We live about 15 minutes from the entrance of Denali National Park, which means we are lucky to have endless acres of a playground for hiking. I did a roundup about the “front country” hikes a few years ago in this blog post and we love all of them! But there are SO many awesome…
I’ve always stated spring is my least favorite season, if I had to rank them. With that being said, I absolutely enjoy the growth and change spring presents, particularly the bursts of wildflowers popping up. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, our wildflowers included dandelions. We also had lilacs and touch-me-nots (I think that’s the…
As I explained in past posts, our area is not experiencing the same flood of tourists we would normally have. Denali National Park would normally have multiple tour and camper buses running on their out-and-back 92-mile road that parallels the Alaska Range through low valleys and high mountain passes. But, with cruises and related land…
I’m gonna guess one of the last things someone would associate with Alaska would be golf. I mean, with average high temps in the 60s and four months (sometimes less) of summer, it’s not really the calling card of the state. So it’s not surprising the biggest U.S. state has the fewest golf courses (8,…
Besides the river breakup, Alaska’s springtime arrives with a leap and a shout in many other ways. Obviously the first thing we noticed was the return of the sun. It was around mid February when the sun started to hit our street from over the mountains, which felt like a miracle. We could not believe…
At the beginning of April, we had close to 2 feet of snow, some fresh. By mid-April, winter had conceded her reign. But before I get into this installment of Arctic Adventures, let me define the word “breakup.” Because before we visited Alaska, that term had a whole other meaning. (And I’m “breaking up” this…
Amongst the chaos and unchartered territories we are all navigating with the virus, I hope my blog post can be a temporary distraction. One thing I’d like to note, it seems Alaskans wrote the book on socially distancing and self-quarantining ourselves (cabin fever is our calling card). Thankfully, we also don’t have to travel that…
Currently living/working in: As I said, we purposely planned to have a lighter workload while at our cabin in Alaska, instead focusing on other non-paying projects and goals. And yet, we still ended up with a few paying gigs! I completed my first 2 articles for REI and Justin worked on the Valentine’s Gift Guide…
Justin & I hit our 45th state high point on Oct. 1: Nevada’s Boundary Peak! Trip Mileage: 10.6 miles (roundtrip) Hiking Time: 8 hrs 45 min Elevation Gain/Loss: 4,200 feet Last year while driving from Yosemite, CA to Boulder, CO after the Zero Landfill Tour, we realized we were driving right by Nevada’s state high…
Do you believe there are more than 800 miles of trails and 167 lakes in Yosemite National Park? It’s a freakin big park. We definitely squeezed in lots of day hiking while working here this month, which is always good, but backcountry exclusion is our happy place. Total Trip Mileage: 15.7 miles Elevation Gain: 2500…
I once read that the cost to visit all 8 national parks in Alaska would amount to $10,000. Now that we’ve been to 5 of those parks over SEVERAL years—3 of which are fly/boat-in only—we can see how the dollars add up. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in south-central Alaska was this year’s splurge…
What now is a few weeks ago (I’m behind on posts!), we embarked on another backpacking trip deep into Denali National Park! Last year, we did Unit 9, and this year Unit 6. Total trip mileage: 18.1 miles Time Spent in the Wild: 2 nights / 3 days Elevation Gain: 1,850 feet As I explained…
Hello from Alaska! Catching up on our drive through Canada first … When we found out we’d be driving up to Alaska again and going through the Banff/Jasper area, we knew we wanted to do more than stop at all the pull offs along the Icefields Parkway. I mean, don’t get me wrong, these roadside…
Our work time in the Tetons went so quickly, and honestly, we could spend years and probably not hike every trail out there. And even though we didn’t have time to do an overnight backpacking trip this go-round, we knocked out 2 epic day hikes. Surprise/Amphitheater Lake Trailhead: Lupine Meadows Out and Back Mileage: 10.2…
This blog post is overdue and happened what seems like months ago! We are currently back on the road for Leave No Trace/Subaru for the Zero Landfill Tour, so this recap is focused on April-June. Ready, rewind. (***Warning, picture heavy & long!***) Much of the last 8 years as nomads, it’s been for work—starting with…
Indiana Sand Dunes is the newest national park, designated as so in February. It used to be a national lakeshore. As a reminder, there are 419 “units” in the National Park Service and these units have about a dozen different names (monuments, historic sites, seashores, etc), with only 61 having the “national park” designation. We…
It’s been a hot minute since we checked off any state highpoints, mainly because the 7 left are pretty difficult to climb (Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon for Justin & Washington for me) or difficult to get to (Nevada, Hawaii and Illinois). Charles Mound, Illinois, is arguably the “most difficult to get to” because it is…
Well folks, you can stop worrying, because Justin is off the mountain. He is not hurt or ill. He just did not feel it at all this time and decided to end his climb. My dad had this saying and it has always been a favorite takeaway for Justin and I. Justin really dug deep…
Folks, the day is upon us. Justin and his 4 teammates have landed at Denali’s base camp at 7,200 feet (Denali’s summit is 20,310 feet). The team sorted all their gear on Sunday and left it in the K2 Aviation hanger in Talkeetna, then stayed at an Airbnb in Talkeetna owned by a friend of…
First things first. There are now 61 designated National Parks. Last time we visited a National Park, there were 59. The March signing of the public lands bill added 2 national park sites—one of which we’ve been to and the other we’ll need to add to our list. Just needed to update my numbers and…