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Ridgetop Rambling – The Taos Traverse
The mountains around Taos Ski Valley, NM form an enticing cirque of moderately rugged peaks. This includes the state high point, Wheeler Peak 13,161′, and half a dozen other peaks in the high 12,000 to low 13,000 foot range. Maggie and I had attempted to traverse the ridge line in 2020, but we had to…
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I’m a Hoodoo Child – Bryce Canyon National Park
Working for the National Park Service seems to be a bit of a tradition for Maggie and her mom, Heidi. While Maggie was working on the archeology team at Colorado National Monument summer of 2025, Heidi landed an Interpretation Ranger position at Bryce Canyon National Park. Everything aligned for us to visit Heidi in the…
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Aloha to the PCT – The Crystal Range Traverse
When I had a conference to attend in South Lake Tahoe, I made sure to book my flight so I could stay through the weekend and romp around the Sierra Nevada. In addition to business clothes in my suitcase, I packed a 70L duffel bag full of camping and adventure gear (I’ll let you guess…
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Capitol Peak – The Harder Way
Capitol Peak is widely regarded as Colorado’s hardest 14er. After summiting this beautiful and horrifying mountain and coming safely back to earth, I finally see why it holds that superlative. I wish this was a simple tale of taking the standard route, “only” a Class 4 scramble, but my friend Ryan and I chose to…
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A Taste of Van Life: Climbing, Hiking, and a Desert Wedding
July kicked off with a bang! Three commitments lined up for an adventurous and fun filled week: a pair of friends were celebrating birthdays with a local climbing trip, our PCT friends were coming to Colorado to backpack, and a couple was getting married in the New Mexico desert. There was quite a bit of…
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A Climb Worthy of Two Thumbs Up – The NW Ridge of The Thumb
The Sandia Mountains have a lot impressive granite fins and spires packed into a small mountain range. I remember hiking the La Luz trail for the first time in 2020 and seeing climbers dot the towering walls all around. At the time, I never really thought I would be one of those climbers, questing up…
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Mexican Wedding? Maya’s Well Explore the Yucatan – Izamal, Chichen Itza, and Playa del Carmen
A dear friend of mine invited Maggie and me to his wedding, which would be held in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The destination wedding was a bit of a surprise, but we were excited to finally visit “old” Mexico and check out some Mayan sites across the Yucatan. After some research and putting together a…
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Baby’s First Alpine Climb: Wiskey Ridge, Sandia Mountains, NM
A few weeks after our little climbing adventure in Spain, Maggie and I had a free weekend. The psych was still high, so when Maggie asked me what we should do, I said, “Well I was thinking about this ridge traverse in the Sandias.” I showed Maggie the route and she was instantly stoked to…
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Semana de España Part 3: Málaga, Atequera, & Nerja
2 March 2025 The whole reason Maggie and I made the trip to Spain was to visit her relatives, Kristen, Jake and their three kids, living in Malaga. They had a beach side apartment with an extra room. We found our way there after a short train ride from El Chorro and long walk through…
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Semana de España Part 2: Climbing in El Chorro
I got the bug. Not an ailment, but an obsession with rock climbing. When Maggie and I first started looking at this trip to Spain, we were trying to decide what to do. Suddenly I remembered that Spain is a world renowned destination for rock climbing. A quick internet search yielded a solid climbing area…
Boldly going nowhere in particular