Climbing a mountain is one of the most often-used metaphors in literature, but for good reason — it’s a good metaphor for life. There’s a goal, challenge, and (hopefully) victory — and of course, the view from the top.
Tori was out in the Fort again (hooray!), this time to close on her new home. (As an aside — yes, I am absolutely ecstatic that one of my best friends in the whole wide world will be moving here, at least eventually! Who’s next?) To cap our last day out in the Fort before more travels, we did a hike in Coyote Ridge — which incidentally is part of the open space that Tori’s sweet new house backs up to. Continue reading »
The idea was pretty simple. I’d drive over to Camden Hills State Park, pay my $3, and drive to the top of Mt. Battie to peer at the Atlantic over the Maine Coast. Then, if there was still time, I’d drive up to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, where the views were supposed to be just as splendid.
There turned out to be one problem, though, when I got there. The park was closed. Continue reading »
Here are some photos from hiking at Smith Rock from yesterday and this morning. How convenient that the friend’s place we were staying at was right across the street!
The original idea was to stay at Abbott Pass Hut at 10,400′ — the highest inhabitable structure in all of Canada — for a couple of nights while in Yoho National Park. Our plans quickly changed upon talking with a couple of locals who warned us otherwise.
Apparently, due to the last few days receiving a bunch of snow, lugged shoes, ice axes, and helmets were advisable to safely ascend to the hut. Having none of these on hand, we completely shelved the idea for safety’s sake. Instead, we managed to secure (with lots of luck) the last two spots in the nearby Elizabeth Parker Hut for that night, and got in about 10 miles of oft-steep hiking on Monday and Tuesday. Continue reading »
On Sarah’s last day in Fort Collins, we did another hike, this time to Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park. Once again she attempted to teach me more about birds and plants, and I progressed to the point where every time I’d see a purple flower I’d ask “is that lupine?” and be correct about half of the time. Despite being just 3.4 miles round trip, we agreed it was a quality quad-pumping hike.
More photos are here.
