V is for Vanessa

Distance: 4.25 Duration: 2.5 hours Elevation Gain: 1160 feet Difficulty: Moderate A week after the snow dumped on Seattle for several days, I was itching to get back out and hit the trails. Since the weather had been so bad, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find any trails that were passable [...]

Distance: 4.25 miles Duration: 2.25 hours Elevation Gain: 1200 feet Difficulty: Moderate Little Si, and Mount Si in whose shadow Little Si sits, is somewhat of a local chestnut in terms of local hikes. I figured, given its popularity, that this would be a good solo hike for a cool winter day. During the summer, [...]

Distance: 9.9 miles Duration: 4.5 hours Elevation Gain: 1400 feet Difficulty: Moderate I went on this hike with a buddy; we had a short-list of trails to try, and only made the choice in the car on the way out. The weather forecast for Wallace Falls was warmer and had a lower chance of snow [...]

This site does not support embedded trip maps. View the trip here instead. Distance: 25.77 miles Duration: 2 hours, 3 minutes Elevation Gain: 854 feet Difficulty: Easy This is a standard ride for me on a day off. The mileage is nice, and the path is in good condition. I start the ride at the [...]

Distance: 9 miles Duration: 6 hours Elevation Gain: 2500 feet Difficulty: Difficult Following a quick day-hike the weekend before, I was inspired to go out again. Unable to find any friends who wanted to go hiking, I found a group hike to Lake Ingalls organized by the Bellevue/Seattle Hiking & Dragon Boat Meetup group.  I [...]

Arrived in Missoula in the wee hours after a white-knuckle ride across Montana in the sometimes rainy dark.  Since I got in so late, I decided not to try and head out early and make it to Seattle in time for dinner.  Instead, I slept until 10, checked out at 11, filled up on gas [...]

Long day. Almost 20 hours on the road. Drive time: 16 hours Distance: 855.5 miles

I’m leaving Interior and the Badlands for Missoula today. Hoping to stop through and see Mt Rushmore and maybe Deadwood on the way. Today’s projected stats: Distance: 794.4 miles Time: 11 hours, 28 minutes

Today was long and much time was spent driving.  I started in Chicago, drove north and then west through Wisconsin, Minnesota and crossed most of South Dakota. I left around 8:30 and arrived at 12:30 (but in the next time zone, so it was more like 1:30). To be fair, I wasted a fair bit [...]

State number four.