Photo Journal & Trip Reports (Backpacking & trekking)

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Grand Gulch Loop Hike
Grand Gulch Loop Hike
October 2009  |  Cedar Mesa, Utah

Over three days and two nights this October I went on a ~25 mile loop hike through a portion of Grand Gulch in Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah. The hike passes through dramatic canyon scenery with vertical cliffs and dramatic rock formations...

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Lightning Disco at Blue Lakes
Lightning Disco at Blue Lakes
September 2009  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

On Saturday I hiked up to Blue Lakes for a quick overnight backpacking trip in the Sneffels Range of southwest Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The alpine tundra has turned a beautiful array of autumn colors, and even a few aspens are starting to change...

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Bridge of Heaven Winter Camp
Bridge of Heaven Winter Camp
April 2009  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Over the last few days, a late season storm has come through the San Juans in Colorado, dumping almost 2 feet of snow.  On Sunday, while still snowing hard outside the weather forecast called for a sunny clear Monday, so I headed out for a spur-of-the-moment winter backpacking trip, hoping to get a photo of the fresh snow smothering Ouray and the Uncompahgre Gorge...

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Great Sand Dunes Megaloop
Great Sand Dunes Megaloop
March 2009  |  Colorado

In mid-March I was desperate for some wilderness action, so I headed out on a backpacking trip in the Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado. My initial plan was to do a simple three day hike up and back the Sand Ramp Trail along the eastern side of the dunes...

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Milford Track, New Zealand
Milford Track, New Zealand
December 2008  |  New Zealand

Over the last four days in late November/early December I’ve been hiking the Milford Track, perhaps the most famous of New Zealand’s Great Walks. This walk belongs in its own class of Awesome, and all the other “Great Walks” I’ve been on should be renamed merely “Good Walks” in comparison...

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Partial Kepler Track, New Zealand
Partial Kepler Track, New Zealand
November 2008  |  New Zealand

Te Anau is at first glance similar to a small version of Wanaka – both on the eastern side of large lakes with mountains to the west. However, while Wanaka is known for its proximity to several famous ski fields, Te Anau is the access point to three of the famous Great Walks – the Routeburn, Milford, and Kepler Tracks...

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Routeburn Track, New Zealand
Routeburn Track, New Zealand
November 2008  |  New Zealand

The Routeburn is one of New Zealand’s renowned “Great Walks”, and as such it has wide trails, huge huts, lots of people, and lots of signs telling the people where to go.

Since it is a one way hike with vast distances between the start and end points, I turned in my rental car, shipped one bag to Te Anau from Queenstown, and got a shuttle to the start...

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Backpacking in Mt. Aspiring National Park, New Zealand
Backpacking in Mt. Aspiring National Park, New Zealand
November 2008  |  New Zealand

Over the last four days I’ve been tramping in Mount Aspiring National Park near Wanaka. I started in the Matukituki River valley, an idyllic mountain valley with green grass, turquoise river, soaring glacier-clad mountains, and waterfalls pouring down from the sides...

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Hut Trek in Arthurs Pass National Park, New Zealand
Hut Trek in Arthurs Pass National Park, New Zealand
November 2008  |  New Zealand

For the last four or five days I’ve been hanging around Arthurs Pass, one of the three mountain passes that crosses over the South Island mountains here in New Zealand. The first two days were spent mostly lounging about the hostel as it dumped snow and the wind raged outside...

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Adventures on the West Coast, New Zealand
Adventures on the West Coast, New Zealand
October/November 2008  |  New Zealand

In late October I left Wanaka and drove over Haast Pass toward the infamous West Coast. I say infamous because this region is notorious for its huge amounts of rainfall (up to 7 meters annually in some spots!)...

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Tramping by Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand
Tramping by Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand
October 2008  |  New Zealand

The last several days I’ve been based out of Mt. Cook Village, a little tourist outpost based mainly around the Hermitage Hotel, situated in a remote valley at the foot of New Zealand’s highest mountain – Aoraki/Mt...

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Weminuche Wilderness Loop
Weminuche Wilderness Loop
August 2008  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

For 7 days in August, I hiked a high loop route through the high and rugged Needle Mountains in the Weminuche Wilderness in the San Juans south of Silverton, Colorado. This trip had a couple unexpected events in store for me, but fortunately, Lady Luck was really by my side this time...

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Continental Divide Trail through the South San Juans
Continental Divide Trail through the South San Juans
August 2008  |  South San Juan Mountains, Colorado

This last week I hiked the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the South San Juan Wilderness with two of my friends. It’s a 60+ mile trek from Cumbres Pass near Chama, New Mexico to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado...

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Cow Creek Bushwhack
Cow Creek Bushwhack
July 2008  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

During the last three days, I bushwhacked through the Cow Creek valley, a rugged and remote mountain valley in the Uncompahgre Wilderness of the San Juan Mountains east of Ridgway. My original plan was to hike through the valley and continue up to the high alpine zone, where I would hike a high loop route around to Wetterhorn Basin and then take a trail back to my truck...

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Winter Camping in the West Needle Mountains
Winter Camping in the West Needle Mountains
March 2008  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Lured by a full moon and a forecast of clear skies, in late March I went backpacking for two nights in the West Needle Mountains in the San Juans near Silverton, Colorado. This area is incredibly photogenic; from my campsite on a 12,200 ft ridgeline, I enjoyed broad vistas of the Needle Mountains, the West Needles, and all the peaks of the Molas Pass area...

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A Month in Patagonia
A Month in Patagonia
November/December 2007  |  Argentina/Chile

From mid-November to mid-December 2007, I spent a month backpacking in Patagonia. During the first few weeks, I was hiking amongst the jagged peaks of the Fitz Roy Range in Parque Nacional los Glaciares near Chaltén, Argentina...

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Weminuche Wilderness Trek
Weminuche Wilderness Trek
September 2007  |  San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Over a span of 7 days in late August/early September, I hiked alone through a high route in the Weminuche Wilderness of the San Juans. The mountains here are perhaps the most rugged and remote in all of Colorado...

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Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop
Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop
July 2007  |  Elk Mountains, Colorado

This popular hike in the Elk Mountains near Aspen is referred to as the Four Pass Loop. It is about 25 miles long, and passes over four high mountain passes, circumnavigating the famous Maroon Bells fourteeners...

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Shaken in the Julian Alps
Shaken in the Julian Alps
July 2004  |  Slovenia

Based out of the village of Kranjska Gora, in mid-July of 2004 I did a couple treks in the rugged Julian Alps in Slovenia. For the first hike I ventured up to the Triglavski dom hut below the summit of Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia...

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Mount of the Holy Cross
Mount of the Holy Cross
October 2003  |  Sawatch Range, Colorado

Notch Mountain, in the Sawatch Range just south of Vail, Colorado, has a perfect front-and-center view of Mount of the Holy Cross and its east facing cross couloir, made famous in 1873 by legendary wilderness photographer William H...

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