The Hobo Cedar Grove is a nice easy 1-mile hike through a grove of giant old-growth trees. It is the perfect hike for toddlers to explore nature, which is why we brought Clara up there on Sunday. She enjoyed the large trees, but wasn’t into walking the trail much. Eventually Erin had to carry her for most of the hike. In hindsight, she may not have completely gotten over her illness from Friday and Saturday.
It’s good to be back on the trail. Backpacking has been absent from my life for quite some time, and I am excited to change that. On this trip, I hiked 2.5 miles and 1500 feet up to a forest service fire lookout that has been converted into a cabin for rent. Shorty Peak tops out at an elevation of around 6500 feet above sea level with a view that is as spectacular as it sounds. The mountain is located in Idaho’s Selkirk Mountains on a ridge adjacent to the ridge that hosts the US-Canadian border. When Heather found that…
The celebration of our nation’s independence is a custom dating back all the way to the day the Continental Congress approved and signed the Declaration of Independence. The use of fireworks to celebrate the momentous and historic occasion also dates back to that time. As John Adams wrote to his wife: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of…
We open the 2015 hiking season with a fairly big hike in the Blue Mountains. The Panjab loop takes us up the Panjab Creek trail and back down via the Rattlesnake Trail in the Wenaha Tucannon Wilderness. This hike is full of wildflowers, wildlife, and canyon views.
This past weekend, we had a nice day on my day off for once. So I took advantage of the sunshine and warm weather to get out and hike. Or so I thought. I’ve been waiting to take my snowshoes out for a real winter trek, and the timing has been bad. I set my sights on the Gold Center trail, which leaves at the base of the mountains behind Clarkia and climbs its way up to the ridge just below Grandmother Mountain. I’ve always wanted to hike this trail, and winter seems like the best time to do this…
Last week, Clara and I had a day to ourselves, so we had a little adventure on a nearby trail. The white pine loop is a 3-mile hike from the White Pine campground off of Idaho Rt. 6. A one-mile (one-way) out and back spur takes us to the site of a WWII bomber crash site with some pieces of the wreckage still littered throughout the woods. But rather than write a lengthy post with a few photos, I’ve decided to try a video series that I’m calling Adventures with Clara to highlight just how adventurous she is. [map style=”width: auto;…
I can’t believe February is almost over an I haven’t made any posts yet. I’ve been plugging along with classes and research and laying fairly low for financial reasons. I’m not skiing this year, which helps out in keeping my costs down. I have been snowshoeing more this winter than in the past, and that’s helping to keep me in shape, but it’s not quite as often as I’d like. In part, it’s due to time constraints, and in part it’s due to the weird weather we’ve been having this winter. We’ve had less snow than in winters past, and…