Mountaintop adventures
August 5, 2022
Talk to hikers in the Eastern US and Baxter takes on a seemingly mythical quality. Up there, deep in the heart of the Maine Woods, lies Katahdin. The peak sits surrounded by think, wild forests. The wilderness in turn sits surrounded by vast tracts of forest, like the “hundred-mile wilderness.” It’s the terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The end of the line.
Continue reading “Sandy Stream Pond (Baxter SP)”
August 3, 2022
I visited Mount Frissell this summer on a trip home to New York’s Hudson Valley. Being just an hour from my hometown, Frissell actually ranks as the very first state high point I ever hiked to. But I came back in 2022 to get pictures.
Continue reading “Mount Frissell and the Connecticut High Point”
August 2, 2022
I grew up roughly an hour from Hunter Mountain, in New York’s pastoral Hudson Valley. But ironically, Hunter would become the very last mountain I would hike among New York’s 4000-foot-plus set. Growing up, we never skied Hunter (“too many New Yorkers!”), and chose the Adirondacks over the Catskills for vacations (“too many New Yorkers!”). If there’s one thing New Yorkers despise on vacation, it’s other New Yorkers. Especially ones from farther south.
Continue reading “Hunter Mountain via the Devil’s Path”
August 1, 2022
I arrived near High Point, New Jersey, on a rainy Monday in August. This hike would mark the first of seven northeast high points on my summer road trip. I parked alongside a quiet county road just a quarter mile south of the New York border.
Continue reading “High Point, New Jersey”
June 26, 2022
My day began zipping along the winding curves of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon. This breathtaking stretch of highway involves a continuous series of bridges and tunnels over the Colorado River and through rocky canyon walls. This short section opened in 1992, among the last major links in the interstate system. At its heart, lies Hanging Lake Canyon.
Continue reading “Hanging Lake”
June 17, 2022
Beaver Creek ski resort offers ample hiking opportunities in summer. Many routes stay within the confines of the ski resort, crossing grassy ski slopes and ducking into lush, piney tree islands. A few other trails connect into the adjacent Holy Cross Wilderness, where they amble on for miles into the alpine.
Continue reading “Beaver Lake Trail and the Royal Elk Trail”
May 20, 2022
Glymur waterfall marked the final hike of my Spring 2022 trip to Iceland. I had spent a week encircling the island nation along the Ring Road, seeing literally dozens of waterfalls. That said, Glymur would prove particularly spectacular.
Continue reading “Glymur Waterfall hike”
May 18, 2022
I drove into the Lake Myvatn area of northeast Iceland on a moody, mid-May morning. After touring some belching, sulfurous thermal vents, I headed over to Hverfjall Crater for the day’s only ‘proper hike‘.
Continue reading “Hverfjall Crater Rim Hike”
May 16, 2022
Skógafoss lies in the south of Iceland roughly 2 hours from Reykjavik. The famed waterfall sits just off the “ring road” near the eponymous town of Skógar. The massive falls appear from the Ring Road, and tower above the large, dirt parking area.
Continue reading “Skógafoss and the hike of never-ending waterfalls”
May 15, 2022
I visited Gullfoss on a drizzly day in Mid-may, 2022. The Waterfall lies at the furthest point from Rejkavic along the famed Golden Circle route. Gulfoss means Golden Waterfall in Icelandic, and it lends its name to the route itself. The massive falls lie just 10 minutes down the road from Geysir. It thus provides an incredible one-two-punch of natural wonders for day-trippers from Iceland’s capital.
Continue reading “Gullfoss”