to the North Cottonwood Creek trailhead. We arrived just before 5 am, and it was still pitch black. It would remain dark for over an hour still. The days were growing shorter, and chillier. But we needed every hour of sunlight we had for today’s adventure, and I always prefer starting in the dark to finishing in the dark.
Continue reading “The Harvard and Columbia Traverse”