backpacking, camping, caving, high pointing, hiking, hot springs, mountaineering, skiing and more!
Mount Magazine, Arkansas lies at 2,753 feet MSL and is ranked #34 in elevation among US Highpoints. If you didn’t check out my photos of the absolutely gorgeous Lodge at Mount Magazine, check them out here. The day before I hiked Magazine, I hiked to Driskill Mountain, the Louisiana highpoint. So after relaxing at the … Read more
Immediately following my hike to the Louisiana highpoint, I turned north and drove directly to Mount Magazine State Park, home of the Arkansas highpoint. On a whim I decided to see if the summit lodge happened to have any same-day reservations, and much to my surprise, they did! I had just spent $230 on a … Read more
Driskill Mountain, Louisiana lies at 535 feet MSL and is ranked #48 in elevation among US Highpoints. In July, prior to my trip to Missouri, I decided to do a “twofer” type trip and knock out a couple of US State Highpoints on the way there. So, I flew American Airlines to DFW, then to … Read more
Forecast for the weekend was pretty crappy for basically everything, but as soon as we saw the forecast for snow in the mountains, we decided to go for it! First trip into the Goat Rocks wilderness! Goat Rocks have been on my bucketlist since I first saw them while climbing Tahoma waaaay back in 2001. … Read more
Katt, Riley, and I did a “birthday tour” by climbing and skiing Naches Peak (~6360′) at Chinook Pass, WA on June 4th. Although the snow looked more like early July with all the suncups, there was plenty to go around and it was absolutely GORGEOUS up there! Best, Chinook Pass is the NE border to … Read more
Danielle, Katt. Riley and I skied Artist Point from Heather Meadows on May 20th. We camped in the valley the night before and cooked red pepper pasta for dinner, and a brisket and potato hash for breakfast. Yum! Unfortunately due to the unseasonably warm conditions, the snow hadn’t “corned up,” and to make matters worse, … Read more
Here’s Brian’s presentation at the 2023 AGM of our 2022 expedition.
One of our favorite places to ski is Blewett Pass / Tronsen Meadows, as there’s a network of cross-country ski trails, dry snow, and most importantly, hardly any people! Since it’s not hammered with tourons like Stevens and Snoqualmie passes, we can let Riley and Mickey run free and we’ve nary seen a soul out … Read more
Last year, my brothers Mike and Kev and I skied Hoodoo, which we determined to be our first of many annual “Ski Bros” vacations. This year we originally planned to Ski Bluewood, but Kev’s wife broke her leg just days before the trip so we reorganized and drove down to his place for a trip … Read more
This year we decided a mid-winter “ski and soak” vacation was in order. So we set out in early February to Montana! For this Ski and Soak, we skied Lookout Pass, Lost Trail Powder Mountain, and Ski Discovery. We soaked at Jackson Hot Springs (Jackson, MT), and Elkhorn Hot Springs in Polaris, Montana. Day 1: … Read more
List of US State Highpoints that I have yet to complete. As of February 2025, I have completed 38. For a list of the US State Highpoints I’ve already completed, go here: US State Highpoints Number Elevation(feet) Peak State R/T distance(miles) Elevation Gain(feet) Notes Rank of these 1=hardest 1 14,505 Mt. Whitney CA 22 6148 … Read more
Just a few rando thoughts about what to do in 2023: Vacations: Backcountry Skiing: Frontcountry Skiing: Backpacking: Flying: Caving: Highpointing Hot Springs:
This is my ongoing list of Geographic “Extremes” from my life. Here’s a map of all of them (click on the map to go to Google Maps) North – 66.56 degrees South: 18.91 degrees East: -16.85 degrees West: -158.28 degrees High: 14,460 feet ASL Deep: – 1586 feet below the entrance
Attached is a story of a fire lookout volunteer who has been hiking up and spotting fires from Patrol Mountain in the Scapegoat Wilderness for nearly thirty years! https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2022/0811/On-a-Montana-mountaintop-this-lookout-watches-for-fire-and-hope
Born in 1972, I celebrated my 50th birthday in 2022. 50 years is a major milestone for anything! As the year progressed, I discovered a lot of things that also turned 50 this year. 1972 was a damn good year! Scapegoat Wilderness Scapegoat Wilderness. My favorite place to go caving became the first grass-roots designated … Read more
First time camping up at Chinook Pass for backcountry skiing. Katt, Johnny, Riley, GrandPaw and I commenced setting up camp in the trees just up the hill from the road. It must have been a good day because I don’t remember the fact that we did the following, in true “gaper” fashion:
Climbing Ski Mountaineering Skiing – lift served Caving Flying Backpacking Hot Springs
September 2022 Katt and I flew to Lynden (38W) and Point Roberts (IRL) to collect some Fly Washington Passport Stamps and go camping! Point Roberts has a nice grass strip and is an enclave of the US, as it is on the northern side of the Salish Sea and either requires a boat or plane to get to without crossing into Canada, where it is accessible by automobile. There’s a nice campground at the southern end of the field as well as a couple of restaurants within a ~15 minute walk of the airport!
Time and Distance Chart to ski areas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Canada from Lake City, Seattle 98125. Time (hh:mm)from Seattle Distance (miles) from Seattle Ski Area Name State/Prov. 1:09 61 Summit at Snoqulamie / Alpental WA 1:30 71 Stevens Pass WA 1:58 118 Blewett Pass / Tronsen Meadows WA 1:59 91 Crystal Mountain … Read more
