Hiking Piestewa Peak is a famously popular Phoenix-area, StairMaster-like workout that can get really crowded. Most people take the short, direct route up Trail 300. For this year’s Arizona Winter Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge, I wanted to explore a different route that would add both mileage and net vertical gain to the hike, and hopefully […]
Planning an Ascent of Mount Rainier
Each year at our Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge Finishers Party, we do an exercise we call Your Next Adventure. We ask everyone to take an index card and a permanent marker and write down their big adventure goals for the year ahead. The simple act of committing it to paper, and sharing it with others is […]
Hiking Gray Butte from Smith Rock State Park
Gray Butte is not particularly rugged nor jagged. The soft-shouldered butte is home to a cluster of antennas and a utility road the climbs there. But this 13.3 mile out-and-back route begins and ends in beautiful Smith Rock State Park, taking you down across the Crooked River before climbing out of the park, across a […]
Backpacking the Red Peak Pass Loop in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park features some of the most beautiful backcountry in all of the Sierra Nevada. Surprisingly, however, most people stick to a few main trails – namely the John Muir Trail between Yosemite Valley – Tuolumne Meadows – Donahue Pass and the High Sierra Camp trails leading to Merced Lake – Vogelsang – Sunrise. […]
Wonderland Trail Day 12: Indian Bar to Maple Creek
Day 12 would start with a foggy climb with no views, then take us plummeting downward 3,805 feet to camp at Maple Creek, our final campsite for the trip. Before we headed out, we took one more look at the ravine at Indian Bar, then started the climb up to Cowlitz Divide. The divide begins […]
Wonderland Trail Day 11: Summerland to Indian Bar
Two of the most-wanted camps on the Wonderland Trail are Summerland and Indian Bar. They lie just five miles apart. And our itinerary included both of them. The sunrise from our camp at Summerland was a spectacular send off for the day. We’d be climbing 874′ to the highest point on the Wonderland Trail: 6,750′ […]
Wonderland Trail Day 10: Sunrise to Summerland
For Day 10 on the Wonderland Trail, we returned to double-digit mileage after three short days. Our legs were well rested, and we were looking forward to seeing Summerland. The trail begins by heading along the rum of the canyon, then turns and drops 2,000 feet in two miles to White River Campground. There is […]
Wonderland Trail Day 9: Granite Creek to Sunrise
Day 9 on the Wonderland Trail was our final low mileage day. We would be hiking over scenic Skyscraper Pass, through wildflower-laden Berkeley Park and down to our destination: Sunrise Camp. Sunrise Camp is about a mile from the Sunrise Information Center, a grill that serves cheeseburgers, a small market, and our final resupply point. We […]
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