Trip Reports

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

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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Fiordland, New Zealand
Fiordland, New Zealand
November 2008

In late November I spent 3 days in the high mountains of Fiordland, based out of a roadside hut and hiking up to some high saddles around there. These mountains here in Fiordland are amazing and probably my favorite that I’ve seen here in New Zealand...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Red Mountain, San Juans, Colorado
Red Mountain, San Juans, Colorado
September 2008

Today I drove up Red Mountain Pass (above Ouray, Colorado) to check out the golden aspens, and then ended up hiking up Red Mountain #3 to watch the sunset from up top.

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Sunset on Timpanogos, Utah
Sunset on Timpanogos, Utah
September 2008

This last weekend I was up in Utah and took advantage of a full moon to hike Mount Timpanogos and watch the sunset from the 11,749 foot summit.

Timpanogos, or "Timp" for short, is one of Utah's most famous and beloved mountains, towering 7,000 feet over the city of Provo...

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Weminuche Wilderness Loop, Colorado
Weminuche Wilderness Loop, Colorado
August 2008

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

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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Ouray-Uncompahgre Loop, Colorado
Ouray-Uncompahgre Loop, Colorado
July 2008

This weekend I went on a wonderful 25 mile backpacking loop from Ouray, Colorado. I started at Bear Creek, a few miles up the road from Ouray, hiked up to the rolling green tundra paradise of the Uncompahgre Wilderness, along the Horsethief Trail to the Bridge of Heaven Trail, then back down into Ouray...

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Cow Creek Bushwhack, San Juans, Colorado
Cow Creek Bushwhack, San Juans, Colorado
July 2008

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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2 Sunrises on Mount Sneffels, Colorado
2 Sunrises on Mount Sneffels, Colorado
June 2008

This June I made two early morning hikes high up in Yankee Boy Basin, a high mountain valley above Ouray, Colorado.

On Monday I woke up at 2am, drove up to Yankee Boy Basin, and hiked in the dark via headlamp up to the ridgeline of Cirque Mountain, a 13-thousand footer with a nice view of neighboring Mount Sneffels...

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Skiing & Snowboarding Colorado 2008
Skiing & Snowboarding Colorado 2008
Winter 2008

The 2007-2008 snow season has been an epic one, with record breaking snowfalls in western Colorado. The town of Ouray (where I live) got over 21 feet of snow, more than twice the average, and the most in 60 years of records! The high mountains probably got twice that, if not more...

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Winter Camping in the West Needle Mountains, Colorado
Winter Camping in the West Needle Mountains, Colorado
March 2008

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

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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Colorado Fall Colors
Colorado Fall Colors
September/October 2007

Autumn is probably the most spectacular season in the Colorado Rockies, as the vast fields of aspens turn bright yellow and orange under snowcapped mountain peaks. For the last several weeks, I've been searching for grand aspen vistas to photograph, mainly in the West Elk Mountains near Crested Butte, and San Juan Mountains around Telluride and Ouray...

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Weminuche Wilderness Trek, Colorado
Weminuche Wilderness Trek, Colorado
September 2007

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, Colorado
Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop, Colorado
July 2007

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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Spring Riding in the San Juans, Colorado
Spring Riding in the San Juans, Colorado
April/May 2007

Instead of making separate trip reports for each spring backcountry hike and ski/snowboard trip that my friends and I do, I thought I'd just make a page with some of my favorite pictures from various hikes this spring in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado...

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Baja, Mexico
Baja, Mexico
March 2007

In 2007 my buddy Todd had an excess of frequent flyer miles and generously offered to fly us both to Baja, Mexico. We rented surfboards and a Jeep SUV in Cabo then spent a week camping near remote beaches and surfing (or trying our best to surf)...

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Grand Gulch, Utah
Grand Gulch, Utah
November 2006

This November I went on a four-day backpacking trip into the Grand Gulch, a major canyon that cuts through Cedar Mesa in southeast Utah. Like many canyons in this region, Grand Gulch is full of hidden Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs...

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