Dream. Plan. Live.
There is always a desire to push further. To climb higher, explore the unexplored, see grander views and find your limits. This desire took a strong hold and revealed itself on a cool, foggy morning in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. A remote land of stunning beauty; how could you not explore it?
I don’t typically write about my weekend trips, especially not to Red River Gorge, but this one has a special place in my heart. It’s my first time going on a packrafting trip since Alaska.
At the end of this lockdown, I’m going on a trip…. Part 5 of 5, the last stop on our journey around the country, the south. If I have a long weekend, these are the places I run to…
We’re getting close to the end of our journey across the country. We’ve talked about mountain ranges in the northwest, all sorts of hidden gems near our home here in Cincinnati and snow retreats up in the northeast. You won’t find any National Parks on this list, but you will find some of the most amazing car camping spots, backpacking destinations and many more hidden gems.
For those of you who may not have seen our previous “Off the Beaten Path” blogs, check out the Northwest & Midwest articles. Over the next several weeks we’ll be breaking down our favorite places we’ve found across the country when we go off the beaten path. You won’t find any National Parks on this list, but you will find some of the most amazing car camping spots, kayaking destinations, backpacking trails and many more hidden gems.
This week we’re hanging around our home in the Midwest to hear about some of my favorite long weekend spots. We can’t always get away for a week out west so here’s some of my favorite wilderness areas, beach spots, and hidden gems, right here close to home.
The RRT crew travels all over the place. Between everyone here we’ve been to dozens of countries, touched every state and discovered our fair share of hidden gems along the way. Over the next several weeks we’ll be breaking down our favorite places we’ve found across the country when we get off the beaten path. Mostly these are my little treasures but luckily, I’ll have some help filling in the blanks from the rest of the RRT gang along the way. You won’t find any National Parks on this list, but you’ll find some of the most amazing car camping spots, kayaking destinations, backpacking trails and much more. This week we’re heading to the Northwest for some of my favorite mountains in the world, a desert you probably don’t know exists and some eye-popping peaks.
“In the mountaineering parlance of the Western US, a fourteener is a peak with an elevation of at least 14,000′. There are 96 fourteeners in the United States. Colorado has the most (53) of any state.” Two RRT’ers went to see how many they could peak bag in a week, this is their experience.
A guy you met at the bar last night invited you to go skiing tomorrow? Do it! The weather forecast changed and now the climb you wanted to do turned into a day bumming around town? Meet people, make friends, see where the locals go when the weather turns. Woke up in a bathroom in Shanghai with a splitting headache, miss-matched shoes and a sweet new neck tat’? First of all lay off the shrooms, and secondly, you’re in Bangkok. Whoops.
Many of the Buffalo River’s 135 miles are wide and gentle, but the upper portion of the river just below our launch point at Steel Creek contains technical rapids up to Class 2. With the river in flood stage and park rangers urging us to hold off on starting, we were faced with a choice. We could wait several days to start until water levels receded, throwing us off our itinerary, or we could face the flooded river.
