Last month Anna-Lisa and I spent a week up in the Olympic Peninsula region of Washington State. While we didn’t hike every single day of the trip, there was no way we were leaving without checking out one of the most beautiful, classic loops in Olympic Nation Park – the Seven Lakes High Divide Loop.
Most often done as a backpack, the 20-mile loop boasts ~4,800 feet of elevation gain and traces out a big circle around the Seven Lakes Plateau. The route starts and ends at the Sul Doc Trailhead, about an hour’s drive east of Forks. We chose to do the loop in the counterclockwise direction, first climbing up to Deer Lake. This gets the elevation gain over with earlier in the day and leaves the long, gradual descent down the Sol Duc Valley for the end. The first miles up to Deer Lake are steep but the forest is spectacular. We climbed up through a layer of fog as the sun’s rays were just cresting a nearby ridgeline. Keep Reading….
When we pulled off of state highway 60 in Northwest Iowa to visit Hawkeye Point, I remarked to Katie that I should write a “trip report” about what were going to experience. I had every intention of doing so as a funny way to mock the high point of the state of Iowa. But as I sit now on the other side of our visit, I actually found tremendous value in the stop. This little “summit” illustrated for me a few very simple, but very important life lessons about expectations, what makes a place special, and how there are still some genuinely good things left in the world. Keep Reading…
When Jason proposed a Zion National Park crossing via trail run late last year, it was (as usual) an easy sell. I had only spent a few fleeting hours in Zion years earlier. But even a few glimpses of the park from the tunnel and through the windows of the packed shuttles was more than enough to whet my appetite. Getting back into Zion to do it properly had been on my short list for a while. It would also make a nice sequel to our Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim running effort a few years prior. Keep Reading…
For about a decade now Anna-Lisa and I have been slowly ticking off each of the main four Hawaiian islands together. To us, Hawaii is the perfect place for a tropical getaway as relaxation and beach time are very much a priority, but unlike many other beach destinations, there are also active things to do. Thanks to Hawaii’s mountainous inland terrain, each island boasts anywhere from dozens to literally hundreds of hiking trails and trail running opportunities. We’ve done our best to explore them over the years, with Oahu being the last island we’d yet to visit. Read more…
