
I haven’t become dinner yet, woo!
Please excuse my little diversion from personal finance stuff. Recently, Anna from Are Ya Gonna Eat That? wrote a nice post about running finding peace. We started chatting about hiking and I promised to post some photos of my adventures. I always try to have a camera with me and love taking pictures. Before we get to that, I wanted to mention how much I enjoy little walks in the woods.
This past week, we’ve been living in a cabin in the mountains while we wait to close on our next home. We’re in the shadow of Long’s Peak in the middle of nowhere and it’s fantastic! Every day after work, I go walking for a couple hours. I never have a destination in mind. I just start walking and see where it takes me. I get to think about stuff and clear my head. It’s like hitting the reset button on the brain.
Yosemite
Yosemite National Park is my favorite place on earth. Go there in the spring and you’ll see water tumbling down massive walls of granite. It is spectacular!
My favorite hike at Yosemite of all time is the Mist Trail that leads up to Half Dome. It’s a strenuous one that clocks in at 16 miles round trip with 4800′ of elevation gain. The first part of the trail follows a river where you’ll walk next to several spectacular waterfalls fed from the snowmelt. Prepare to get soaked from the mist. You then go around the back of Half Dome. Finally, you climb Half Dome itself, using a set of cables fastened to the granite for the final ascent. The climb is as steep as 45 degrees, so hold on tight. I don’t like heights and this last part is terrifying, but that hasn’t stopped me from doing it twice. If you’re a hiker, I highly suggest you put this one on your bucket list. Just don’t let go of those cables!

The goal is to get to the top of Half Dome!

Rainbows! Everywhere!! Rainbows!!!

!

Don’t. Let. Go.

Summit!
Mt. Whitney
Mt. Whitney, at 14,496′, is the tallest peak in the continental US. Coming in at 22 miles round trip with 6100′ of elevation gain, this hike is a real leg burner. It took two attempts to make it. The first time, we started at 8am (much too late), so had to turn back before the summit. The second time, we started off at 4am, summited at noon and were back at the bottom at 6pm. My knees yelled at me for a solid week.

Sunrise over the desert




Woo!
Quandary Peak
This is one in my backyard. It’s not nearly as brutal as Half Dome or Whitney, but makes for a nice little hike when you make it out to Colorado.
The last time I did this one, I really pushed myself and made it up pretty quickly. I wasn’t running, but walked pretty fast and didn’t take any breaks longer than a couple minutes. On the way down, I spot a guy who looked like he was about 70 RUNNING up the trail. I am nothing.

There she is




Summit
What are your favorite adventures? What places inspire you? Please fill me in and maybe we’ll hike together some day.