A few weeks ago, my bride came across a promo for the 365 Adventure Challenge and suggested we take it on. The idea is that we hike a total of 365 miles within a year. I, too, thought it’d be a fun challenge we could pursue together, so I sent…
I’m currently in the middle of listening to an audiobook on one woman’s through-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail—the 2,650-mile path from the California-Mexican border to the Washington-Canadian border. The author-hiker shares innumerable difficulties, hardships, dangers, injuries, fears, and failures along the journey. Imagine having to run along the trail…
For many, the exciting anticipation of seeing the peak of Mt. Denali (or Mt. McKinley) ends in disappointment. At an elevation of 20, 310 feet, Denali is the tallest mountain on the North American continent. And of all the mountains on the planet, Denali ranks but third in prominence and…
For the most part, traveling east from Hoover Dam at the Arizona/Nevada border to Phoenix along US 93 doesn’t really rank as particularly “pretty.” To be sure, some scenic views catch your attention. There’s an overlook or two worth stopping to take in the vista. But brown gets a bit…
If you missed the first two installments, it might be worthwhile to go back and read them to catch the drift of this little series: Part One Part Two. We hadn’t planned a visit to the Valley of Fire. Fact is, I’d never heard of it until a friend recommended…
If you missed part 1, I’d encourage you to read it first. On a recent trip to the Southwest, my wife and I were repeatedly overwhelmed by a beauty wholly foreign to our corner of the world. Part One shares some of our beauty encounters in Zion National Park in…
About a half-mile from our house, at the south end of our street, the city has built a nice recreation path running along the Rock River, through Sinnissippi Park, and ending at Hoover Park. It’s a great path for a Saturday afternoon walk. We took advantage of the milder late-winter…
Well, it finally came this year. The deep freeze, that is. Up until a week or so ago, here in the Midwest, we were thinking we might dodge the artic bullet this season. Oh, it’s been a bit wintry, but December was a breeze. Never even started up the snowblower…
It doesn’t seem to matter where we’ve been, we’ve observed the phenomenon of people being drawn to the sun—whether for sunrise or sunset. Many years ago while living in Vermont, we vacationed in Bar Harbor, Maine, at the gateway to Acadia National Park in Mt. Desert Island. Cadillac Mountain rises…
On warm summer afternoons, I’ll at times work from my home office—the patio in our back yard. There’s a quiet of a different sort out there. At my church study, I’m not normally bothered by much sound at all, frankly. The phone rings from time to time. If someone comes…
