Same, Same, But Different

After traveling in a car together for many, many hours, and then spending time in hotel rooms, Airbnbs, attractions, restaurants and bars, Birchie and I found out a lot of things about each other! The Blogger Extraordinaire was fun, not just for the sights seen, people visited and photos taken, but getting to know each other better was an adventure in itself. Of course, as adult people who have lived independently for many years over our lives, we found out some things that we definitely had in common and some things that we did differently. The question is, how did it stack up? Did either of us change due to seeing how other people did things? Let's find out! 

Same, Same

Alone Time: We both appreciate our alone time! It does not always jive up at the same time, but for the most part, we like a quiet morning, and a chill evening. We also don't mind listening to an audio book or podcast rather than always talking in the car, although this did not happen a lot, it did happen from time to time. 

The End Result? In the morning, I would often take a run while Birchie did her thing, and then in the evening after dinner, we would often do our thing or watch a show. However, this did evolve as we went along, and was maybe influenced by our newfound Traitors obsession. 

Food: Luckily, we were pretty much on the same eating schedule. We had a small breakfast, often stopped for a car sandwich lunch around 11:00 am, then were ready for dinner pretty much as soon as we got settled in the lodging, which was generally around 5:00 pm. 

The end result? We are both happy to be part of the early bird special and usually made sandwiches at a gas station or rest area for lunch. 

Picnic in Buffalo, WY

Beer: We both like beer, but especially IPAs. Need I say more? 

The end result? We would happily share a flight to try different beers, or even share a beer if it came down to it. 

Beer selection at the Sleepy Coyote in Ten Sleep, WY
Note the saw in the background

Music: We both like musicals and also love singing along to them! 

The end result? On the trip, we listened to Sound of Music, Hamilton and The Music Man (sparked by our drive through Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana!) I also had Phantom, Les Mis, In The Heights, Newsies and more queued up, but in the end, we just could not get to all of them! We also went to see the Medora musical in North Dakota. 

Outdoor theater in Medora, ND

Mayo: Spicy mayo for life! 

The end result? We only needed one sandwich condiment! 

Exercise: We both wanted to be sure that we kept to a semi-regular exercise routine, given we would be in the car and eating strange foods etc. 

Hiking at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The end result? I often went on a run around town, we took at least one walk or hike per day, and we also sometimes did push ups (Birchie more than me!). For me, my average steps per day for the 15 days we were on the road was just under 16,000, and there was no day under 10,000 (one day was 10,008!)

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But Different

Multiple Car Loads: I like to bring everything in from the car all at once. This is not just on vacation, but also when I buy groceries or really whenever I have to unload anything from the car. Birchie likes multiple trips. This could be that she travels in style, road trip style I mean, and has a cooler and other nice gadgets to make the trip more enjoyable. I have one bag, and can carry the cooler and multiple other bags at once in order to do it all in one. 

The end result? By the end, if the room was hard to get to (aka up a set of stairs, further away etc.) Birchie was okay to take just one trip. If we were parked right in front of the room or door, I was okay to just do one. Did we rub off on each other? Yes. 

Luggage: As you know, I travel light. I normally do this, but currently all I have is my bike stuff, so its even lighter than normal! Birchie has a deluxe road trip set up, with a cooler, coffee maker, electric kettle and more. I also only have two black outfits (and a running outfit) so I don't have many clothes either. 

Birchie (left), Me (right)
PC: Birchie (more info here)

The end result? I got a lot of ideas for my future campervan set up! The electric cooler is clutch. When cycling, I eat a lot of processed foods that don't need refrigeration, and it was so nice to be able to buy cheese or beer and have it be cold when you want it. Birchie did mention that she is considering swapping over to the all black ensemble.  Did we rub off on each other? Yes!   

Audio Speed: Birchie listens to audio (books, podcasts) at 1x speed. I listen at 2x or 2.20x. We did try listening to some audio at 1.1x to see what Birchie thought, but it was a bit of a fail. 

The end result? If the podcast was one that I had listened to before, the voice often sounded like the person was sick or had had a stroke or something. I didn't love it. Birchie didn't really like anything more than 1.1x. Did we rub off on each other? Not this time. 

Sandwiches: I had turkey, she had tofurkey! 

The end result? We both had sandwiches and it is not hard to carry around two different kinds of meat (in Birchie's excellent cooler). Did we rub off on each other? We didn't need to! I would eat tofurkey if needed. I think Birchie would eat turkey but wouldn't love it. 

Deli meats

Coffee: Part of Birchie's cool road trip packing set up is a pour over coffee maker, electric kettle, half and half (in the cooler) and premeasured ground coffee. I like good coffee, but also can drink pretty much anything, including instant coffee. I generally drank the hotel coffee, or made drip coffee if we were in an airbnb. Also, she has only one cup, whereas I want two or even three if we have time. 

The end result? She made her coffee each morning, and I sourced my coffee from various places, including the hotel lobby, gas stations, the in room coffee maker, or my own emergency stash of Nescafe. Did we rub off on each other? Halfway. I would go up the scale, but I doubt Birchie would go down. 

Last day of the trip, I splurged!

Parking: Birchie is a parking lot/garage person, whereas I am a curb/street parker. I can and do parallel park and free parking is always better than paid parking. Birchie just wants the car to be safe and the parking to be simple and does not care about the price. 

The end result? When I drove, I parked wherever, although of course was influenced by the fact that the car was not mine, so probably parked in more conservative places than I would have if it were my own car. Birchie did not attempt to park on the curb. Birchie only attempted one curb parking job, and it looked like a drunk person may have parked the car (unfortunately I did not take a photo, but I do believe two tires were on the curb. Also, she has approved this joke in advance! I would never make fun of her without her permission.)  Did we rub off on each other? Hard No. 

Questions for you! Let us know what your preferences are in these categories! Even if you just have time for one, let us know, what speed you listen to your audiobooks at and how many trips you take from the car after you get groceries or come back from a trip! 

What I Learned, Looking Forward, Looking Back: August 2026

Happy Monday! As I mentioned in my last post, August was a full month! I definitely saw a lot of great things, connected with some great people and logged a lot of miles. I also took over 4,000 photos and that does not even include ones that other people took for me on their phones and shared! Buckle up and stick around to find out more! 

As always, I'd love to hear what you're up to! Please copy and paste the questions at the end and add your answers to the mix! 

Where was I? Montana, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska & Iowa (phew, that was a mouthful!) 

What country related books or documentaries did I watch? 

Read: NONE! My reading in August was basically non-existent

Watched: NONE! Woof. 

Did I complete any other items on this year's looking forward list? 

✅New food <-- Huckleberry bear claw, which is a big thing in the Glacier NP area (my take? Despite loving bear claws and huckleberries, I found it a bit overrated!) 

✅New beer (*new category) <-- too many to count! However, my favorite was Mustaches and Man Buns! How's that for a name? 

✅ New States  <-- Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota (which leaves me with only three more to finish all 50!) 

✅ New National Parks  <-- Cuyahoga Valley, Indiana Dunes, Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone & Badlands (+ Mt. Rushmore, which is not an NP)

✅ New thing <-- So many! Here is one: Floating on the Flathead River, which reminded me of my childhood (we did A LOT of rafting and tubing)

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1. What is the name of last month's chapter? 

January: Devouring the Sweet Potato

February: Back in the Groove

March: Serenity Before the Storm

April: Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

May: The Ring of Fire and Ice

June: On The Road Again

July: A River Rides Through It

August: That's What Friends Are For

August was the month of visiting and hanging out with friends, both new and old. My oldest friend I visited was from high school and I had not seen her in about six years! 

2. What did I learn last month? 

I learned a lot about capitals and capitols! We visited four state capitol buildings, Bismarck, Helena, Pierre and Lincoln, and in that I learned a lot about the buildings themselves, the towns and the states as a whole. For example, I did not know a lot about the Montana gold rush, or the fact that North and South Dakota are the 39th and 40th state, but this was not deliberately chosen; the papers for statehood were shuffled around, making it fair that one would be first and the other second but not actually choosing one over the other to be ahead in line. 

My quick take on capitols: there are lots of circles! 

Various things found in ND, MT, SD, NE
(Check out Birchie's blog for more detail coming soon!)

3. What was the weather like? 

It varied. The weather in Montana was great, but very smoky. Then Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota were humid and hottish. North Dakota, Montana (again), Wyoming were good temperatures (50s- 80s for the most part) and not humid. South Dakota was hot (90s) but not humid, then as we headed back east, the humidity came back! I am not sure I am cut out to live in the Midwest, more due to humidity than the extreme cold (I lived in Iowa over a winter and it got down to -30 f, but I still think that's better than super humid!!!) 

4. What event last month was my favorite?

This is too hard to choose, so I will do some quick bullets. 

- Staying with my HS friend and going tubing with her, having great catch ups and hanging out. 

- Hiking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness with Bugsy

- The Blogger Extraordinaire Road Trip with Birchie (her posts so far: Days 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12)

- Seeing many bison in the wild 

- Visiting five national parks, including some sleepers

- Many small exploratory hikes and runs

- Meeting Doggo

- Meeting several bloggers IRL for the first time

- Meeting up with several bloggers for a second (or more) time

....and too many more to list! 

A taste of the national parks. 
(stay tuned for more)

5. What was the best thing read, listened to or watched last month? 

Book: On the Banks of Plum Creek (one of only TWO books I read this month! 😒)

Movie/Show: Traitors UK (I had seen an episode or two before, but Birchie and I started watching it from the beginning)

Podcast: Elisabeth's two interviews on BOBW and The Reframe

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

I liked the story about how Helena actually cheated in order to get the capital status, and this was not found out until much later when restoration work was being done on some of the officials old houses and they found a bunch of hidden votes (for the other city of Anaconda)! 

7. What am I looking forward to this month?

Catching up on admin, having a routine, and seeing another old friend or two! 

Your turn! To copy/paste, highlight the text below and click CTRL-C, then put the cursor in the comment box and click CTRL-V.

AUGUST:

1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that?

2. What did you learn last month?

3. What was the weather like where you are?

4. What event last month was your favorite?

5. What was the best thing you read, listened to or watched last month? 

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

SEPTEMBER: 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

Bonus question! Tell me about your oldest friend! When was the last time you saw them? 

Since You've Been Gone

You may have noticed my lack of posting recently, but one of the things that I've decided to do more, especially in summer, is to live life and to try to be off the internet more. I know; it is not easy! There are so many things that can suck me in! I've done a lot of blog reading here and there, but not much commenting, so I apologize for that! I am going to do a rapid fire summary of some of the things that kept me from being present in this space over the last few months and then you will also be seeing some recap posts about some of my favorites along the way. Some will be a little bit of a repeat of prior posts but I will try not to bore anyone! 

After being in Bangkok for the month of April, which meant hot hot temps and a general lethargy due to the humidity (despite or maybe also due to eating lots of good food), I was kind of ready to go home and see people and be in cooler temps! It started with a flight home on May 1st. 

May: (recap here) I had a great time with friends on our "regular 12" loop around the Marin headlands, then set off on a 10 day Alaska cruise. This is something that I would recommend to you even if you are not a cruiser. My Mom is not a huge travel fan, mostly due to the getting there and away aspect, but even she was wowed, and now talks about doing it again! We saw animals, glaciers and lots and lots of beautiful scenery. Plus I went to Glacier Bay, a new National Park!

Glacier Bay NP

Then, after visiting some friends, I headed to Tucson, where I started a 2,700 mile bike ride from Mexico to Canada. It was hard at first, and quite hot and dry, but soon I had my legs and it was so fun to see some of the interesting smaller towns and beautiful dirt road scenery of Arizona. Fun fact that most people may not know: Arizona has a lot of pine forests, not just desert! Another fun fact: Tucson public transit is free! Yippie. 

Mogollon Rim, AZ

June: (recap here) When I arrived at Flagstaff, I headed back (by bus) to Phoenix to fly to San Francisco for the World Cup. I took the Greyhound, which was not bad. Also, the Phoenix local bus system was not too shabby either. I stayed at a very swanky hotel using points, met up with a high school friend and her son, then headed to SFO. After the game there, I spent time with family, then headed to Seattle for more family time, another game, and a fun trip to Bainbridge Island (Fun fact: for $10 you can get a nice ferry ride, a great view of the skyline, and a nice wander, and plenty of options for lunch and coffee). The World Cup was fun and is something that I am really glad I did, despite the cost. 

Bainbridge Ferry, WA

After the game, and the wonderful weather of the Bay Area and Seattle, I headed back to the oven that is Arizona, and pedaled north. I visited the Grand Canyon and had a harrowing ride through the Navajo Nation before accepting a ride with a semi truck driver to Kanab UT. From there I headed north through UT, skirted Bryce, saw a cattle drive, finally had more water options and camping in the shade, and got to ride on Skyline drive (a 100 mile stretch of road above 10,000 feet). 

July: (recap here) I rode through Utah, including the Park City area, dipped into Wyoming a bit, then skirted the border of Idaho and Montana for a while before riding through a really cool section called the Magruder Corridor, which is about 100 miles of complete wilderness. I made friends with motorcycle riders, camped near some beautiful creeks, and rode up hills that I never would have thought I could (go legs!) I then popped back into Montana for the final stretch north, where I arrived at the Canada border near Roosville. Along the way, I had a nighttime encounter with a bear, but he and I parted ways amicably! 

Lots of cows (WY + everywhere)

August: (recap pending) The first half of the month consisted of hanging out with an old high school friend in Montana, then meeting up with my hiking partner, Bugsy, for some time in Glacier NP and a seven day hike in the Bob Marshall wilderness. This was great, except for the fires and smoke, and some major "bushwhacking" through downed trees due to some crazy winter microbursts. At some points we were climbing over piles of downed trees that were easily 15 or 20 feet high! 

Bugsy in the trees! (MT)

After leaving Bugsy, I headed to OH, a new state to me, to meet up with Birchie. She showed me around the state, introduced me to my new favorite beer, and made sure that when I said that I had "been to OH" before, I really meant it (not just through the airport as I had in the past). Then we set out for The Blogger Extraordinaire (TBE), a roughly 4,000 road trip from Ohio to Montana and back, with a goal to see lots of capitol buildings, national parks and PEOPLE. And that we did! We also ate good food, stayed in some interesting accommodations, learned a ton of different things, talked about everything and did some hikes and runs along the way. More recaps will be coming soon about this. Let's just say that it was good, but stay tuned for more! 

While you wait for my road trip recaps, you can read Birchie's posts: Days 1-3, 4-6, 7-9

Stay tuned for some favorite places, animals, eats and lots of fun rating systems where I rate runs, accommodation, national parks, new states and more! 

What fun things have you been up to this summer!?! Lay it on me! 

Looking Back: Juneteenth Weekend

In the spirit of some of my blogger friends, I will call this Five Things Tuesday, the road trip version! Since I had an extra day off, I drove down to Sequoia National Park for a little bit of backpacking. Here are five things from the long weekend that were interesting or fun! 

Backpacking in Sequoia NP: I had a great time hiking around Sequoia National Park, although once again, I was foiled by snow, downed trees and high river (read: impassable) crossings. However, I never let that bother me too much and I had a fun time exploring, even if I could not do the loop that I had intended. This year has been difficult for hiking plans, as the normal entry to Yosemite is closed due to road damage, the road to Kings Canyon is closed due to road damage and many of the roads in Sequoia are still closed due to snow and/or road damage! It was a rough winter in the Sierra, let me tell you. 

View of Valhalla and Hamilton Falls

Hamilton Lake

Trip to Aldi: Since I was driving down through Fresno, I decided to stop at Aldi (this is the closest one to my house, and is about 200 miles away from me) for a little wander through the aisles. Since I was going to be in the car for a while and I couldn't have food in my car at the park, I did not buy much, but I had a lot of fun checking things out. The weird thing though is that when I arrived, there were only about 6 cars in the parking lot and I feared they were closed but they were open but it was nearly empty! Maybe the Fresnans have not gotten the memo that you can get good things at Aldi on the cheap? It probably did not help that the following stores were all on the same street within about a two mile stretch: Smart and Final, Grocery Outlet, Costco, Albertsons, WinCo. 

Tesla Semi Truck: I saw this on highway 99! I did not know that Tesla made a semi and it was a very strange site; it looks like a toy. I checked later and apparently the Modesto Frito Lay factory is testing them out so that is why I happened upon one. 

Road Trip Snacks: Although I normally try to eat healthy, when I go on a road trip, I give myself a pass to eat what I want! This included corn nuts (guilty pleasure), peanuts (the dry roasted ones with the yummy MSG) and lots of jerky! Actually I also bought some cheese and carrot sticks from Aldi on my way home, so I guess this time the snacks were not really that indulgent! 

Pilot: My Favorite Gas Station: Every time I go on a long road trip on a major highway, my stop of choice is Pilot/Flying J. When I go to Oregon in the summer, they are perfectly spaced out and my routine consists of the same thing every time - get gas (even if I am half full), get ice tea/lemonade combo (Arnold Palmer) refill with lots of ice and use the bathroom. Every. Single. Time. I have had disappointment when stopping at other truck stops and they do not have unsweetened iced team from the fountain drink section (not a bottled one from the cooler) so I just stick to the one that has what I want! 

What did you do this weekend? What are your favorite road trip snacks and/or break stops? 

Wind River Range -- Part Three -- Trip Report

I was talking to my friend Dr. G the other day and he reminded me that I had somehow lost the plot when blogging about our Wind River High Route trip in 2017 and I never finished part three (and the most important part) of my three part series, the trip report! Since I actually had it in my drafts unedited but never edited or published it, I now give you, only three years late later, the grand finale! You can find posts about the trail conditions here and the logistics here. (Note this is kind of typical of COVID days; I am cleaning out my virtual closet as well as my real ones!) 

Disclaimer: This post is very long. If you are short on time, please skip to day 6, which was probably my most scary (but fun?) day. 

The Wind River High Route is approximately 66% off trail, according to the Skurka version, and when I heard about it and saw photos, I had to get a piece of this. However, I knew it would be harder than just walking the same amount of miles on a trail, so I planned accordingly, but I still underestimated how long it would take. When I decided to make the trip, I didn't know how exhausting and rewarding it would actually be.

The Road Trip: Dr. G and I drove from San Francisco to Reno on the first Friday, and stayed with a friend of mine who lives in Reno. It was nice to split it up a bit. However, this was still about five and a half hours in the car with Friday traffic. The next day we got up early and left around 4 am. Luckily the speed limit is 80 on a lot of the freeways and it was mostly smooth sailing. However, we did hit road construction in Idaho, putting us in Jackson, WY around 4 pm. We changed into the clothes we would be living in for the next week, filled up our waters, readied our packs and went for dinner. We then drove to our finish line trail head, which was called Trail Lakes, and parked our car there. We had arranged for a car to pick us up and take us to the starting trail head from there. We were picked up by Christian, who drove us to Bruce Bridges trail head and entertained us the whole way with stories of the area, people he had given rides to and trip reports from other hikers. We slept in a dispersed camping spot at Bruce Bridge that night.

Day One (21.56 miles): The first 13 or so miles were on a real trail. Even though we were not yet off trail, we still managed to miss a turn at the Deep Creek Lake cutoff, which afforded us with a nice view of a meadow and some good looking peaks. However it also caused us to detour about three extra miles and about an hour and a half. We arrived at Deep Creek Lake (10,100 ft) around 2:30 p.m. The Skurka guide and others reports stated that from this point, to get up and over Wind River Peak and back down to a place where you could camp was about 6 hours. We decided to go for it. 

This is where the accidental detour took us

From that lake, we were on a real trail for about half a mile and then we took our first detour off trail. Skurka says to orient your compass to Chimney Rock and head towards the peak that way. We oriented it but ended up having to go around a big hill to get a clear view of it. I'm not sure if that is due to our error or bad directions from Skurka (probably the former), but it seemed to take a lot of extra time. Finally started the climb up to Chimney Rock, which is at about 12,500 ft. The climb was not super technical; it was through a lot of marshy and grassy areas as well as rocky ones, but it was a steep climb. We got about halfway, we thought, and then got completely socked in with fog. It was about 5:30 pm by this time so we decided to pitch our tent on a semi flat spot and conquer the peak the next day. We were on the smallest little rocky ledge in the middle of a bunch of talus (large boulders) but if not for the fog we would have had great views! 

View from the side of the mountain

Day Two (10.6 miles): Right away, we continued back up the steep hill. This time, however, much of it was covered in snow, so we put on our microspikes and yaktrax and climbed the hill. It was very slow going and I remember going from wearing all my layers to only a couple by the time we got to Chimney Rock. Once there, we went around it to the left, as Skurka had said we had to descend a bit before climbing up to the Wind River peak and then descending down a gully. Unfortunately, first we went a bit too far South, so we ended up having to backtrack quite a bit uphill. Also, on the descent, I stepped on a wobbly rock and fell, scraping up my leg fairly badly. So we headed back uphill to what we thought went to the west gully descent. On the way there I looked down and said that this also looked like a descent down a gully. To get to Skurka's gully, we would have to go up another steep climb and then back down the gully. So we decided to take this direct route, which we figured could not be any worse. Famous last words, I guess.

Me (that tiny black dot in the middle) descending the gully

It was very steep and the rocks were all semi unstable. It was very slow going, as each step was a cautious decision of what would come next. We got down to the point where our descent met Skurka's and we picked our way down the hill. Once the rocks ended there was a long steep snowfield to descend, and then more large ralus, and then another snowfield. On the first one, I dropped my yaktrax and John went sliding for about 30 feet, which was a bit nerve-racking. It definitely was not easy or safe, but we made it down in one piece. After that we went around Lake 11185 through yet more talus, then followed a creek through willow (my nemesis! it's so scratchy!) and lots of bushwhacking before ending up at Black Joe's lake. At Black Joes, we followed the shore for a while before finally doing an up and over (through more willow) of some granite cliffs to get to the North side of the lake. From there, we joined up with the big Sandy trail (a real trail, and people!) where we had a fairy easy few miles to big Sandy Lake.

War wound

From there we went up North Creek trail not too far and found a nice camping spot by the water. Of course, now that we were out of the hills and back near the stream, it was mosquito paradise. We quickly put up the tent, filtered water, ate and went to bed.

Day Three (15.5 miles): We started up the North Creek trail again in the morning, and about four miles later we arrived at the Cirque of the Towers.

The Cirque of the Towers

I believe this is one if the most heavily trafficked places in the Wind River Range. It is definitely beautiful. It us a semi-circle of pointy mountains all surrounding a lake. We peaked at Jackass Pass, which is about 12,500 ft. and where we could not help but getting some photos with the sign (jackass!). We then dropped down into the lake area before heading up the Texas pass. At this point, we had two options of getting up and over and we decided to forgo the New York pass in the interests of time, as it now seems like we aren't going to be able to get done as much as we thought we would and it was the more difficult of the two.

After descending Texas pass, we walked along two lakes to get to Shadow Lake, where we turned north. Here we passed through a gorgeous meadow with granite boulders and peaks in the distance. It reminded me a bit of the JMT near Cathedral Peaks. Then it started to hail. It rained and hailed on us for the next few hours. We went up from Shadow Lake through the meadow, then towards Pyramid Lake before going off trail again at Skull Lake. From there we bushwhacked a bit before following a river for a while to another lake. Then it hailed some more. Then we followed another river to another lake. Then it hailed and rained. Due to the rain and the time getting a little later, we finally decided to set up camp around 5 pm at Lake 10,5xx instead of trying to climb Raid pass today. By this time our feet were soaked, but we did get a respite from the rain to eat our dinner before going into the tent for recharging and relaxing. And, I almost forgot to mention...I saw a chipmunk carrying a baby chipmunk today and got dive-bombed by a yellow throated hummingbird while filtering water. Good times!

Day Four (14.2 miles): On this day we realized that we were definitely going to have to find an early exit route, as we were not covering as many miles as we thought we would and we had to be back home by a certain time. We looked at the map and saw that there was an alternative near Europe mountain which would get us back to the car in about 20 miles. We were hopeful that we would be able to get there by the following night!

We started up our first pass of the day, Raid pass, with wet feet. I had not been looking forward to putting on my wet shoes and socks from the day before but it had to be done. The climb to the top required a lot of marsh walking, talus hopping and then crossing a snowfield before getting to the top. Then it was back down the other side, into Bonneville basin, an unnamed lake, and Boulder Creek.

Bonneville Basin (we would walk around that lake to the left)

We climbed down on large granite slabs rather than go down the steeper snowier decline. We then skirted the lake and a lot of bugs (actually we did not skirt the bugs at all!), and climbed up some grass ramps to Sentinel Pass, where we had a great view of Photo Pass.

View of Photo Pass

From there we crossed a huge snowfield (part of it very steep) to the lake below. Once we got a little lower though, you could slip slide and glissade a little to get down, which Dr. G did not want to do, but I did happily. Then it was a bushwhack-a-palooza around the lake, where there were supposedly elk use trails, but they were hard to find! Then we climbed up the side of a waterfall to get to another lake, where we then headed up photo pass. Again, we had to climb up snow to get to the top then there was a trace of a pack mule trail but it was quickly covered in snow, so we hiked down the snow instead. Actually I slid down on a garbage bag on my butt which was so fun! Dr. G was not amused.

Our tent on a rock next to a frozen lake (pre-snowstorm).

From there we had to go around another lake, follow a stream up a hill and then once we got to a lake we headed up more granite slabs to get to our camping spot. Oh, did I mention it hailed and rained on us pretty much all afternoon. That evening we camped on a granite slab next to a partially frozen lake and it was super windy and probably in the 30s! As we lay inside the tent, it began to hail. Then rain, then more hail. Very hard! I fell asleep to the sound. I woke up to a strange sliding sound, which was snow sliding off the tent. It had pooled up in the top and was causing the tent to sag. As it melted, it slid off the tent.

Day Five (13.75 miles): When we woke up, there was fresh snow on the ground. Which made for an interesting time, trying to hop from rock to rock when you can't see the rocks and the ones you can see are slippery. We first went up Europe cool, which was a smaller pass, then we crossed over to Europe peak, but to do so we had to climb up a 20 foot crevice to get to the knife edge at the top of Europe peak. It was hairy. Then it was a gradual descend over lots of snowy slippery rocks to a little lake where we crossed over snow and saw so many animal footprints. I'm not sure what they were but it looked like they had 5 toes and claws, so I would guess some sort of doglike animal. Also saw tons of small creature prints, some with five long toes, some with four feet together (jumpers?) and some little mice, etc. type prints.

Somewhere near Europe Col

After climbing a hill, we followed a stream to a tarn (small glacier lake) and then followed the tarn to it's end where we crossed over to find a fisherman's trail (very faint at times). We followed it to Golden Lake, Lake Louise and upper Golden Lake, with probably about 10 creek crossings to boot. There was one crossing where the water was so fast and was up past our thighs that we had to hold hands and slowly cross together, step by step. Then it was a long climb up to where we could see Douglas peak pass, our next climb. It was grueling on both the climb up and the one down, with lots of loose smaller talus. On the climb down it was loose gravel, loose talus, then huge talus, then more huge talus. We arrived at the lake where we set up camp on a big flat rock around 6 pm.

The Golden Lakes

Day Six (14.5 miles): when I woke up this morning, my shoes were nearly dry! Hallelujah! We got ready and the first thing we tackled was a smallish pass (11,400 ft) which took us up to a frozen lake where there were two guys camped. We went around the lake on talus, then had to climb up a class three crack to get to our next obstacle, Alpine lakes pass. The entire pass appeared to be covered with snow. And it was very steep. We strapped on traction and started up.

Dr. G climbing Alpine Pass

Dr. G chose a diagonal route across the face towards a few rocks on the east side. I chose a straight up approach, with a plan to cross over higher up where it was a narrower snow band. Dr. G chose the better option. By the time I got up to the rocks where I had to cross over snow to get to the summit, I was sweating and nervous. Plus to get up to the top of the rock pile, I had to climb several class three cracks. Then I had to cross over the steepest and highest section of snow with only yaktraks and a prayer. Obviously I made it, as I am writing this, but I had my doubts at the time. I tried not to look down as I jammed my foot into the snow as much as I could, step after step. I made it, to the first rock island, then had to do the same thing again to get to the snowy saddle of the pass. Once safely there, I called out to Dr. G that maybe that had been type two fun.

After that, we had to climb down . I can't remember details of the downhill portion. I think it is safe to say that we went on pretty gradual downhill on snow towards a glacier, which then led to a saddle, then we followed a stream, got lost, forded the stream, bushwhacked through willow and then climbed up and down another hill before fording another wide stream before heading to Blaurock. Blaurock pass was 1,200 ft. of climbing per one mile. We started by going around a huge floodplain, then began a slow crawl up the hill. I think we averaged about an hour and a half per mile. It was tundra, then a lot of talus and snow, but mostly talus, so it was slow going!

Looking back from Blaurock Pass

We got to the top (12,800+) eventually and headed back down the other side, which was a combo of gravel use trail and snow, before petering out into tundra, then another easy rock hop River crossing before joining up with the glacier Trail, which would eventually lead to the car. We went about 2 miles on the trail then set up camp on a nice soft woodsy spot with a tree cover. That night there was a fabulous thunder and lightning storm!

Day Seven (23.4 miles): Since we were now on a trail that we had not planned to go on, and with no mileage markers on the maps, we estimated our distance as the crow flies. We had thought that we would have approximately a 20 mile hike for this, our last day. We started off at our regular time, around 7 am, and we were luckily on a trail the entire time. Otherwise the going would have been a lot slower! My understanding was that the trail would be a gradual downhill, as we were starting above 10,000 feet and we're heading towards the parking lot, which sat at 7,500 feet. However, we did know that we would have one section where we would have to climb back up to above 10,000 ft. before our final descent to the parking lot.

A real trail! (on the home stretch)

The trail was soft and easy. We started off with a gradual decline from about 10,200 to 9,500 feet. So far, so good. This took us to mile 8 or 9. Then we started climbing up and got to about 10,500 before the trail levelled off. I thought this was the end of it. It was not. A few miles later the trail started slowly climbing up again. We got to about 11,000 feet before we finally started to descend. At this point we were at maybe 16 or 17 miles. I had seen switchbacks on the map toward the end portion of our hike and thought the downhill portion would be quick. However these were the longest switchbacks I'd ever seen! They were so gradual and each switchback felt like a quarter mile long! We finally got down to 9,000 feet and then the trail levelled off again which was not what we wanted. The last few miles seemed endless but finally we spotted the parking lot down below. From there it was a steep mile down to the car where we finally changed out of our 7 day old sweaty clothes and headed to town for a hamburger.

The end!

Total miles: 113.71 mi. Total elevation gain: 30,577 ft.

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Have you ever done a multi day hiking trip? What is your favorite place to hike (day or multi-day)? 

Rim to Rim to Rim

On day three of our road trip we got up and had a white trash picnic in the parking lot of the hotel (homemade sandwiches out of the U-haul), which reminded me of my childhood, when we used to take the motor home on road trips and I was SO embarrassed that we had to make and eat our own food. Now I am the one embarrassing the kids.

We made a stop at the Hoover Dam, where they have built a new highway above it, so that you can walk on the dam since it is no longer used. We next stopped at the Cracker Barrel where my friend's daughter had the best blueberry pancakes ever! They must load those suckers up with butter, because they are good.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon pretty late due to our lackadaisical driving style, and only had time to pack for the next day and go to bed. The reason for this is that the next day we were planning on running from the South Rim to the Colorado River to the North Rim and back. This is a total run of 44 - 50 miles, depending on which route you take. At first we thought that we could always just do it one way, but the roads to the North Rim are not open until May.

Our day started at 4 am. After a quick breakfast of PB&B (banana) sandwiches and a shot of espresso, we headed out to the rim. It was dark and it was hard to find the trail head and the lady-friend was driving and the Broski was nervous and our GPS was not working, so we had a bit of a quibble in the car. However, we soon found the trail and we started off. The temperature at the top of the South Rim was about 27 degrees.

From the South Rim, there are two ways to get to the bottom of the canyon. Once there, the main area, where there is camping and bathrooms and water, is called Phantom Ranch. If you take the Bright Angel trail, it is less steep, but more miles, totaling 10 to Phantom Ranch. If you take the South Kaibab Trail, it is steeper, but it is only 7 miles. We decided to take the Bright Angel on the way down, to save our knees for the rest of the trip.

Bright Angel Trail head to Phantom Ranch: We started down the trail at 4:30 a.m. It was dark and our headlamps were barely penetrating the gloom, because the dust was outrageously thick. However, as soon as we dropped below the rim by about a quarter of a mile, it warmed up a lot. We stopped at the 1 mile bathroom and stripped down. The first hour was just a pretty easy slightly downhill jog, where we were really focused on the ground in front of us, which was pretty lumpy. This section took us much longer than anticipated. We thought that the downhill would be about a 9 or 10 minute mile, but it was more like a 13 or 14 due to the darkness and the dust. Around mile 7, the sun started to come up and the colors on the canyon were just starting to show. We arrived at Phantom ranch in about two hours, which is about what our goal was.

One of the things about doing this that we were most worried about was the water. The trail has several water stops in the summer. However, in the off season, the only one that was a (mostly) guarantee was Phantom Ranch. Broski had 4 liters of water and I had three. We filled up at Phantom Ranch, stashed our sweatshirts behind the bathroom and headed toward the north rim.

Phantom Ranch to North Rim: The sun was starting to come up and this was my favorite section of the run. The first 7 miles was mostly flatish, with a gradual uphill. I think it was about 1000 ft gain over 7 miles. The next 7 were straight up. The Colorado River is at about 2,200 feet. The top of the North Rim is at about 8,200 feet. So the last 7 were pretty steep. However, the colors were great! The reds were so red and the top layer, which is white, was like a beacon, guiding us up, up and further up. The best thing about this section is that there was one place where the water was working! We filled up our water and washed our faces and got ready for the big climb.

As we were climbing the hill, I could tell that Broski was getting discouraged. I think he was thinking about the fact that we were not even half way yet, and he was already tired. That's what I was thinking at least! We got to the top and ate the sandwiches that we had been carrying for the last several hours. They were the best sandwiches ever. This uphill part took us longer than we thought it would. We had hoped that we could average about a 15 minute pace, but this part was about a 25 minute pace and our running pace on the flat/downhill had not been fast enough to bring down the average that much. We arrived at the top of the North Rim around noon, 7 and a half hours after we started. We figured this would still be good time though; we could even make it back before dark (our goal was 6:30 or 7 pm).

North Rim to Phantom Ranch: The sandwiches really revived us and we headed back down the hill refreshed. The downhill at first, the steep part, was hard on the knees, but the second section, the flatter one, we could run a pretty good pace the whole time. We still were not booking by all means, but we were keeping it pretty steady at about 14-15 minute miles. We got back to Phantom Ranch and the sun was just starting to go toward the rim of the canyon. We grabbed our clothing stash and some more water and got moving, as we wanted to try to hike in the light as much as possible.

Phantom Ranch to South Rim: We decided to take the South Kaibab trail on the way up. It was steeper, but it was also shorter and we were thinking that it would be the better of the two evils. It was approximately 5 pm when we left the bottom and headed up the hill. We knew we would not be making it by our 6:30 goal, as the last hill had taken about 3 hours to climb. We had steeled ourselves for a long walk up the hill. This time the elevation of the South Rim was about 7,200 feet and we were back at 2,200 ft again.

This hill took forever. It kept going up relentlessly. As you walk down the hill in the morning, fresh as a daisy, there are signs shouting out warnings that you WILL have to go back UP the hill and not to overexert yourself. Our fresh morning selves had scoffed at the signs. Now, we knew we would make it, but we were laughing at how nonchalant we had been before. Our pace slowed as we went up the hill. We were making about 2 miles an hour. It got dark. My Garmin died so we had no idea how long it had been. It felt like forever, walking step by step, up the hill, in the dark, without any idea how much time it had been.  And it was SUPER windy, and it was blowing dust everywhere. We could barely see and there was grit in our eyes and I was so thirsty.

Ready to be done

And then we ran out of water. Just kidding mom! But we were starting to run lower than we had anticipated. The dust was a factor we had not banked on. However, we had enough to get us to the top. We walked forever, and finally we had reached the South Rim. Immediately we got cold. It's amazing how different the temperature is inside the canyon vs at the rim.We arrived at the top at 9 pm.

The lady-friend was on standby and she came and got us with the warm car and a burrito. She is my favorite person ever, by the way.

So, the stats: 47 miles, 16:30:00 for elapsed time (21:00 pace) and 12:54:00 for moving time (16:37 pace). As you can see, we took a lot of breaks! This was Broski's first night run, longest run ever (second longest is 23 miles) and most time on his feet at one time!

Sorry about the never-ending recap! Happy Monday! 

What's the longest time you have been on your feet at one time? Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? Have you ever done a hike where the uphill is at the end?