An annual family reunion on my wife’s side leads me to the second in my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints. On the 3rd weekend in July, for as long as she can remember, families from her mother’s lineage gather together for the Armstrong Reunion in the remote community of Mackay, Idaho (pronounced Mackie; pop….
Summer Series kicks off on Humphrey’s
Accomplishing state highpoints wasn’t a serious goal for me until COVID killed all kinds of other plans I had this year. A few of these have already been on my bucket list for a while now, but not with any kind of serious effort to git’em done. So with COVID making the door clear and…
Deseret Peak via Temple Couloir
When I did Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs two weeks ago, I saw another route to do before the snow completely melts away. I knew if this didn’t happen before May rolled out, it would be too late and there was no way I wanted to wait until next year. So yesterday was the…
Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs
There is a small window of time in the Spring where the snow is just right and the weather conditions are ideal for some pretty awesome hiking. I also couldn’t wait to use the new mountaineering gear I got for Christmas for the first time. It was the perfect day to summit Deseret Peak from the…
EBC Plans Taking Shape
Decisions, decisions, decisions… there are a lot to be made when putting together a trek to the base camp of Mt. Everest. As our EBC plans begin taking shape, a few of the biggest ones we’ve just finalized are: 1) who to guide us, 2) what villages to see along the way and 3) when…
Entering the Whitney Zone
I’ve been thinking about hiking Mt. Whitney for two years now! It all started after seeing two other parties from my hiking group organize this trip on two separate occasions. Both times were planned quietly due to limited spots I presumed – or perhaps only to include those who were certain not to hold back…
Marines on Mount Whitney
This past Friday, November 8th, I had the opportunity to hike Mount Whitney, California’s tallest peak and the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. While that was an awesome experience all by itself, summiting this peak wasn’t even the highlight…the highlight was being on this mountain with an inspiring group of Marines! These guys…
Backpacking Zion’s West Rim Trail
I know the West Rim Trail can be done as a day hike from Lava Point, but we chose to spread it out and slow it down by starting at Wildcat. That made it a 3-day, 2-night trip which turned out great! Here’s our itinerary: DAY 1: Travel + Hike to Wildcat Camp Our first…
This is Packrafting
I’m intrigued by this adventure sport I recently discovered called packrafting… it started by researching what it takes to float the Escalante River from Highway 12 to Lake Powell. I can so see myself getting into this… and already pricing out boats!
The Magnetic Power of the Grand Canyon
I’ve been fascinated with the Grand Canyon ever since I first saw it in the summer of ‘93, our way back to Phoenix from a trip at Lake Powell. I have since been able to deepen that connection with 2 rim-to-rim crossings (2016, 2018) and a few days down in Havasupai (2017, 2019). I’m no…