It's been yet-another take-it-easy weekend. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because it's enjoyable to relax at home, both alone (just the two of us) and with low-key friends. But also bad, because I've had several low-key weekends in a row. At some the enjoyment of simply relaxing goes flat and I need adventure ( Read more... )

On a hiking trip two weeks ago I broke my hiking pole. I started looking for a replacement the next day. Local outdoors stores didn't have the sort of pole I enjoy using, and the nearest REI with one in stock was almost 2 hours away. I decided to order online.


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Blue Ridge Trip '24 #12
Afton, VA - Tue, 3 Sep 2024. 4:15pmI've mentioned the Skyline Drive in my past few blogs. I should describe what it actually is, for those who don't know. The Skyline Drive is a mountaintop road that traces 105 miles through the length of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. In the north the road starts in Front Royal, VA ( Read more... )

Saturday morning we drove up the mountain from Fresno to the Dinkey Lakes trail. Most of the drive was along California 168, up through the small resort town of Shaver Lake. We continued several miles further up into the Sierra Nevada, turning off the highway at Tamarack Ridge, elev. 7,582'. From there it was a bit over 10 miles on mostly dirt ( Read more... )

You know what comes after Friday Night Halfway, right? Saturday all the way. And in today's case, the rest of the way there and all the way back.

We awoke today in Fresno, having driven there last night. We didn't roll from the hotel until 8:45am despite having set alarms for 7am. I snoozed mine a few times before getting up and let Hawk sleep in ( Read more... )

Yesterday (Saturday) while hiking I accidentally my camera. Again. Fortunately not my whole camera, just one lens ( Read more... )

Alaska Travelog #16
At the hotel - Mon, 17 Jun 2024, 10am

The way it's light so late at night here in Alaska is kind of disorienting. Don't get me wrong; it was nice having twilight until 1am when we landed in Anchorage and drove to our hotel. And it's nice not worrying about about finishing our daytime activities outdoors before dark. We'll ( Read more... )

Alaska Travelog #2
Anchorage - Sat, 15 Jun 2024, 1:30am

Flying to Alaska this evening was kind of eerie. When we left SFO at around 8:45pm the sun had already set. But it wasn't yet dark. The waning light of dusk cast a blue pall over everything. But then as we flew north the sky got... slowly brighter for the next few hours. By the time we were ( Read more... )

This has been another taking-it-easy weekend. April and May seemed to have so many busy weekends that it still feels nice not to go anywhere in particular or have to do anything major. This weekend has been even more relaxing than last weekend... because while we didn't travel out of town for the day, we went hiking regionally every day last ( Read more... )

Sometimes when I'm out trying to enjoy the great outdoors the weather is not exactly cooperative. It's rainy, or it's too cold, or the area is lousy with biting insects. (Okay, mosquitos aren't weather, but work with me here....) What to do in those situations ( Read more... )