Weekend Trip to Kennedy Meadows
It was 7:58. A Friday night. The sun still just above the mountain ridge and already Alena and I had retreated to our tent for the night. Only a thin layer of netting separated us and our dinners from the countless vicious mosquitoes that were systematically probing our tent, looking for a way in to…
What I Learned From Last Year’s Failed Attempt Hiking the John Muir Trail (JMT)
In late August, 2017 I attempted to hike a 195 mile stretch of the John Muir Trail, from Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite to Mount Whitney. I saw it as a beautiful and inspiring challenge. The already difficult endeavor was exacerbated by my limited time off from work and my relative inexperience backpacking, let alone thru-hiking…
Camping and Hiking in Peneda-Gerês National Park in Northern Portugal
Alena and I decided to split up for a week of solo traveling after visiting Porto for a few days. We had always planned to have some time alone on our trip to experience different things and get some individual travel time. She decided to train back to Lisbon to enjoy the city. I planned…
Our Coastal Road Trip in Southern Portugal – Sagres, Lagos, and The Longest Natural Park Name in History (Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina)
After our time in Lisbon we rented another manual car and headed south to make our way through the Alentejo coastal natural park. (I tried to rent an automatic smart car, aka basically a clown car, but had EuroCar cancel our reservation the night before 🤨, so back to shifting our way through the country-side…