(AKA Chuck Norris’s Scenic Death March) On July 14 I took a stab at connecting the Norris and Scenic Death March traverses in a day, starting and finishing at the Saint Mary Falls trailhead. Except for the section of trail from Gunsight Lake down to the car towards the end of the day, I’d never … Continue reading Norris – Scenic Death March traverse (GNP)
A couple weeks ago I had a fantastic day stringing together East and West Saint Marys peaks, Lowary Peak, and rest of the Sonielem ridge. It was a beautiful bluebird day and my eyes naturally started to wander farther out to the Garden Wall and deeper north into the rest of the range. Somehow I’d … Continue reading Missions – southern traverse
Last fall I’d taken off for a day-long ramble through the Rattlesnake, starting from my house by the university and finishing at the main Rattlesnake TH. Even though I got turned around by deeper snow than expected, I had a pretty stellar day and covered 50 miles without seeing another person all day. It kind … Continue reading Rattlesnake Wilderness circumnavigation
In 2016 I set off with my friends Cody Lind and Brittany Peterson to take a crack at the Idaho highpoints challenge: nine peaks over 12,000 feet. For nearly forty hours we moved through the mountains and had a difficult, terrific, profound experience. It opened my eyes to the power of mountain projects to bring … Continue reading Montana Highpoints (Beartooth 27)
You pick your way off the summit, moving cautiously yet quickly among the jumbled boulders. The line down this ridgeline looked logical enough from two thousand feet below, but things are never as clear when you actually get in the thick of it. The rocks are bigger than you, and covered with lichen; as old … Continue reading Ruminating on injuries, health, and the mountains that connect them
Three weeks ago I got to run across Zion National Park. After weather forced me to cancel the main goal for the summer, I was desperate to find something I could test myself on and see where months of training had gotten me. With a week’s worth of planning and an overflowing car I drove … Continue reading The Double Zion traverse, or what you can learn from a failed plan C.
Today is National Public Lands Day, so here are a few thoughts on the value of public lands. But first, a short story to set the stage. “You’re going too fast!” “Excuse me?” “You’re going too fast and missing out on all the scenery. You should slow down.” “I…umm…have a nice day.” That was a … Continue reading What public lands give us
Broken out in Oregon Continue reading Mountain Lakes 100
August 19-21, 2016: Taking a shot at the second-fastest known time for climbing all nine of Idaho’s 12,000+ foot peaks. This particular challenge began six years ago, in 2010, while I was working for Idaho Wilderness Company as a rafting guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon river. I was a relative newcomer, and eager to … Continue reading Idaho 12ers
Some days in the mountains are just plain more fun than others. Sometimes poor planning comes back to bite you in the ass, sometimes it makes the adventure even better. Thankfully this weekend was the latter. I’d never been to the Beartooths before, but everything I’d heard about the Beaten Path was that it was stellar. … Continue reading The Beaten Path
