trip video: Bob Marshall Wilderness – Prairie Reef & The Chinese Wall, September 2023

May 1, 2025.Reading time 1 minute.

This is a companion video to an upcoming backpacking trip report (at some point).

Richard and I teamed up again for a late season backpack into Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is just south of Glacier National Park in Montana and is known for the 15 miles long feature called the Chinese Wall. Unlike the typical hike to visit these Walls, we had plans to be on top a couple of them. What do they say about plans? Regardless, my 3rd team up with Richard was again a Wild adventure, with a capital “W” as he says.

You can our full detailed report of our hikes below in the index as they are posted.

trip video: Gros Ventre Wilderness – Granite Creek, West Fork Crystal Creek, Crystal Creek, & Swift Creek loop, June 2021

January 11, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

As a companion video to our upcoming backpacking trip into the Gros Ventre Wilderness, I joined Richard from the Backcountry Post forums for an early season hike into the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Nestled between the Tetons, Wind River Range, and the Absaroka Range are these set of mountains that I had never heard of a week before meeting up with Richard at the trailhead. Wild is an apt description of the hike. That included the many wildlife we saw along the way and the difficult terrain that came with the early season.

You can our full detailed report of our hikes below in the index as they are posted.

trip video: Yellowstone National Park – Hellroaring Creek, Yellowstone River, Black Canyon, & Blacktail Deer Creek, June 2021

December 23, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

As a companion video to our first backpacking trip into Yellowstone National Park, we saw green rolling hills and rushing rivers that part of the early backpacking season. Along the way, we saw plenty of animal carcasses and bones under an unseasonably hot sun. We were also visited by a way too friendly black bear to round out our trip.

You can our full detailed report of our hikes below in the index as they are posted.

trip video: Carretera Austral road trip, January 2019 – part 4

January 26, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

In this fourth and final installment of our Carretera Austral road trip video series covering the last 4 days on the road, we hiked several trails in Parque Pumalín Douglas Tompkins. On our hikes, we saw a couple of glaciers and a hidden waterfall.

This is a companion video to my 2019 Patagonia and Carretera Austral trip report series, which is listed below in the index.

trip video: Carretera Austral road trip, January 2019 – part 3, Futaleufú

January 21, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

In this third installment of our Carretera Austral road trip video, which was centered around the town of Futaleufú and on Río Futaleufú, we rafted the middle and lower sections of Río Futaleufú, drove to some overviews of Río Futaleufú, and hiked to Piedra del Aguila over two days. This is a companion video to my 2019 Patagonia and Carretera Austral trip report series, which is listed below in the index.

trip report: Patagonia – Parque Pumalín Douglas Tompkins, January 2019

December 21, 2019.Reading time 34 minutes.

Parque Pumalín Douglas Tompkins is result of Douglas Tompkins conservation efforts starting in 1991. Today it is managed by CONAF as a national park that covers 988422 acres. Within the bounds of the park, there are enough maintained day hikes (parquepumalin) to keep you engaged for a couple weeks. While we didn’t explore every single hike, we did four of them on day 6, day 15, day 17, and day 18 of our travels on Ruta 40 and the Carretera Austral.

This is part 8 of my Patagonia and Carretera Austral trip report series. You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted. Read More

trip report: Patagonia – Futaleufú, January 2019

December 15, 2019.Reading time 21 minutes.

Before our trip, I had heard that one of the best white water rivers was in Patagonia. While Río Futaleufú and the town named after the river are not on the Carretera Austral, it was a well worth sidetrip to see and experience this magnificent river.

This is part 7 of my Patagonia and Carretera Austral trip report series. You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted. Read More

virginia hikes: Jones Run & Doyles River loop, June 16 2019

June 25, 2019.Reading time 15 minutes.

Recently, I’ve driven up and down the I-81 corridor too many times. Usually it is during the night so I can avoid the worst traffic on the busy freeway. I was doing the drive this time on a Sunday afternoon, so I thought I’d break it up with a hike in Shenandoah National Park. It was the perfect respite on a hot evening.

virginia hikes: Little Rocky Row via the AT, June 3 2018

June 9, 2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

This was a hike we did about a year ago and I’m finally getting around to writing it up. It also breaks up my work on the larger trip reports that I’m still grinding through. We hiked a section on the Appalachian Trail for a view of the James River. It had been raining quite heavily that week and we eager to head outside during a break in the rain on a Sunday afternoon.

trip report: Costa Rica, December 2017

July 1, 2018.Reading time 98 minutes.

For the last 3 years, we’ve enjoyed the southwest companion pass. On multiple occasions on this blog, I’ve mentioned that it is currently the best travel hack. The companion pass has provided us the means for direct trips to fly out to Colorado for our road trip, visiting Arcadia National Park for July 4th, visiting family for the holidays, attend the many weddings, and helping us reposition for our international trips. Recently Southwest has also announced that they will be flying to Hawaii as well. One destination I’ve had my eye on when I went for it initially 3 years ago was Southwest’s international destination of Costa Rica.

trip report: Norway – Bødo & Lofoten Islands, August 2017

February 13, 2018.Reading time 56 minutes.

Over the past few year, we’ve had our delays and plans go awry. But it always seemed we were able to figure out new plans and were able to achieve what we wanted to do. So we were due to run out of luck at some point and the norse gods were happy to be the ones to bring all my plans crashing down and then some.

trip report: Ireland & Northern Ireland, June 2017

November 30, 2017.Reading time 73 minutes.

Meg is Irish, so Ireland is one place in the world she was set on visiting. She had never been and the cliffs of Ireland demanded that she sat on them.