Category: Backpacking
Exposure to a New World
This may have been the most adventurous trip we took this year. It involved rafting, portaging a raft, hiking, and canoeing, as well as, coordinating all the components to work together. Also, I hadnâ... Read More
Home on the Range
Our first stop on our summer adventure was Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Our plan was to visit the park for a day by car, then find a rover for the dog and backpack overnight. The first lesson I l... Read More
Mt. Lassen National Park
A few years ago as we were on our way to Yosemite National Park we drove by a little known park called Mt. Lassen. It was late June and the park was still closed. The park is high in the California mo... Read More
Up and then Down the ‘Grand Canyon’
With our National Park Quest we have been obsessed with the idea of hiking the Grand Canyon. However, with a bit over 90lbs of weight distributed between Will and I and the weight of extra water, I’... Read More
Navigating by Compass
After so many trips, we thought a nice 4th of July hike would be great. Will wanted it to be challenging so we experienced our first non-trail, map and compass trip. We planned a 3-day trip out (1.5 m... Read More
Beach Camping
During Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to take the kids on a trip. Will was still not feeling well and with twins you never get a break and there never is downtime. I let him catch up on sleep and took... Read More
Spring in California – Pinnacles and Point Reyes
In November, when the weather is cold and dreary and I’m yearning for longer, warmer, drier days, I start planning our spring trips. Guadalupe Mtns, Pinnacles, Hawaii, Big Bend, and Florida are all ... Read More
Introducing Friends
When Nate and Josh were little we went on a Labor Day weekend camping trip with their cousins west of Sisters in the Three Creek Wilderness Area, just at the base of Broken Top. We took a short hike t... Read More
Day 4-5 Canyonlands – The Needles District
Backpacking: 7.3 miles + 9.2 miles Part 3 of our 10-day trip. Check it out from the beginning or maybe from DAY 2-3 CANYONLANDS – ISLAND IN THE SKY. We checked in at the ranger station and found out... Read More
Finding the Magic Number
Everyone places some sort of limit on themselves, whether it be a time, an ability, or a monetary limit. What if you told yourself there were no limits? We’ve tried to instill this belief in our chi... Read More
Mountain Bikes, Rain, and …Perfection Repeated
I never thought I would backpack to the same place twice. There are so many awesome places in the NW to go, why go to the same place twice. We had taken this trip (The Siouxan Trail) a few years ago, ... Read More
A Few Days in the Desert
Round-Trip Backpacking Distance: 20 miles Day Hikes: ~14 miles: Devil’s Hall, Carlsbad Caverns, Buttercup Stagecoach and Frijole Ranch Sometimes you pick a vacation because you just need to get ... Read More
Behind Waterfalls
Sometimes we take friends on our hikes, this time the Triple Falls loop. Poor Will was suffering from a knee tear and couldn’t make it the full 5 miles, but it was amazing to walk behind a water... Read More
Ascending a Mountain
This year has been busy for us. The kids are interested in the outdoors more than ever right now, but between our work, new business ventures, biking, running, adventuring, and school (their school is... Read More
10-Days in Yosemite
The Twins Meet The Roadtrip We’ve not ventured more than 5 hours from Portland because Noah and Isabel were never car babies. During their first year of life, before they could talk they screame... Read More
Mountain Bikes, Rain, and …Perfection
The last trip of the season was on Memorial day a 3-day adventure to the Siouxan Trail. This trail came from my overnight backpacking book. I had ear-marked this as one of the first trails to do, but ... Read More
Memaloose Lake and Viewpoint
So we finally got out a second time this year or first time as the case may be. Every time we tried to go out, it was either raining and gross or we were incredibly busy with cleaning up the rental ho... Read More
Beach Reconnaissance Mission
Will’s favorite place to go is the beach. However our favorite past-time is backpacking. I struggle to find good places that combine both. So instead of having another epic fail we decided to st... Read More
8-Legged Creatures
Even though this was an epic fail… it still goes as a backpacking first and counts toward Noah and Isabel’s total miles. I started out 2014 hoping to get a lot of backpacking in. I scheduled e... Read More
Ollalie Lake: A Buzzing Adventures
Round-Trip Distance: 13 miles. What a great extended Labor Day weekend. We hiked 4-days through the Ollalie Lake Scenic Area seeing more than a dozen lakes, many we don’t know the names for... Read More
Silver Star Mountain
Round-Trip Distance:Â 6.6 miles. This was our first mountain summit! We climbed a Mountain this weekend. The kids did great on the hike. We had a rough start on both days, but as soon as we got moving... Read More
Olympic Park 4-Day Backpacking
Round-Trip Distance:Â ~16 miles. This was our first multi-day backpacking trip. Day 1: Hoh River Trail, 2.9 Miles We arrived late (like 5:30pm), but still decided we should hike in. This was the first... Read More
Soapstone Lake
Round-Trip Distance: 2.4 miles, plus 1 mile Smugglers Cove/Short Sand Beach sidetrip. This was one of those trips we probably should have waited for another day to do. The kids were not in the mood to... Read More