At dawn, I took my customary hike on Billy Goat Trail with the rising sun. It was lovely with the soft light of a cool overcast morning. Here are a few pictures from the hike this morning and a few from last weekend on the Billy Goat.
Continue reading “Dawn on Billy Goat Trail”
On our final full day in Alaska, we selected the Crow Creek trail. This was my first time on the trail but we received excellent advice from Jimmy Stokes, an amazing hotel staff member at the Alyeska Hotel in Girdwood. Jimmy saw us hiking and suggested Crow Creek. He gave us a map and great advice for the challenging hike. Like all things Jimmy, we soon discovered that he was right on the money with distances and other details. Alyeska is a terrific hotel that celebrates everything Alaska to its great food and outdoor adventures. Jimmy is an example of how the staff go the extra mile for every guest. This trail was a highlight of the trip.
Continue reading “Day 10: Hiking Crow Creek”
After our repairing our flat tire on the way out of Whittier, we arrived at the Alyeska Hotel, a gem in Girdwood. The hotel is really beautiful and nestled in the mountains with various trails nearby. We spent the day hiking on another clear and warm day in Alaska.
Continue reading “Day Nine On The Trail in Girdwood, Alaska”
We spent much of our sixth day in the Denali National Park where we saw a huge elk with magnificent antlers and a mother moose with their calf at a lovely lake. We decided to tackle the Savage Alpine Trail which is a strenuous and demanding trail up a steep mountain overlooking the Savage River. While challenging, it was breathtaking.
Continue reading “Day 6 on the Savage Alpine Trail”
On our second day at Denali National Park, we decided to tackle the challenging Mount Healy Trail. This is my second time on Mount Healy, one of the highest mountains in the park. It is spectacular but high challenging due to the sharp ascent. It is however worth every exhausted muscle and sore knee. After weeks of rain, the skies cleared showing Denali in all of its splendor .
Continue reading “Day 5: Trekking Up Mount Healy”
This morning I took my usual dawn hike on Billy Goat trail in Maryland on a very misty morning. It was my last hike before flying North to Alaska on Sunday for a speech in Anchorage and then a couple weeks of hiking, rafting, and kayaking around Alaska. I will be doing a daily travel blog from Alaska and hopefully posting a columns on other subjects.
Continue reading “A Misty Morning on Billy Goat Trail”
I did my usual dawn Sunday hike on Billy Goat trail today. While it is Father’s Day and the kids offered to join me, I let them sleep in. It was a lovely morning for a hike with only a couple people on the trail. It gave me a quiet time to think of my own father, Jack Turley, and how much I still miss him.
Continue reading “Father’s Day On Billy Goat Trail”
As many of you know, I often accept speeches in areas where I can pursue my love for hiking. For that reason, returning to Albuquerque, New Mexico was an offer to give the keynote at the Judicial Conclave that did not need to be repeated. New Mexico is an amazing state with some of the most challenging but spectacular trails in the world. I used my free day on Saturday to tackle the famed La Luz Trail that runs through both the Sandia Mountains and the Cibola National Forest & National Grasslands. This is a punishing trail that can be extended to 13 miles. It is not for the faint of heart. It is a steady and sharp climb for miles under the beating sun of New Mexico. You literally walk to toward the light on La Luz. Much like my Pino trail hike a few years ago, I was entirely spent by the end of this hike.
On Monday, I went on my traditional birthday hike and decided to tackle Loudoun Heights trail at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. I hiked around other Appalachian Trails and around Harper’s Ferry for a 16 mile trek. It was wonderful, though these old bones were rattling by the end of the day. I wanted to share some of the pictures with the blog.
I am returning today from speeches in Texas and Utah. As many on the blog know, I tried to use such travel to do some hiking. Utah is one of my favorite places on Earth. You could spend a lifetime hiking this state and only scratch the surface of the natural beauty and wonders. I have hiked all part of this state and expect to do so for many years to come. This trip was tough however because a cold front came in the day I arrived (after 70 degree weather) that dumped more snow on an already heavy snow season. With the rain and snow, most of my selected hikes (and even my backup hikes) were no longer advisable due to slippery rocks and mud. I tried to find a trail on Friday with limited success so I decide to “go big or go home” on Saturday. I decided to drive over three hours to the Moab where snow and rain would not be an issue. While once covered by a prehistoric ocean, this area receives less than 10 inches of rain a year. It proved to be an awesome experience hiking Arches National Park, one of the great gifts of this state to the world. While many of us often hike deciduous forests, these desert hikes hold tremendous beauty and Western parks offer views that can go 100 miles or more.
As many on the blog know, one of my favorite hikes is the Old Rag trail the Shenandoah National Park. Depending on your trail, it is roughly 11 miles to the parking area and is one of the most challenging hikes in the area. Due to my travel schedule, I had hoped to see the fall foliage on Friday but the trees are not ready to their annual show. Nevertheless, it was spectacular. I followed my usual practice of starting at dawn as the sun was rising. (That means leaving Northern Virginia at 5 am to make it near the trailhead in Sperryville, Virginia). Continue reading “THE WONDERS OF THE OLD RAG”
Our tenth day in Hawaii was the most memorable with a trip up the awe-inducing Nā Pali coast of Kauai. Parts of Nā Pali are only accessible by boat though some trails and roads reach this unique area. You may be familiar with the coast without knowing it since the almost prehistoric look of its cliffs and valleys have been featured in films like King Kong. It is far more inspiring in person and we signed on with the leading boat tour outfit for the coast, Captain Andy’s Sailing Adventures. We took one of the company’s custom 65′ Star Class luxury catamarans for the tour of a lifetime. Nā Pali is one of the true wonders of the Pacific with plentiful sea creatures and wondrous cliffs. Continue reading “Day 10: The Wonder That Is The Nā Pali Coast”
It is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Waimea Canyon on Kauaʻi was one of the highlights of this trip. It is a 3,000 foot park is one of the most spectacular natural settings on Earth. We planned an entire day with a guide from Kauai Hiking Adventures. We were incredibly fortunate to have Jeffrey Courson, a Californian who came to Kanai decades ago and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the island’s planting, animals, history, and topography. Above is my son Jack at the very end of a cliff overlooking the canyon. Continue reading “Day 8: The Wonder Of Waimea”
Below is a slightly longer version of my Hill column on my recent hike in the Cleveland National Forest outside of Santa Ana, California. It was the beginning of the heat emergency that is still gripping the area with massive fires and dangerous conditions. I have stayed in contact with my new friends at the Orange County Fire and Rescue and they were kind enough to send some pictures of the rescue. I am told that their biggest problem is that people often do not want to be rescued because they are afraid to be hit with a bill for the rescue. They do not charge. They just want people out of harm’s way and safe.
Day Four of our trip to Hawaii started early with a trip to the Diamond Head crater. This was my second hike up the crater, but the first such venture for the family. We then had a great lunch at Duke’s restaurant in Waikiki and journeyed on to Pearl Harbor. We finished the day with an evening dip back on the North Shore. It felt wonderfully decadent. Continue reading “Day 4: From Diamond Head To Pearl Harbor”