Upon arriving my first night into Arches (established in 1971), one of the many National Parks on my adventure bucket list, I spent an hour hiking the (easy, 2-mile round-trip) Park Avenue trail which takes you past towering red rock walls, in a big, washout of dried sandstone littered with curves and crazy shapes, ap…
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
After two flights and a layover in Denver, Colorado, I landed in Salt Lake City later in the morning. My backpacking pack and rental car keys in hand, I quickly set out. The pure goal of this trip is to spend ten days visiting every National Park in Utah and as many other marker federal lands as possible. On the road…
Saturday, September 19, 2015
I'm heading west to Utah.
Starting bright and early on Thursday morning, I'll be flying solo to Salt Lake City, with a short layover in my favorite state's capital, Denver, to fill the next ten days with pure exploring of Utah. This is a state filled with tall peaks, canyons, and endless desert. I've n…
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
With about 18 hours off of my normal work schedule, I went on a bit of an adventure. I took some inspiration from an article I recently read in Outside Magazine about the concept of "Microadventures," studied by Alastair Humphreys . After getting home from a few errands and a stint of rock climbing on Sunday …
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Seasonal jobs aren't exactly understood by those that have never done it. When I was in college at Loyola University Chicago, earning my B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations, the phrase "seasonal job" never came up in classroom discussions, one-on-ones with professors and academic advisors, and in c…
Thursday, March 12, 2015
A new job back home in Wisconsin means a new adventure on the road.
On Sunday I'll be leaving the truly beautiful state of Colorado (but not for good) and driving almost 24 hours with 1,500 miles (this time solo) back to the cheese state. A must-see stop? Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve , that's be…
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Today we summited Colorado Mines Peak at 12,497 feet. In addition to Colorado Mines Peak our plan was to then summit nearby Mt. Flora, Eva, and Pary Peak (also locally called Bearclaw). Chatting over the weather report and routes at breakfast in the commons dining area at YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch, we so…
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
On the way into my hometown of Granby, there's a set of tracks with an old caboose. Today I decided to explore what was down there. Parking next to a storage shed, its yellow and red painted facade standing out in the nearby white snow and piercing blue skies, I passed a bucket of railroad ties laying in the snow o…