Justin & I have a goal of visiting all the national parks. Which, on a side note, has increased to 61!! So now we are at 46/61 (still close). But I digress. National Parks are just one of the types of units in the National Park System. There are also National Monuments, National Historic Sites,…
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Justin & I wrapped up a week’s worth of Leave No Trace work in northern Arizona/southern Utah (and are now in the mountains for back-to-back Winterfest events). The Arizona trip had multiple purposes. We were shadowing another Traveling Trainer team to learn some of the ropes, like video-making, but also for outreach in a heavily…
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Currently living/working in: We are back on the road for Leave No Trace as one of their Traveling Trainer teams until April 8. Our schedule has us starting in Colorado, and actually coming back through here a lot. But we’ll also be bouncing around Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and potentially New Mexico. Very stoked to be…
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Earlier this month, when we landed back in Denver from Baja, Mexico (sea level), we decided Denver’s 5,000 feet of elevation wasn’t enough gain for one day. So we picked up Justin’s sister’s cats and dog and drove to their cabin for a long weekend of pet sitting. We, of all people, know going from…
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About a year ago, our nomadic/hiker friends, BJ and Clara (also known by their trail names Shadow and Country Mouse) starting putting down roots again after 7 years on the road and purchased a casita on the peninsula of Baja, Mexico. Come visit, they said! We will, we said! Between its warm winters and cheap…
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Happy New Year everyone! We are definitely ready for 2019. 2018 was such a mixed bag for us, although, in the end, we wouldn’t trade the year and experiences for anything!! Here’s our “best of” list for 2018. Biggest Risk Leaving our role as property caretakers and environmental educators at Fenton Ranch in New Mexico…
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Currently living/working in: Well, I’m still in NJ helping my parents with my dad’s medical ups/downs & Justin has been hanging in CO with his family. This was the first time we were apart for Christmas probably since 2004 (Justin came to NJ for a fast weekend). But staying here in NJ has been necessary…
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In case you missed it, Justin mentioned in his last post that he is planning to climb Denali (again) in May 2019!!!! Inevitably, there will be lots of details regarding that prep—especially gear—over the next several months. This past weekend, in fact, he spent time out in Rocky Mountain National Park clearing the cobwebs by…
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In 2016, Justin wrote extensively about Crohn’s disease, a disease he had since his teens (see links below for full stories). It’s truly a hidden disease. Justin lives with a broken body. However, he doesn’t like to let the disease rule his life. Few people would ever know he has it and that’s why I…
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Currently living/working in: I already referenced that November was a month of “professional development” in my last blog post, as well as several Backpacker deadlines and edits. Freelance life is keeping us extremely busy at the moment! Current mood: The month has been an emotional roller coaster, mostly because I am trying to help my…
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I definitely have been silent on the blog lately. It was sort of intentional, as I just needed a small break from social media. But also, we’ve been quite consumed with some personal matters, as well as lots of writing deadlines. One of the other things keeping us busy has been what I am calling…
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Currently living/working in: Our Subaru/Leave No Trace contract ended Oct. 15 and we are in the midst of several Backpacker deadlines. We’ve been hanging out in Denver this whole month & plan to be here most of winter actually, you know, “visiting family,” which translates to squatting. Actually, we have a good mix of petsitting responsibilities,…
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We finished our Leave No Trace/Subaru contract on Oct. 15 and returned the car to the Leave No Trace office in Boulder. The decorations for our last day were provided by Mother Nature! We absolutely loved working for Leave No Trace & Subaru. Leave No Trace is small, but mighty. There are 12 (maybe 13?)…
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We’ve been back to Colorado and are just about wrapping up everything with our Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Initiative Summer Tour (giving back our Outback Monday!!), but before I summarize the entire summer, let me focus on our 4 weeks in California. To go from Alaska to California was like night and day (literally??).…
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Currently living/working in: We spent all of September in Yosemite National Park for our role as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Team!! We’re in route back to Denver/Boulder to wrap up and report on our summer gig. Then we move into our next phase of work: so many Backpacker Magazine deadlines!!!! Current mood: Bewildered…
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Justin & I do not like to boast, but when it comes to backpacking, we eat miles for breakfast. So I think we were both a bit surprised when our most recent backpacking trip gave us a major kick in the butt. Let me back it up. Knowing we’d have all of September in California…
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There are a 9 national parks in California (not to mention many more monuments, historic parks, etc) and the last 2 on our list to visit were Sequoia and Kings Canyon. A few weeks, we took a short road trip south to them from our home base in Yosemite National Park. While the eastern side of…
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Finally getting caught up on blog posts to our current location and happenings in California, so here’s a recap of our drive through Canada in late August … When we drove up to Alaska in July, it took us 8 days and we drove the Icefields Parkway & Alaska Highway (Al-Can). For our southbound trip…
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We’ve been in California (specifically, Yosemite area) for a week now (and will be here all month) after wrapping up our 6 weeks of work in Alaska at the end of August and driving via Canada, again, back down into the lower 48. We were bittersweet about leaving the Land of the Midnight Sun. It has always…
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***Yes, yes, I know I am late. Currently living/working in: Still working on the road as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Team!! We just finished up 6 weeks of outreach in Alaska and arrived in the Yosemite area this weekend after our 7-day drive through Canada. We’ll be working here in California all of…
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