Category: Hiking
A New Adventure
Last year while I was at Elk Lake with the kids, Will went to a seminar about life’s endless possibilities. As we discussed what we talked about as possible we both agreed we should travel. We resea... Read More
Sledding 2017
I think every year, I’ve taken Noah and Isabel to the sledding hill across from Snow Bunny on Mt. Hood. Another year is in the bag. ... 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
The Twins First White Water Rafting Experience
A photo essay of Noah and Isabel’s first Rafting trip, for Cousin Karli and Uncle Greg’s Birthdays. Click on a photo for full-size slideshow.... 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 8-10 Great Basin National Park & Finding Our Limits
Hiking: 1 mile Part 5 of 5 of our 10-day trip. Check it out from the beginning or maybe from DAY 7 NATURAL BRIDGES AND CAPITOL REEF – DRIVING & FLASH FLOODS. As the ranger over the counter hands... Read More
Day 7 Natural Bridges and Capitol Reef – Driving & Flash Floods
Hiking: 2 miles Part 5 of our 10-day trip. Check it out from the beginning or maybe from DAY 6 MESA VERDE. The monsoon type rain continued through the night and into the next morning, we all were sta... Read More
Day 6: Mesa Verde
Hiking: 9 miles Part 4 of our 10-day trip. Check it out from the beginning or maybe from DAY 4-5 CANYONLANDS – THE NEEDLES DISTRICT. After yesterday’s backpacking trip, we drove directly to Mesa ... 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
Day 2-3 Canyonlands – Island in the Sky
See the start of this series in the blog: Finding the Magic Number Hiking: 5.7 miles, Backpacking: 0 miles I was thankful to arrive at our campground earlier than I had anticipated. Thanks to our lon... Read More
Hiking with Friends
Sometimes we take friends on our hikes. This hike was great the berries were out and we ate berries to our hearts content as we took the 7.5 mile Silver Falls State Park loop. ... 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
4T – Trail, Tram, Trolley, and Train
It’s cold and we are all feeling a little shut in. Noah, Isabel, and I yearn to be outside and in the forest. We live in the Pacific Northwest and rain shouldn’t stop us, but many times in... Read More
Pushing the Limits
I realize as I complete my packing list for our next big adventure, I haven’t written anything about our last adventure. How can that be I ask myself? This was an epic adventure. One filled wit... 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
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