Just Plodding Along

I wish I could post the picture of the cow that stood in the middle of the road staring at us while we were trying to get to Bryce Canyon. Unfortunately blogging from a phone means no go on that since I took a picture with one of those old fangled cameras not attached to a phone. You will just have to take my word for it. Bovine obstacles aside, our drive to Bryce Canyon was easy and the closer we got the cooler the temps! Luckily there was room at the campgrounds. We stayed at the Sunset campground. The first night we had an okay spot for camping but after making friends with the camp host we were alerted early the next morning to a prime spot and nabbed it for our second night. Thanks Martha! The first afternoon we got there we just hung at our site, didn't even go see the canyon. We were just happy to be in pine trees and cooler weather. The next morning we set off to hike the Navajo trail, a short but oh so steep trail that runs down among the hoodoos. Amazing. A must do if y...

So this portion of the trip will mostly involve me being paranoid of a Leonardo DiCaprio The Revenant type bear encounter. Part one , two and three of our trip is not so much in bear country. Once we enter Montana I get the impression that I will no longer be at the top of the food chain. Glacier After a quick stop in Idaho for an overnight stay since it is such a long drive from the Cascades (about 12 hours), we will hit up Glacier National Park. I have a few day backcountry loop planned but with my level of bear paranoia there may be some day hikes instead. Yellowstone Along with the traditional Old Faithful, mudflats, and other thermal delights to be found at this park we hope to do the Sky Rim Loop, a 21 mile backcountry mountain loop...clapping and singing the whole way because NO BEARS. No thank you.  Grand Teton We hope to see big sky and big mountains at this park with an 18 mile backpacking loop with alpine lakes and mountain views.  After...

Parts one and two of our trip. Oregon and Washington are amazing. I have been to both states before and am super excited to spend some time in the wilderness there. After Redwoods National Park we will head north and hopefully hit up some Oregon wineries along the way to Crater Lake and then visit some breweries in the Portland and Seattle areas on our way to other adventures. Crater Lake At Crater Lake we plan to do some short hiking trips and hopefully take a boating trip out to Wizard Island. Then maybe some pit stops in Portland and Seattle for a little civilization time before heading further north. Olympic National Park Here we hope to spend a day exploring the coast and checking out the tide pools. Then hopefully hit up the Sol Duc Trail for some mountain fun and then a day or two on the Dosewallips River Trail through an ancient forest. This park looks particularly amazing so am extra excited about this one.  Mount Rainier This will hopefully be o...

Part 1 plans for our trip can be found here . California is a huge state and I can't really wrap my head around the idea that we will be walking through it next year, the entire length of it.  We are skipping some of the areas we will hit on the Pacific Crest Trail because we will be walking through them in the future. Luckily there is plenty of National Park fun to go around. Sequoia Kings Canyon Sequoia and Kings Canyon are managed together as one awesome super park. The plan is to head up to the Mineral King area for a 6 day loop backpacking trek that involves some mountains and alpine lakes. Before that I want to visit General Sherman and check out the giant redwoods in the area. After our visit here we will head to the in-laws to visit for a bit. Yay indoor showers and mattresses! Redwoods Northern California also has some giant Redwoods and beautiful coastal trails. We hope to spend a day or two on the coast and about two days hitting up the Tall ...

When the hubs and I learned that he was going to be medically retired we were like well that sucks......but then we were like what an amazing opportunity to bucket list it up while we are still on the younger side. Of course thru-hiking the PCT is the ultimate goal. But in preparation for that and because we have some time to kill until next April when we kick off our little 2k plus mile trek we have decided to tour some of this countries amazing national parks this summer. The trip serves two purposes: 1) have fun exploring the western part of the USA, 2) try out our backpacking gear and learn some skill (okay, me learn some skill) when it comes to trekking through the wilderness. We will kick off and end in Colorado and visit some of the most beautiful areas in between. The plan is to kick it off on June 1st. Black Canyon of Gunnison This will be our first stop for camping and day hiking. You can backpack down the canyon but after reading multiple warnings about abunda...

This past weekend I got to do some fun hiking up in the Franklin Mountains. About 10.25 miles round trip and quite a bit of elevation climb, 1,898 feet according to my Garmin. Here are some of my favorite shots.  It is funny how just walking can wear you out and make you sore in a different way from running and how walking uphill reminds you that you are really not in that great of shape. It is also weird that there was still snow towards the top. Not used to that in the desert. 4 more days until the marathon!