I hate this part of the trip. Every year. I don’t want it to end. We have this urge to begin reminiscing about the past weeks, but I won’t let anyone. We still have four days. Today was our last hike. Only five miles and 1000 foot gain. It was easy. But so beautiful. The […]

Read More Day 49: Telluride

We did not choose the location of CO home because of Durango, even though it’s the closest “big” city. In fact, we had never even been until the night we put the offer in on the lot. And yet, I can see why people would settle in this area just because of Durango. What a […]

Read More Days 47 and 48: Durango

If you’re wondering where in Colorado we are, find those three towns on a map and we’re right in the middle of the triangle they make. That’s our little slice of perfection. It had been nice to sleep in a bed and I used the shower more times than one. Once we were all cleaned […]

Read More Day 46: Mancos, Dolores, Cortez

My day started in a tent and ended with late night pancakes at Denny’s. I’m officially questioning everything I thought I knew about myself. Ellie and I rose at 5:45 and caught the sun rising too. The sky was briefly a beautiful assortment of colors, before settling on a blue for the rest of the […]

Read More Day 45: Mesa Verde

As my eyes opened this morning to bright sunlight and fresh high desert air, I smiled. We stumbled out of the tents and made our very first camp coffee. It was bad. Too weak and way too groundy. We’ve since read threads on Reddit (and the instructions), so we might be better off next time. […]

Read More Day 44: Burro Fiesta (and other local activities)

Our new one. The 41 acres in southwest Colorado that we purchased this past spring. There’s no house, the only shelter is two tents, there is no plumbing, or beds, or pantry stocked with snacks, but it’s home. We drove from Salt Lake City today, with a quick stop in Moab. We needed some groceries […]

Read More Day 43: Home

We’re outside of Salt Lake City now, have loads of laundry in the hotel washer and dryer, and we found a great place to order pizza and huge salads from. It’s a low key night after a long string of pretty intense, tiring days. We woke up early to the sound of a river and […]

Read More Day 42: Grand Tetons

I don’t want this day to end. We hiked 12 miles and climbed just less than 3000 feet all while carrying our heavy packs. I’m tired. Muscles are worn out, especially after summiting a mountain yesterday. The rest of the family is in the tents, resting, relaxing, and writing. I opted to soak up every […]

Read More Day 41: Grand Tetons

Since we weren’t really able to hike yesterday, we decided to do a decent one today. Our two options were to attempt the one from yesterday again or summit Mt. Washburn. In addition to the abundance of mosquitoes, we all agreed that yesterday’s hike wasn’t even all that pretty, so we ruled it out. The […]

Read More Day 40: Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone

Today did not go as planned. We had long awaited the hike we had scheduled for today. An out and back to the second most dense geothermal area in the park. 20+ miles total. Not a popular hike. But. We didn’t complete it. At about two miles in the mosquitoes got bad. Like more than […]

Read More Day 39: Yellowstone