I have a problem, and it involves me making everything ten times more difficult than it needs to be. Whenever I search for my next hiking trail to tackle, I tend to look for the longest, highest-elevation paths. The Caliente Mountain Ridge Trail is no different.
Read moreNature Journaling and the 2026 Superbloom
I saw the price of the glorious beauty in the wildflowers as a subtle, ominous nod towards the hellish dry spells to come, but I took up my pen in the meantime and continued to draw the vivid wildflowers near the hiking trails in my nature journal.
Read moreHow the Mountains Shaped Me
My experience has inspired me to search further and look more deeply into how the land I was recreating on was shaped, and to strengthen my backpacking and mountaineering skills to be a better hiker. The mountains shaped me into the leader and hiker that I am today, and I am forever grateful for the chance to explore them.
Read moreMy Great American Road Trip: The Circle of Discovery
I ended up visiting Crater Lake National Park, the Oregon Caves National Monument, which features a cave system in the Siskiyou Mountains, and the Redwood forests along the northern California coast, which protect some of the tallest trees on Earth.
Read moreMy Great American Road Trip: Washington State
My intentions, at the beginning of this long road trip, were to cross mountains off of some list that I felt I needed to tackle. My intentions would later turn into taking advantage of the free time I had to see as much of the world as possible.
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