And I Would Hike 500 More

When I started tracking my unique hikes a few years ago, Trotsky and I took 107 weeks to do 100 of them. This time, we really put ourselves to the task and crushed the goal in 91 weeks. And that’s despite a six-month period when we did almost none. I reached a kind of hiking burnout in winter 2019. Well, more like an I-70 traffic burnout. I still hiked around Boulder during that time, but only small trails I’d done many times before. Old man Trotsky and his arthritic hips were getting tired of the long car rides into the mountains too.  

But my current nomadic lifestyle has re-inspired my love of hiking. I no longer have to battle Colorado weekend mountain traffic and I’m getting to explore lots of new places. And so many beautiful places there are! I’m also hiking much more slowly, out of necessity for my elderly hiking companion. Sometimes Trotsky really tries my patience, but mostly I’m happy to go as slow as he needs to if it means I get to have him by my side. I probably needed this forced reminder that not every hike has to be a lung-busting struggle for some undefined personal best oxygen burn.

Trotsky came on 62 of these hikes with me, including some of the 14ers and the snowshoe trek. Just like last time, not all of these are strictly hikes. They are any activity in nature where I didn’t have pavement under my feet, which worked out to be 78 hikes, 7 treks ups 14ers, 1 snowshoe adventure, 11 new trail runs, and 3 classified as other, such as the first on this list and the last on this list. And here they all are.

March 2019

• Manitou Incline (Manitou Springs, CO), The Incline
• Davidson Mesa (Louisville, CO), The Loop
• Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests (Jamestown, CO), Ceran St. Vrain trail
• Foothills (Boulder, CO), Meyers Gulch & Homestead
• White Ranch Open Space (Golden, CO), Rawhide Loop
• Mt Falcon West (Morrison, CO), Parmalee, Tower, Old Ute, and Meadow trails

April 2019

• Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave (Cayo District, Belize), cave trek/swim
• St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park (Hummingbird Highway, Belize), St. Herman’s and Blue Hole
• Billy Barquedier National Park (Hummingbird Highway, Belize), Waterfall trail
• Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Stann Creek District, Belize), Tiger Fern and plane crash trails
• Lost Creek Wilderness (Bailey, CO), Ben Tyler trail
• Pawnee National Grassland (Grover, CO), Pawnee Buttes trail

May 2019

• Bald Mountain Scenic Area (Boulder, CO), Pines to Peak Loop and Summit
• Reynolds Park (Foxton, CO), Raven’s Roost, Eagle View, and Oxen Draw trails
• Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Valley, CA), Mirror Lake
• Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Valley, CA), Yosemite Falls
• Nelder Giant Sequoia Grove (Oakhurst, CA), Big Ed, Bull Buck, and Chimney Tree
• Bass Lake (Oakhurst, CA), Willow Creek and Angel Falls
• Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Valley, CA), Cathedral Beach to El Capitan
• Flying J Ranch (Conifer, CO), Shadow Pine Loop

June 2019

• Gunnison National Forest (Salida, CO), abandoned mining road to the Rainbow trail
• Gunnison National Forest (Nathrop, CO), Browns Creek Falls
• Snowmass Village, (Snowmass, CO) Rim Trail North
• Snowmass Village, (Snowmass, CO) Highline and Lowline Trails
• Thatcher Woods, (River Forest, IL) trail

July 2019

• White River National Forest (Crystal, CO) road to Crystal Mill
• Lost Creek Wilderness (Deckers, CO), Goose Creek trail
• Sawatch Mountain Range (CO), Summitted Mt. Yale (14k feet)
• Indian Peaks Wilderness (Ward, CO), St. Vrain Mountain trail

August 2019

• Indian Peaks Wilderness (Ward, CO), Buchanan Pass trail
• Comanche Peak Wilderness (Bellvue, CO), Cirque Meadows
• Comanche Peak Wilderness (Bellvue, CO), Browns Lake
• Sawatch Mountain Range (CO), Summitted Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia (both 14k feet)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park, CO), Chasm Lake

September 2019

• Sawatch Mountain Range (CO), Summitted Huron Peak (14k ft)
• Arapaho National Forest (Empire, CO), Jones Pass
• San Juan Mountains (CO), Summitted Handies Peak (14k feet)
• Twin Buttes (Durango, CO), Twin Buttes and Mid Traverse trails
• Animas City Mountain (Durango, CO) Animas Mountain Loop
• Hermosa Creek Wilderness (Hermosa, CO), Goulding Creek trail
• Weminuche Wilderness (Silverton, CO), Little Molas Lake to Big Molas Lake
• Cache La Poudre Wilderness (Bellvue, CO), Mt. McConnel and William R. Kreutzer trails

October 2019 – March 2020

• Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests (Gold Hill, CO), Oxbow Mine trail
• Roosevelt National Forest (Boulder, CO), Lefthand Canyon trail
• Rifle Mountain Park (Rifle, CO), Ice Caves trail
• Brainard Lake Recreation Area (Ward, CO), Lefthand Park Reservoir trail

April 2020

• Grand Staircase Escalante (Boulder, UT), DIY trail off route 12
• Grand Staircase Escalante (Boulder, UT), Lower Calf Creek Falls
• Grand Staircase Escalante (Escalante, UT), Zebra Slot Canyon trail
• Grand Staircase Escalante (Escalante, UT), Hike in the Phipps-Death Hollow area off BLM Road 108
• Capitol Reef National Park (Torrey, UT), Chimney Rock trail
• Bangs Canyon Recreation Area (Grand Junction, CO), Mica Mine trail

May 2020

• Lost Creek Wilderness (Jefferson, CO), Ute Creek trail
• Lost Creek Wilderness (Jefferson, CO), Brookside McCurdy trail
• Matthew Winters Park (Golden, CO), Zorro and Dakota Ridge trails

June 2020

• La Garita Mountain Range (CO), summitted San Luis Peak (14k feet)
• Glacier National Park (West Glacier, MT), Sperry Chalet trail
• Glacier National Park (Essex, MT), Scalplock Trail
• Glacier National Park (West Glacier, MT), Avalanche Lake trail
• Big Bear Wilderness (Essex, MT), Marion Lake trail

July 2020

• Glacier National Park (West Glacier, MT), Huckleberry Mountain Lookout trail
• Glacier National Park (West Glacier, MT), Covey Meadow Loop
• Glacier National Park (West Glacier, MT), Lower Quartz Lake trail
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park, CO), Lumpy Ridge
• North Table Mountain Park (Golden, CO), North Loop
• Collegiate Peaks (CO), summitted Mt Belford and Mt Oxford (14k feet)
• Pike National Forest (Fairplay, CO), Limber Grove trail
• Pike National Forest (Fairplay, CO), Forest Trail 659

August 2020

• Pike National Forest (Fairplay, CO) Sheep Mountain
• Pike National Forest (Fairplay, CO), Thompson Park Road
• Barr Lake State Park (Brighton, CO), Lake Loop
• Brainard Lake Recreation Area (Ward, CO), Sourdough, South St. Vrain, Long Lake Loop, and Waldrop Trails
• Green Mountain (Boulder, CO), West Ridge trail
• Indian Peaks Wilderness (Eldora, CO), Arapaho Glacier and South Arapaho Peak (13k feet)
• Cal-Wood Education Center (Jamestown, CO), Private trails

September 2020

• Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park, CO), Mount Ida
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park, CO), Sky Pond trail
• White River National Forest (Aspen, CO), River Run trail

October 2020

• Hirundo Wildlife Refuge (Old Town, ME), Wabanaki, Field to Forest, and Pond trails
• Sunkhaze Wildlife Refuge (Milford, ME), Johnson Brook trail
• River Pond Nature Trail (Millinocket, ME), Tenderfoot, Timber Cruisers, and Foresters trails
• Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor, ME), various carriage roads
• Acadia National Park (Seal Harbor, ME), Eliot Mountain trail
• Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge (Baring, ME), Greg’s Pond, Raven, and HQ Road trails

November 2020

• Shackford Head State Park (Eastport, ME), Schooner trail
• Quoddy Head State Park (Lubec, ME), Coastal trail
• Hamilton Cove (Lubec, ME), Bench trail
• Penobscot River Trails (Stacyville, ME), Riverside trail
• Baxter Woods (Portland, ME), Baxter trail
• Salem Town Forest (Salem, NH), various trails
• Madame Sherri Forest (West Chesterfield, NH), Ann Stokes Loop
• Mount Greylock (Adams, MA), Birch Meadow and Hidden Meadow Loop
• Mount Greylock (Adams, MA), Bellows South
• Windsor State Forest (Savoy, MA), Bush Road and part of Grand Falls
• Glen Park (Stroudsburg, PA), Glen Park trail
• Appalachian Trail (Delaware Water Gap, PA), Council Rock and Lookout Rock
• Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge (Saylorsburg, PA), Blue trail

December 2020

• Watoga State Park (Marlinton, WV), Honeybee trail
• New River Gorge National River (Lansing, WV), Endless Wall trail
• Lost World Caverns (Lewisburg, WV), expedition into the cave system

And that’s a wrap. On to the next 100!