River reconnection: backpacking the North Fork Skokomish River Trail in Olympic National Park
Why would any sane, rational human being leave the comfort of their home with air conditioning and plumbing, strap 40 pounds of gear onto their back, and haul it 10 miles into the wilderness on foot to sleep on the ground, and eat dehydrated food for days? Under threat of bear activity and a “mountain...
Spring Comes to the Netherlands: Exploring Scenic Landscapes Outside Amsterdam
My trip to the Netherlands began and ended in its busy capital, Amsterdam. I spent days walking the assortment of brick, cobblestone and asphalt along the canals and bridges. I devoured lunch at Gartine, witnessed the Anne Frank House experience for the first time, and spoke at a Dutch search conference. But having visited the famous city before, this...
Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota
It appears that 2022 is the year I visit national parks experiencing extraordinary flooding events. In the spring, massive flooding washed out vast parts of Yellowstone National Park just after I visited during record snow. And recently, I visited Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota just after historic flooding caused by heavy rains and snowmelt in...
1% of 1% of Yellowstone National Park
June 15, 2022 - Yellowstone National Park Update: I published this story just two weeks before record-breaking floods occurred at Yellowstone National Park, causing widespread destruction, with mudslides and rock slides washing out major roadways. At a time when the country's first national park was to celebrate their 150-year anniversary, this astonishing flooding created extremely...
Western Kitsch: The Black Hills, South Dakota
We daydreamed about visiting Badlands area for years. We were drawn by the mystique of its wide open spaces, curious about its strange, striated western landscape. We were eager to discover its legendary herds of bison. In April, we finally set forth on our great Northern road trip with the dog in tow. 50mph winds...
50 Miles on the Flint Hills Nature Trail
My two fitness goals this year were to summit another 14,000-foot peak and do a 50-mile hike in four days. I completed Huron Peak in Colorado in August. My first attempt at the 50-mile hike was in May on the Knobstone Trail in Indiana but got rained out among other challenges. When it came time...
The 50-Miler That Wasn’t: Indiana’s Knobstone Trail
I set two simple outdoor fitness goals this year - hike and summit at least one 14,000-foot peak, and segment hike a 50-miler. I tend to go west for mountains, so I decided to try east for my 50-miler. I researched extensively, and narrowed a list of 16 trails in the continental U.S. with at...
The Sonoran Desert & Saguaro National Park, Arizona
The types of cactus and landscape change as we approach Arizona from New Mexico. The saguaros sparse at first, appearing only occasionally among other cactus varieties in a giant pasture. Then suddenly, seemingly just as we cross the Arizona state line, they are overwhelmingly abundant everywhere we look. From the highway into the area, I...
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
The last time I saw White Sands was more than two decades ago, when it was still a national monument. My younger brother and I spent several of our summers living in New Mexico with our mom. One of the highlights was some of the road trips we took to all different parts of the...
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon in southern Utah is the last of the four national parks I visited on this road trip. (Prior parks: Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado, and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.) At this stage, I am equal parts exhausted, in awe of what...
Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef National Park was the major destination on my 3-week long national parks road trip. I dedicated the whole day to slow, quiet hiking and looking for beautiful scenes to photograph. As with all national parks, I saw only a small portion of it in the full eight-hour day I was there, but every...
Small Town America: Antimony, Utah
I said I wanted peace, quiet, and serenity. Did I ever find it in Antimony, Utah. The population of this tiny town is just over 100 residents, and the cows and sheep far outnumber the people. The area is mainly vast ranch land nestled at the foot of Table Mountain. It's also a popular destination...
Finding Perspective at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
I booked this cottage in Montrose, Colorado because I needed a place to stay close to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. But also because goats. Quaint farm lodging with goats beats lodging without goats 100 percent of the time. There were at least three different varieties of goats that the homeowners keep as...
Shiras Moose Sighting in Golden Gate Canyon State Park
On the way into Blackhawk, Colorado, where I was staying at a beautiful little cabin in the woods as a home base for my exploration of Rocky Mountain National Park, I passed numerous signs for Golden Gate Canyon State Park. I made a mental note to return during my stay. My friend and colleague, Belinda,...
Autumn in Rocky Mountain National Park
I have long hoped to string together a series of national parks to form a road trip. With the Covid pandemic still raging around the world, travel difficult and risky, and lots of time to daydream, I pieced together a three-week road trip that would take me to no less than nine national parks. My...
Outdoor Attractions at Colorado Springs
I'm sitting in front of a fire in my sweats, under a red, chunky knit blanket. I'm in a drafty and strangely decorated stranger's house in Colorado Springs. Wet clumps of snow keep falling off the trees outside. On our first full day in Colorado Springs, the weather was sunny, dry and hot, topping 91F...
Ultimate List of Gift Ideas for People Who Love to Travel
The holidays are upon us. If you're anything like me, you are wondering what to get the person who already seems to have everything they want and need. If the person you care about is a travel addict, I've compiled a comprehensive list of great gift ideas to get you started that any traveler would...
How to Spend a Long Weekend in San Diego
I found myself back in San Diego, California for the second spring in a row for a conference. Last year, my sister-in-law and her three kids were living in Coronado while her husband was out to sea. This year, I'm flying solo in San Diego with a day or so to kill on either side...
15 New Year’s Travel Resolutions Ideas
As 2017 comes to a close and I look forward to a clean slate in 2018, I am taking time to remember all that has happened this year, and all I hope to do in the next. I appreciate this time for its focus on mindful reflection. This time when we appreciate what we have...
Desert Hiking Trip to Moab, Utah
This was the second leg of my annual solo hiking trip to Utah. I spent the last few days in Salt Lake City and then hit the road for the gorgeous four-hour drive from Salt Lake City to Moab. It was a beautiful change of scenery navigating from the damp, cool mountains of northern Utah to...