My 2022 mountains started with Mt. Rundle in Banff, which while not a 14er, had more gain and was more challenging than anything I plan to do in Colorado this summer. It was terrifying and difficult, but when I had completed it, I knew that I was Colorado ready. I have seven weekends in Colorado … Continue reading Colorado Peak Sweep (Parts 29 – 32)
Tag: mountains
Mountain Season Arrived, and How!
My trip to Banff was planned with many stunning, wild, and booty-busting hikes in mind, but nonetheless hikes that an averagely fit person could handle, given enough time. Somehow it ended with a hike that is currently in my top three most difficult summits. I had no plans to do a big peak in Banff … Continue reading Mountain Season Arrived, and How!
Oh the Places You Can Go!
Argentina is enormous and has many different climates and landscapes and geographical features. You need at least a month to see it all, which is, of course, not feasible for most people. I've been based in Buenos Aires and have had a few three-day weekends off work that I took full advantage of to hop … Continue reading Oh the Places You Can Go!
Arcadia? Athens? Cuenca!
The mythical Arcadia is a place of harmony with nature, a utopia free of pride and avarice, uncorrupted by civilization, over which Pan—god of wild nature—reigns. It has been imagined, written about, painted, and depicted in media over for thousands of years. Many towns around the world have given themselves this name, ambitiously, foolishly, ironically. … Continue reading Arcadia? Athens? Cuenca!
Touching the Sky
You might have thought I was finished with megapeaks for 2021 when I posted this at the end of the summer, but no. Oh no. Far from it. Plans for Ecuador's volcano alley were already underway at that time, and now, they are accomplished. I only made it to three, though I hiked in the … Continue reading Touching the Sky
Wild Beauty
Wild Beauty is the official hashtag of Montenegro, and yes to both of those words. If you want someplace to go for an adventure vacation, this is it. This small country is in the process of building itself up into a desirable, modern European vacation destination and wild nature is its huge selling point. It's … Continue reading Wild Beauty
Cards and Tests and Masks, Oh Yes!
Since the saying is "thank god for...", it's tempting to start this post with "thank god for vaccines." But "thank science for vaccines" is the more logical statement, even though it doesn't roll off the tongue naturally. In any case, yay, vaccines! Thanks to science, I recently took my first international holiday since the start … Continue reading Cards and Tests and Masks, Oh Yes!
Peaks Twenty-Four Through Twenty-Eight
Even though I wanted to get out of Colorado for so long and finally did with my new nomad life, I had to come back for a month in the summer to reach the summit of more 14ers. My target was the San Juan Mountains, nearly the most beautiful mountains on earth. So I booked … Continue reading Peaks Twenty-Four Through Twenty-Eight
Return to The Top of The World
I've had a pretty rough spring/early summer. As long-expected as it was, the death of my dog affected me more than I wanted it to. Lingering in bad feelings is not my thing. I'm very much a "life is too short, buck up and move on" kind of person. But my subconscious fought me on … Continue reading Return to The Top of The World
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 … Continue reading And I Would Hike 500 More
Jennifer A Swallow 