Mountaintop adventures
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 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)”
August 9, 2024
I flew into St Louis the night before, driving about 90 minutes south to work from a library in a small town in Southeastern Missouri. At 5pm I logged off and headed West, into the nearby St Francois Mountains of the Eastern Ozarks.
Continue reading “Taum Sauk Mountain”
July 6, 2024
I drove along the smooth dirt roads of Sylvan Lake SP, a thousand-acre jewel of a park wedged into the mountains between the Vail and Aspen area. I followed Road 415 along East Brush Creek towards the tiny town of Fulford. Just outside the small townsite, I parked at the Nolan Lake trailhead.
Continue reading “New York Mountain”
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
It was drizzly and overcast as I cruised up the gentle switchbacks of Kuwohi Road. Even on these highest peaks of the Smokies, peak Fall foliage would not arrive for another week or two. But tinges of reds and oranges still festooned select stands of precocious hardwoods.
Continue reading “Kuwohi (Great Smoky Mountains NP)”