Outside SoCal

Our last stop on the NorCal tour was Redwood National and State Parks. I was completely blown away. This NP quickly earned a spot near the very top of my all-time favorite list.

The next stop on our NorCal tour was Lassen Volcanic National Park. We arrived the morning after a fresh snow, which made for gorgeous scenery.

The start of a whirlwind tour of some amazing spots in Northern CA. After visiting relatives in Ashford, OR we start the week with a drive down to Mt. Shasta.

An East Coast trip gave me the chance for a quick detour to Mammoth Cave National Park, home of the largest cave system in the world. 420 miles (and counting) of truly mammoth caves.

12/5/21  Starved Park is a great state park just an hour and half outside of Chicago, IL. Proof yet again that the amazing outdoors can still be found not far from the urban sprawl.

12/3/21  Staunton State Park is the newest state park in Colorado and has miles of nice meadow trails. And a recently constructed trail to the base of Elk Falls makes for a great day hike destination.

Rocky Mountain National Park definitely makes my short list for all-time favorite outdoor spots. It has the feel of a mini Patagonia but is much closer to home. I fortunately had the chance to make a quick, but memorable, winter trip.

3/29/21  A quick trip to Joshua Tree National Park with Dr. Rock and his family. We took several short hikes for a nice tour of the West and Central areas of the park including Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Skull Rock, Ryan Mtn, and Keys View.

10/7/20 Another spontaneous trip, this time out to Channel Islands National Park with Dad. A National Park only two hours from home that we had somehow never been to. It was an excellent day full of sea caves, dolphins, and a beautiful coastal hike.

Yosemite Valley. Enough said. Home to some of the very best day hikes in the world. Over the years, during at least 15 different trips, I think I've covered every square foot of trail in the Valley. Starting in middle school, and continuing today, I'll never get tired of spending time on the trail here.

A spontaneous trip to Mt. Whitney and Death Valley turned into a makeshift 24hr challenge. To go from the lowest point in the US at Badwater Basin to the highest point in the continguous US on top of Mt. Whitney within 24 hours. It was a challenging, but successful endeavor!

7/31/18  A spontaneous trip to the Mt. Whitney area gave me a chance to head over to Death Valley for the first time. Topping out at 127 degrees F, it was a very hot, but fascinating day in this huge National Park.

7/2/18  On the same trip as Great Smoky Mountains, I was able to spend a day at Congaree National Park on my way out to Charleston, South Carolina. Overgrown swampy trail, spiders, wild boar, and killer mosquitos made for a fascinating adventure.

A trip to South Carolina gave me a chance to detour out to Tennessee to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Three great days in and around the park including Cades Cove, Sugarlands, Tuckaleechee Caverns, and Dupont State Park.

A week long trip to Montana with Dad and Kyle featuring a couple days in Great Falls then 4 days in Glacier National Park for hiking, rowing, huckleberry picking, and other great adventures. Not as much trail time as usual, but lots of great outdoor time nonetheless.

A trip to New Jersey gave me the chance to experience some trail in an entirely new area. It definitely proved that NJ is not just an urban metropolis. I spent one day in the swampy Pine Barrens and then one day near the rocky Kittatinny Ridge.

7/21/14  Another trip to the Bay Area gave me a chance to visit Pinnacles National Park, the newest National Park in the system, just established in 2013. I took a great 13 mile loop around the park with about 1,500' of gain.

3/19/14  The same time of year as last year's Double Dipsea run, but this time I headed down to Big Basin Redwoods State Park to run the Berry Creek Falls Loop trail. 10.5 miles and almost 2,200' of gain on beautiful single track winding through massive trees and some great waterfalls.

A trip to Seattle gave me the perfect opportunity to spend a few days in Olympic National Park for some great trail running and hiking at Crescent Lake as well as in the Hoh and Lake Quinault rain forests.

The Dipsea trail in the San Francisco Bay Area is home to the oldest trail race in America, and the second oldest race of any type (behind only the Boston Marathon). Running from Mill Valley, over Mt. Tam, and then out to Stinson Beach, it's a one of a kind trail.