This is a story of sunsets, traffic jams, map programs, wild fires, and adventurism. Don’t worry; everyone’s fine in the end 🙂 The day began pretty normally. We woke up in a Walmart parking lot somewhere

The Day I-80 Closed – And We Were On It

Pretty Little Lakes in the Flat Tops on the Sand Creek Trail
Although I like long hikes, sometimes we just need a shorter walk. My group does get tired (or just isn’t in the mood for yet another 12 mile (20 km) trek), or we want to do one short thing before…

Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint: A New Angle on an Old Arch
One day, I was reading a touristy book. These usually aren’t down my line of things to do on a trip, but occasionally a good trail is mentioned. In this particular book, there was a photo of Delicate Arch from…

Water Bottle Tote Bag
A bit ago, a friend e-mailed me asking if I’d test a sewing pattern she was preparing to sell via her website. I gladly agreed, not just because she’s my friend, but because I love a sewing challenge and this…

Ute Trail West
I think I’ve hiked the Ute Trail just about every time I’ve gone to Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s something top-of-the world about hiking the eastern section of the trail with views of the Continental Divide. However, on our last…

Faraway Ranch: History in Chiricahua
This week I’d like to do another picture-based post: this time to Faraway Ranch. The ranch is in Chiricahua National Monument, and quite accessible from the road. It was once run as a dude ranch, with the family taking visitors…

Gear Review: Garmin Montana 600 Hiking GPS
I’m what might be considered a newbie on the GPS scene. We got a road GPS (Garmin) a few years ago, and it certainly made our travel lives easier – set it for the destination and go – no more…

Pioneer Park: A Place to Explore Utah
What do you do when you’re suddenly stuck in a strange town because your vehicle has broken down? Whenever possible, I try to make lemonade out of our lemon – or as I said when we were stranded for three…

Off-Trail Hiking to a Flat Tops Mountain: Pyramid Peak
We like to have a destination in mind when we’re hiking. It’s for sanity, mostly. We all know that if we can just “walk until we decide to turn around” we’ll never turn around until we’re way further from the…

A New Grand Canyon View: Grandview Lookout Tower
Last spring, I was preparing to hike the Grandview Trail in Grand Canyon. During my internet searching, I ran across a Grand Canyon sight I’d never known about before: the Grandview Lookout Tower. Could possibly be, I wondered, a real,…