trip video: Teton & Washakie Wilderness – Younts Peak, July 2022

January 21, 2026.Reading time 1 minute.

This is a companion video to our upcoming trip report.

Meeting up with Richard and Mike, fellow backpackers from Backcountry Post forums, we were headed to Younts peak over the Wyoming high country along the Continental Divide. This was the second time I joined Richard on an adventure and since I’d survived the first, I thought I’d push my luck. Luck, in this case, can be interpreted as a few guests we met, 16 specifically.

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

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

May 8, 2025.Reading time 22 minutes.

Adventures with Richard is always amongst the most challenging backpacking trips on my calendar. I’m assured plenty of bushwhack and boulder hopping. But it’s all worth it. To provide another viewpoint of our backpacking trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, this report was written by Richard (themountainrabbit.com) in 2023 on the backcountry post forum. With permission, his writing was edited by site editor and owner John (me) and published here. It is also supplemented with my pictures and video. This was the third trip I’ve done with Richard and all three were epic.

Richard:

I’ve been trying to get out to the Bob Marshall Wilderness for a number of years now – I’m happy to say I finally made it. For the third year in a row, I was able to join up with John and we had a fantastic trip. I will say, despite my love for September/October backpacking, if I go back to do any high traverses in “the Bob” it will probably be earlier in the year – there’s very little water above treeline by September. I suspected this and planned for it, but it definitely affected our route.

I’d told John that I hoped for a bit of snow and shoulder season conditions and I wasn’t disappointed on that count. The weather did convince us to make a few alterations to the route – including missing a traverse of the Chinese Wall itself – but I’ll be back, so it’s all good. And we did get to do the section I was most excited about – it didn’t disappoint in the least.

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

December 28, 2022.Reading time 33 minutes.

Early season in Yellowstone National Park means snow melt. Many of the creeks and rivers are swollen and most likely impassable. The trail may also become a marsh. I didn’t think of this when I originally sold the idea of backpacking here to Brenna and Bradley (pictured below),

specially the idea of hiking around Shoshone Lake and down Bechler River trail. But it became clear after a quick look on the backcountry situation report on the Yellowstone NPS webpage was that our plans would have to change for the beginning of June. So sometimes the lesson here is just going with what’s available or take the advice of a ranger. That’s how we ended up following the early season roars of the well names Hellroaring Creek and Yellowstone River for a few days. We were even joined by a local.

Note from John (website editor & author) on 2022/12: When I started to writing this report earlier in the year, the northern portion of Yellowstone National Park flooded knocking out several roads including the portions between Gardiner, MT and Cooke City, MT (NPR). While the road that’s part of the Northern Loop where the trailheads for this hike are located on has reopened, I don’t have exact information about the backcountry conditions and bridges status. Please check with the Yellowstone backcountry status report for more up to date information (NPS). So this report is most likely dated already… which is part of the reason I had stopped working on this series. But back on the saddle I go.

This is the third entry of our 2021 Wyoming trip series covering our backpacking trip up Hellroaring Creek, Yellowstone River, & Blacktail Deer Creek (3). You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted.

hike video: Grayson Highlands, July 27-28 2019

September 2, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

To complement my trip report on our hike and backcountry camping in Grayson Highlands State Park, we present to you a short video of the hike.

Again, videos are still a new thing I’m playing around with and I have plenty to learn about what works and what doesn’t work. I’d welcome any suggestions as well. If you like these, please subscribe to my Youtube Channel to let me know, thanks!

virginia hikes: Grayson Highlands loop, July 27 2019

September 1, 2019.Reading time 30 minutes.

My friends, Chris and Tori, had long talked about heading out to Grayson Highlands State Park to camp out and doing some bouldering. While my lackluster climbing skills and commitment to get better at climbing would steer me away from their bouldering activities, I said I would join them camping. One of my favorite hikes in Virginia is located in Grayson Highlands and I looked forward returning since my last trip out there was five years ago. I would go for a hike while they climbed. A sunny, but abnormally cool summer weekend at the end July finally motivated them to do the trip, so I couldn’t say no.