Tag: great day hikes

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Hunter Mountain via the Devil’s Path

August 2, 2022

Arrival at Notch Lake

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.

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Hanging Lake

June 26, 2022

Arrival via i-70

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.

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South Boulder Peak and Bear Peak Loop

April 12, 2022

Arrival at South Mesa Trailhead

My day began with a morning rush hour drive along US-36 from Denver towards Boulder. Traffic moved thick but fast. I pulled off onto CO-170 and suddenly found myself deposited onto rolling ranch land, dotted with deciduous tree stands and farmhouses. Just beyond this bucolic scene, the Flat Irons and foothills loomed large, aglow in the morning light.

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Black Mesa, Oklahoma

February 8, 2021

No Man’s Land

My day began around 4:30 am in La Junta, Colorado. The next two hours involved driving down increasingly spare roadways through the far southeastern plains of the Centennial State. Just 20 miles shy of the border with Oklahoma, I pulled off onto a dirt county road. It started straight but grew winding. It crossed drainage ditches and creeks. I had no cell service. I pleaded with the Universe not to give me a flat tire.

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Kīlauea Iki Trail (Hawaii Volcanoes NP)

November 28, 2021

Kīlauea Erupting

The United States has no shortage of amazing, beautiful volcanoes. And some of them, while dormant, are very much not extinct. Some have erupted within the past century.

All that said, you shouldn’t visit most of these places expecting to see a molten lake of lava. Unless of course, you are visiting Kīlauea! Kīlauea has been erupting, nearly continuously, for the past 40 years. As luck would have it, I found myself on the Big Island of Hawaii at an opportune moment to witness its fresh, spewing lava first-hand. (The name Kīlauea in fact means “spewing”).

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