Category Archives: Travel

Mount Whitney Summit

Update: Goal #9) Climb Mount Whitney

28 March 2012

1 Comment

At an elevation of 14,505 feet, Mount Whitney is the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. The hike to the summit and back is twenty-two miles with a gain of 6,100 feet. Whitney will be the second mountain I’ve climbed (the first was Mount Saint Helens.) The entry date for my hiking permit is July 17th, and I’ll spend three nights on the mountain.

I’m ready for a big dose of fresh air and nature!

My past experiences in the backcountry have always been short day hikes, but the hectic pace of those adventures made it almost impossible to enjoy the moment. On those trips, it was about getting to the top. Climbing Whitney will be different. And while the summit is the primary objective, the journey to the top will be more of a focus than in the past.

I’ve got four months to prepare, and there are lots of preparations yet to be made. I’ve learned the hard way that being in the backcountry requires proper planning. I damn near died on Half Dome and I’ve slept in the dirt in the middle of bear and rattlesnake country (the stars were beautiful.) Sure, I’ve got some crazy stories to tell from those adventures, but I’d rather enjoy myself and be comfortable. Dying just doesn’t seem like much fun.

Besides, it’s not as if I’d planned on running out of water. And if I’d had a proper backpacking tent instead of a huge “car camping” tent, I wouldn’t have had to sleep on the ground worrying that a rattlesnake was going to slither into my sleeping bag during the middle of the night. No doubt, even with all the preparations, I’m sure to have some stories to tell!

About these ads

The Moments that Change Our Life

3 February 2011

6 Comments

When was the moment that you realized who you are, what you love or what you’re supposed to do with your life?

In my life, I’ve experienced many of these moments, from being arrested and realizing that getting fucked up everyday wasn’t the life I wanted to the road trip to the Rocky Mountains with my friends where I found my passion for travel.  Both of these moments caused a fundamental shift in my thinking and instantly changed the direction of my life.

When I was arrested, I promised myself that I’d do whatever it took to get myself clean, even if it meant losing every friend I had and starting over from scratch, which is exactly what happened.  The road trip gave me a chance to see the world beyond the limits of my small Midwestern town and after that trip, I saw life from a different perspective and a new way of thinking.

And while I didn’t realize it at the time, my hike to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park also helped define who I am today.  I’ve been reminiscing about that trip in my mind, thinking about the beauty of the park, the challenge of the climb and the triumph of reaching the top.  The sore knees and the other pains have long since faded and now I’m left with only fond memories.

I want to go back.

Thinking about everything I want to accomplish this year and the amount of time I have to do it, it’s time to start prioritizing.  Turkey, Russia, Ethiopia, Japan, New England, Yosemite are all on the radar this year but I only have a few weeks in which I can dedicate myself to travel due to summer classes.

I miss Planet Earth.

When I travel, I’m visiting huge cities like Paris, Rome or Buenos Aires and spend a lot of my time riding subways, taking taxis and breathing exhaust.  I long for the solitude of the forests and the thrill of climbing mountains.  There’s something special about a bear and her cub walking next to you in the wild, about getting your boots dusty and the feeling of a cool mountain river to soothe your body after a long hike.

So, while I might not be wandering around the bazaars of Istanbul or doing hand stands in Red Square this year, maybe I’ll return to my favorite place on the planet instead.

“Backpacking” Europe

28 December 2010

8 Comments

I’m not really sure what it means to “backpack” Europe.

It’s one of those things that a lot of people talk about doing but never actually define.  Does it literally mean packing up a backpack and traveling across Europe, trying to visit as many places as possible in between?  Does it mean jumping on a train to a different country each day, experiencing the variety that Europe has to offer in culture, food and history?  Or does it require something more…difficult?  Often I imagine “backpackers” as being people struggling to survive wherever they land, working to earn enough money to make it to the next stop.  Is that what it means to backpack Europe?

I have my own goal, Tour Europe, which also has a nebulous definition.  First of all, what does it mean to “tour”?  See the sights…literally be a tourist?  Or does it mean to explore out-of-the-way villages?  Or immerse myself in the culture of whichever region I’m visiting?  Then we must ask ourselves what defines “Europe”?  Almost everyone would agree that France, Spain, Italy and Germany are major players in any “tour” of “Europe” but what about the lesser known and less frequented places?  Romania, Belarus, Latvia or Slovenia?  Are they not just as much a part of Europe as the others?

Backpacking Europe for most foreigners consists primarily of the places we all know best: Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Berlin.  And the trip I’ll be leaving for in a couple of days isn’t much different from the one I’ve outlined above.  So while I have the goal to one day “Tour Europe”, I won’t accomplish that goal until I’ve actually toured Europe in the sense that I feel my journey has done justice to both the word “tour” and to Europe itself.

We depart in two days, arriving in Paris on New Year’s Eve.  We will spend the evening watching the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower and the next couple days exploring the city.  Jim Morrison’s grave is top on my list of things to see but we’ll also be visiting the typical tourist attractions like the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.

We don’t have reservations after the first couple of nights in Europe.  Instead, we plan to use the overnight train to get to Madrid before continuing to Gibraltar to hang out with the monkeys.  We’ll take a ferry into Tangier, Morocco and spend a day exploring the city…I promise, no rugs!

Our next (known) destination is Italy where we will be visiting as many landmarks and pieces of artwork as we can.  Our stops include Pisa, Rome, Milan and Florence.  After an undetermined length of time in Italy, we will be reuniting with friends from college in Switzerland to go skiing before returning to Paris for our flight home.

Will we accomplish everything we set out to do?  Maybe, maybe not.  We’ll do as much as we can while still enjoying our time in Europe.  No doubt we’ll be back, probably sooner rather than later, and go on a tour of Europe a little further from the “traditional” path that so many others have taken before.  Still, this trip will be fun and I look forward to posting updates when I can while ”backpacking” Europe!