I adapted this recipe from something Melissa Clark posted at the New York Times and it resulted in a superb new trail dish. You can add hard cheese and crumble potato chips in the backcountry. Maybe even wild herbs if you can forage any. The rest dehydrates very well. Just go easy on the olive … Continue reading Tuna & White Bean Casserole
Sat. August 4 Daily miles: 10.5Cumulative miles: 55.2 The concerns raised about the trail Beaver Woman Lake had intrigued me and now I wondered if this section would be more interesting than the rest of the Nyack Loop. I break camp within 15 minutes of waking, the order of each morning now falling into a … Continue reading Coal Creek to Beaver Woman Lake
FRI. August 3 Daily miles: 11.8 Cumulative miles: 44.7 My bowels finally realize what I’m up to this morning. I jolt awake with the dire urge to relieve myself. There’s no question of using the WAG Bag, but neither is there any time to dig a cat-hole. In general, I try to adhere to Leave … Continue reading Middle Fork Flathead River to Coal Creek
Thurs. August 2 Daily miles: 15.4 Cumulative miles: 32.9 I awake naturally just before dawn, break down the tent, and collect my food bag from the dining area. This process has not yet become routine and I fumble with the order of it all, accidentally packing my food before removing the day's snacks. In a … Continue reading Upper Nyack to Middle Fork Flathead River
Wed. August 1 Daily miles: 17.5 Cumulative miles: 17.5 Our hostel doubles as a bakery so we grab a couple of coffees and pastries before heading out. The valley is misty as we drive back to the Two Medicine entrance. Nice cool weather. Perfect for starting a long trip! I'm bound for Oldman Lake, but … Continue reading Two Medicine to Upper Nyack
For Thanksgiving this year, we drove down to Las Vegas to see my brother. Frankly, I can't stand the town. I don't enjoy gambling and I loathe frat party culture. I regard The Hangover films as quasi-journalistic in that they unapologetically fetishize the (white male) juvenilia around which the city's economy really does revolve. As a New Yorker … Continue reading Charleston Peak Loop
TUES. JULY 31 We arrive at the tiny town of East Glacier around 3.00 PM after four hours in the car with an impatient two year old, passing garish tourist campgrounds and motels before taking the road into Glacier National Park. The Park complex is visible for miles before you arrive, a series of walls … Continue reading Permits at Two Medicine
On a lonely mountainside, overlooking a particularly beautiful stretch of the Missouri River, lie a dozen concrete crosses.1 Fractured, sun-bleached, and barely visible through the dry grass, each of the tiny monuments is emblazoned with the name of a smokejumper who died here in the devastating Mann Gulch fire of 1949. Even by Montana standards, Mann Gulch is a harsh and remote … Continue reading Mann Gulch
June in Montana is still too early for hiking without snow-shoes above a certain elevation, so we settled on a popular Bozeman-area hike for our Saturday family excursion. Like many of the short trails around Bozeman, this four-mile out-and-back through Sypes Canyon is (unfortunately) a dual purpose trail. Mountain bikers abound—none of whom seem aware of … Continue reading Sypes Canyon
We're in Portugal for a few weeks visiting family and I thought it might be fun to look into hiking here. Like much of Southern Europe, the concept of recreational walking is thought to be more than a little odd. Walking for fun? This mentality is slowly changing however and the country now boasts at … Continue reading Convento dos Capuchos to Monserrate