Our Time with Fitz Roy: We’re So Glad to be Adopted by a Great Dog! Few things have proven more satisfying to us than the adventure of dog ownership. When Sylvia and Brian married in 2009, Brian committed on paper to a dog. But that commitment stayed on paper for nearly a decade. Many valid concerns and objections were raised, […]
On A Clear Day…Olympic National Park
A while back we did a post about our visit to Hurricane Ridge in Washington’s great Olympic National Park. Hurricane Ridge is one of the best viewpoints in the Pacific Northwest, for sure, with a tremendous panorama of the Olympic Range. But this was not Brian’s first visit to the area. He first visited Olympic National Park in 2007, during […]
Fun With Fitzroy: High Above Highlands
Cashiers and Highlands, NC: Part II Just down the road from Cashiers, NC is the town of Highlands. As its name implies, Highlands is quite high up there, being situated at 4118 feet above sea level. This makes it one of the highest elevation towns in the eastern United States. Tiny Beech Mountain, NC, is even higher (at over 5000 […]
Fabulous Fitzroy’s First Big Adventure!
Cashiers and Highlands, NC: Part I Having successfully completed our inaugural hike with new team member Fitz Roy, we decided that it’s time to take him out to the mountains to see how he does on real trails. Fitz is of course part Shiba Inu…a type of dog specially bred for hunting in mountainous conditions in rugged central Japan. The […]
Can I Hike Mount St. Helens?
*Brian completed the Monitor Ridge Route Hike of Mount St. Helens in 2007…it was his second solo Bucketlist hike. Conditions on the mountain today may not be exactly as described here, and the permit system has changed. Check with the National Forest Service website before attempting this hike.* **This is NOT a hike that we would recommend to novice hikers. […]
A Sea of Clouds: Hiking Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens via the Monitor Ridge Route: Part Two Almost nothing about the hike up Mount St, Helens is easy. Even reaching the trailhead involved some serious driving. The Monitor Ridge hike leaves Climbers Bivouac, which is located on forest service roads some ten miles outside of the tiny town of Cougar. But it’s a good hour from the […]
To Kingdom Come: Hiking Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens: Part One *Completed by Brian solo in 2007, Mount St. Helens via the Monitor Ridge Route was his second Bucketlist adventure. It is one of the best day hikes in North America for sure, but be warned: This is NOT something that anyone can just show up and do. It is a long, steep, difficult and potentially […]
Uneasy Ground: Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens by the Monitor Ridge Route On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens changed forever. That day the top quite literally below right off of the mountain. The explosion was measured in the megatons (the same yardstick commonly used for nuclear weapons.) Combined with powerful flood waves of ash, mud and debris, the catastrophic blast resulted in the […]
Thinking of Doing Something Big This Year?
Visit Our Tour du Mont Blanc Planning Resources! Thinking of attempting something BIG this year that will change the way you look at the world (and yourself?) Consider the Tour du Mont Blanc. A very strenuous but incredibly spectacular loop hike out of the French town of Chamonix through the Alps, over a hundred miles in length, passing through three […]
Can I hike the Grand Canyon Traverse?
Can I hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim too? The short answer is…yes, this is a hike that even modestly experienced hikers can do, if they are well prepared. But do NOT underestimate the risks and challenges. This is a SERIOUS undertaking! For as long as there have been human beings around to stand upon the edge and see […]