Category Archives: travel

2013 Roadtrip: Yellowstone NP

I wish we could’ve done more in Yellowstone, but due to a bit of bad luck we had even more limited time. There was too much to see in a day. My NP book recommends a week just to see everything, not even get into the backcountry.

We’re in Yellowstone! …Almost. Due to a car fire, they closed the entrance for 2 hours, just as we arrived.

At least the scenery was nice.

Our first real excitement at Yellowstone, Old Faithful. We arrived minutes before it went off.

The Yellowstone lodge was picturesque.

We explored around the various geysers for a bit, but I’ve been asking to see some bison, so we left in search of the wildlife.

Despite seeing, and missing a prime photo-op near Old Faithful, we caught a lone bison while we were approaching the Canyon.

I don’t know why I was so intrigued by bison, but you must admit they look pretty cool. Aggressive though, so we kept our distance.

Yellowstone Canyon blew me away.

And then a rainbow appeared.

Still looking for bison, we followed a tip from Catherine’s friends Cathy & Phil.

Next up, drive to Mammoth Hot Springs

Forest fires are evident all over over, a natural part of regeneration.

The northern part of the park changed to open grassland.

Mammoth Hot Springs has a space-like quality, though it was somewhat dry.

Finally we headed north, leaving through the Yellowstone arch, and stopping to enjoy some local pizza.

2013 Roadtrip: Glacier NP

Last major stop: Glacier. Unlike any place we’d been to yet, we arrived Friday the 13th and spent the first day sightseeing.

Glacier felt big, and begging you to explore the glacial basins and tall peaks.

We drove up Going-To-The-Sun road, and tried to take it easy with our laden-down Subaru.

The alpine meadows at the top of the pass were incredible.

Descending was just as cool, hugging the base of Garden Wall’s knife-edge peaks.

The next day we hiked around Avalanche Lake. We were hoping to do a longer hike but worried about the remaining drive, as we wanted to be in Spokane, WA that night.

Luckily it did not disappoint.

That was our last National Park, and last big travel day. With no mishaps, we wrapped our the trip.

8 Days on the Road

Well, I meant to write this before we left, and now its happened. Catherine and I officially departed MA this morning. Destination: Seattle. We were out there hiking in June and now are going to live there! We’ll be updating a separate blog, Washington St. To Washington during the trip. I’ll post the highlights here afterward.

Our route plan takes us through the Badlands, Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks and more, with days for sight seeing along the way.

Edit: The road trip is over, and I’ve posted photos here.

Vacation in Paradise

Back in June I flew down to Fort Myers to check out my sisters grand palace and see generally see how people keep busy down south. Since I now consider myself to a be a fairly dyed-in-the-wool mountain man, I had my reservations about visiting one of the flattest states in The Union. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. While I was down there, we worked in some sea kayaking, paddle boarding, beaching, eating, drinking, and saw more wildlife in two days than I’ve seen in just about every New England hike I’ve ever been on put together. The photos below hardly do justice. But they’re still pretty good… If in doubt, find someone who knows what they’re doing, and visit Florida with them.