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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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?)…
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??).…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
***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…
For my 40th birthday, we decided to celebrate in style by visiting one of the many obscure and remote National Parks in Alaska: Katmai National Park. If you’ve ever seen those iconic pictures of bears catching salmon, the source is most likely Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park. Let me just say, pictures don’t even…
***I just came out of the Alaska backcountry, celebrating my birthday with Justin and some grizzly bears in Katmai National Park. I cannot wait to tell you about that trip and show you pictures, because it truly was the trip of a lifetime. But right now, I wanted to share some thoughts as I turned…
Before I get into storytelling mode, here is the overall summary of our single backpacking trip we took in Denali National Park: Unit 9 – East Branch Toklat River Total mileage: 15.2 miles Elevation Gain: 1578 feet Elevation Loss: 1567 feet Max Elevation: 3465 Number of Nights: 2 I was equally nervous as I was…
I already boasted about day hiking in Denali National Park in my last blog post and we are definitely NP lovers, but if you are looking for some less crowded hidden gems, the place to go would be Denali State Park. The State Park has 300,000+ acres and borders the east side of the National…
Justin & I tried to balance our time while working Denali National Park in Alaska a little better than we did in Wyoming. The long daylight hours really made for no excuses, because we could actually work and still fit in a hike, even if it were at 10pm! Denali National Park is a unique park…
Currently living/working in: Still working on the road as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Team. We wrapped up in Grand Teton National Park July 5, drove 8 days to Alaska, and we’ll be in this state until August 22. You might hear me professing my love for Alaska a million times in this and…