Big Moose Mountain… Unfortunately, no big Moose sighting on this hike ☹. But we did get great views of Moosehead Lake. Nice short hike to an awesome view point. Fir ground cover… Abandoned structure… Lot of others have been here……
Badlands of North Dakota… Camped at Bennett Camp. Took the Bennett Trail to the China Wall, then went off-trail cross-country through some very beautiful terrain back to Bennett camp. Not much elevation gain but got some good cross-country mileage through…
White Butte, ND… White Butte is the highest point in North Dakota at 3506’, the trailhead is at 3156’… so this was a short hike only to tag the highpoint of ND. Nice morning to do this hike. The views…
Black Elk Peak… Black Elk Peak, South Dakota’s Highpoint at 7242’ and the highest point in the Black Elk Wilderness. This is a beautiful area to wander amongst the garden of rocks. While we were taking a break at the…
Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, and Crazy Horse Memorial…South Dakota… Devils Tower has a hike around trail. Saw some climbers gearing up at the bottom. With binoculars we could see the old ladder that was used to climb the tower in…
Cirque of the Towers backpack… Hiked in for an overnight in the Cirque. The next morning, we hiked up to Cirque Lake and hung out there for a while enjoying the awesome views of all the surrounding rock. Such a…
Trapper Peak, Montana Bitterroot Mountains. First hike of a 5-month road trip. Camped near the trailhead. Highest point in the Bitterroot Mountains. Good hike. The Larches were just turning yellow. Beautiful alpine lakes…and the views of the Bitterroot Mountains were…
It’s been a long process, but finally ready to use and abuse…the Midnight Raven. Deb and I knew it would be a steep climb, but had no idea of the obstacles. Pandemic, supply chain issues, long lead times, and overwhelming…
X-Tower… I first explored the Clatsop Towers back in Jan 2021, and ever since I’ve wanted to get to the top of all of them. The X-Tower is the largest of them all…so let’s start with that one. We came…
Chocolate Ears… Tagged a pinnacle with Mr Olson…calling the route Bitter Sweet. Aided our way up, adding hangers for a nice 5.7 sport route to the summit. This was a FA in the North Oregon Coastal Range. Surprisingly decent rock…
Onion Peak… Onion Peak – NE Route. This route requires you to obtain a permit from the big troll, Weyerhaeuser Timber. Most of this route is on Weyerhaeuser logging roads up to a small patch of Clatsop State Forest up…
Kidders Butte… It’s been 8-years since the last time on Kidders Butte. A lot of trees around have been cut and replanted since, but Kidders Butte is still treed covered. 90% of the hike is on Lewis and Clark Timberland…
Hanson Creek… This time of year, there’s water in the coastal range creeks. Keith and I checked out Hanson Creek…whoa!, that was an expensive creek. Definitely a high pay to play. The 5-6 falls were beautiful, but the vegetation and…
Clatsop Towers-Plus… Another trip up to the Clatsop Towers and beyond. This time I wanted to do a loop above the towers, through the small square of Clatsop State Forest that is completely land-locked by the big timber company, then…
Twin Pillars… It’s been 15 years since I last came up to the Twin Pillars. We camped at the trailhead parking lot. Nobody else there other than a small car. Turned out to be a couple of backpackers that we…
Angora Grand Tour… Perfect day for the Grand Tour of Angora Peak area. The “Grand Tour” consist of, in this order, The Hermit View, The Hermit Hut (now broken), scrambling to the top of Angora Pinnacle, circumnavigating around Little Angora,…
Olowalu Stream Hike… Deb and I have been here before…back in 2015 when we crossed the West Maui mountains from the Iao Valley side. This time we hiked up Olowalu stream as far as time would allow. We only got…
Haleakala Crater Hike… Next time I’d like to spend more time exploring this crater and all it’s nooks and crannies…and caves. We started at the Halemau’u Trailhead. The trail immediately goes down a series of switchbacks, and drops 1400’ in…
Waihe’e Ridge Trail… First hike on Maui. A short, heavily used trail up to a viewing platform. Lots of people on the trail. Parking lot was full but we managed to snag a spot. I can see why this is…
Napau Crater Hike… Napau Crater is on the big island of Hawaii. Although this hike is called the Napau Crater hike, there are a lot of other things to explore along the way, including the Makaopuhi Crater, steam vents, and…