This weekend, I decided to play it somewhat easy and head up into the White Mountains to visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. I ended up doing about 5 and a half miles of hiking, checking out these amazing trees, some over 4000 years old, along with a good amount of fun driving. The following day, I decided to also go and visit Hot Creek up in the Long Valley Caldera.
Yosemite NP : Vogelsang Pass
On Friday evening, I packed up and headed down to Mono Lake. Saturday morning, I woke up early and drove into Yosemite National Park, where I ended up hiking up to Vogelsang Pass and back in a day. It was a wonderful although difficult hike to cap off the summer.
Lassen Volcanic NP : Lassen Peak, Cinder Cone
With several weeks of hiking and backpacking over, I headed into Bend, OR to rest for a couple of weeks. But I couldn’t stay resting for too long, so I headed down to Northern California, and ended up at Lassen Volcanic National Park this weekend. I ended up hiking up Lassen Peak on Saturday and Cinder Cone on Sunday before finding camp nearby for the week.
Hells Canyon : Backpacking The Seven Devils Loop
For Labor Day Weekend, I decided to head over to Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Since visiting the area last year, doing a large hike has been on my list of things I’ve been wanting to do. With some research, I decided to do the Seven Devils Loop, looping around the Seven Devils Mountains on the Idaho side of the canyon. Along with taking several side trips along the way, I had a difficult but amazing weekend of backpacking.
Sawtooth Wilderness : Eclipse Backpacking Sawtooth Lake, Baron Lakes, Cramer Lakes
For “Eclipse Weekend”, I decided to spend 3 nights and 4 days out backpacking in the Sawtooth Wilderness. I planned out a large loop route that would give me a wonderful view of several sites throughout the wilderness, including a great view for the eclipse itself.
Sawtooth Wilderness : Alice-Toxaway Loop Hike
On Last Friday (flashing back to August 11), I drove into Boise for some hiking supplies, with the plan to return to Stanley and go on a long day hike Saturday. Unfortunately, Tivona ended up having problems and I ended up stuck in Boise until Sunday morning. Nonetheless, I drove the loaner car the dealership gave me off to the Pettit Lake area outside of Stanley and ended up doing the full Alice-Toxaway Lakes Loop Hike, as a day hike.
Hyndman Saddle Hike
On Saturday, I woke up early and headed to the trailhead, intending to hike up to Hyndman Peak, the high point of Central Idaho’s Pioneer Mountains. The overall hike ended up being a difficult one, with more constant beauty than I had expected. It has easily become one of my favorite hikes of the year so far!
Sun Valley Boondocking, Pioneer Cabin Hike
Originally I intended to spend a weekend in Yellowstone doing some hiking, but as I had to go find usable internet reception on Friday for work, I gave up and headed to Central Idaho. I found a lovely boondocking site in Sun Valley, allowing 16 days stay. On Sunday, I ended up also going on a hike nearby, to Pioneer Cabin–an historic ski lodge high up in the Pioneer Mountains.
Moving on to Idaho (Red Rock Pass)
Through all of the hiking and adventure in Colorado, I finally decided I had enough of it and moved on this past weekend. With one night at Rabbit Ears Pass outside of Steamboat Springs, I spent Saturday traveling through Wyoming to Grand Teton. After dealing with some unexpected car troubles, on Monday, I finally made myself to a boondocking site at Red Rock Pass in Idaho.
Rocky Mountain NP : Mount Ida Hike
This last weekend, I returned to Rocky Mountain National Park once again to hike to the summit of Mount Ida. Starting at Milner Pass Trailhead, the path quickly climbs above treeline before disappearing in the alpine tundra and rock fields leading to the summit. It proved to be a beautiful hike, and perhaps my favorite that I’ve completed within this park.