Oregon Coast

Spent a few days hanging out on the Oregon coast. Beautiful.

Winter camping in White Mountain

Spent the Christmas holiday up in New Hampshire hiking through the backcountry of White Mountain National Forest.

Backcountry camping in Smoky Mountains

Four day, three night backcountry trip through the northern end of the Smoky Mountains National Park.

Winter backpacking the Ice Age Trail

Spent the weekend backpacking part of the Ice Age Trail at Kettle Moraine State Forest in southern Wisconsin. Kettle Moraine is a fairly narrow strip of forested land broken up into two major sections: the northern unit and the southern unit. We visited the northern unit, starting at shelter site #1 near the village of Kewaskum and heading north on an out-and-back route.

Snow depth on the trail was roughly 5-6 inches. Night time temperature dropped to a balmy -11°F. Brr.

Cameo in Mike Curiak's 2010 IditaTour Videos

While participating in the Iditarod Trail Invitational last year I had the great pleasure to meet Mike Curiak. At the time Mike was completing his personal, unsupported 1100 mile journey on the trail to Nome. Today I came across a series of videos he produced documenting his journey. Absolutely worth viewing.

We ran into Mike while attempting to cross Rainy Pass. It was a grueling day - especially harrowing for a rookie racer. Deep snow, unrelenting wind and vanishing trail in an inhospitable nowhere. Just the sight of another person was a relief to me. The fact that it turned out to be Mike Curiak was incredible fortune.

All I can say is that I have the highest respect for Mike. I felt like a foolish, fumbling adventure tourist out there next to him. He traveled that day with calm, controlled and perfect presence - and the utmost humility. Thanks Mike, if you read this.

Here's part one. Click here to watch it on Mike's blog - it's bigger and better. Don't forget to look for the handsome guy in the blizzard in part one at minute 5:47. ;)


IditaTour: Part one. from lacemine29 on Vimeo.

Pacino in The Merchant of Venice, NYC

In New York this past weekend. Went to see Al Pacino as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the Broadhurst Theatre. Great performance. Felt a little bad for the vengeful Shylock though. Hounded for mercy throughout the second half, in the end none was really shown to him. Dinner at Marseille.

Snowshoeing Mt. Rainier National Park

Went up to Seattle after Christmas to test out my new snowshoes on Mt Rainier. Got hit with a big batch of snow when I arrived, so not too many views of the mountain, but fun nonetheless.

Near Paradise, Mt. Rainier National Park

Heavy snow moving in.

St. Petersburg, Florida

Took a little break and went down to St. Petersburg, Florida for a couple of days this week. Stayed at the Ponce de Leon, a little boutique hotel on Central Avenue. It could use a little updating, but it was a decent place nonetheless. A nice feature was the tapas restaurant, Ceviche, on the first floor. So wednesday night involved a few bottles of La Zaragozana and a dinner of boquerones, caracoles and ancas de rana. After dinner we walked a couple blocks down to The Independent on 3rd street. Fun place with a very laid back atmosphere.

Winter Backcountry in the Smoky Mountains

Started off the new year with a 6 day, 5 night backcountry camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We completed a circuit of roughly 70 miles, hitting some of the highest peaks in the park and traveling along part of the Appalachian Trail. It was definitely grueling at times, usually hiking from sunrise till dusk on wet, rocky trails.

We experienced a wild variety of weather. Some parts of the day it was warm enough to wear nothing but t-shirt and other times temperatures dropped to the low teens. It might be snowing with brutal winds on one side of a mountain and clear and calm on the other.

Along with the indefatigable Lisa from Team Sisu we leaped over Mount LeConte, the third highest mountain in the park at 6,593 feet, forged our way through heavy winds on icy, narrow ridge tops, and evaded a growling black bear hiding in a thicket of Rhododendron (no kidding). A great way to kick off the year!


Me on The Boulevard Trail


Map of the route


Some more photos from the trip are up on my new Flickr stream.