June 11, Day 10: We rose early in the morning to catch Arches National Park at Daybreak. Views were surreal; it was as if we were in a Mars science-fiction movie. The rocks reflected the fiery orange of the sunrise, with the gibbous moon hanging high above in the azure vault of the sky. In the far distance, Colorado peaks were still touched with snow, and dusty green brush filled the broad foreground.
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July 20, Day 49: An extra “Byte” for today – wrestling marmots! Jean and I were hiking down Mount Rainier on the last leg of Skyline Loop Trail and found these two agitators. They were talkin’ smack (well, barking really) and facing off. The action was about to begin.
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July 20, Day 49: Yesterday, we watched the sunrise at Rainier; today, we set out to hike Skyline Loop Trail. Snow still covered much of the mountainside, even in late July. Where it had retreated, bright green grass and wildflowers of every hue displayed their brief glory.
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September 5, Day 94: One of our favorite parts of Michigan is Chapel Rock in Painted Rocks National Shoreline. The Chapel Rock / Mosquito Beach hike along the Lake Superior shoreline was one of our favorites of the entire trip. At 13 miles, it was long, so we started at 7am. Already, there were a dozen cars parked at the trailhead lot.
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September 24, Day 113: Pancakes with bananas for breakfast to fuel us. We needed it for the 6½ miles and 2,000′ in elevation gain to summit Hurricane Mountain in the Adirondacks. AllTrails uses rated this a 4.8 / 5 stars, and with the beautiful fall foliage we couldn’t agree more.
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August 15, Day 74: Located in the Madison Range of SW Montana near Big Sky, Mount Cinnamon sits at 9,235 feet with expansive views in all directions. AllTrails rated this as moderate, but given the elevation gain and starting altitude, it was anything but that for us!
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October 19, Day 138: We hiked 9+ miles and ~2500′ to the summit of Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. This was DEFINITELY in the top 5 of all hikes on the trip. Having hiked the Grand Circle, Rainier, and Acadia earlier in the trip, that’s saying a lot. Old Rag Loop rated 5 stars on AllTrails, and the users were not wrong.
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