History Nerds blitz Philadelphia

From what I write here, you would think that work only sends me to interesting places, and that my adventures when not travelling for work are frequently nearly as interesting. It's a classic case of selection bias; if I don't think it was interesting, I don't write about it. When I am given an opportunity to explore someplace interesting... well, it ends up here. In January, I was sent to the center of old town Philadelphia. It was too much history and cool stuff to explore on my own, so Dad flew out half way through the week, and joined me!

End-of-year hikes, et cetera

Even after the jaunt up to Cascade Falls (near Blacksburg, VA), I was still on the hunt for through the end of 2020. Most of these I found closer to home, a sort of scouting mission to map out what is fun and accessible in the immediate area. One of the surprises I found was a state park near Camas, where water drops from Lacamas lake over a series of falls into the Washougal watershed. The popular trail was moderately busy, although I think that forecasted cloud-bursts kept many people at home. I finally invested in the last piece of waterproof gear I needed (socks!) and was packing heavy, but the sun came out between light showers, and I stayed dry!

End of 2019 travel...

I may have had a bit of a travel hangover after Scotland (not a real hangover, we did more sampling than drinking), but that didn't mean that I didn't travel a bunch. Here's an overview of where I went in the last 3 months of last year...

Sunset at home, looking at Mt Hood

Scotland II - Highlands and Hiking

  "Did it rain much?" "Did you have sunny days?" "How was the weather in Scotland?"
          - Yes, Yes, and Wonderful.

Honestly, it rained every day. We had blowing rain, light mist, torrents, spits, sprinkles, still fog, and and more. We walked outside in sunshine and were wet by the time we got to our destinations. Did it matter? Not really. Only when we thought about it did it become a problem. Thinking about the hike in the rain kept us from hiking up Ben Nevis, and it shouldn't have. The times we copied the locals and said "Nae bother," we had grand adventures.

Scotland I - Edinburgh

This is part 1 of a 4-part series on my trip to Scotland with A - Stay tuned for segments on hiking in the Highlands, sitting in on a "session," visiting a whisky distillery on the west coast, and Glasgow!

Last Friday we boarded our flight from Stuttgart to Edinburgh, touching down in what we would later term "not really raining" between the green fields flecked with woolly backs. There is a convenient light rail which took us within 5-10 minutes' walk from our Air BnB, then we were out to find some food, a pub, and gear up for a full day tomorrow...

An afternoon deluge was followed by a brilliant double rainbow!

Burg Hohenzollern

... And I'm back in Germany! Truly, I just landed here again (from the UK, not the US, but more on that next week). This trip started out the way the last one ended; with a visit to a lovely Swebian castle, perched on a hilltop above farms and villages. Wanting to make a hike out of it, we parked in the little town of Bisingen and slowly made our way upward. I felt a bit like a peasant, watching the towers grow taller as we approached! 

Secret Cities (New Mexico Hikes)

I spent a week recently in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, working in what was once a hidden city. Los Alamos is a town even smaller than my hometown, but with a few thousand more scientists! In fact, it would likely still be a small farm land if the US government hadn't set up its central nuclear research facility there! The statue of Mr Oppenheimer in the park downtown still overlooks a stream of researchers, machinists, technicians, etc. towards the bridge that takes them to the state-of-the-art facilities on the other side of the canyon. While I didn't actually get to see the research center, I did take advantage of the wonderful hiking that was so close to town! 

Moonrise at Sunset over a distant Santa Fe

Skyline Divide

While we were wandering about the Alps, Jon (J2) told me about a Pacific NorthWest hike that we definitely needed to do when we got home. In his words, it was "the best views for the amount of effort that you put in." Mumsy is training for Kilimanjaro, and I needed a recovery trip after hiking the Enchantments a few weeks before... so on a weekend while I was still in Washington, we headed up the mountain!

 

Enchanted

I've had this hike on my bucket list for a while. To overnight camp there, you need to win a lottery... or, take it on as an 18+ mile thru-hike. Having a weekend free and a cousin willing to commit to 12 hours of suffering (also, to leave at the other trailhead), it was on! 

the top of Asgard Pass

Silver Falls

Feeling a little bit of Euro-travel hangover, I got out of the house my first weekend back to check out some new trails in Oregon. Silver Falls State Park is just over an hour from home, filled with incredible basaltic rock structures threaded with 10 waterfalls and one heavily beaten trail.

St Anton in the Clouds

St Anton is one of my favorite places on the planet, so of course it was one of the stops on our trip. This time it was a bit different than I'd ever seen it. Thanks to the heavy snow last winter and cool spring, there was sill snow on the mountains and most of the huts were closed. So there was no return to Darmstädter Hütte this trip, but we made some new friends and got a taste for the mountain life! 

Tegelberg (and a check off my bucket list!)

 Since I discovered their existence, I've been wanting to stay overnight in a mountain hut. It's been on my bucket list since I first visited Austria. So when we decided to go to Füßen, we scheduled it for 3 nights and planned on spending the middle ones on the mountain, weather permitting. And did it permit! As we stepped off the mountain at the top of the Tegelbergbahn gondola, we realized we had discovered a magical place.

Bad Schandau / Schrammsteine Hike

A few months ago, Jon and I started a shared Trello board to brainstorm ideas for our trip. Jon posted a few places that have shown up as backgrounds in my new Chrome tabs (I use Momentum), and one of them was en route from Berlin to Prague. So we left Berlin in the morning and set off for Bad Schandau, gateway to the National Park Sächsische Schweitz, Saxon Switzerland National Park. Our train wound through Dresden and into the Elbe valley, glimpses of sandstone cliffs sometimes cutting through the thickly forested valley. Eventually, we hopped off the train, applied sunscreen, and caught a ferry for a 10 minute cruise upriver to Bad Schandau. 

the Elbe river valley

Im Schwarzwald Verlaufen (lost in the Black Forest)

Two months ago, tucked into the box of chocolate that arrived as usual from Germany around my birthday, was a little card that read something along the lines of "Credit towards a memorable day." Yesterday I cashed it in for an adventure in the Black Forest with Anne! She planned a hike for us in a beautiful, cliff-lined gorge that proved a little elusive...

Löffingen peaking over the hill... A view we wouldn't have had if we hadn't missed the turn!

Park Butte hike (Tea at the Top)

I'm standing at my desk, looking out at newly re-greened grass and wet asphalt. I love this change in weather and the cozy, tea-sipping, book-reading mood it creates. But before the clouds blew in, we got out onto the mountain for one last clear, dry, early fall day. The mountains were out, and Dock Butte was in fine form! 

Mt Hood, with Timberline Lodge

I'm a big fan of the old lodges in national parks (if multiple stops in Glacier and other places haven't clued you into that already). A couple of weekends ago Sister and J suggested we go hiking at Mt Hood, which of course I agreed to! Unfortunately, weather and a sea-level acclimated fur nephew conspired to cut our hike short. That didn't keep us from taking a pleasant stroll above the treeline and checking out the beautiful lodge.

Canadian, Oregonian, American, Washintonian, Swiss, German... and Swedish? 

Mountain Berry Buffet

Late summer/fall hiking is my favorite. The trails are dry and no longer covered by snow. The weather is reliably better, requiring sunscreen instead of rain jackets. And even if there are more people on the trails, it doesn't matter - there are enough mountain blueberries for everyone! 

Lancaster and York counties

Last week York sent me out to Pennsylvania for a a week of training. I looked up the area on Google Maps, and a couple of things kept popping up. First, it's the factory tour capitol of America. Harley Davidson and Snyder of Hanover pretzels, to name a few. The other thing that popped up was nearby Lancaster, seat of Lancaster County and a hub of Amish country. So, despite the tours all being over by the time I was off work, I decided to visit both. 

Amish country, sunset, hot air balloon

"Y" Adventure (?)

I wrote this post a couple weekds ago while sitting on the Blue Line somewhere south of downtown in Salt Lake City. I was in Utah solo, while M was out of town for a few days. The trip was a chance to see a friend who left recently for school down here, see some family (Happy Birthday, M2!), go to a symposium where I nerded out for a couple days, and take a hike on one of the famously rugged trails in the Wasatch range. 

Rock Canyon trail

Mt Baker Sunshine

It doesn't always rain on Baker! We went back for another round, just hiking this time, on the shoulders of the local volcano. We were surprised to encounter several snowfields, but the mountain was out and there was hardly anyone on the Scott Paul section of the trail, so we couldn't complain!

the view from Park Butte