backpacking, camping, caving, high pointing, hiking, hot springs, mountaineering, skiing and more!
This, our third ski and soak vacation after our honeymoon to Iceland, and Montana with Brian and Caitlin. We skipped last year (2024) but were back to our old tricks, this time in central Oregon. For this ski and soak, we skied Willamette Pass and Ski Hoodoo and soaked at the natural McCreedie Hot Springs … Read more
Katt’s earliest memories were as a toddler on Kodiak Island where her dad was stationed in the Coast Guard, but had never been back. We decided to “break the mold” by doing a four-day trip to Anchorage in February 2025. Anchorage – Day 1 On day one we flew non-stop on Alaska Air to Anchorage, … Read more
US Highpoint #38! Eagle Mountain, Minnesota lies at 2,301 feet MSL and is ranked #37 in elevation among US Highpoints. I took advantage of a work trip to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN to fly from MSP up to Duluth and then drive to the Eagle Mountain trailhead in January. Fortunately, the road to the … Read 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:
